Complex sentence: The river formed some kind of meander there, and a wall that completely prevented the people from this GDR-village to reach (or even see) the water, and I felt petty for them.
Split into simpler sentences: The river formed some kind of meander there, and the village was completely surrounded by a wall. This prevented the people in this GDR-village to reach (or even to see) the water, and I felt petty for them.