Big Difficulties in ‘Tiny Berlin’: This Tiny Hamlet Divided in Two by the Cold War Era

An brook so shallow you scarcely got your ankles wet divided a settlement for in excess of four decades of time. Because of a chance of topography, the 50 inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by pine forests, meadows and spectacular scenery, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the bad luck to cross the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the East, a frontier that was established first by a fence and then by a barricade. US troops called it Little Berlin.

Preserving Historical Events

Several months after their own division was breached, and prior to their state had become one in 1990, a collection of villagers began documenting their history. The project is about to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th remembrance of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly opened by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display wasn’t quite ready. Telling the locals who lived through the old days, Steinmeier said: “You were observers of an cruel division, which tore families into pieces and turned neighbors into strangers.”

“You were observers of an inhuman division, which ripped families apart and turned neighbors into aliens.”

Historical Origins

Starting at its founding in 1810, the village spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a royal family best known for bestowing all its male members the name Heinrich and labeling them consecutively by birth order. As Steinmeier told the audience, the quirk did not stand in the path of the locals gathering in the very same pub, attending the same church and placing their young ones to the very same school.

Post-War Division

Next arrived the global conflict. Immediately after they came, the Russians installed wooden posts by the stream. For a annual period they seized the complete village, establishing their command in a dwelling on the western side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The Americans urged them to retreat back over the brook. For a period, residents could continue to hop over, though as limitations increased they were required to show identification, despite the fact that everyone understood who they were, and to go back at evening.

Intensification of Border Measures

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a concrete structure was constructed, with explosives, tank traps and guard posts. The locals could still see each other by ascending elevations, but on the Soviet side signaling and shouting were prohibited. A female resident was placed on a GDR intelligence watch list for responding “back at you” to a Bavarian resident who greeted her “happy new year”.

Exhibition Center Establishment

I heard narratives including these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent a significant portion of his occupational time creating it. Residents were consulted early on about how much structure they desired to preserve. They chose a stretch on the west edge, close to where a villager was able to flee in the darkest hours with a climbing device, following which the frontier was heavily reinforced.

Preserved Structures

Two observation towers are preserved together with a set of displays depicting the most significant dates in the hamlet’s past. As we stroll, Lebergen lists the regulations: no one could come within 5km of the boundary. Agricultural workers required specific authorization to look after their crops; the partner could use the combine harvester but under no circumstances the two, in case they attempted to escape. Soldiers kept guard.

Broader Background

The frontier between West Germany and the GDR extended 1,400km, from the northern sea in the northern part to this location in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and memorialised the most frequently, but in excess of twice as many persons (exceeding 300) lost their lives trying to traverse it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Lebegern tells me that 95 percent of escape attempts did not succeed.

Community Existence

Most of Mödlareuth’s residents were agricultural workers or craftsmen, who adjusted to residing in the grey zone between a pair of political systems by avoiding attention and caring for their land. They neither supported the East German authorities nor resisted it, Lebegern clarifies.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the settlement became a type of destination. Approximately fifteen thousand came to visit every year, viewing tools in possession, to look – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

Twenty-five years after reunification, the TV show, a television program about a made-up village resembling Mödlareuth, led to new curiosity.

Current Evolutions

The launch of the new museum – with a restaurant, shop, film screening area and large car park – is probable to