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Erich Honecker – Rise and Fall of the GDR Head of State

4 Nov 2015 by Admin
On October 29th in 1976, exactly 39 years ago, Erich Honecker was elected Chairman of the Privy Council by the People's Chamber. At that moment he had been holding all of the important positions in the GDR such as „General Secretary of the Central Committee of the SED“, „Chairman of the National Defense Council“ as well as „Chairman of the State Council in the GDR“ in personal union since 1976. Domestically, Honecker was at the peak of his power. But how did the little „Saarlander“ get into those influential positions? To answer this question, a look into history is necessary at first.
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DDR History

Erich Honecker – Rise and Fall of the DDR Head of State

29 Oct 2015 by Jörn Kleinhardt
Erich Honecker was head of state of the DDR from 1971 to 1989 and was responsible for numerous deaths during his time in office. The article looks at the political career from Honecker's rise to his fall.
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Collection

From subject to museum object – how an item becomes part of the collection

28 Oct 2015 by Admin
One of the core tasks of a museum is the care and enlargement of its collection along a specific collection concept. At the DDR Museum this happens to a large part by accepting donations from the public. Visitors can either deliver their donations directly at the entrance area of our museum or contact one of the members of the collection department. This procedure enables our staff to decide whether the specific object fits the collection concept and will represent a meaningful addition to the collection.
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Collaboration

Kooperation with the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History

21 Oct 2015 by Admin
Last week the DDR Museum has been on tour on behalf of an international cooperation. Where to, why and what kind of interesting experiences have been made you will read in today's blog!
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Collection

The Berlin TV Tower

14 Oct 2015 by Admin
On October 3rd in 1969, the Berlin TV Tower was ceremonially inaugurated in Berlin Mitte at the Alexanderplatz in the presence of Walter Ulbricht and other high-rank politicians of the SED party. At the same time the television broadcaster Deutscher Fernsehfunk started its emission and the era of color television in the GDR had begun. Prior to the construction there were constant internal discussions about the exact place and appearance of the tower. After agreement, the then-president of the Deutsche Bauakademie (German Construction Academy) Gerhard Kosel was instructed by the SED leadership with the overall instruction of the project.
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GDR History

The GDR’s last birthday celebrations in Berlin

8 Oct 2015
On 7 October 1989, the 40th and thus the last birthday of the Republic was celebrated in Berlin, during which there was turbulence on the city’s streets. This was only thematised in the press days later. We show an excerpt from the newspaper »Neues Deutschland« as well as thematic objects from our collection.
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Collection

Progress-Filmprogramm - little booklets for big movies

7 Oct 2015 by Admin
The film distribution company Progress, founded in 1950, had a monopoly in the GDR and brought all movies into the movie theaters, regardless of the fact whether they were domestic or international productions.
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Education program

GDR Guide – the exhibition catalogue of the DDR Museum

30 Sep 2015 by Janine Henschel
The GDR Guide offers a glimpse into the life of a bygone state along 160 pages. 42 chapters, more than 200 photographs and comprehensive information material depict everyday life in the GDR in a colorful and detailed way.
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Collection

The West in the boob tube

16 Sep 2015 by Admin
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.
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Happy cooking!

Potato soup Berlin style

9 Sep 2015 by Janine Henschel
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!
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Collection

East-West relationships between minimum exchange and welcome money

8 Sep 2015 by Admin
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?
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Events

Theo Tintenklecks, spook at the museum and many visitors at the Long Night of Museums

2 Sep 2015 by Admin
Last Saturday, many things were going on at the DDR Museum late at night: On the occasion of the 35th Long Night of Museums in Berlin theDDR Museum opened its gates between 6pm and 2am, of course along with an interesting program for our guests!
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Event

GDR and no ending? Discussion with Jens Schöne and Stefan Wolle

19 Aug 2015 by Melanie Alperstaedt
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.
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Behind the scenes

What you always wanted to know about the DDR Museum …

12 Aug 2015 by Admin
Today we will answer five interesting questions about the DDR Museum so you can get to know our institution a little better!
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Event

Playing History – Games as a means for the transport of knowledge

5 Aug 2015 by Admin
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.
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Behind the scenes

And Action – Camera rolling! Film shooting at the museum depot

29 Jul 2015 by Admin
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.
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Collection

Summer Camp in the GDR

22 Jul 2015 by Admin
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.
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Border

The Ostsee frontier tower in Külungsborn - a place to remember the German Division.

17 Jun 2015 by Admin
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.
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GDR History

Erich Mielke – Minister for State Security

11 Jun 2015 by Admin
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.
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Collection

Fashion in the GDR – Fashion – Do it yourself

3 Jun 2015 by Admin
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.
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