Blog | DDR Museum

From Duckling to Swan: „Moccadolly“

The journalist and expert for DDR product design Günter Höhne writes for the DDR Museum blog. This time he is taking a closer look at the DDR coffee maker “Moccadolly”. Read more

Günter Höhne writes

DDR Design PRAKTI Camera

The journalist and expert for DDR product design Günter Höhne writes for the blog DDR Museum. This time he is taking a closer look at the camera PRAKTI from 1960 which was produced in Dresden. Read more

Museum news

From the Museum

An Intern's introduction and report on her Internship

My Name is Brianna Selph. I'm from the USA, love German culture and, since September, an at the DDR Museum. Read more

From the collection

Object of the month November 2018

Leather suitcase with stickers

Every month, we are showing one very special piece from our collection. Our object of the month November 2018 is a suitcase decorated with a total of 61 stickers from different travel destinations. What might be the story its telling? Read more

GDR music

History of Music

Wittstock instead of Woodstock - Blues in the DDR

They call themselves Kunden (“customers”), Trampers (“hitchhikers”), or Bluesers (“bluesmen”), wear long hair and beards, Jesus sandals, jeans and parkas. On the weekends they are always on the move, celebrating their dropping out of society in remote village halls, occupy the carnival festivities in Thuringia’s Wasungen, and pass along bottles of red wine during Eastberlin’s blues fairs. Read more

From the collection

From the collection

The 1990 Monetary, Economic and Social Union

On 18 May 1990, the Treaty on Monetary, Economic and Social Union was signed. This state treaty came into force just a few weeks later on 1 July. We show thematic objects from the collection of the DDR Museum. Read more

Relics of the GDR

Relics from the DDR

The World Time Clock

With each political turn, the Alexanderplatz square changed its face. The »Alex« thus became a kind of monument to 20th century architecture. At the intersection of the visual axes is East Berlin's most popular meeting place – the World Time Clock. Read more

Special exhibitions

A Trip to the DDR - "The Journey of my Life"

Chapter 10: 30 Years Later

30 years have gone by since Shimelis visited the DDR in 1987, 30 years later the once 14-year-old boy has grown up and built a whole new life in Ethiopia. In the last part of this story, Shimelis takes us into his present life and how his journey into the DDR still impacts his life. Read more

From the collection

Object of the Week

Street names in the GDR

In the GDR, the names of streets, railway stations and central squares were named according to the ideology and structure of the state. We would like to show a few of the common and widespread names from the collection of the DDR Museum. Read more

Special exhibitions

A Trip to the DDR - "The Journey of my Life"

Chapter 9: Good bye DDR!

"I wish I could have lived with those kind people forever." Time went by too fast for Shimelis, who visited the DDR in 1987. After some months outside of Ethiopia and it's troubles there, it was time to say goodbye and go back. Not a simple task for the 14-year-old boy. Read more

Relics of the GDR

What remains?

The Peace Dove

The peace dove was one of the most widespread political symbols in the GDR. As a symbol of peace, it was sung about in a song and has been emblazoned on the wall of a building at the entrance to Berlin's Nikolai district since 1987. Numerous objects with the peace dove symbol are also in the collection of the DDR Museum. Read more

Special exhibitions

A Trip to the DDR - "The Journey of my Life"

Chapter 8: Visiting Schwedt and Berlin

14-year-old ethiopian Shimelis visited the DDR in 1987 - the only other country he has ever seen. For a few months he enjoyed the massive cultural clash in the Pioneer Republic "Wilhelm Pieck", where he spent most of his days. But after some time Shimelis and the other delegations got the opportunity to visit Schwedt and East Berlin. Read more

Special exhibitions

A Trip to the DDR - "The Journey of my Life"

Chapter 7: The Kissing Issue

1987 in Ethiopia. Shimelis lived in a camp for children who became victims of the war. One day he was allowed to visit the DDR - a life changing experience. It was the first and only time for him to visit another country. For a couple of months he visited the Pioneer Republic "Wilhelm Pieck". It was a time of many "firsts". Read more

Special exhibitions

A Trip to the DDR - "The Journey of my Life"

Chapter 6: Pioneer Republic "Wilhelm Pieck"

Shimelis arrived at night in the Pioneer Republic "Wilhelm Pieck". After his flight with Interflug from Ethiopia and one culture shock after the other he finally arrived in the DDR. Slowly, he started to make friends and felt comfortable in the new world he was thrown into. Read more

Special exhibitions

A Trip to the DDR - "The Journey of my Life"

Chapter 5: Welcome to the DDR

A few weeks ago, Shimelis sent a shout-out for his old friends, and one heard the call. Constanze Prehl was still an amharic student, when she was sent to Pionierrepublik "Wilhelm Pieck" as an interpreter for a delegation of young ethiopians. Shimelis remembers her from the second on he stepped out of the Interflug airplane. Read more

Special exhibitions

A Trip to the DDR - "The Journey of my Life"

Chapter 4: Take-Off with Interflug

Do you remember your first ever flight? After Shimelis' father never came back from war, he went to a special camp for children. For years he hoped to get chosen as part of a delegation to visit another country. Finally the day came and he was sent to the DDR. How do you travel from Ethiopia to the DDR in 1987? Shimelis still remembers very well... Read more

Special exhibitions

A trip to the DDR - "The journey of my life"

Chapter 3: New Horizons

Shimelis Haile Aga was born into Ethiopia's chaotic times of war. He was sent into a children's camp with many other kids who's families became the victims of the war. Some chosen children were allowed to join an exchange program to other socialist countries in the world. After years of waiting, he was finally chosen too, but everything went different to what he expected. Read more

Russische_Botschaft Berlin,_Unter_den_Linden_55-65 (Foto Jörg Zägel, 2 April 2011).jpg

Relics of the GDR

Relics of the DDR

The Soviet Embassy in Berlin

The heavy block of the Russian embassy with its large iron gate stands strangely alien among the functional office buildings of the sixties. Yet the building, which opened in 1952, is by no means a foreign body in the German capital. Read more

Special exhibitions

A Trip to the DDR - "The Journey of my Life"

Chapter 2: Living on the Battlefield

Shimelis Haile Aga visited the DDR in 1987. He still remebers his journey vividly, also because his story began far less memorable. It all started in the troubling times of war between Ethiopia and Somalia. As many young men, also Shimelis' father was sent to the battlefield, and thousands of families and children were left behind. Read more

Special exhibitions

A Trip to the DDR - "The Journey of my Life"

Chapter 1: Born into Chaos

Meet Shimelis Haile Aga, 44 years old, born and raised in Ethiopia. The only other country he has ever seen, does'nt exist anymore. Today he tells the story about his trip to the DDR - the journey of his life - a story, that begins in Ethiopia's troubled late 1970s. Read more