Major Difficulties in ‘Tiny Berlin’: The Tiny Hamlet Separated in Half by the Cold War Era

An stream so narrow you scarcely got your ankles wet divided a village for over four decades worth of time. By an accident of topography, the half a hundred locals of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by evergreen groves, meadows and stunning scenery, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the bad luck to straddle Bavaria, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a boundary that was established first by a barrier and then by a partition. US troops nicknamed it Little Berlin.

Commemorating the Past

Several months after their own division was opened, and before their country had become one in 1990, a group of residents began commemorating their history. The project is close to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th remembrance of the demolition of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was formally inaugurated by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the show was not completely finished. Telling the villagers who endured the old days, Steinmeier said: “You were witnesses of an cruel separation, which pulled families apart and turned neighbours into aliens.”

“You were witnesses of an brutal division, which pulled households into pieces and turned local residents into strangers.”

Bygone Context

Even at its creation in 1810, the community cut across the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a princely house most renowned for bestowing all its male members the name Heinrich and labeling them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the peculiarity did not stand in the manner of the locals gathering in the identical tavern, attending the identical place of worship and sending their young ones to the very same school.

After the War Division

Then came the World War II. Immediately after they arrived, the Russian troops installed wooden posts by the brook. For a annual period they occupied the entire hamlet, creating their command in a dwelling on the Bavarian territory side, adorning it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The US forces convinced them to pull back back over the brook. For a while, residents could still cross over, though as restrictions increased they were obliged to display ID, despite the fact that each person understood who they were, and to come back at evening.

Intensification of Border Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came metal barriers and the official closing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was built, with mines, vehicle barriers and observation points. The villagers could continue to view each other by climbing slopes, but on the east side gesturing and yelling were banned. A female resident was placed on a Stasi monitoring list for responding “back at you” to a West German resident who wished her “good new year”.

Museum Establishment

It was related to me stories like these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has devoted a large part of his professional career building it. Villagers were consulted early on about how what length of wall they wanted to preserve. They opted for a stretch on the Bavarian fringe, close to where a villager managed to get away in the middle of the night with a climbing device, after which the border was significantly strengthened.

Maintained Buildings

Two guard towers are conserved together with a collection of exhibits illustrating the most significant dates in the community’s chronicle. As we move, the director details the restrictions: no one could approach 5km of the boundary. Rural residents had to obtain specific authorization to tend to their fields; the spouse could operate the harvesting machine but not the pair, in case they tried to escape. Armed guards were on duty.

Larger Perspective

The border between West Germany and the GDR stretched nearly 900 miles, from the northern sea in the northern part to the south in the south. Berlin is recalled and honored the most, but over two times more people (exceeding 300) died seeking to pass over it in rural areas than in the metropolis. the director reminds me that 95 percent of efforts to cross did not succeed.

Community Life

Most of Mödlareuth’s locals were farmers or craftsmen, who adapted to residing in the grey zone between 2 political systems by avoiding attention and tending to their land. They did not supported the communist regime nor fought it, Lebegern clarifies.

Visitors

For visitors, however, the village became a type of site of interest. About fifteen thousand came to visit each year, binoculars in hand, to look – and then rapidly depart. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head.

Twenty five years after unification, Tannbach, a television program about a made-up village like Mödlareuth, caused new curiosity.

Present-Day Evolutions

The inauguration of the new museum – with a coffee shop, store, film screening area and sizable vehicle area – is expected to