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Review

Schaufuß: Ferienzeit mit Spiel, Sport und Abenteuer

20 Jun 2017 by Praktikant
Thomas Schaufuß presents the different forms and uses of holiday camps in Germany, while mainly focusing on pioneer and company-funded holiday camps in the DDR.
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Review

Wiebke Janssen: SED and youth in the 50s

16 Jun 2017 by Praktikant
The SED observed concernedly how the adolescents of the late 50s were drawn to Rock `n´Roll and studded pants. The aim of the socialist education was to mold youngsters into “new humans”. The party wanted to influence the first generation of the “Children of the Republic” through a restrictive and repressive policy. By Elke Sieber (08.06.2017) Translated by Lisa Laubner (09.06.2017)
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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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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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Review

The movie "Der verlorene Engel"

23 Mar 2016 by Admin
The movie "Der verlorene Engel" ("The lost angel") is one of the numerous films which were produced in the 1960s by the state-owned film studio DEFA, but were then prohibited by the party leadership because of their criticism of the system in connection with the resolutions of the 11. plenum of the central comittee of the SED party.
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Review

Between Division and Mutuality. Culture in the Divided Germany.

24 Feb 2016 by Elke Sieber
Carsten Kretschmann has a PHD in history and is researching and teaching Contemporary History at the University of Stuttgart. In his monograph about culture he is examining differences and similarities between the inter – German cultural landscape from 1945 until mainly 1989.
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Review

1968 in the East – why should we be concerned with the Federal Republic?

13 Jan 2016 by Elke Sieber
Lutz Kirchenwitz has a doctor’s degree in Cultural Sciences and is the head of the “Lied und soziale Bewegungen” (Song and Social Movements) society in Berlin. He is particularly dealing with the Singebewegung (Singing movement) in the GDR.
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Review

“OST COLA”

19 Feb 2015 by Admin
A new coffee-table book, OST COLA, has been added to our library. It shows pictures of the Brandenburg an der Havel before the reunification. The photos has been taken by Mathias Knoppe, Hans Hoffmann and Alexander Pollock.
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Review

“Beyond the Wall. Art and Artifacts from the GDR”

14 Jan 2015 by Admin
It’s once again time to present you here an English book about the GDR. Today it’s a very special one. Not only the content but also the size and the layout are something special. It is the biggest book out of our library and the one with the most pictures. And, I think, it’s one of the most expensive ones, too. On 904 pages you can see in this book 2500 artifacts, design pieces and everyday objects from the East German Collection of the “Wende Museum” in Los Angeles.  
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Review

„The Burning Wall. Dissent and revolt behind the Berlin Wall“

17 Dec 2014 by Admin
It is a documentary about the GDR, but not about the popular topics, it is a film about the opposition in the GDR, about the uprising behind the Berlin Wall. Explicitly and exciting Hava Kohav Beller portrays the development of the East German underground opposition.
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Review

„Mauerflug“

7 Nov 2014 by Admin
The Fall of the Berlin Wall is in these days on everyone’s lips. Everywhere you can watch films about it, see photos and join different events regarding the jubilee. You cannot avoid the topic in this week. I searched because of that in our library and found a DVD which looked really interesting. It is called “Mauerflug” and you can watch it in English, Italian, French, Spanish and German, so really interesting for foreign-language people.
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Review

„Behind the Wall. ‚Perfectly Normal Lives‘ in the GDR?“

8 Oct 2014 by Admin
25 years after the Peaceful Revolution and the Fall of the Berlin Wall there are still discussions about the GDR, about the life there, about the feelings the people had of this state. Often there is a difference between those who say the GDR was an illegitimate state and those who think, not everything was badly in the GDR. It isn’t always easy to understand how can arise two so different opinions about same different state.
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Review

„My DDR T-Shirt“

28 Aug 2014 by Admin
In 2005 Ian Hawkins was in Berlin to visit the city. The Karl-Marx-Allee impressed him that much, that he bought a DDR T-Shirt. After that he had heavy pangs of conscience about wearing a T-Shirt with the insignias of the dictatorship GDR. These thoughts caused Ian to his project “The DDR T-Shirt”.
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Review

„Born in the GDR. Living in the shadow of the Wall”

8 Aug 2014 by Admin
In October 2014 a book will be published, which seems to be really interesting for those, who are interested in the GDR and the life there. Hester Vaizey tells in her book, „Born in the GDR. Living in the shadow of the Wall”, the true stories of eight people.
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For children

„A generation divided. German children and the Berlin Wall“

3 Jul 2014 by Admin
A real interesting and also profound book I found this week in our library and I don’t want to deprive you of. It’s not a book, which would entertain you in a funny way, but it is a book, which will impress you.
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Review

“Faust’s Metropolis. A history of Berlin”

12 Jun 2014 by Admin
After a lot of presented books here, it is really difficult to find another one in our library which is recommendable for foreign-language people. We have a lot of books, but unfortunately not so much in English. For the presentation today my colleague Melanie found still one. It is not only a book about the GDR; it is a history of Berlin.
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Review

The Berlin Wall 1961-1989

8 May 2014 by Admin
The book „The Berlin Wall 1961-1989“, published by Berlin Story Vertag, is a very interesting report about the construction of the Wall and it`s consequences.
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Review

The Rise and Fall of the German Democratic Republic 1945-1990

24 Apr 2014 by Admin
The last book I presented to you in our blog was a novel, a fictive story about some people in Berlin and around the killing strip. Today my book presentation is about real history, about facts and figures, about true events and the people who are involved in it.
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Review

“The Killing Strip”

10 Apr 2014 by Admin
Today I want to present you a slightly different book out of our library. The GDR is topic in it, too, but in another form as usually. The book, I want to present to you, is the novel “The Killing Strip”, written by Anthony Underhill in 2010.
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Review

„The Berlin Wall Story. Biography of a monument”

27 Mar 2014 by Admin
“No one has the intention of building a wall.” A sentence said by Walter Ulbricht on the 15th of June 1961, which nearly everybody knows today. A sentence which was one of the biggest lies in the German history. Two months later the GDR regime began with the building of the Wall. And this Wall determined for 28 years the life of the people in East and West Berlin.
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