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A creek so shallow you scarcely got your ankles wet divided a settlement for over four decades worth of time. By an accident of topography, the half a hundred locals of Mödlareuth, a small village bordered by coniferous woods, fields and stunning vistas, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross Bavaria, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was established first by a fence and then by a wall. US troops called it Small Berlin.

Memorialising Historical Events

Months after their own wall was breached, and even before their nation had unified again in 1990, a group of villagers set about documenting their past. The effort is soon to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was officially launched by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display was not entirely prepared. Telling the locals who endured the old days, Steinmeier said: “You were bystanders of an inhuman separation, which tore families asunder and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

“You were observers of an inhuman division, which ripped families asunder and turned local residents into foreigners.”

Past Origins

Even at its founding in 1810, the village cut across the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a princely house most famous for bestowing all its male members the designation Heinrich and counting them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier related to the crowd, the peculiarity never stood in the manner of the locals socializing in the very same pub, going to the identical religious building and sending their children to the very same learning center.

After the War Split

Next arrived the second world war. The moment they came, the Russians installed wood stakes by the creek. For a twelve months they occupied the entire hamlet, establishing their headquarters in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, adorning it with a picture of Stalin and a communist symbol. The American soldiers convinced them to withdraw across the creek. For a time, locals could still hop over, though as limitations became stricter they were obliged to present identification, although each person knew who they were, and to return at night.

Intensification of Border Measures

After that, in 1952, came barbed wire and the legal sealing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a barrier was erected, with explosives, tank traps and observation points. The villagers could still observe each other by climbing hills, but on the Soviet side waving and yelling were forbidden. A local woman was placed on a Stasi watch list for replying “same to you” to a Bavarian resident who wished her “prosperous new year”.

Exhibition Center Establishment

I was told accounts such as these by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has devoted much of his working life developing it. Locals were consulted early on about how how long a section wall they wanted to keep. They chose a portion on the Bavarian perimeter, near where one of their own succeeded to flee in the dead of night with a ladder, following which the boundary was significantly reinforced.

Maintained Buildings

2 observation towers are maintained together with a series of exhibits showing the most impactful moments in the village’s history. As we move, Robert Lebegern details the regulations: not a single person could approach 5km of the border. Agricultural workers had to obtain particular approval to look after their produce; the partner could work the harvesting machine but not the two, in case they sought to make a run for it. Armed guards stood watch.

Larger Background

The border between West Germany and the German Democratic Republic ran nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic Sea in the north to here in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and documented the most, but more than double the number persons (exceeding 300) lost their lives seeking to pass over it in rural areas than in the metropolis. Lebegern reminds me that almost all of attempts to flee were unsuccessful.

Village Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s locals were rural laborers or artisans, who adjusted to dwelling in the uncertain territory between a pair of political systems by staying low-profile and caring for their land. They did not supported the East German authorities nor fought it, Lebegern explains.

Interest

For tourists, however, the hamlet became a type of pilgrimage. Approximately 15k came to see each year, viewing tools in hand, to look – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

25 years after reunification, the TV show, a broadcast production about a made-up hamlet resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in renewed interest.

Present-Day Changes

The inauguration of the new museum – with a restaurant, shop, film screening area and large car park – is likely to