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Collection

Günter Höhne writes

From Duckling to Swan: „Moccadolly“

6 Feb 2019 by Admin
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”.
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Object of the month November 2018

Leather suitcase with stickers

1 Nov 2018 by Admin
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?
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From the collection

The 1990 Monetary, Economic and Social Union

1 Feb 2018 by Jörn Kleinhardt
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.
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Object of the Week

Street names in the GDR

16 Nov 2017
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.
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The DDR Museum unpacked

#unboxingDDR - Pocket Calculator "konkret 200"

4 Jul 2017 by Praktikant
The DDR Museum presents the first unboxing series of historical objects. One minute clips show the diversity of original DDR artifacts. This time we unpack the pocket calculator "konkret 200", commentated by Head of Collection Jörn Kleinhardt.
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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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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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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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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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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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Collection

Big objects in front of the lens

15 Jun 2016 by Admin
The collection department of the DDR Museum now owns a modern set for photographing big objects.
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Collection

The magazine "Sputnik" as a paper-based ambassador of the USSR

8 Jun 2016 by Admin
The Soviet magazine "Sputnik" (Russian for companion) has been published by the state-owned news agency "Nowosti" since January 1967. It was designed as a digest of the Soviet press and was not only adressed to Russians but also to readers from other socialist and western foreign countries.
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Collection

"Original Wolfen" magnetic tape and film production in the GDR

18 May 2016 by Admin
Every technology enthusiast in the GDR was well accustomed with the products of the company ORWO. No wonder: The company used to have the monopoly on the production of chemical data mediums in the GDR. The history of the production site, Wolfen, however, is only familiar to few.
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Collection

Having an eye on finances: 8 books of household accounts from a family in Dresden

11 May 2016 by Admin
Nowadays there's an app for that. In the GDR, on the other hand, people kept an eye on their receipts and expenditures with the help of a meticulously kept book of household accounts. It was a proper housewife's duty to keep track of what amount of money was spent for what and when. The DDR Museum was recently donated a total of 8 books of household accounts from a family from Dresden, starting on January 1st in 1963 and ending on January 3rd in 1993. Learn more about these highly interesting historical documents in the following text!
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Collection

The cable remote controlled tank model of the »T-62«

28 Apr 2016 by Vanessa Jasmin Lemke
The DDR offered a wide range of toys that often contained an educational aspect in addition to the playful aspect. Particularly included are toys that were intended to familiarise boys in particular with their later service in the army, such as the toy tank »T-62«.
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Collection

The Thirst Quencher for work at high temperatures: Contratherm – Heat Drink

20 Apr 2016 by Admin
The collection of the DDR Museum is documenting everyday life in the GDR and therefore consists of different objects belonging to all sorts of topics. Every day, our colleagues at the collection department are dealing with objects and their interesting stories and sometimes unusual original purposes. One of them is the sealed glass bottle “Contratherm - Heat Drink”, containing a bright pink liquid. Get to know the interesting background story in the following text!
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From the collection

»​​​​​​​Armeerundschau« magazine

17 Mar 2016 by Jörn Kleinhardt
The DDR's military publishing house was responsible for the publication of numerous specialist books with a military-technical, military-historical and military-scientific context. The publisher's portfolio also included the monthly magazine »​​​​​​​Armeerundschau«​​​​​​​.
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From the collection

The House Book in the GDR

16 Mar 2016
In the German Democratic Republic, keeping a house book was required by the legal registration ordinance. But what did that mean exactly? What did such a book look like? Who entered what in it? And what was it good for? These are all questions that we will get to the bottom of in this collection blog. 
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Collection

Globetrotters back home – Objects are returning into our collection

17 Feb 2016 by Admin
In October 2015, the DDR Museum had the chance to support the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History in Seoul with a special exhibition by lending a number of objects. The exhibit with the title “Implications of German Reunification for Korean Unification” was on display in three rooms and was greeted with great interest by the Korean visitors.
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