Big Problems in ‘Miniature Berlin’: This Small Hamlet Split in Two by the Cold War Era
An stream so narrow you hardly got your feet wet separated a village for in excess of four decades of time. By an accident of landscape, the half a hundred locals of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by pine forests, pastures and spectacular views, found themselves at the core of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the Eastern part, a frontier that was marked first by a enclosure and then by a barricade. United States military personnel nicknamed it Little Berlin.
Memorialising History
Months after their own wall was breached, and prior to their nation had reunified in 1990, a collection of villagers started documenting their history. The effort is close to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual remembrance of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was formally inaugurated by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show was not completely finished. Speaking to the residents who experienced the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an inhuman division, which tore households asunder and turned neighbours into aliens.”
“You were bystanders of an brutal division, which ripped households into pieces and turned neighbours into strangers.”
Historical Background
Right from its creation in 1810, the village straddled the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a princely house most famous for bestowing all its male descendants the name Heinrich and counting them in order by birth order. As Steinmeier related to the audience, the oddity was never an obstacle in the path of the inhabitants drinking in the very same pub, attending the very same church and enrolling their kids to the very same educational institution.
Post-War Split
Then came the second world war. Immediately after they came, the Russians installed wooden posts by the brook. For a annual period they occupied the entire village, creating their command in a dwelling on the western side, adorning it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The US forces urged them to withdraw across the creek. For a time, residents could still hop over, though as controls increased they were obliged to show identity papers, even though everyone knew who they were, and to go back at evening.
Escalation of Border Controls
After that, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal shutting of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a wall was built, with mines, vehicle barriers and observation points. The residents could continue to view each other by climbing elevations, but on the east side waving and yelling were banned. One woman was put on a GDR intelligence watch list for responding “likewise” to a Bavarian local who wished her “happy new year”.
Museum Development
I heard stories like these by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent much of his occupational time building it. Locals were polled early on about how much wall they wished to keep. They selected a section on the western edge, near where a local resident succeeded to flee in the dead of night with a climbing device, after which the boundary was substantially strengthened.
Conserved Structures
Two guard towers are maintained together with a set of displays showing the most dramatic dates in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we stroll, the director details the rules: nobody could get closer than 5km of the boundary. Rural residents had to obtain specific authorization to care for their produce; the spouse could use the harvesting machine but never the pair, in case they attempted to make a run for it. Armed guards kept guard.
Wider Context
The boundary between the Federal Republic and the East Germany stretched nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic coast in the north to the south in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and memorialised the most frequently, but over two times more persons (more than 300) died attempting to cross it in provincial zones than in the big city. Lebegern informs me that almost all of escape attempts failed.
Village Daily Living
Most of Mödlareuth’s locals were agricultural workers or craftsmen, who adjusted to living in the grey zone between 2 political systems by keeping their heads down and looking after their farms. They nor did they endorsed the socialist government nor opposed it, the director explains.
Interest
For sightseers, however, the hamlet became a sort of site of interest. About 15k came to visit annually, binoculars in possession, to gawp – and then rapidly depart. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head.
Twenty five years after merger, the TV show, a television program about a fictional community like Mödlareuth, caused fresh interest.
Modern Developments
The inauguration of the recently established museum – with a cafe, store, film screening area and big vehicle area – is probable to
