Divided Village: The Cold War in the German Borderlands

244 Pages·2017·5.004 MB·English

by  Jason B. Johnson

Divided Village
In 1983, then-US Vice President George H.W. Bush delivered a speech in
London. He had just been in West Berlin and spoke about his first visit to
the Berlin Wall. Bush then went on to describe another German wall he saw
after Berlin: “if anything, that wall was an even greater obscenity than its
eponym to the north.”
The story of that wall is a fascinating and valuable slice of the history
of postwar Europe. That wall had gone up nearly 200 miles southwest of
Berlin at the edge of divided Germany, in the tiny, remote farming village of
Mödlareuth. For nearly half the twentieth century, the Iron Curtain divided
Mödlareuth in two. In this little valley surrounded by forests and fields,
the villagers of Mödlareuth found themselves on the literal front-line of the
Cold War. The East German state gradually militarized the border through
the community while eastern villagers exhibited a range of responses to cope
with their changing circumstances, reflective of the variable nature of the
Cold War border through Germany: along the Iron Curtain, the size and
isolation of the divided place influenced the local character of the division.
Jason B. Johnson is Assistant Professor in the Department of History, Trinity
University, USA.
Routledge Studies in Modern European History
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com
36 Franco-Israeli Relations, 1958–1967
Gadi Heimann
37 (Re)Constructing Communities in Europe, 1918–1968
Senses of Belonging Below, Beyond and Within the Nation-State
Edited by Stefan Couperus and Harm Kaal
38 Order and Insecurity in Germany and Turkey
Military Cultures of the 1930s
Emre Sencer
39 Green Landscapes in the European City, 1750–2010
Edited by Peter Clark, Marjaana Niemi and Catharina Nolin
40 Resistance Heroism and the End of Empire
The Life and Times of Madeleine Riffaud
Keren Chiaroni
41 The Summer Capitals of Europe, 1814–1919
Marina Soroka
42 German Reunification
Unfinished Business
Joyce E. Bromley
43 Oil Exploration, Diplomacy, and Security in the Early Cold War
The Enemy Underground
Roberto Cantoni
44 Divided Village
The Cold War in the German Borderlands
Jason B. Johnson
Divided Village
The Cold War in the German
Borderlands
Jason B. Johnson
First published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 Jason B. Johnson
The right of Jason B. Johnson to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-415-79377-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-21089-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
List of figures vi
Acknowledgements vii
List of abbreviations ix
Introduction: Eerie 1
1 Calamity, 1945–1952 29
2 Elimination, 1952 65
3 Fighting mood, 1952–1960 89
4 Admonition, 1960–1961 119
5 Bleak, 1961–1989 137
6 Ass of the world, 1961–1989 173
Epilogue: Dream 202
Bibliography 215
Index 230
Figures
0.1 Map of Mödlareuth’s location on the Cold War East-West
German border. 2
0.2 Map of Mödlareuth’s location in Schleiz and Hof counties. 5
0.3 Divided Mödlareuth from the western side, January 1983. 7
0.4 Map of Schleiz County in the German Democratic Republic. 12
1.1 The border through the village in July 1949, with easterners
on the left bank of the Tannbach; by then, this “Border US
Zone” had become the border of the new Federal Republic. 50
1.2 Eastern border police checking documents upon crossing in
Mödlareuth in July 1949. 51
2.1 The Tannbach today. 73
5.1 Three West German border officers observe as GDR troops
work on the wall through the village in 1964. 140
5.2 Western border personnel look on as East German troops
build the wall through Mödlareuth in 1966. 143
5.3 US Vice President George H.W. Bush and West German
Minister of Defense Manfred Wörner in West Mödlareuth
on February 5, 1983. 159
6.1 The wall through Mödlareuth from the west in 1984. 184
7.1 The new border crossing in Mödlareuth on December 9, 1989. 205
7.2 The village’s single maypole today. 208
7.3 Tourists investigate a diorama of divided Mödlareuth at the
village museum. 211
7.4 A GDR border marker today, left in a field near Mödlareuth. 211
Acknowledgements
This book would not exist without the support, generosity, and kindness of
numerous institutions and individuals.
Research for this project was supported by a Fulbright Fellowship to
Germany, the Northwestern University Department of History, the Buffett
Center for International and Comparative Studies at Northwestern, the
Northwestern Graduate School, the Germanistic Society of America, Trin-
ity University’s Department of History, a Trinity Faculty Summer Research
Stipend, and Trinity’s Office of Academic Affairs.
I am thankful for the enthusiasm, assistance, and responsiveness of Rob
Langham and Michael Bourne at Routledge. I am grateful too to the anony-
mous reviewers for their helpful suggestions for revision.
Early one August morning, I got on a train from Bamberg to Hof with
my bike, then pedaled from Hof through the rolling fields and forests of
northern Bavaria to a little place called Mödlareuth. From my first moments
there, Robert Lebegern, Ingolf Hermann, and Heiko Ultsch showed me
great kindness, as did villagers on both sides of the Tannbach. Dieter Kaiser
too was an outstanding host in Bayreuth.
I could not ask for a better Doktorvater than Peter Hayes. I am deeply
grateful for his steadfast support, feedback, counsel, and wisdom. Over the
