Major Difficulties in ‘Miniature Berlin’: The Small Village Split in Half by the Cold War Period

An creek so shallow you barely got your ankles wet divided a village for in excess of four decades. By an accident of topography, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by coniferous woods, meadows and stunning vistas, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the bad luck to straddle Bavaria, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a border that was demarcated first by a barrier and then by a barricade. US troops called it Mini Berlin.

Commemorating the Past

Several months after their own barrier was torn down, and even before their nation had reunified in 1990, a collection of residents began memorialising their heritage. The work is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual commemoration of the demolition of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was officially opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show was not completely prepared. Speaking to the villagers who endured the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an brutal split, which ripped families into pieces and turned neighbors into strangers.”

“You were witnesses of an inhuman split, which ripped relatives apart and turned neighbours into aliens.”

Bygone Background

Even at its creation in 1810, the hamlet cut across the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a princely house best known for assigning all its male descendants the designation Heinrich and counting them consecutively by birth. As Steinmeier informed the crowd, the oddity did not stand in the way of the inhabitants gathering in the very same pub, visiting the identical place of worship and enrolling their kids to the identical school.

Post-War Separation

Next arrived the global conflict. Immediately after they appeared, the Russians put up wood stakes by the stream. For a twelve months they occupied the whole village, establishing their command in a building on the western side, decorating it with a picture of Stalin and a red star. The Americans persuaded them to withdraw across the brook. For a period, residents could still jump across, though as controls increased they were obliged to show identification, despite the fact that all understood who they were, and to go back at after dark.

Intensification of Border Restrictions

Then, in 1952, came metal barriers and the official sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was built, with explosives, tank traps and observation points. The locals could continue to see each other by climbing elevations, but on the east side waving and calling out were banned. A local woman was added to a Stasi surveillance list for answering “likewise” to a West German resident who wished her “prosperous new year”.

Exhibition Center Development

It was related to me narratives such as these tales by Robert Lebegern, the director of the museum, who has spent much of his working life developing it. Locals were polled early on about how what length of barrier they wanted to keep. They selected a stretch on the Bavarian fringe, near where a local resident managed to flee in the middle of the night with a ladder, following which the frontier was significantly fortified.

Maintained Buildings

2 guard towers are preserved alongside a set of tableaux depicting the most dramatic moments in the hamlet’s past. As we stroll, Robert Lebegern lists the restrictions: nobody could approach 5km of the border. Farmers required specific authorization to look after their fields; the partner could use the harvesting machine but never the two, in case they sought to escape. Armed guards stood watch.

Larger Perspective

The boundary between the Federal Republic and the East Germany stretched 1,400 kilometers, from the northern sea in the northern part to this location in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and honored the most, but over double the number people (more than 300) were killed attempting to cross it in provincial zones than in the metropolis. Lebegern reminds me that 95 percent of attempts to flee were unsuccessful.

Hamlet Life

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s residents were rural laborers or skilled workers, who adjusted to dwelling in the grey zone between two political systems by avoiding attention and caring for their fields. They did not endorsed the East German authorities nor fought it, the director clarifies.

Visitors

For tourists, however, the hamlet became a type of destination. Approximately 15k came to see every year, viewing tools in possession, to stare – and then rapidly leave. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was guided by the German defence minister.

Twenty-five years after merger, the television series, a TV series about a fictional community like Mödlareuth, caused new attention.

Current Developments

The inauguration of the modern exhibition center – with a restaurant, shop, movie theater and large vehicle area – is likely to