Serious Difficulties in ‘Tiny Berlin’: The Tiny Settlement Divided in Two by the Cold War Period

An brook so low you scarcely got your feet wet divided a community for in excess of four decades. By an accident of topography, the fifty inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by pine forests, meadows and breathtaking vistas, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span Bavaria, in Western Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a barricade. American soldiers called it Small Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

Months after their own barrier was breached, and prior to their state had reunified in 1990, a collection of local people set about memorialising their history. The project is close to be completed: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the collapse of the Wall in Berlin, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was officially inaugurated by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the show wasn’t quite prepared. Telling the villagers who lived through the former times, Steinmeier remarked: “You were witnesses of an inhuman separation, which ripped families apart and turned local residents into aliens.”

“You were bystanders of an inhuman split, which tore relatives apart and turned neighbors into strangers.”

Past Context

Starting at its creation in 1810, the village straddled the Bavarian Kingdom and the Principality of Reuss, a noble lineage best known for bestowing all its male members the name Heinrich and numbering them consecutively by birth order. As Steinmeier informed the audience, the oddity was never an obstacle in the way of the residents gathering in the identical inn, visiting the very same church and placing their children to the very same learning center.

Following WWII Split

Next arrived the second world war. The moment they appeared, the Russians erected wood stakes by the brook. For a annual period they took over the entire community, establishing their command in a dwelling on the western side, adorning it with a image of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The American soldiers urged them to retreat to the other side of the brook. For a while, residents could still hop over, though as restrictions tightened they were forced to display identity papers, although everyone knew who they were, and to come back at after dark.

Increase of Border Restrictions

After that, in 1952, came barbed wire and the official shutting of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a barrier was erected, with mines, vehicle barriers and guard posts. The locals could still observe each other by ascending hills, but on the Soviet side gesturing and yelling were forbidden. A local woman was added to a East German secret police watch list for answering “same to you” to a West German local who said her “happy new year”.

Museum Development

It was related to me narratives including these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent a significant portion of his occupational time creating it. Residents were polled at an early stage about how what length of barrier they wanted to keep. They selected a stretch on the west edge, adjacent to where one of their own succeeded to flee in the darkest hours with a scaling tool, following which the frontier was significantly fortified.

Maintained Buildings

Two observation towers are maintained in addition to a set of exhibits illustrating the most impactful moments in the hamlet’s history. As we stroll, the director lists the regulations: not a single person could come within 5km of the boundary. Rural residents required specific authorization to tend to their produce; the husband or wife could use the combine harvester but never the pair, in case they tried to flee. Armed guards were on duty.

Larger Perspective

The frontier between Western Germany and the East Germany stretched 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to this location in the south. Berlin is commemorated and honored the greatest, but over two times more individuals (exceeding 300) died seeking to pass over it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern tells me that almost all of attempts to flee did not succeed.

Hamlet Daily Living

The majority of Mödlareuth’s locals were farmers or artisans, who adapted to living in the grey zone between two political systems by keeping their heads down and caring for their fields. They nor did they backed the socialist government nor fought it, the director explains.

Interest

For tourists, however, the village became a kind of destination. Roughly 15,000 came to visit annually, viewing tools in possession, to stare – and then quickly leave. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head.

Twenty-five years after merger, the television series, a television program about a fictional village like Mödlareuth, led to new curiosity.

Current Evolutions

The launch of the recently established museum – with a cafe, shop, movie theater and big vehicle area – is likely to