Big Trouble in ‘Little Berlin’: The Small Settlement Separated in Two by the Cold War

An creek so low you barely got your feet wet split a settlement for over four decades of time. By an accident of topography, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet surrounded by evergreen groves, pastures and breathtaking views, found themselves at the core of the cold war. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a boundary that was demarcated first by a fence and then by a partition. American soldiers called it Mini Berlin.

Preserving History

Months after their own barrier was breached, and even before their country had reunified in 1990, a assembly of residents set about commemorating their history. The effort is close to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual remembrance of the collapse of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was officially launched by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the exhibition wasn’t quite finished. Telling the villagers who endured the past era, Steinmeier said: “You were bystanders of an brutal separation, which tore households into pieces and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were observers of an cruel split, which pulled relatives into pieces and turned neighbours into aliens.”

Bygone Origins

Right from its creation in 1810, the village cut across the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage best known for giving all its male descendants the designation Heinrich and labeling them consecutively by date of birth. As Steinmeier related to the gathering, the peculiarity did not stand in the way of the inhabitants socializing in the very same inn, going to the identical religious building and placing their kids to the identical educational institution.

Post-War Division

Subsequently occurred the World War II. Immediately after they arrived, the Russian troops installed wooden posts by the brook. For a annual period they seized the complete hamlet, establishing their control center in a dwelling on the Bavarian side, embellishing it with a image of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The US forces persuaded them to pull back across the creek. For a period, locals could continue to cross over, though as controls tightened they were forced to show identity papers, although each person understood who they were, and to return at evening.

Escalation of Boundary Controls

Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal closing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a wall was constructed, with mines, vehicle barriers and guard posts. The locals could still see each other by ascending hills, but on the eastern side signaling and calling out were banned. One woman was added to a Stasi watch list for answering “likewise” to a Bavarian villager who said her “happy new year”.

Museum Establishment

It was related to me accounts such as these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent much of his working life creating it. Locals were asked at an early stage about how much barrier they wanted to preserve. They chose a section on the west edge, close to where a villager managed to flee in the dead of night with a climbing device, subsequently the border was substantially fortified.

Conserved Buildings

A pair of observation towers are maintained together with a series of displays illustrating the most dramatic moments in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we move, Lebergen enumerates the restrictions: nobody could approach 5km of the boundary. Farmers had to obtain specific authorization to care for their produce; the partner could use the harvesting machine but not the pair, in case they attempted to flee. Military personnel were on duty.

Broader Perspective

The border between Western Germany and the GDR stretched nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic coast in the north to the south in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and memorialised the greatest, but over two times more persons (more than 300) lost their lives seeking to pass over it in countryside regions than in the big city. the director informs me that almost all of efforts to cross were unsuccessful.

Hamlet Life

Most of Mödlareuth’s locals were farmers or craftsmen, who adapted to dwelling in the uncertain territory between two ideological spheres by keeping their heads down and caring for their farms. They did not supported the socialist government nor opposed it, Lebegern clarifies.

Interest

For tourists, however, the village became a kind of destination. About 15,000 came to visit annually, viewing tools in possession, to look – and then swiftly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the German defense official.

Twenty five years after reunification, the television series, a broadcast production about a made-up village similar to Mödlareuth, caused new attention.

Present-Day Evolutions

The inauguration of the recently established museum – with a cafe, boutique, cinema room and sizable vehicle area – is expected to