Major Problems in ‘Little Berlin’: This Minuscule Village Divided in Two by the Cold War

An creek so narrow you hardly got your ankles wet separated a community for in excess of four decades worth of time. Because of a chance of topography, the half a hundred locals of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by evergreen groves, fields and spectacular vistas, found themselves at the center of the cold war. They had the bad luck to straddle Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a frontier that was marked first by a fence and then by a partition. US troops dubbed it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating History

Several months after their own barrier was torn down, and prior to their nation had unified again in 1990, a collection of residents set about commemorating their heritage. The work is close to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th annual remembrance of the fall of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was formally launched by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display was not entirely prepared. Addressing the locals who experienced the past era, Steinmeier said: “You were witnesses of an inhuman split, which pulled families apart and turned neighbours into aliens.”

“You were witnesses of an inhuman separation, which ripped households into pieces and turned neighbours into strangers.”

Historical Context

Starting at its establishment in 1810, the hamlet spanned the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a royal family most renowned for bestowing all its men the title Heinrich and labeling them consecutively by birth. As Steinmeier related to the gathering, the peculiarity was never an obstacle in the way of the locals gathering in the very same pub, going to the very same religious building and sending their young ones to the very same school.

Following WWII Separation

Subsequently occurred the second world war. Immediately after they came, the Russians erected timber poles by the creek. For a twelve months they seized the complete hamlet, creating their command in a house on the western side, embellishing it with a picture of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The US forces urged them to pull back back over the stream. For a period, residents could still cross over, though as limitations became stricter they were forced to display identity papers, even though each person was aware who they were, and to return at evening.

Increase of Boundary Controls

After that, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official sealing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a wall was built, with landmines, anti-tank obstacles and watchtowers. The locals could still view each other by ascending elevations, but on the Soviet side signaling and yelling were prohibited. One woman was put on a GDR intelligence watch list for responding “likewise” to a West German villager who greeted her “good new year”.

Museum Creation

It was related to me accounts including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated much of his professional career developing it. Locals were polled at an early stage about how how long a section wall they wanted to preserve. They selected a portion on the west edge, near where a villager succeeded to escape in the darkest hours with a scaling tool, after which the border was heavily reinforced.

Maintained Installations

A pair of watchtowers are preserved alongside a set of tableaux illustrating the most significant events in the hamlet’s past. As we walk, Robert Lebegern lists the regulations: no one could approach 5km of the boundary. Agricultural workers required special permission to look after their crops; the partner could operate the harvesting machine but under no circumstances the pair, in case they attempted to make a run for it. Military personnel kept guard.

Wider Context

The boundary between the Federal Republic and the GDR stretched 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to this location in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and honored the greatest, but more than two times more people (exceeding 300) lost their lives seeking to cross it in countryside regions than in the big city. the director tells me that almost all of efforts to cross did not succeed.

Hamlet Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or craftsmen, who adjusted to residing in the ambiguous area between 2 ideological spheres by avoiding attention and caring for their land. They neither endorsed the East German authorities nor opposed it, the director clarifies.

Interest

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a sort of pilgrimage. About 15k came to visit annually, optical devices in their hands, to gawp – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was given a tour by the national security head.

Twenty five years after merger, the TV show, a television program about a made-up village like Mödlareuth, led to renewed curiosity.

Present-Day Developments

The opening of the recently established museum – with a restaurant, shop, movie theater and sizable car park – is likely to