🔗 Share this article

A stream so narrow you scarcely got your ankles wet split a community for more than four decades worth of time. Because of a chance of geography, the fifty residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by pine forests, meadows and spectacular vistas, found themselves at the heart of the cold war. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a boundary that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a barricade. US troops called it Small Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

Several months after their own barrier was torn down, and even before their country had become one in 1990, a group of local people started memorialising their heritage. The effort is soon to come to fruition: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the demolition of the Wall in Berlin, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will open. It was formally launched by the national president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the display was not completely ready. Telling the residents who lived through the past era, Steinmeier said: “You were bystanders of an cruel separation, which pulled households apart and turned neighbours into aliens.”

“You were observers of an cruel separation, which ripped households asunder and turned local residents into aliens.”

Historical Background

Even at its founding in 1810, the community straddled the Bavarian Kingdom and the Princely State of Reuss, a noble lineage best known for bestowing all its male descendants the designation Heinrich and numbering them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier told the crowd, the quirk did not stand in the way of the inhabitants socializing in the identical pub, visiting the identical church and sending their young ones to the very same learning center.

After the War Division

Then came the World War II. The moment they appeared, the Soviet forces installed wooden posts by the creek. For a twelve months they occupied the whole village, creating their command in a house on the Bavarian territory side, embellishing it with a image of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The US forces persuaded them to retreat back over the stream. For a period, locals could continue to jump across, though as controls became stricter they were forced to display ID, despite the fact that everyone understood who they were, and to return at after dark.

Intensification of Boundary Measures

After that, in 1952, came barbed wire and the legal closing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a barrier was constructed, with explosives, anti-tank obstacles and watchtowers. The villagers could still see each other by ascending elevations, but on the Soviet side waving and yelling were banned. One woman was placed on a East German secret police monitoring list for responding “same to you” to a West German local who said her “happy new year”.

Museum Creation

I heard stories like these tales by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has dedicated a large part of his professional career building it. Locals were polled in the initial phases about how much barrier they wanted to keep. They opted for a stretch on the Bavarian fringe, adjacent to where a villager was able to flee in the middle of the night with a climbing device, following which the border was heavily reinforced.

Conserved Structures

2 observation towers are preserved in addition to a series of tableaux showing the most impactful events in the community’s history. As we move, Lebergen lists the restrictions: nobody could come within 5km of the frontier. Farmers had to obtain particular approval to look after their crops; the husband or wife could use the harvesting machine but not both, in case they attempted to escape. Soldiers were on duty.

Broader Context

The border between West Germany and the GDR extended 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic coast in the north to the south in the southern region. Berlin is remembered and honored the most, but over twice as many people (exceeding 300) were killed trying to cross it in rural areas than in the big city. the director informs me that 95% of attempts to flee failed.

Hamlet Daily Living

Most of Mödlareuth’s locals were farmers or craftsmen, who adapted to living in the uncertain territory between 2 political systems by keeping their heads down and caring for their fields. They did not supported the East German authorities nor resisted it, the director explains.

Tourism

For visitors, however, the hamlet became a kind of destination. Approximately fifteen thousand visited annually, binoculars in their hands, to gawp – and then swiftly leave. In 1983, the United States leader, George Bush, was shown around by the German defence minister.

Twenty-five years after merger, the television series, a television program about a made-up village resembling Mödlareuth, led to fresh attention.

Modern Changes

The launch of the modern exhibition center – with a coffee shop, boutique, movie theater and big vehicle area – is probable to