Big Problems in ‘Little Berlin’: The Small Settlement Split in Two by the Cold War Era

A creek so narrow you barely got your feet wet divided a settlement for more than four decades worth of time. By an accident of geography, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by pine forests, meadows and stunning vistas, found themselves at the center of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span Bavaria, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a partition. US troops dubbed it Mini Berlin.

Preserving History

Several months after their own division was torn down, and before their state had reunified in 1990, a assembly of villagers started memorialising their heritage. The project is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the demolition of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally 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 former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an inhuman separation, which tore relatives into pieces and turned neighbours into aliens.”

“You were witnesses of an cruel separation, which pulled families into pieces and turned local residents into strangers.”

Historical Context

Starting at its founding in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage most famous for assigning all its male members the designation Heinrich and counting them sequentially by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the crowd, the peculiarity did not stand in the way of the residents drinking in the identical pub, attending the same church and enrolling their children to the very same educational institution.

Following WWII Division

Then came the second world war. As soon as they appeared, the Russian troops put up wood stakes by the brook. For a twelve months they took over the complete hamlet, establishing their control center in a house on the western side, decorating it with a image of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The US forces persuaded them to withdraw back over the brook. For a time, villagers could still cross over, though as restrictions tightened they were required to display ID, even though each person understood who they were, and to go back at after dark.

Intensification of Frontier Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came barbed wire and the formal sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a wall was built, with landmines, vehicle barriers and guard posts. The residents could still view each other by scaling hills, but on the east side signaling and calling out were banned. One woman was put on a Stasi surveillance list for responding “same to you” to a Bavarian local who greeted her “good new year”.

Museum Creation

I heard accounts such as these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has devoted a significant portion of his professional career building it. Villagers were consulted at an early stage about how much barrier they desired to keep. They chose a section on the Bavarian perimeter, adjacent to where one of their own managed to flee in the middle of the night with a climbing device, after which the boundary was substantially strengthened.

Maintained Buildings

A pair of guard towers are preserved in addition to a series of displays illustrating the most impactful moments in the village’s chronicle. As we move, Robert Lebegern enumerates the restrictions: no one could come within 5km of the frontier. Rural residents needed specific authorization to tend to their fields; the spouse could work the harvesting machine but not the two, for fear that they attempted to make a run for it. Armed guards stood watch.

Broader Background

The frontier between the Federal Republic and the GDR stretched nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic Sea in the north to the south in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and honored the greatest, but in excess of double the number individuals (exceeding 300) were killed attempting to pass over it in rural areas than in the metropolis. the director reminds me that 95% of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Hamlet Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s locals were rural laborers or craftsmen, who adjusted to living in the uncertain territory between two ideological spheres by avoiding attention and looking after their farms. They did not supported the communist regime nor resisted it, Robert Lebegern states.

Visitors

For sightseers, however, the village became a kind of pilgrimage. About 15,000 visited annually, viewing tools in possession, to look – and then swiftly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was given a tour by the German defence minister.

Twenty five years after unification, the TV show, a television program about a made-up community like Mödlareuth, resulted in new curiosity.

Current Evolutions

The opening of the recently established museum – with a coffee shop, shop, movie theater and big vehicle area – is expected to