Blog :: DDR Museum

17 Jan 2017 by Admin

As a curator, I would like to give you some insights into the bathroom of our museum’s Plattenbau apartment today.

Collection

The constitution of the DDR through the ages

Collection

11 Jan 2017 by Admin

Throughout its entire existence, the German Democratic Republic had a total of three valid constitutions. The original constitution is from 1949, the founding year of the DDR, and consists of 144 articles. Due to the political developments in the 1950s and 1960s a revision of the old constitution was inevitable.

Relics from the DDR

Part XIV: Nature in the border area

Relics of the DDR

4 Jan 2017 by Admin

The construction of the Wall and the Iron Curtain may have represented a limitation of the range of movement for many people, but the border installation, covering a total of 1400 kilometers, was a lucky chance for many animals and plants.

Shops and department stores in the GDR

»Exquisit« and »Delikat« shops

Topic DDR

15 Dec 2016

»Exquisit« and »Delikat« shops were opened in the 1960s to meet the »upmarket consumer needs« of the GDR population. In contrast to the Intershops, it was possible for the population to buy high-quality products in these shops with the country’s own currency, the GDR mark.

Exhibition

The Garage: The Idea

Museum news

14 Dec 2016 by Sören Marotz

When we decided to portray the private life in the DDR in the form of a newly built flat of the WBS 70 type it was soon obvious that we wanted to add some sort of haven outside of the 4 Plattenbau walls.

Collection

Presenting DDR-clothes from the collection

Collection

7 Dec 2016 by Admin

The collection department of the DDR Museum has recently acquired professional equipment for the documentation of textiles. The seven figurines are essential for an authentic representation of clothes and are therefore contributing to the quality of our object photographs.

Shops and Department Stores in the DDR

The Intershop Retail Chain

Topic DDR

1 Dec 2016 by Jörn Kleinhardt

Even today, many people remember the smell of the Intershops. Comparable to duty-free shops, the Intershops were aimed at travellers and were initially mainly found at railway stations, airports and other transit points. Until the end of the DDR, there were branches all over the country where the DDR's own population could also shop.

Collection

Shopping in the DDR: Konsum

30 Nov 2016 by Admin

In order to satisfy their daily consumer needs, the citizens of the DDR / Soviet occupation zone had a number of possibilities to do their shopping. Already in December of 1945, a consumer cooperative with the simple name of “Konsum” was established. Only three years later, almost 300 independent consumer cooperatives existed in different cities.

Happy cooking!

Deer Pörkölt with red wine

DDR recipes

23 Nov 2016 by Janine Henschel

You probably all know the term „goulash“. But have you ever heard about the Hungarian phrase “pörkölt”? To be honest, I have never heard of it before, either. Pörkölt is the equivalent to the dish goulash, as it is referred to outside of the Hungarian area. The texture, however, is slightly thicker since it is being cooked for a longer period of time.

Shops and department stores in the GDR

The »Handelsorganisation« (HO)

Topic DDR

17 Nov 2016

The East German »Handelsorganisation« (HO) or »Trade Organisation« was established shortly before the founding of the GDR. It was the state counterpart to the privately run consumer cooperative chain »Konsum« and, in addition to retail, also included a network of restaurants and hotels.

Relics from the DDR

Part XIII: DDR products

Relics of the DDR

16 Nov 2016 by Admin

The border between the two German states did not only divide the people into East and West, but also the product world. Some of the articles which were developed in the DDR have survived the transformation after 1989 and have their fixed place in today's supermarkets in western and eastern parts of Germany.

Shops and department stores in the GDR

The »Konsumgenossenschaften«

Topic DDR

10 Nov 2016

The so-called »Konsum« shops sold goods for daily use. The term »Konsum« was the popular abbreviation for »Konsumgenossenschaften« or »consumer cooperatives«, which had been founded in 1945. Just a few years later, the Konsum retail chain shaped the shopping scene in the GDR. We show you thematic objects from our collection.

Tourism in the DDR

The island of Rügen

DDR tourism

9 Nov 2016 by Admin

Rügen is located in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the German state of Mecklenburg- Western Pomerania. With an area of 976 m² it is the largest island in Germany.

From the museum

The children's room in the DDR Museum

Museum news

1 Nov 2016

In the DDR Museum's recreation of a typical children's room, you can not only reminisce about and discover many original toys, books and home accessories, but also learn about the influence the state had on the lives of young people.

Collection

Collecting with a system: How do objects get into a collection?

Collection

26 Oct 2016 by Admin

A museum has five main tasks: Teaching/communicating, Exhibiting, Researching, Collecting and Preserving. At the DDR Museum, the last two tasks are taken care of by the collection department. Collecting therefore also means to reasonably enlarge the inventory and to add new objects to the museum's collection. The following blog text will tell you more about how this exactly works.

Collection

Fuel for the DDR – the brand Minol and the Minol Pirol

19 Oct 2016 by Admin

In order to keep motor vehicles sustained with fuel, an area-covering net of gas stations is required. As a result of the Second World War, the existing net of gas stations was divided along the different occupation zones after the West German brand „Gasoline“ was running all gas stations in all of the occupation zones in the beginning.

Survey

The DDR Museum is number 36 among the most popular sights in Germany

Museum news

12 Oct 2016 by Admin

Every year, the DTZ (German National Tourist Board) is asking international visitors to name their favourite places in Germany. In 2016, the 40,000 participants of the survey voted the DDR Museum on number 36. We would like to thank everyone who gave us their voice for this great ranking!

From the museum

The kitchen in the DDR Museum

Museum news

6 Sep 2016

The DDR Museum’s fully furnished WBS-70 flat includes a reconstruction of a typical GDR kitchen. Here you can not only (re)discover many original objects and get some cooking inspiration for your meals back at home, but also learn about other topics on GDR history, conveyed in a playful and engaging way.

Event

Long Night of the Museums

Museum news

31 Aug 2016 by Admin

Last Saturday, the DDR Museum opened its doors until the small hours: Our institution was one of the 77 museums in Berlin which took part in the 36th Long Night of the Museums and greeted a total of 28.000 guests – 5400 of which visited our museum. Just like the many years before, we offered quite a diverse framework program and the special atmosphere of the late summer night made the event quite memorable!

Event

Press conference for the opening of the new exhibition „Everyday life in the Plattenbau”

Museum news

24 Aug 2016 by Admin

Last Friday, August 19th 2016, a press conference took place at the DDR Museum on behalf of the opening of the new permanent exhibition on August 27th 2016, in the context of the Lange Nacht der Museen in Berlin. The long period of preparation is now almost over and we are looking forward to show even more of a hands-on experience of history on additional 270m²!

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