Big Trouble in ‘Little Berlin’: The Small Village Divided in Half by the Cold War Era

An stream so shallow you scarcely got your feet wet divided a community for in excess of four decades worth of time. By an accident of geography, the fifty locals of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by coniferous woods, pastures and stunning vistas, found themselves at the center of the cold war. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a border that was marked first by a enclosure and then by a barricade. United States military personnel dubbed it Small Berlin.

Commemorating History

Several months after their own wall was opened, and before their state had become one in 1990, a collection of local people started documenting their heritage. The effort is close to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th commemoration of the collapse of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was formally opened by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the show was not entirely ready. Telling the residents who endured the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an inhuman split, which tore relatives apart and turned local residents into aliens.”

“You were observers of an brutal split, which pulled families apart and turned local residents into strangers.”

Historical Context

Right from its creation in 1810, the community cut across the Bavarian Kingdom and the Reuss Principality, a royal family best known for giving all its male descendants the title Heinrich and numbering them consecutively by birth order. As Steinmeier related to the gathering, the quirk was never an obstacle in the manner of the residents drinking in the identical tavern, going to the same place of worship and placing their kids to the same school.

After the War Division

Next arrived the second world war. Immediately after they came, the Russian troops erected wood stakes by the stream. For a twelve months they occupied the whole hamlet, setting up their command in a dwelling on the western side, adorning it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The Americans persuaded them to pull back across the brook. For a time, villagers could still cross over, though as controls became stricter they were obliged to present identification, even though each person understood who they were, and to return at night.

Escalation of Boundary Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came metal barriers and the official sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a concrete structure was constructed, with mines, vehicle barriers and guard posts. The villagers could still see each other by scaling hills, but on the east side gesturing and calling out were forbidden. A local woman was put on a GDR intelligence monitoring list for answering “likewise” to a Bavarian villager who wished her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Creation

It was related to me accounts including these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has dedicated a large part of his occupational time developing it. Villagers were polled early on about how much structure they wished to maintain. They chose a stretch on the western perimeter, close to where a local resident succeeded to get away in the darkest hours with a scaling tool, subsequently the border was significantly strengthened.

Preserved Structures

Two observation towers are maintained alongside a set of exhibits showing the most dramatic moments in the hamlet’s past. As we move, Robert Lebegern lists the restrictions: no one could get closer than 5km of the border. Agricultural workers had to obtain specific authorization to care for their produce; the spouse could use the harvesting machine but under no circumstances the pair, lest they tried to escape. Military personnel stood watch.

Larger Context

The boundary between West Germany and the GDR extended 1,400 kilometers, from the northern sea in the northern part to here in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and memorialised the most, but more than twice as many people (well over 300) died trying to cross it in rural areas than in the big city. Lebegern informs me that 95 percent of escape attempts failed.

Community Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s villagers were agricultural workers or skilled workers, who adjusted to dwelling in the grey zone between a pair of ideological spheres by keeping their heads down and caring for their farms. They nor did they supported the communist regime nor fought it, the director states.

Interest

For tourists, however, the village became a type of destination. About fifteen thousand came to visit each year, viewing tools in possession, to stare – and then quickly leave. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was guided by the German defense official.

25 years after merger, the television series, a TV series about a fictional hamlet like Mödlareuth, resulted in renewed attention.

Current Developments

The opening of the modern exhibition center – with a coffee shop, shop, movie theater and big parking lot – is likely to