Major Problems in ‘Little Berlin’: The Tiny Village Separated in Half by the Cold War
An creek so narrow you barely got your feet wet divided a village for in excess of four decades. By an accident of topography, the 50 residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet bordered by pine forests, pastures and stunning scenery, found themselves at the center of the cold war. They had the misfortune to straddle the Bavarian region, 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. American soldiers nicknamed it Little Berlin.
Memorialising Historical Events
Several months after their own wall was breached, and even before their country had become one in 1990, a group of villagers began commemorating their heritage. The work is soon to come to fruition: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will open. It was publicly inaugurated by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the exhibition wasn’t quite prepared. Speaking to the locals who lived through the old days, Steinmeier remarked: “You were bystanders of an cruel split, which ripped households asunder and turned local residents into strangers.”
“You were bystanders of an cruel split, which ripped relatives apart and turned neighbours into aliens.”
Past Background
Starting at its establishment in 1810, the community spanned the Royal Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a princely house most famous for bestowing all its male descendants the title Heinrich and numbering them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier told the crowd, the quirk did not stand in the manner of the inhabitants socializing in the very same inn, attending the same religious building and sending their young ones to the very same learning center.
After the War Division
Next arrived the global conflict. The moment they arrived, the Russian troops erected wooden posts by the creek. For a twelve months they took over the complete village, creating their control center in a dwelling on the western side, adorning it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces persuaded them to retreat across the stream. For a time, villagers could still jump across, though as controls increased they were required to show ID, even though everyone knew who they were, and to go back at night.
Escalation of Frontier Controls
Then, in 1952, came metal barriers and the official closing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a concrete structure was built, with mines, tank traps and watchtowers. The residents could still see each other by climbing elevations, but on the Soviet side signaling and shouting were forbidden. A local woman was placed on a Stasi watch list for replying “back at you” to a West German resident who wished her “happy new year”.
Museum Development
I heard accounts including these by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has spent much of his professional career building it. Villagers were consulted in the initial phases about how much structure they desired to keep. They opted for a section on the western perimeter, near where a local resident succeeded to get away in the dead of night with a scaling tool, following which the border was substantially strengthened.
Preserved Structures
A pair of guard towers are conserved together with a series of displays depicting the most significant events in the village’s history. As we walk, the director details the regulations: not a single person could get closer than 5km of the border. Farmers had to obtain specific authorization to care for their fields; the spouse could operate the agricultural equipment but not the two, in case they tried to make a run for it. Soldiers stood watch.
Broader Perspective
The border between the Federal Republic and the GDR extended nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic coast in the northern part to this location in the south. Berlin is remembered and memorialised the greatest, but in excess of two times more people (exceeding 300) lost their lives trying to cross it in provincial zones than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern informs me that 95% of attempts to flee failed.
Community Existence
Most of Mödlareuth’s locals were agricultural workers or artisans, who adapted to residing in the ambiguous area between two political systems by avoiding attention and tending to their land. They neither endorsed the communist regime nor resisted it, Lebegern clarifies.
Interest
For tourists, however, the settlement became a sort of pilgrimage. About 15,000 came to see annually, viewing tools in their hands, to stare – and then swiftly go away. In 1983, the American president, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head.
Twenty-five years after reunification, the TV show, a television program about a made-up community like Mödlareuth, caused new curiosity.
Current Evolutions
The opening of the recently established museum – with a coffee shop, shop, movie theater and large vehicle area – is probable to