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Interview

"Die Normalität des Absurden" Interview with Dr. Heinz Schneider

18 May 2017 by Melanie Alperstaedt
A few weeks ago I had read the book „Die Normalität des Absurden“ from Heinz Schneider with great interest. I was pleasantly surprised to get the opportunity to interview him in person. Heinz Schneider and his wife Thea Schneider kindly offered to welcome me in their lovely flat in Mahlow! Here is the transcript of our conversation for you to read.
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Architecture

Berlin - the Socialist city

10 May 2017 by Praktikant
After the Second World War, more than 30% of the housing stock, 85% of classrooms and 80% of hospital rooms in Berlin were destroyed. What was to rise up from the ruins of the capital? The Socialist Unity Party (SED) saw a chance to include the rebirth of the city into the newly founded German Democratic Republic.
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History

Topic traffic: The Trabant

2 May 2017 by Admin
The Trabant was the unchallenged symbol of everyday life in the DDR, meaning “companion” – and this car truly played a significant role in the life of many citizens of the DDR, just like a good friend. As a dream at first; for the waiting time for a new car was no less than 16 years, later as a status symbol, a set of wheels and hobby.
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Review

"Die Normalität des Absurden" - Heinz Schneider

27 Apr 2017 by Melanie Alperstaedt
„Die Normalität des Absurden” tells the story of Heinz Schneider, who lived through two German dictatorships. Even though the book mainly focuses on his personal life, many universal themes are uncovered: how is one meant to behave in a dictatorship? How is our identity formed? How should the DDR be remembered?
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Collection

Valuable additions to the collection of the DDR Museum

26 Apr 2017 by Admin
The collection of a museum is never truly complete. In the following text we will introduce some objects which have been recently added to the collection of the DDR Museum.
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Bake on your own

Easter bread

19 Apr 2017 by Admin
Why do we necessarily need an easter basket made of plastic or another material to fill it with easter eggs and other treats?
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Travel

Altenburg

31 Mar 2017 by Admin
Altenburg is known worldwide as the city of playing cards and the game of skat. It is located in the county of Thuringia in the rural district Altenburger Land and is a former seat of royal power.
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Exhibition

The Bathroom: The perspective of the curator

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.
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Collection

The constitution of the DDR through the ages

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.
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Relics from the DDR

Part XIV: Nature in the border area

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.
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Exhibition

The Garage: The Idea

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.
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Collection

Presenting DDR-clothes from the 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.
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DDR History

Shops and Department Stores in the DDR – The Intershop Retail Chain

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.
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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.
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Happy cooking!

Deer Pörkölt with red wine

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.
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Relics from the DDR

Part XIII: DDR products

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.
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Tourism in the DDR

The island of Rügen

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.
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Exhibition

The children’s bedroom: Introduction

2 Nov 2016 by Melanie Alperstaedt
Welcome to our new blog series, in which we will introduce each room of our new permanent exhibition for an entire month. Once a week, different staff members who took part in the creation of the exhibition will approach the rooms from their specific professional points of view. In September we have already been talking about the kitchen, in October the focus was on the living room. In November we will be talking about the children’s room which is part of our WBS 70 Plattenbau apartment.
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Collection

Collecting with a system: How do objects get into a 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.
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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.
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