🔗 Share this article

A creek so narrow you scarcely got your feet wet divided a village for more than four decades worth of time. Due to a quirk of topography, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by coniferous woods, meadows and stunning views, found themselves at the center of the cold war. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a border that was established first by a barrier and then by a barricade. United States military personnel nicknamed it Little Berlin.

Memorialising the Past

A few months after their own barrier was torn down, and before their state had become one in 1990, a group of villagers set about documenting their history. The effort is about to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the collapse of the Wall in Berlin, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was publicly inaugurated by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the exhibition was not completely prepared. Speaking to the villagers who experienced the old days, Steinmeier remarked: “You were observers of an brutal split, which tore households into pieces and turned local residents into foreigners.”

“You were bystanders of an brutal separation, which tore relatives apart and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

Bygone Origins

Right from its creation in 1810, the community spanned the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a princely house most famous for giving all its male descendants the title Heinrich and numbering them in order by birth. As Steinmeier told the gathering, the quirk never stood in the way of the inhabitants socializing in the identical tavern, visiting the very same place of worship and sending their kids to the identical school.

Post-War Division

Subsequently occurred the second world war. The moment they appeared, the Soviet forces erected wooden posts by the creek. For a twelve months they took over the complete hamlet, setting up their control center in a building on the Bavarian territory side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a red star. The US forces convinced them to retreat to the other side of the stream. For a period, locals could still cross over, though as controls tightened they were required to present ID, although all knew who they were, and to return at night.

Increase of Boundary Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came barbed wire and the official closing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a barrier was built, with landmines, anti-tank obstacles and observation points. The villagers could still see each other by climbing hills, but on the eastern side signaling and calling out were prohibited. A local woman was placed on a GDR intelligence surveillance list for responding “back at you” to a Bavarian villager who greeted her “happy new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

It was related to me stories including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent a significant portion of his professional career developing it. Villagers were asked in the initial phases about how much wall they wished to maintain. They chose a stretch on the west perimeter, close to where a villager succeeded to escape in the darkest hours with a climbing device, after which the frontier was heavily fortified.

Conserved Structures

2 observation towers are maintained in addition to a collection of displays illustrating the most impactful dates in the village’s past. As we walk, the director details the restrictions: not a single person could get closer than 5km of the boundary. Rural residents required specific authorization to care for their crops; the spouse could use the agricultural equipment but not the pair, for fear that they attempted to escape. Military personnel were on duty.

Wider Context

The boundary between Western Germany and the East Germany extended 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to the south in the south. Berlin is commemorated and documented the greatest, but in excess of two times more individuals (more than 300) lost their lives seeking to pass over it in provincial zones than in the metropolis. Lebegern informs me that 95% of attempts to flee were unsuccessful.

Community Existence

Most of Mödlareuth’s villagers were rural laborers or skilled workers, who adjusted to living in the grey zone between two belief systems by keeping their heads down and caring for their land. They nor did they supported the East German authorities nor resisted it, Lebegern clarifies.

Tourism

For visitors, however, the village became a kind of destination. Roughly fifteen thousand came to visit each year, binoculars in possession, to stare – 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 merger, Tannbach, a broadcast production about a fictional hamlet resembling Mödlareuth, led to fresh interest.

Modern Evolutions

The launch of the new museum – with a restaurant, store, film screening area and large parking lot – is probable to