In October 2015, the DDR Museum had the chance to support the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History in Seoul with a special exhibition by lending a number of objects. The exhibit with the title “Implications of German Reunification for Korean Unification” was on display in three rooms and was greeted with great interest by the Korean visitors.
The topics of the special exhibition were the Cold War, the reunification of Germany as well as the still divided country of Korea. It was supposed to express the hope for a reunification of the both Koreas. In order to illustrate the topic “German reunification”, objects from our collection such as a metal sign with the inscription “STOP state border! Passing prohibited” as well as a brochure “Berlin and the wall” from 1966 were on display. The topic “Exchange between East and West Germany” was communicated with the help of an envelope of a parcel from the West and a transit visa. A few pieces from the Berlin wall, a fact sheet about the welcome payment as well as an edition of the newspaper “Neues Deutschland” (English: New Germany) from May 18th, 1990 were shown within the third topic, “German reunification”. The DDR Museum has further been supportive by offering design models as well as professional advice.
After the objects have been selected and prepared for transport by our collection staff prior to the special exhibition, they have now safely returned to our depot after the successful ending of the exhibition at the Korean museum. Thanks to the professional handling on the part of our Korean colleagues, all of our objects are in sound condition. They will now be stored accordingly and in terms of a proper conservation in our collection premises. Furthermore, the “item on loan” status will be revoked in order to identify the objects accordingly in our database and to make them accessible again.
We would like to express many words of thanks to the staff of the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History for the high-quality special exhibition and the professional presentation and handling of our objects. Despite the long transport by air, the items on loan have not experienced any damage due to the transport within a diplomatic pouch.
If you are interested in a cooperation with the DDR Museum, please feel free to contact our collection department via mail at sammlung@ddr-museum.de or our PR department at presse@ddr-museum.de. We are looking forward to your projects and ideas!