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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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Happy cooking!

GDR birthday cake for children

27 May 2015 by Janine Henschel
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
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Tip

GHDI: German History in Documents and Images

20 May 2015 by Admin
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.
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Border

The Memorial Point Alpha between Geisa/Rasdorf

18 May 2015 by Admin
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.
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To Recook

Grilled broiler – GDR Recipe

15 May 2015 by Janine Henschel
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.
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Press

„Ostalgia: Romanticizing the GDR“ – an article by Wolfgang Dick

6 May 2015 by Admin
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.
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Design

The chicken or the egg...

29 Apr 2015 by Admin
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.
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To Recook

GDR Recipe Pork Roast

24 Apr 2015 by Janine Henschel
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.
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GDR History

Propaganda and the cult of personality in the early GDR

23 Apr 2015
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.
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Tip

For in German history interested people

22 Apr 2015 by Admin
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.
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