🔗 Share this article Serious Difficulties in ‘Little Berlin’: The Tiny Hamlet Divided in Half by the Cold War An brook so shallow you hardly got your feet wet separated a village for more than four decades of time. By an accident of landscape, the half a hundred residents of Mödlareuth, a hamlet encircled by coniferous woods, fields and spectacular vistas, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the unfortunate circumstance to span the Bavarian region, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the East, a frontier that was demarcated first by a enclosure and then by a wall. American soldiers nicknamed it Mini Berlin. Commemorating History Months after their own wall was breached, and prior to their country had become one in 1990, a group of residents began documenting their history. The effort is about to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual anniversary of the fall of the Wall in Berlin, the Museum of German Division Mödlareuth will inaugurate. It was formally opened by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the first part of October, but the exhibition was not completely finished. Addressing the villagers who lived through the old days, Steinmeier remarked: “You were observers of an inhuman division, which ripped relatives apart and turned neighbors into aliens.” “You were bystanders of an brutal separation, which tore households asunder and turned neighbors into aliens.” Historical Background Starting at its founding in 1810, the hamlet spanned the Bavarian Kingdom and the Principality of Reuss, a noble lineage most renowned for giving all its male members the designation Heinrich and labeling them in order by date of birth. As Steinmeier informed the crowd, the oddity was never an obstacle in the way of the locals drinking in the same tavern, visiting the identical religious building and sending their children to the same school. Post-War Division Next arrived the World War II. Immediately after they appeared, the Soviet forces erected wood stakes by the creek. For a twelve months they took over the entire community, creating their control center in a building on the Bavarian side, embellishing it with a image of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The Americans persuaded them to pull back back over the creek. For a period, locals could still cross over, though as restrictions became stricter they were obliged to present identity papers, even though everyone knew who they were, and to go back at after dark. Escalation of Boundary Measures Then, in 1952, came wire fencing and the official sealing of the frontier. In 1966, as in Berlin five years earlier, a barrier was built, with mines, tank traps and observation points. The residents could still view each other by scaling hills, but on the Soviet side waving and calling out were banned. A female resident was put on a East German secret police monitoring list for replying “back at you” to a Bavarian villager who wished her “prosperous new year”. Exhibition Center Establishment I heard narratives like these by Robert Lebegern, the head of the institution, who has dedicated a large part of his working life developing it. Villagers were asked at an early stage about how much structure they wanted to keep. They opted for a portion on the western edge, adjacent to where a local resident succeeded to get away in the middle of the night with a ladder, after which the frontier was substantially fortified. Preserved Installations 2 observation towers are preserved alongside a set of displays depicting the most impactful dates in the hamlet’s chronicle. As we walk, the director enumerates the restrictions: nobody could approach 5km of the boundary. Farmers had to obtain specific authorization to look after their produce; the partner could operate the combine harvester but under no circumstances both, lest they sought to flee. Military personnel were on duty. Wider Background The border between Western Germany and the German Democratic Republic ran nearly 900 miles, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to the south in the south. Berlin is commemorated and honored the greatest, but in excess of twice as many individuals (well over 300) lost their lives trying to cross it in provincial zones than in the big city. the director informs me that 95 percent of attempts to flee failed. Hamlet Existence The majority of Mödlareuth’s locals were agricultural workers or craftsmen, who adapted to living in the grey zone between 2 belief systems by keeping their heads down and looking after their farms. They did not backed the socialist government nor resisted it, Robert Lebegern states. Interest For visitors, however, the hamlet became a sort of destination. Roughly 15k came to see annually, viewing tools in hand, to stare – and then swiftly leave. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was shown around by the German defence minister. Twenty five years after merger, the TV show, a broadcast production about a imaginary hamlet resembling Mödlareuth, led to new curiosity. Present-Day Evolutions The opening of the modern exhibition center – with a restaurant, shop, cinema room and big vehicle area – is expected to