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

A stream so low you scarcely got your feet wet divided a settlement for in excess of four decades worth of time. By an accident of geography, the 50 inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement bordered by evergreen groves, meadows and stunning views, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross the Bavarian region, in the Federal Republic of Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a boundary that was demarcated first by a barrier and then by a barricade. United States military personnel dubbed it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating History

A few months after their own wall was opened, and before their state had reunified in 1990, a collection of local people started documenting their heritage. The work is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth remembrance of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was officially opened by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the display was not entirely prepared. Speaking to the locals who experienced the former times, Steinmeier remarked: “You were observers of an brutal division, which tore relatives apart and turned local residents into strangers.”

“You were bystanders of an cruel split, which ripped relatives apart and turned local residents into strangers.”

Bygone Context

Even at its establishment in 1810, the community spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage most famous for giving all its male members the title Heinrich and labeling them in order by birth. As Steinmeier related to the gathering, the quirk was never an obstacle in the manner of the inhabitants socializing in the very same inn, attending the very same religious building and placing their children to the identical educational institution.

After the War Separation

Then came the World War II. The moment they came, the Russians put up wood stakes by the creek. For a year they took over the entire community, establishing their command in a dwelling on the Bavarian side, embellishing it with a image of Stalin and a communist symbol. The Americans urged them to withdraw back over the brook. For a while, villagers could continue to cross over, though as controls tightened they were obliged to show ID, although each person understood who they were, and to come back at evening.

Increase of Border Controls

Subsequently, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal shutting of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a wall was built, with mines, tank traps and guard posts. The residents could continue to see each other by ascending slopes, but on the Soviet side signaling and calling out were banned. A female resident was added to a East German secret police surveillance list for replying “likewise” to a Bavarian villager who said her “prosperous new year”.

Museum Development

I heard stories such as these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has devoted much of his occupational time developing it. Residents were asked early on about how much barrier they wanted to keep. They opted for a section on the western fringe, close to where one of their own managed to flee in the dead of night with a scaling tool, subsequently the border was heavily reinforced.

Preserved Structures

A pair of watchtowers are preserved in addition to a collection of tableaux showing the most dramatic events in the hamlet’s past. As we stroll, Lebergen enumerates the regulations: no one could come within 5km of the frontier. Agricultural workers required special permission to look after their produce; the spouse could work the combine harvester but under no circumstances the two, lest they attempted to flee. Soldiers stood watch.

Broader Context

The boundary between West Germany and the GDR ran 1,400km, from the northern sea in the northern part to this location in the south. Berlin is commemorated and honored the most, but in excess of two times more persons (exceeding 300) died attempting to pass over it in rural areas than in the metropolis. Lebegern tells me that almost all of efforts to cross failed.

Village Daily Living

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s locals were agricultural workers or craftsmen, who accommodated to residing in the uncertain territory between 2 political systems by staying low-profile and tending to their farms. They did not endorsed the East German authorities nor opposed it, Robert Lebegern explains.

Visitors

For sightseers, however, the village became a type of site of interest. About 15k came to visit each year, binoculars in hand, to look – and then rapidly go away. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was shown around by the German defense official.

Twenty-five years after unification, Tannbach, a TV series about a fictional community similar to Mödlareuth, caused fresh attention.

Current Evolutions

The launch of the new museum – with a coffee shop, store, film screening area and big vehicle area – is likely to