“Collecting for Germany”? The Museum Under Four Forms of Government

It begins with the suits of armour in the Imperial Hall of Fame and continues via the last field uniform worn by Emperor Wilhelm II in the Nazi Army Museum, right through to the Soviet ‘Flag of Kryvyi Rih’ in the Museum of German History of the GDR.

Matthias Koeppel’s famous painting ‘… and everything will be all right again’ provides an ironic illustration of German reunification. The museum, now finally united, also offers a retrospective look at the long and by no means straightforward path towards becoming a democratic, multi-perspective museum.

The DHM continues this exemplary collection practice to this day in the second part of the exhibition. A bunk bed from an initial reception centre for refugees stands at the end of the tour. It was acquired for the collection in 2016 by Walter Lübcke, whose subsequent murder by right-wing extremists also highlights the persistence of anti-democratic ideologies.