"Places East" – Film project with Dr. Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk

The new episode of ‘Orte Ost’ (Places of the East) sheds light on the history, present and future of this striking building and shows why architecture in dictatorships is much more than just a shell.

Historian Dr Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk reconstructs the emergence of the GDR State Council after the death of Wilhelm Pieck, the first president of the GDR, and explains its function as the collective head of state. In doing so, he focuses on the central role played by Walter Ulbricht. Opened in 1964, the State Council building was the first representative new government building in East Berlin and an expression of the SED leadership's ambition to redesign the historic centre of the capital.

The episode shows how architecture was deliberately used as an instrument of power, from monumental rooms to the glass window by Walter Womacka and the integrated portal of the demolished City Palace.

‘Orte Ost’ tells the story of the interplay between architectural staging and deliberate reinterpretation of history, tracing the building's path to its current use as an open educational institution.

‘Orte Ost’ is the new film series by the DDR Museum about (East) German locations, themes and events whose history continues to have an impact today. Historian Dr Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk guides viewers through ‘lost places,’ places of remembrance and places of the future, combining historical context with current developments and personal memories. The series will be released every two weeks starting in mid-January 2026 on the DDR Museum's YouTube channel and will search for clues on site.

‘Orte Ost’ stands for a lively, vivid and contemporary examination of GDR history and invites viewers on an exciting journey of discovery between the past and the future.

Facts

• When: 16 February, 4 p.m.
  
• What: ‘The State Council of the GDR. Architecture of Power’
  

(Language: German)