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A brook so shallow you hardly got your feet wet separated a village for over four decades worth of time. Due to a quirk of landscape, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by evergreen groves, meadows and spectacular scenery, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War tensions. They had the misfortune to cross Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was established first by a fence and then by a barricade. US troops dubbed it Small Berlin.

Commemorating the Past

A few months after their own division was breached, and before their state had unified again in 1990, a collection of local people set about commemorating their heritage. The work is soon to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the collapse of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was officially inaugurated by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the exhibition wasn’t quite finished. Addressing the residents who endured the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an cruel division, which tore relatives apart and turned neighbors into strangers.”

“You were observers of an cruel split, which ripped families asunder and turned neighbours into strangers.”

Bygone Origins

Starting at its establishment in 1810, the community spanned the Bavarian Kingdom and the Principality of Reuss, a noble lineage most famous for giving all its male descendants the name Heinrich and counting them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the oddity never stood in the manner of the residents gathering in the identical tavern, visiting the very same religious building and enrolling their young ones to the same educational institution.

Following WWII Division

Then came the World War II. The moment they appeared, the Russians erected wooden posts by the creek. For a year they took over the whole village, establishing their headquarters in a house on the western side, embellishing it with a portrait of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The Americans convinced them to retreat back over the stream. For a period, residents could still cross over, though as controls became stricter they were obliged to display ID, even though each person understood who they were, and to come back at night.

Escalation of Border Controls

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a wall was erected, with explosives, vehicle barriers and observation points. The residents could continue to see each other by ascending slopes, but on the east side gesturing and yelling were banned. One woman was put on a Stasi surveillance list for responding “same to you” to a western villager who said her “happy new year”.

Museum Establishment

I heard stories such as these tales by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated a large part of his working life building it. Locals were asked at an early stage about how how long a section barrier they desired to maintain. They chose a section on the west perimeter, adjacent to where a villager succeeded to flee in the middle of the night with a ladder, after which the border was heavily fortified.

Maintained Structures

2 guard towers are maintained alongside a set of exhibits illustrating the most significant dates in the village’s past. As we move, Robert Lebegern lists the regulations: nobody could get closer than 5km of the frontier. Rural residents needed special permission to tend to their produce; the husband or wife could use the agricultural equipment but not the pair, for fear that they sought to escape. Armed guards stood watch.

Wider Context

The frontier between Western Germany and the German Democratic Republic stretched nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to the south in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and honored the most, but in excess of double the number people (more than 300) were killed seeking to traverse it in provincial zones than in the big city. Lebegern reminds me that 95% of attempts to flee were unsuccessful.

Village Daily Living

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were rural laborers or skilled workers, who adapted to residing in the grey zone between two ideological spheres by staying low-profile and looking after their farms. They did not backed the East German authorities nor opposed it, Robert Lebegern clarifies.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the village became a type of destination. About fifteen thousand visited annually, optical devices in hand, to stare – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head.

Twenty-five years after merger, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a imaginary village similar to Mödlareuth, resulted in fresh curiosity.

Present-Day Evolutions

The launch of the new museum – with a restaurant, store, movie theater and big parking lot – is likely to