🔗 Share this article

A creek so low you barely got your ankles wet split a village for in excess of four decades worth of time. Due to a quirk of landscape, the half a hundred locals of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by pine forests, fields and stunning vistas, found themselves at the core of the Cold War tensions. They had the misfortune to cross Bavaria, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was established first by a fence and then by a wall. American soldiers nicknamed it Little Berlin.

Commemorating Historical Events

A few months after their own barrier was torn down, and even before their state had reunified in 1990, a collection of local people began documenting their heritage. The work is about to reach completion: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth anniversary of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was formally opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the display was not completely finished. Telling the villagers who lived through the former times, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an cruel division, which tore households apart and turned neighbors into strangers.”

“You were bystanders of an inhuman division, which tore relatives asunder and turned neighbours into strangers.”

Historical Origins

Even at its founding in 1810, the hamlet straddled the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a princely house best known for assigning all its male members the designation Heinrich and numbering them sequentially by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the peculiarity never stood in the way of the locals gathering in the very same pub, attending the identical religious building and placing their young ones to the identical learning center.

Post-War Split

Subsequently occurred the second world war. The moment they arrived, the Russians erected wood stakes by the creek. For a year they took over the whole community, creating their control center in a dwelling on the Bavarian side, decorating it with a image of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The American soldiers convinced them to retreat back over the stream. For a time, residents could still cross over, though as controls tightened they were obliged to show identification, despite the fact that everyone understood who they were, and to go back at after dark.

Escalation of Border Restrictions

Subsequently, in 1952, came barbed wire and the formal sealing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was erected, with landmines, vehicle barriers and guard posts. The locals could still view each other by climbing hills, but on the east side waving and calling out were forbidden. A local woman was put on a Stasi surveillance list for replying “likewise” to a West German local who said her “happy new year”.

Exhibition Center Development

I heard stories like these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated a significant portion of his occupational time creating it. Locals were consulted early on about how how long a section wall they wanted to keep. They opted for a portion on the Bavarian perimeter, adjacent to where one of their own was able to get away in the middle of the night with a climbing device, following which the boundary was substantially fortified.

Maintained Buildings

Two watchtowers are conserved in addition to a set of displays showing the most dramatic dates in the community’s chronicle. As we move, Robert Lebegern details the rules: no one could approach 5km of the frontier. Agricultural workers required particular approval to look after their fields; the husband or wife could use the combine harvester but never both, in case they attempted to escape. Armed guards were on duty.

Larger Background

The frontier between West Germany and the East Germany extended 1,400 kilometers, from the Baltic coast in the north to this location in the south. Berlin is remembered and honored the most frequently, but over double the number people (exceeding 300) died trying to pass over it in rural areas than in the urban center. Robert Lebegern informs me that 95% of escape attempts failed.

Village Existence

Most of Mödlareuth’s villagers were farmers or skilled workers, who adapted to dwelling in the grey zone between 2 political systems by staying low-profile and caring for their farms. They nor did they supported the socialist government nor resisted it, Robert Lebegern clarifies.

Tourism

For sightseers, however, the hamlet became a kind of site of interest. Roughly fifteen thousand visited every year, optical devices in hand, to stare – and then quickly depart. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head.

Twenty five years after merger, the TV show, a broadcast production about a fictional village resembling Mödlareuth, caused fresh attention.

Current Evolutions

The inauguration of the new museum – with a coffee shop, shop, movie theater and sizable parking lot – is expected to