Blog

The collection of the DDR Museum has grown again recently. The object concerned is a self-made converter for the reception of the TV channels ARD and ZDF – programs from West Germany and therefore not officially forbidden for GDR citizens, but nevertheless programs only minimally tolerated by the government. Read more

Back then, potato soup was a very popular dish, because it was fast and simple to make. Furthermore, all the ingredients for this soup were always available and affordable. Today, we would like to introduce a recipe from the times of the GDR. Of course there were also many more variations which surely also were quite delicious. Just try them! Read more

Regarding the inner-German tourist travel with all its aspects, one will inevitably come across the East-German „minimum exchange“ and the West-German „welcome money“. But what do these terms exactly mean and what were their consequences for the people? Read more

Yesterday evening our guest was historian Jens Schöne, who just published his newest work „Die DDR. Eine Geschichte des Arbeiter- und Bauernstaates“ ("The GDR. A history of the state of workers and peasants") at the Berlin Story publishing company, which offers an overall view of the GDR era. The book is also available in English („The GDR“), which unfortunately is still a rare fact considering the existing literature about the GDR. The book is very popular in our museum store, especially the English version is highly demanded by our interested international visitors. Read more

There have always been games, in every region of the world as well as within every cultural group – even outside of the nursery. Especially complex parlor games which demand logic, creativity and endurance, are highly popular among the youth as well as adults. Among them are Michael Geithner, Social Media Manager at the DDR Museum Berlin and Martin Thiele, a scientist in the field of media from Berlin. The two game researchers and developers gave a talk about imitated games during the GDR and the fascination about this cultural phenomenon at the visitor centre of the DDR Museum. Read more

How revealing was the German Democratic Republic? Were East-Germans more advanced in arithmetics than people living in Western Germany? Even after a visit to a museum the one or other question might be left unanswered and current political developments and events might provoke interesting discussions as well. Read more

Holiday time is summer camp time! This slogan was true for many children who grew up in the German Democratic Republic. And, truly, the small republic  established a great number of summer camps. The youth getaways were divided into pioneer's camps („Pionierferienlager“) and company camps („Betriebsferienlager“) and were spread all over the country. In the year 1989 alone there were 49 pioneer's camps within the GDR, as well as hundreds of additional company camps. Read more

A lot of Germans still go to the Ostsee and especially the city Kühlungsborn is very popular. You can see beach chairs and tourists walking at the promenade, which looks very different in comparison with what you could see at the time between 1961 and 1968. Read more

On 13 November 1989, Erich Mielke gave his first speech in the People's Chamber at the Palace of the Republic. His words »I love – I love all – all people – well, I love – I'm committed to it« have been quoted many times and offer deep insight into the mind of the 82-year-old man. Read more

If you think about fashion in the GDR, do you see colors and nice feminine looks? Or do you see grey, shapeless clothes? No matter what you think, both thoughts are right. In the GDR you could find the one and the other. Read more

You don’t necessarily have to buy a birthday cake in order that your child is glad. With less effort you can conjure a delicate and colorful cake for the birthday table – and you can let your child assist at the preparation. We tell you how it works: GDR birthday cake for children Read more

It is difficult to come by original documents and images about the German history, especially for people from foreign countries. Because of this difficulty the German Historical Institute in Washington D.C. initiated an interesting project. Read more

The Point Alpha Memorial is located along the former inner-German border, between Geisa/Thuring and Rasdorf/Hesse, on a surface of almost 100,000 square meters. It is an interesting historical place where visitors can experience how life was during the time of the wall. Read more

Goldbroiler or roast chicken? In the GDR, broiler was widespread and popular. In this GDR recipe, we present the grilled broiler with French fries and mixed vegetables. Read more

Twenty-five years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall the Deutsche Welle dealt last year in an interesting article with the remembrance of the former GDR. Read more

which came first? A well known enigma where the answer still generates contrasting opinions among intellectuals since generations. SONJA PLASTIC, a west Saxonian producer of plastic design objects, does not ask itself this question. Since the beginning of the seventies, chicken and egg boxes belong to the same successful selection of the Wolkensteiner enterprise, set up 90 years ago. Read more

The German pork roast gets its individual flavour from special curing and smoking and is said to be named after the master butcher Cassel, who lived in Berlin in the 19th century. This pork roast (Kasselerbraten) was widespread and popular in the GDR. Read more

The GDR was strongly influenced by the Soviet Union and Stalin's cult of personality. Nikita Khrushchev's »de-Stalinisation« brought about fundamental changes in politics and society in the GDR.find out what this process looked like and how it changed the GDR. Read more

Every now and again I search through the internet for foreign language offers for those who are interested in German history and especially in GDR history. Sometimes I find some, sometimes not. Today I was once again successful. This time I found something interest about German history in general. Read more

Do you actually know our quiz for students? Whether during a group visit as additional task or complementary after a guided tour – the questionnaire is the ideal companion for visiting the exhibition with your students. Read more