🔗 Share this article Serious Difficulties in ‘Miniature Berlin’: The Minuscule Village Divided in Two by the Cold War Era A stream so low you scarcely got your ankles wet separated a settlement for in excess of four decades of time. By an accident of geography, the half a hundred inhabitants of Mödlareuth, a small village bordered by evergreen groves, meadows and breathtaking views, found themselves at the heart of the Cold War conflict. They had the bad luck to straddle the Bavarian region, in Western Germany, and the Thuringian region in the Eastern part, a frontier that was demarcated first by a barrier and then by a barricade. US troops dubbed it Little Berlin. Commemorating History Several months after their own barrier was opened, and before their country had become one in 1990, a assembly of villagers started documenting their history. The effort is about to reach completion: on 9 November, the 36th annual anniversary of the collapse of the German barrier, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was publicly launched by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in early October, but the exhibition was not entirely finished. Addressing the locals who lived through the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were witnesses of an inhuman split, which pulled relatives apart and turned neighbors into strangers.” “You were bystanders of an inhuman division, which pulled households asunder and turned neighbors into strangers.” Bygone Origins Starting at its establishment in 1810, the village straddled the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Princely State of Reuss, a princely house most renowned for assigning all its men the name Heinrich and counting them in order by birth. As Steinmeier related to the gathering, the oddity was never an obstacle in the manner of the inhabitants socializing in the same inn, going to the identical religious building and enrolling their kids to the same school. After the War Split Subsequently occurred the global conflict. The moment they appeared, the Russian troops installed wood stakes by the stream. For a annual period they took over the whole hamlet, establishing their headquarters in a house on the Bavarian territory side, decorating it with a portrait of Stalin and a communist symbol. The US forces persuaded them to pull back back over the creek. For a while, villagers could still hop over, though as limitations became stricter they were required to present ID, despite the fact that each person knew who they were, and to go back at evening. Intensification of Border Measures Subsequently, in 1952, came metal barriers and the formal closing of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin half a decade before, a wall was constructed, with landmines, tank traps and observation points. The residents could still observe each other by climbing slopes, but on the east side waving and shouting were forbidden. A local woman was placed on a East German secret police surveillance list for answering “back at you” to a Bavarian local who greeted her “good new year”. Museum Development It was related to me stories like these by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has dedicated a large part of his occupational time developing it. Villagers were asked at an early stage about how what length of structure they desired to preserve. They opted for a portion on the west perimeter, near where one of their own succeeded to escape in the middle of the night with a ladder, following which the border was substantially strengthened. Conserved Installations Two observation towers are conserved together with a set of exhibits showing the most significant events in the village’s history. As we walk, Robert Lebegern details the regulations: no one could get closer than 5km of the boundary. Farmers required particular approval to care for their crops; the partner could operate the harvesting machine but never the two, for fear that they attempted to escape. Armed guards kept guard. Broader Context The boundary between Western Germany and the East Germany stretched 1,400km, from the Baltic Sea in the northern part to the south in the south. Berlin is recalled and documented the greatest, but over double the number individuals (exceeding 300) were killed trying to cross it in provincial zones than in the metropolis. the director tells me that 95% of attempts to flee did not succeed. Community Existence The greater part of Mödlareuth’s residents were rural laborers or craftsmen, who accommodated to living in the uncertain territory between a pair of political systems by avoiding attention and tending to their land. They did not supported the socialist government nor fought it, the director states. Tourism For tourists, however, the settlement became a kind of site of interest. Approximately fifteen thousand visited annually, optical devices in hand, to look – and then quickly leave. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was shown around by the national security head. 25 years after merger, Tannbach, a television program about a made-up community similar to Mödlareuth, resulted in renewed interest. Current Developments The inauguration of the new museum – with a cafe, shop, cinema room and sizable vehicle area – is probable to