Retrospect

The year 2014

My first working day started with good news: The DDR Museum, and so all of us, beat the attendance record of 2013! 10.000 more people were in the exhibition, but, the year was beyond that really eventfully!
by Melanie Alperstaedt (7 Jan 2015)

My first working day started with good news: The DDR Museum, and so all of us, beat the attendance record of 2013! 10.000 more people were in the exhibition, but, the year was beyond that really eventfully!

In spring we began to insert interesting small temporary exhibitions into our vitrines in the GDR restaurant "Domklause"; all of them on the subject of “design in the GDR”. The first ground broke the table ware of Christa Petroff-Bohne from the private collection of Richard Angers. In honour of this occasion we hosted the journalist and design expert Günter Höhne. He reported about formation in the GDR. An exciting presentation and I’m glad that Mr. Höhne has written for some time in the blog of the DDR Museum! Since last August we have shown objects, which were used in everyday life short after the war. All of them were produced out of war material. Starting on the 3rd of February you can see there toy from the collection of Bernd Havenstein. You realize: In the case of the presentation of GDR design we take care of variety! Variety there was in the exhibition, too: The “Schwalbe” got a “parking place” in the middle of the exhibition and the game “Ligato” was integrated in December.

In April we welcomed our new collection curator Jörn Kleinhardt, who attends hardworking to the professional analysis of the collection, extends it and preserves it for the next generation. He presents in our collection blog weekly special objects from the collection and he is a really great photographer! A lot of his photos you can find on our facebook page. He puts there regularly photos of objects online.

As part of the “8th Birthday” of the DDR Museum in June 2014 online time-slot tickets were launched. A short sentence, but a sanction, which made a lot of work! Through these tickets our guests can skip the line without paying more money! Just choose a time slot and print the ticket comfortable at home! The tickets for the evening hours there are even cheaper; who’s wanting cinches all advantages with the VIP ticket and in addition the temporal flexibility.

The autumn was featured by the publication of the educational game “Bürokratopoly”, which enjoys greatest popularity with press, teachers and private persons. 1983 it was invented by the oppositionist Martin Böttger and it deals with the advancement from the simple worker to the general secretary. Besides a light reworking extensive educational material and an own homepage with numerous video interviews with Martin Böttger and the Head of Research of the DDR Museum, Dr. Stefan Wolle, were created. We were really glad as The Federal Agency for Civic Education awarded us for “Bürokratopoly” with the award „Geschichte erinnern – Gegenwart gestalten“ for excellent imparting of the Peaceful Revolution and the Fall of the Wall. For all participants this was a special highlight this year!

The November was characterized for us also by the silver jubilee of the Fall of the Wall! But we wanted, like 18 other institutions, accentuate the meaning of the Peaceful Revolution without which the Fall of the Wall wouldn’t be possible. As part of the series of events “Die Entscheidung” we organized therefore on the 7th of October 2014 a revolutions procession in remembrance of the big Berlin demonstration at the 7th of October 1989. Our Barkas drove ahead, you heard on the way memories of the present GDR oppositionists, songs of Stephan Krawczyk and saw dancing enactments of the youth project “Gethsemane 89 – eine Tanzbegegnung”.

In the evening of the 9th of November 2014 some of our team were balloon patrons and had their own balloon at the “Lichtgrenze”. Each of us wrote a small message on a slip, which we knotted on the balloon and sent up the balloon. A unique moment, which we won’t forget in a hurry!

2014 is history – history that let us hopefully look into the future of the DDR Museum. On that note I wish you an exciting, healthy and happy new year!

(Translation: Valerie Holbein)

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