Mödlareuth
Encyclopedia
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
village situated partly in Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
and partly in Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
. The northern part was in East Germany and the southern part in West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
.
The Thuringian part of the village belongs to Gefell
Gefell
Gefell is a town in the Saale-Orla-Kreis district, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated 16 km south of Schleiz, and 14 km northwest of Hof. It is where the Berlin professional audio company Georg Neumann GmbH relocated during World War II. During the time of the GDR, Gefell was in East...
while the Bavarian part belongs to Töpen
Töpen
Töpen is a municipality in Upper Franconia in the district of Hof in Bavaria in Germany.-History:Between 1945 and 1966 Töpen served as West German inner German border crossing for cars travelling between the Soviet Zone of occupation in Germany , or West Berlin and the American zone of occupation ...
.
It was called Little Berlin by the Americans because a wall divided it, like the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
divided Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. Now a museum shows the history of the village and gives information about the political system at that time.
History
In 1810 (see Napoleonic WarsNapoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
) the Tannbach stream (only around 30cms wide), which flows through Mödlareuth, became the new border between the Kingdom of Bavaria
Kingdom of Bavaria
The Kingdom of Bavaria was a German state that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Bavarian Elector Maximilian IV Joseph of the House of Wittelsbach became the first King of Bavaria in 1806 as Maximilian I Joseph. The monarchy would remain held by the Wittelsbachs until the kingdom's dissolution in 1918...
and the principality of Reuss Junior Line
Reuss Junior Line
The Principality of Reuss Younger Line formed a state in Germany, ruled by members of the House of Reuss. The Counts Reuss of Gera, of Schleiz, of Lobenstein, of Köstritz and of Ebersdorf, each became princes in 1806, and they and their reigning successors bore the title Prince Reuss, Younger Line...
. For 140 years this border made little difference to the local populace. There was just one school and one restaurant.
In 1945, Thuringia (to which Reuß had belonged since 1920) became part of the Soviet occupation zone, while Bavaria went to the American occupation zone
Allied Occupation Zones in Germany
The Allied powers who defeated Nazi Germany in World War II divided the country west of the Oder-Neisse line into four occupation zones for administrative purposes during 1945–49. In the closing weeks of fighting in Europe, US forces had pushed beyond the previously agreed boundaries for the...
. When the constitutions of West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
and East Germany were ratified in 1949, the village became divided by the border between two states. A pass was required to cross between the two parts of town.
In 1952, East Germany began to strengthen its western border. Residents of areas close to the border were forced to relocate, including some residents of Mödlareuth. In the case of Mödlareuth a wooden fence almost two metres high was built followed by more complex border fences. After the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
was built in 1961, walls were built in other towns on the border as well. The wall separating the two halves of Mödlareuth was built in 1966. From that point on, the East German part of the village was strictly monitored day and night, while on the West German side the wall became a kind of tourist attraction. The Americans nicknamed the town Little Berlin.
In 1983, the then U.S. Vice President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
visited and exclaimed, "Ich bin ein Mödlareuther!", an allusion to John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
's "Ich bin ein Berliner
Ich bin ein Berliner
"Ich bin ein Berliner" is a quotation from a June 26, 1963, speech by U.S. President John F. Kennedy in West Berlin. He was underlining the support of the United States for West Germany 22 months after the Soviet-supported East Germany erected the Berlin Wall as a barrier to prevent movement...
" statement.
In December 1989 a pedestrian crossing was opened at Mödlareuth. On 17 June 1990, seven months after the Berlin Wall fell and four months before German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
, the Mödlareuth Wall was knocked down using a bulldozer. A portion has been retained as a memorial and is part of the museum in the village.
Mödlareuth today
Gefell
Gefell is a town in the Saale-Orla-Kreis district, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated 16 km south of Schleiz, and 14 km northwest of Hof. It is where the Berlin professional audio company Georg Neumann GmbH relocated during World War II. During the time of the GDR, Gefell was in East...
, and the Bavarian part to the community of Töpen
Töpen
Töpen is a municipality in Upper Franconia in the district of Hof in Bavaria in Germany.-History:Between 1945 and 1966 Töpen served as West German inner German border crossing for cars travelling between the Soviet Zone of occupation in Germany , or West Berlin and the American zone of occupation ...
.
Since 1994, Mödlareuth has had an open-air museum about the border between East and West Germany. It includes a portion of the original wall as well as a rebuilt barrier typical of those on the border at the time.
Although there is free passage between the two parts of the village today, there are still many differences. They have different postal codes and telephone area codes; the residents vote separately and send their children to different schools.
External links
- http://www.moedlareuth.de/
- http://www.stadt-gefell.de/Museum/museum.htm
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVbVQYkVre0
- http://pa.photoshelter.com/c/enricomartino/gallery/Germany-Bavaria-DDR-and-Walls-Museum/G0000MNLSBA0sHSw/Photo Gallery by Enrico MartinoEnrico MartinoEnrico Martino is an Italian photojournalist.-Biography:Turin-born, freelance photojournalist from 1971, covered Sahel famine in 1984, Yom Kippur War, 1991 Gulf War. first elections in German Democratic Republic, Hungary and Romania after Berlin Wall fall...
]