Major Trouble in ‘Miniature Berlin’: The Tiny Hamlet Divided in Half by the Cold War

An creek so narrow you scarcely got your ankles wet divided a village for in excess of four decades of time. By an accident of topography, the 50 residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by evergreen groves, meadows and stunning views, found themselves at the center of the Cold War tensions. They had the bad luck to cross Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a boundary that was established first by a barrier and then by a wall. US troops called it Small Berlin.

Commemorating History

A few months after their own division was breached, and prior to their nation had become one in 1990, a collection of local people set about memorialising their heritage. The project is close to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the demolition of the German barrier, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the show wasn’t quite prepared. Telling the residents who experienced the former times, Steinmeier said: “You were bystanders of an brutal division, which tore families apart and turned neighbours into strangers.”

“You were observers of an cruel division, which tore families apart and turned local residents into foreigners.”

Historical Context

Even at its creation in 1810, the hamlet spanned the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a royal family most renowned for giving all its male descendants the name Heinrich and counting them sequentially by birth. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the peculiarity never stood in the way of the residents gathering in the very same tavern, going to the identical place of worship and placing their children to the very same educational institution.

Following WWII Split

Subsequently occurred the global conflict. Immediately after they came, the Soviet forces installed timber poles by the creek. For a annual period they took over the whole village, setting up their headquarters in a building on the Bavarian side, decorating it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces urged them to pull back to the other side of the stream. For a period, locals could still cross over, though as restrictions became stricter they were forced to show identification, although all knew who they were, and to go back at evening.

Escalation of Border Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the legal shutting of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a concrete structure was built, with mines, tank traps and watchtowers. The villagers could still see each other by ascending slopes, but on the east side signaling and calling out were forbidden. One woman was added to a GDR intelligence watch list for answering “back at you” to a Bavarian villager who said her “prosperous new year”.

Heritage Site Creation

I heard accounts like these by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated much of his working life creating it. Residents were asked in the initial phases about how what length of structure they wished to maintain. They opted for a portion on the west fringe, near where a local resident succeeded to escape in the middle of the night with a climbing device, following which the frontier was significantly reinforced.

Maintained Installations

Two guard towers are maintained together with a set of displays depicting the most significant events in the hamlet’s history. As we stroll, the director lists the restrictions: nobody could get closer than 5km of the border. Rural residents had to obtain specific authorization to care for their fields; the partner could operate the harvesting machine but under no circumstances the pair, in case they sought to make a run for it. Armed guards were on duty.

Wider Context

The boundary between the Federal Republic and the GDR extended 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to this location in the south. Berlin is remembered and honored the most, but over double the number persons (more than 300) died seeking to cross it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern reminds me that 95% of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Community Life

Most of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or skilled workers, who accommodated to residing in the ambiguous area between a pair of political systems by staying low-profile and tending to their farms. They neither endorsed the East German authorities nor opposed it, the director explains.

Visitors

For sightseers, however, the hamlet became a sort of destination. Roughly 15k came to visit every year, binoculars in hand, to gawp – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was shown around by the German defense official.

Twenty-five years after reunification, the television series, a TV series about a imaginary village like Mödlareuth, led to renewed interest.

Present-Day Evolutions

The opening of the modern exhibition center – with a restaurant, shop, movie theater and sizable car park – is likely to