🔗 Share this article

A stream so narrow you scarcely got your ankles wet divided a village for more than four decades of time. Due to a quirk of landscape, the 50 inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a tiny settlement bordered by coniferous woods, fields and stunning scenery, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War tensions. They had the misfortune to span the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Soviet sector, a frontier that was established first by a fence and then by a barricade. American soldiers called it Small Berlin.

Preserving Historical Events

Months after their own barrier was opened, and even before their nation had reunified in 1990, a collection of local people began documenting their past. The work is soon to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th anniversary of the demolition of the Wall in Berlin, the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was officially inaugurated by the head of state, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the exhibition was not completely ready. Telling the residents who experienced the old days, Steinmeier stated: “You were observers of an inhuman separation, which tore households apart and turned local residents into aliens.”

“You were witnesses of an brutal separation, which ripped relatives asunder and turned local residents into aliens.”

Bygone Origins

Even at its establishment in 1810, the village straddled the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Principality of Reuss, a noble lineage most famous for assigning all its men the name Heinrich and labeling them consecutively by birth. As Steinmeier told the gathering, the quirk was never an obstacle in the path of the locals drinking in the same pub, visiting the same place of worship and placing their children to the same learning center.

After the War Division

Then came the global conflict. As soon as they arrived, the Russian troops installed wood stakes by the stream. For a twelve months they occupied the complete hamlet, creating their headquarters in a building on the western side, adorning it with a portrait of Stalin and a red star. The Americans convinced them to withdraw back over the creek. For a period, locals could still cross over, though as limitations tightened they were required to present identity papers, even though everyone was aware who they were, and to return at evening.

Intensification of Boundary Controls

After that, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official closing of the border. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a concrete structure was built, with explosives, tank traps and guard posts. The locals could continue to view each other by ascending elevations, but on the eastern side waving and shouting were banned. A female resident was added to a East German secret police surveillance list for replying “back at you” to a West German local who said her “good new year”.

Heritage Site Establishment

I heard stories including these by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated much of his occupational time creating it. Villagers were asked early on about how much structure they wished to preserve. They opted for a section on the Bavarian perimeter, close to where one of their own managed to flee in the middle of the night with a ladder, after which the border was heavily fortified.

Preserved Structures

Two watchtowers are conserved alongside a collection of tableaux illustrating the most impactful events in the village’s chronicle. As we move, Lebergen lists the regulations: nobody could come within 5km of the border. Agricultural workers had to obtain special permission to look after their fields; the spouse could operate the harvesting machine but never both, lest they tried to flee. Soldiers were on duty.

Larger Perspective

The frontier between West Germany and the East Germany extended 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to the south in the south. Berlin is recalled and honored the greatest, but over double the number people (exceeding 300) died seeking to cross it in countryside regions than in the big city. the director informs me that 95% of efforts to cross failed.

Community Daily Living

The greater part of Mödlareuth’s residents were farmers or artisans, who adjusted to living in the uncertain territory between two belief systems by keeping their heads down and looking after their fields. They neither endorsed the socialist government nor resisted it, Lebegern states.

Interest

For visitors, however, the settlement became a kind of destination. About 15,000 came to visit annually, binoculars in possession, to look – and then swiftly leave. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was shown around by the German defense official.

Twenty-five years after reunification, the television series, a TV series about a made-up village like Mödlareuth, caused new curiosity.

Modern Changes

The opening of the new museum – with a restaurant, boutique, movie theater and large vehicle area – is probable to