Facilities

Museum Mödlareuth

Work on creating a museum in Mödlareuth began shortly after the border was opened at the end of 1989. In 1990 the association “Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Mödlareuth e.V.” was founded. Financially supported by Bavaria and then also Thuringia, the museum was included in the federal memorial sites concept in 1995. In 2005, a special purpose association took over the sponsorship.

The museum includes two large outdoor areas in the Thuringian half of the village. The main building, located in Bavaria, houses film/lecture rooms, an information desk, the museum shop and an exhibition room. The “museum infrastructure” also consists of administration, archives, libraries and depots. The vehicle depot is accessible to visitors.

Our facilities (ticket office & museum shop, cinema, exhibitions, vehicle depot, toilet) and large parts of the outdoor area are BARRIER-FREE.

 

  • Main building with cinema, information desk and exhibitions

  • Fahrzeug-Depot
    Vehicle exhibition

Plans currently exist for an extensive enlargement of the museum with the new construction of the museum building and rearrangement of the outdoor site.

Below you will find an overview of the publicly accessible sections of the museum.

  1. Outdoor area

The museum Mödlareuth has an over 5000 m² outdoor area. Parts of the border fortifications specifically built for Mödlareuth have been preserved in its original state and can be discovered individually along a visitor guiding system and the help of picture-text- information boards in German and English. A reconstruction shows the visitor the structure and depth of the GDR border regiment.

In the village of Mödlareuth, further traces from the time of German division can be discovered: foundation walls of the “Lower Mill”, which was partially demolished in the course of the GDR forced resettlements, the site of an escape and the GDR fortifications usually erected outside of the city limits which have been preserved over a length of approx. 500 m.

  1. Main building

The main building harbors the ticket booth, the museum shop and two film projection and presentation rooms. Visitors may view the 20 minute documentary „Everyday life at the border“ which shows the situation especially in Mödlareuth up until 1990. The restrooms are located in the main building as well.

  1. Exhibition hall

The permanent exhibition „Wall, Fence and Barbed Wire“ (German language only) tells the history of the divided village of Mödlareuth. Changing temporary exhibitions supplement the program.

  1. Vehicle depot

Visitors may also visit the vehicle exhibition “Border mobility – limited mobility“. About thirty vehicles are presented some of which were utilized by the eastern as well as the western border patrols in the area of Mödlareuth during the time of the German division.