DDR Museum

– © DDR Museum

– © DDR Museum

The GDR museum is one of the newest and most visited in Berlin. For a good reason: it is the only museum that deals exclusively with life in the former German Democratic Republic, while at the same time offering an objective perspective of the topics ‘stasi’ and ‘wall’, as well as various aspects of every-day life during that period.

The permanent exhibition takes its motto ‘history to touch and feel’ quite literally: visitors enter a 1:20 scale model of a typical GDR prefabricated high-rise estate, and will need all their wits about them. Information and exhibits are stowed away and hidden in drawers, closets and behind doors. The exhibits can be touched and used, the kitchen still has the cooking smells of way back when, and a trabi is available to take visitors on a virtual tour of the area.

What remains of the 40 years of life in the GDR? The exhibition offers, in addition to exhibits on and about the ‘Wall’ and ‘stasi’ memorials, a third and very important component: dealing with the former GDR in a purely scientific way.

In cooperation with historians and under the scientific leadership of Dr. Stefan Wolle, the museum has set itself the task of preserving an important aspect of German cultural history, and providing insights for younger generations. Visitors are invited to expand their knowledge, rethink clichés, and to experience history with all their senses. Most of the exhibits from every-day life were donated to the museum by private households.

Since its extension in October 2010, the GDR museum now provides almost double the experience, exploring a number of new aspects of GDR life. If the first section of the exhibition concentrates on everyday life in the GDR, the new exhibition takes a look behind the “bureaucratic smokescreen,” affording a glimpse into the structures of GDR misrule. The focus of the exhibition is provided by the SED - the Socialist Unity Party - exploring topics such as the state, economy, NPA, brother states, ideology, opposition and the Stasi.

The appearance of happiness and normality projected by the SED is unmasked as an attempt to blind the visitor to the reality. The doubts regarding this appearance grow with every draw and panel opened and unique interactive elements show just what pressures and influences made up everyday life in real existing Socialism.

Tickets available at Berlin Service Center or at our Berlin Tourist Info at Hauptbahnhof, Brandenburg Gate and Neues Kranzler Eck.

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