🔗 Share this article Serious Problems in ‘Miniature Berlin’: The Small Hamlet Split in Half by the Cold War A stream so low you barely got your feet wet split a village for over four decades. Because of a chance of geography, the 50 locals of Mödlareuth, a small village encircled by pine forests, fields and stunning scenery, found themselves at the core of the cold war. They had the bad luck to span Bavaria, in West Germany, and Thuringia in the Soviet sector, a border that was demarcated first by a barrier and then by a wall. United States military personnel called it Small Berlin. Preserving History Months after their own barrier was breached, and even before their state had become one in 1990, a collection of residents set about documenting their history. The project is close to be completed: on 9 November, the thirty-sixth anniversary of the collapse of the Wall in Berlin, the German-German Museum Mödlareuth will begin operations. It was officially launched by the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the beginning of October, but the show was not entirely finished. Speaking to the locals who lived through the past era, Steinmeier stated: “You were bystanders of an brutal separation, which ripped households asunder and turned neighbors into strangers.” “You were witnesses of an inhuman division, which pulled families apart and turned neighbors into strangers.” Past Context Starting at its founding in 1810, the hamlet cut across the Royal Bavaria and the Reuss Principality, a noble lineage most famous for bestowing all its male members the name Heinrich and counting them sequentially by birth. As Steinmeier informed the gathering, the quirk was never an obstacle in the way of the residents gathering in the identical tavern, attending the very same place of worship and enrolling their young ones to the same educational institution. After the War Separation Then came the global conflict. The moment they came, the Russian troops put up wood stakes by the brook. For a year they took over the complete hamlet, establishing their headquarters in a house on the Bavarian territory side, adorning it with a portrait of Stalin and a Soviet emblem. The American soldiers urged them to withdraw across the brook. For a period, locals could continue to hop over, though as restrictions became stricter they were required to present identity papers, despite the fact that each person was aware who they were, and to go back at night. Escalation of Border Controls After that, in 1952, came metal barriers and the official shutting of the boundary. In 1966, as in Berlin previously in 1961, a wall was built, with explosives, vehicle barriers and observation points. The villagers could continue to view each other by scaling slopes, but on the eastern side signaling and yelling were forbidden. A local woman was placed on a GDR intelligence surveillance list for responding “likewise” to a West German villager who greeted her “good new year”. Heritage Site Establishment I was told accounts like these incidents by Robert Lebegern, the museum’s director, who has devoted a significant portion of his professional career creating it. Locals were asked early on about how how long a section wall they desired to preserve. They chose a portion on the western fringe, close to where one of their own succeeded to get away in the darkest hours with a ladder, following which the border was substantially strengthened. Preserved Structures A pair of observation towers are conserved together with a series of displays illustrating the most dramatic events in the community’s history. As we stroll, the director enumerates the rules: not a single person could come within 5km of the border. Farmers needed specific authorization to tend to their fields; the husband or wife could use the agricultural equipment but not the pair, in case they tried to flee. Armed guards stood watch. Broader Perspective The boundary between West Germany and the GDR extended 1,400km, from the Baltic coast in the north to here in the southern region. Berlin is recalled and documented the greatest, but over twice as many persons (exceeding 300) were killed attempting to pass over it in rural areas than in the metropolis. Robert Lebegern reminds me that 95 percent of efforts to cross did not succeed. Hamlet Life Most of Mödlareuth’s villagers were agricultural workers or artisans, who adapted to dwelling in the ambiguous area between two belief systems by keeping their heads down and looking after their fields. They did not backed the socialist government nor fought it, the director clarifies. Visitors For visitors, however, the hamlet became a kind of destination. About fifteen thousand came to see every year, optical devices in their hands, to look – and then quickly go away. In 1983, the US president, George Bush, was given a tour by the national security head. 25 years after reunification, the TV show, a broadcast production about a imaginary hamlet resembling Mödlareuth, led to new attention. Current Evolutions The inauguration of the modern exhibition center – with a coffee shop, shop, movie theater and sizable vehicle area – is expected to