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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 Soviet Occupation Zone, later the GDR, was considerably shaped by the policies of the Soviet Union and the personality cult of Stalin. However, with the succession of Nikita Khrushchev came the process of so-called »de-Stalinisation«. In this blog post, you will 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

Many people know this dish under the name of Königsberg meatballs, too. This dish of minced meat was not only known and popular in East Prussia, but one could find it also on the plates of the GDR citizens. According to a survey of the Forsa institute the Königsberg meatballs have with 93% the highest profile under the local dishes in Germany! Read more

Since 1976 the History Workshop Journal is one of the world’s leading historical journals. It is part of the Oxford University Press. On the homepage of the journal you find a lot of interesting articles and essays. Most of them aren’t free and you can only read the abstracts. But, I found an essay which you can read completely for free. Read more

The original GDR hunter's schnitzel is probably one of the most famous GDR dishes. It consists of breaded hunting sausage and was served with tomato sauce and pasta. We have prepared the hunter's schnitzel according to GDR recipes for you. Read more

Seventy years ago, right after the end of the war in 1945, the Dresdner electrical engineer Heinz Hummel launched his own small business. Using stock material of the German Armed Forces, other suitable material and his improvisation skills, he created initially a flashlight out of a hand dynamo-drive and later a record player under the brand name “Dynamos”. People started to enjoy listening to music again. In the first year of the GDR the disc production (at the beginning mainly shellac discs) increased speedly, and especially the demand of portable music players in “suitcase” boomed. Read more

Researching online after interesting pages or institutions for foreign-speaking people regarding the GDR I found an interesting essay about the early history of the GDR. Read more

During the first year after the war, the governance had to undertake special strategies in order to increase the industrial production and economy. The dammages caused by the war casted industrial zones into poverty. Many workers, especially men, were still in war captivity. In the East, a large number of infrastructure´s investements of Soviet occuping force were unthinkable. Therefore it was important to make the most out of the available resources.  Read more