Major Difficulties in ‘Tiny Berlin’: The Tiny Settlement Separated in Half by the Cold War Period

A stream so low you hardly got your ankles wet split a settlement for over four decades of time. Due to a quirk of landscape, the 50 inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by pine forests, pastures and stunning scenery, found themselves at the center of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to cross the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a border that was established first by a enclosure and then by a wall. American soldiers nicknamed it Small Berlin.

Commemorating the Past

A few months after their own wall was torn down, and before their country had become one in 1990, a assembly of residents began commemorating their past. The work is close to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the demolition of the German barrier, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly opened by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the display wasn’t quite finished. Telling the locals who experienced the old days, Steinmeier said: “You were observers of an brutal division, which tore families asunder and turned neighbors into foreigners.”

“You were bystanders of an brutal separation, which ripped households asunder and turned neighbours into strangers.”

Historical Origins

Right from its establishment in 1810, the hamlet spanned the Royal Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage most renowned for bestowing all its male descendants the name Heinrich and counting them sequentially by birth order. As Steinmeier told the audience, the oddity was never an obstacle in the path of the inhabitants socializing in the same tavern, attending the same religious building and sending their young ones to the identical learning center.

Following WWII Separation

Next arrived the second world war. Immediately after they arrived, the Russians erected wood stakes by the brook. For a twelve months they occupied the whole village, creating their command in a dwelling on the western side, embellishing it with a image of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The Americans convinced them to retreat to the other side of the stream. For a period, villagers could continue to cross over, though as limitations increased they were obliged to show ID, even though all understood who they were, and to go back at after dark.

Increase of Boundary Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal sealing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a concrete structure was built, with landmines, vehicle barriers and watchtowers. The locals could still observe each other by ascending hills, but on the Soviet side gesturing and shouting were forbidden. A female resident was placed on a GDR intelligence surveillance list for replying “likewise” to a West German local who wished her “prosperous new year”.

Exhibition Center Establishment

I was told accounts including these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated much of his occupational time creating it. Villagers were asked at an early stage about how how long a section barrier they wanted to preserve. They selected a section on the western edge, near where one of their own succeeded to flee in the dead of night with a scaling tool, subsequently the border was heavily fortified.

Conserved Buildings

A pair of guard towers are conserved alongside a set of tableaux depicting the most dramatic dates in the village’s chronicle. As we walk, Robert Lebegern enumerates the rules: nobody could come within 5km of the border. Rural residents needed specific authorization to care for their fields; the spouse could work the combine harvester but never the pair, in case they attempted to escape. Military personnel stood watch.

Wider Context

The border between Western Germany and the GDR extended nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to here in the southern region. Berlin is commemorated and honored the greatest, but over two times more people (more than 300) lost their lives attempting to pass over it in countryside regions than in the big city. the director informs me that 95% of escape attempts failed.

Community Existence

The majority of Mödlareuth’s residents were agricultural workers or skilled workers, who adapted to living in the grey zone between two belief systems by staying low-profile and caring for their farms. They nor did they supported the East German authorities nor opposed it, Robert Lebegern clarifies.

Tourism

For visitors, however, the hamlet became a kind of pilgrimage. Approximately 15k visited every year, viewing tools in possession, to gawp – and then rapidly go away. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was guided by the national security head.

25 years after unification, the TV show, a TV series about a made-up hamlet like Mödlareuth, resulted in fresh attention.

Modern Developments

The inauguration of the new museum – with a coffee shop, store, movie theater and big car park – is probable to