Serious Difficulties in ‘Tiny Berlin’: The Small Settlement Split in Two by the Cold War Era

An brook so low you hardly got your feet wet separated a community for over four decades of time. Because of a chance of topography, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a small village bordered by pine forests, fields and breathtaking vistas, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War tensions. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a boundary that was established first by a barrier and then by a barricade. American soldiers called it Small Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

A few months after their own wall was opened, and prior to their country had become one in 1990, a assembly of villagers began commemorating their heritage. The project is close to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the fall 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 exhibition was not completely ready. Speaking to the locals who experienced the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an brutal division, which pulled families into pieces and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were witnesses of an brutal split, which pulled families apart and turned neighbours into strangers.”

Historical Context

Even at its establishment in 1810, the village spanned the Bavarian Kingdom and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage best known for bestowing all its men the name Heinrich and numbering them consecutively by date of birth. As Steinmeier related to the crowd, the oddity was never an obstacle in the manner of the inhabitants gathering in the very same inn, visiting the identical religious building and enrolling their young ones to the identical educational institution.

Post-War Division

Subsequently occurred the global conflict. As soon as they arrived, the Russians put up wooden posts by the brook. For a year they occupied the whole hamlet, establishing their control center in a building on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a portrait of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The Americans convinced them to retreat back over the brook. For a time, residents could still jump across, though as controls became stricter they were forced to display ID, even though everyone knew who they were, and to return at night.

Escalation of Border Measures

Subsequently, in 1952, came wire fencing and the formal closing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a barrier was constructed, with landmines, vehicle barriers and watchtowers. The locals could continue to see each other by climbing hills, but on the Soviet side waving and yelling were prohibited. One woman was placed on a East German secret police surveillance list for replying “back at you” to a West German local who wished her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

I heard narratives like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has devoted much of his working life developing it. Villagers were asked in the initial phases about how much structure they desired to maintain. They chose a stretch on the Bavarian fringe, adjacent to where a local resident succeeded to flee in the dead of night with a scaling tool, subsequently the frontier was substantially reinforced.

Preserved Installations

A pair of guard towers are maintained alongside a set of exhibits illustrating the most dramatic events in the community’s chronicle. As we move, Robert Lebegern lists the restrictions: no one could approach 5km of the boundary. Rural residents needed particular approval to tend to their fields; the partner could operate the agricultural equipment but under no circumstances both, lest they tried to escape. Armed guards kept guard.

Wider Background

The boundary between the Federal Republic and the East Germany stretched 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to the south in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and honored the most, but in excess of two times more people (exceeding 300) died attempting to cross it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Lebegern tells me that 95 percent of escape attempts did not succeed.

Community Life

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were rural laborers or artisans, who adapted to living in the grey zone between a pair of ideological spheres by keeping their heads down and tending to their farms. They neither endorsed the socialist government nor opposed it, Robert Lebegern clarifies.

Tourism

For visitors, however, the village became a kind of destination. Approximately 15,000 came to visit each year, viewing tools in hand, to gawp – and then swiftly leave. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the German defense official.

Twenty five years after unification, the television series, a television program about a fictional village resembling Mödlareuth, caused renewed attention.

Current Developments

The inauguration of the new museum – with a coffee shop, store, movie theater and sizable parking lot – is expected to