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An stream so shallow you scarcely got your ankles wet divided a settlement for over four decades. Because of a chance of landscape, the fifty residents of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by pine forests, pastures and spectacular views, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a partition. US troops dubbed it Little Berlin.

Preserving History

Several months after their own wall was opened, and prior to their nation had reunified in 1990, a group of local people began documenting their history. The project is close to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th remembrance of the demolition of the Wall in Berlin, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly launched by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the display was not completely finished. Telling the residents who experienced the old days, Steinmeier said: “You were witnesses of an brutal division, which pulled families into pieces and turned neighbors into aliens.”

“You were observers of an brutal separation, which tore families apart and turned neighbors into strangers.”

Past Background

Even at its founding in 1810, the village cut across the Bavarian Kingdom and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage most famous for assigning all its male members the name Heinrich and numbering them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the crowd, the quirk did not stand in the way of the residents drinking in the identical pub, visiting the identical place of worship and sending their children to the same school.

Post-War Split

Then came the World War II. Immediately after they arrived, the Soviet forces erected timber poles by the stream. For a year they seized the entire hamlet, establishing their control center in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, decorating it with a picture of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The American soldiers urged them to withdraw back over the brook. For a time, residents could still hop over, though as controls became stricter they were obliged to display identification, even though each person knew who they were, and to go back at night.

Intensification of Border Controls

After that, in 1952, came metal barriers and the legal shutting of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a barrier was constructed, with explosives, tank traps and observation points. The locals could still observe each other by ascending elevations, but on the eastern side gesturing and shouting were prohibited. One woman was put on a GDR intelligence monitoring list for replying “back at you” to a West German villager who greeted her “good new year”.

Exhibition Center Development

I was told narratives such as these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has dedicated a large part of his working life building it. Residents were asked in the initial phases about how how long a section wall they wanted to keep. They chose a section on the Bavarian perimeter, near where one of their own succeeded to escape in the dead of night with a climbing device, subsequently the border was heavily fortified.

Preserved Installations

Two observation towers are maintained alongside a collection of exhibits showing the most impactful moments in the community’s past. As we walk, Lebergen details the regulations: not a single person could come within 5km of the frontier. Rural residents required particular approval to care for their crops; the husband or wife could use the combine harvester but not the pair, in case they attempted to escape. Military personnel kept guard.

Larger Background

The border between Western Germany and the GDR extended 1,400 kilometers, from the northern sea in the north to here in the south. Berlin is commemorated and memorialised the most frequently, but over twice as many persons (well over 300) were killed attempting to cross it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Lebegern reminds me that 95% of escape attempts were unsuccessful.

Village Life

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s villagers were agricultural workers or craftsmen, who adapted to residing in the uncertain territory between two political systems by avoiding attention and looking after their fields. They nor did they backed the communist regime nor opposed it, the director explains.

Visitors

For visitors, however, the settlement became a kind of pilgrimage. Approximately 15,000 came to see annually, viewing tools in their hands, to gawp – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was guided by the German defense official.

25 years after reunification, Tannbach, a TV series about a imaginary village like Mödlareuth, resulted in new interest.

Current Evolutions

The launch of the new museum – with a restaurant, boutique, film screening area and big car park – is probable to