years, he has shown me nothing but great generosity and patience. I am for-
tunate to have as a mentor – and role model – such an extraordinary teacher
and scholar. Ben Frommer too has shown me remarkable goodwill. From
my first day at Northwestern through now, Ben has given me indispensable
aid, advice, and encouragement. John Bushnell meticulously read drafts and
offered thoughtful suggestions and insights.
The staff of the fourteen archives listed in the bibliography were crucial
to this project and patiently fulfilled my requests. In particular, Alexander
Isnardy of the Kreisarchiv Saale-Orla-Kreis, Katrin Beger and Heike Wee-
dermann at the Thüringisches Staatsarchiv in Rudolstadt, and especially
Gottfried Kärner at the Gera branch of the BStU were essential to research
for this book.
I am fortunate to work in a field with extraordinary scholars like Astrid
M. Eckert, Sagi Schaefer, and Edith Sheffer. Through their pathbreaking
viii Acknowledgements
research and marvelous analyses, they have fashioned a new area of schol-
arly inquiry. I especially thank Astrid, Sagi, and Edith for their feedback,
encouragement, and generosity.
I have benefit greatly too from conversations and fellowship with other
fellow historians of Germany, including Robert Beachy, Drew Bergerson,
David Imhoof, Elizabeth Harrington, Josie McLellan, Leo Schmieding,
Katrin Schreiter, Andrew Tompkins, Alice Weinreb, and Ed Westermann.
Jürgen Kocka proved a wonderful Betreuer in Berlin. Adam Seipp has
shown me great kindness since I came to Texas.
John Merriman and Laura Merriman deliver support and cheer. Sophia
Metz has been an inspiration for decades, and the Hruz family, especially
Jessica and Becky, welcome me as one of their own. My work on this project
has been sustained too by the friendships of Stef Bator, Will Cavert, Den-
nis Connors, Bettina Hessler, Mariana Karampalas, Lily Johnson, Theresa
LaGuardia, Erin-Marie Legacy, Celeste McNamara, Ben Poole, Meghan
Roberts, Strother Roberts, Nat Small, Rachel Taylor, Andy Warne, Katie
Wegner, and especially Josh Williams, one of the kindest souls I know.
I am moreover appreciative to friends and colleagues in San Antonio,
especially Mark Brodl, Jeremy Donald, David Gray, Mark Halx, Rachel
Johnson, Shirley Lin, Jen Matthews, Laura Navarro, Peter O’Brien, Corinne
Pache, Kim Phillips, Michael Simons, Curtis Swope, Heather Sullivan, and
Angela Tarango. I am proud to be a part of a place as wonderful as Trin-
ity University. Trinity students endlessly energize and impress me. Haley
Bays and Paul Donohue patiently offer key administrative assistance. In
particular, I am especially grateful to the faculty of Trinity University’s
History Department. Nicole Marafioti and Aaron Navarro read and gave
insightful feedback on this work in progress. Don Clark, Anene Ejikeme,
Allan Kownslar, Carey Latimore, David Lesch, Ken Loiselle, Nicole, John
McCusker, Aaron, Linda Salvucci, Gina Tam, and Lauren Turek provide a
wonderful intellectual home and graciously offer unwavering support and
encouragement.
The Kreuzberg evenings with Anna Galt, Martin Guentert, and Phil Vena-
bles always make my time in Berlin even better. Rick Lutjens has been dear
for years. Thomas Walker has been central to my life now for most of it.
Charlotte Cahill put up with me talking about a distant German village –
and much else – with great patience. Catherine Clinton has shown me
incredible benevolence and friendship since the moment she arrived in the
patria chica. Amy Stone is a fierce inspiration and friend.
Drew Konove has enriched my life, from Berlin to Boquillas, Luling to
Lübbenau. He gives me unflinching support. My gratitude to him surpasses
words.
Finally I thank my family, especially my endlessly loving parents Donnie
and Evelyn Johnson.
San Antonio, Texas
December 2016
Abbreviations
ACR Armored Cavalry Regiment
BBP Bavarian Border Police
BEL district operation leadership (Bezirkseinsatzleitung)
DNVP German National People’s Party (Deutschnationale Volkspartei)
DFD German Democratic Women’s League (Demokratischer Frau-
enbund Deutschlands)
FDJ Free German Youth (Freie Deutsche Jugend)
GDR German Democratic Republic
GHI main Stasi informant (Geheimer Hauptinformant)
GI Stasi informant (Geheimer Informant)
HO GDR-owned retail store (Handelsorganisation)
IM unofficial Stasi collaborator (Inoffizieller Mitarbeiter)
KEL county operation leadership (Kreiseinsatzleitung)
KZ c oncentration camp (Konzentrationslager)
KPD G erman Communist Party (Kommunistische Partei
Deutschlands)
LPG collective farm (Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsgenossenschaft)
MfS Ministry for State Security or Stasi (Ministerium für
Staatssicherheit)
NKVD People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (Narodnyi Komis-
sariat Vnutrennikh Del)
NSDAP Nazi Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)
NVA East German Army (Nationale Volksarmee)
OMGUS Office of Military Government, United States
RIAS Broadcasting in the American Sector (Rundfunk im amerikan-
ischen Sektor)
SBZ Soviet Occupation Zone (Sowjetische Besatzungszone)
SED Socialist Unity Party (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands)
SPD German Social Democratic Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei
Deutschlands)
SKK Soviet Control Commission (Sowjetische Kontrollkommission)
SMAD Soviet Military Administration in Germany (Sowjetische Mil-
itäradministration in Deutschland)