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A stream so shallow you hardly got your feet wet separated a settlement for in excess of four decades worth of time. Due to a quirk of topography, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by coniferous woods, pastures and breathtaking scenery, found themselves at the core of the cold war. They had the unfortunate circumstance to straddle Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a frontier that was established first by a fence and then by a barricade. United States military personnel called it Mini Berlin.

Memorialising Historical Events

Months after their own wall was breached, and even before their nation had unified again in 1990, a group of residents set about documenting their heritage. The effort is about to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th annual 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 early October, but the exhibition was not completely prepared. Telling the residents who lived through the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an brutal division, which ripped relatives apart and turned local residents into strangers.”

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

Bygone Origins

Starting at its founding in 1810, the village cut across the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a royal family most renowned for assigning all its male members the designation Heinrich and counting them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier related to the gathering, the peculiarity was never an obstacle in the path of the residents drinking in the very same pub, attending the very same place of worship and sending their children to the identical school.

After the War Separation

Then came the World War II. As soon as they came, the Soviet forces installed wooden posts by the stream. For a year they took over the complete village, setting up their control center in a dwelling on the western side, decorating it with a image of Stalin and a red star. The American soldiers persuaded them to withdraw back over the brook. For a period, villagers could still jump across, though as restrictions tightened they were obliged to show identity papers, despite the fact that all knew who they were, and to go back at after dark.

Intensification of Frontier Controls

Then, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal closing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was built, with mines, vehicle barriers and guard posts. The locals could still see each other by ascending elevations, but on the east side gesturing and yelling were prohibited. A female resident was put on a Stasi surveillance list for replying “back at you” to a Bavarian local who greeted her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

I heard stories like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent a large part of his occupational time developing it. Villagers were asked at an early stage about how what length of structure they wished to maintain. They opted for a stretch on the west perimeter, near where a villager was able to get away in the dead of night with a scaling tool, following which the border was significantly fortified.

Maintained Installations

Two observation towers are maintained together with a series of exhibits showing the most significant moments in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we walk, Robert Lebegern details the restrictions: no one could approach 5km of the boundary. Rural residents had to obtain special permission to care for their crops; the husband or wife could use the agricultural equipment but under no circumstances both, for fear that they tried to flee. Military personnel stood watch.

Wider Background

The border between the Federal Republic and the East Germany ran 1,400 kilometers, from the northern sea in the north to here in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and memorialised the most, but more than double the number people (more than 300) died attempting to cross it in rural areas than in the metropolis. Robert Lebegern informs me that 95% of escape attempts were unsuccessful.

Community Life

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s residents were agricultural workers or artisans, who accommodated to living in the ambiguous area between 2 ideological spheres by staying low-profile and tending to their land. They nor did they endorsed the socialist government nor fought it, Lebegern explains.

Interest

For visitors, however, the settlement became a kind of pilgrimage. Roughly 15k visited each year, viewing tools in their hands, to look – and then quickly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was given a tour by the national security head.

Twenty five years after unification, the TV show, a broadcast production about a fictional community resembling Mödlareuth, resulted in renewed interest.

Modern Developments

The launch of the modern exhibition center – with a coffee shop, boutique, film screening area and big parking lot – is expected to