Hands-on history (DDR Museum Berlin)

Member Name: ms_memory

Product:	DDR Museum Berlin
Date:	11/02/09 (136 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Amazingly interactive, fascinating take on a long-lost country

Disadvantages: Can get crowded at peak times; occasional lack of subtitles/translations

"Der Geist einer Zeit lebt nicht nur in Bildern und Büchern, sondern auch in Töpfen und Pfannen."

"The spirit of an era is not just reflected in pictures and books, but also in pots and pans."


***Background***

The DDR/GDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik or German Democratic Republic) aka East Germany was a self-declared socialist state formed in 1949. It comprised the Soviet Zone of occupied Germany and the Soviet sector of occupied Berlin. From 1961 the state was separated from the Federal Republic of Germany (aka West Germany) by a physical boundary down the middle of Germany, as well as the most notorious border: the Berlin Wall, which cut through the heart of the capital city for almost 30 years.


**The museum: a slice of life***

This throughly modern museum, which was nominated for European Museum of the Year in 2008, basically consists of a collection of artifacts from everyday East German life, grouped into thematic categories and displayed in cases made to look like typical GDR concrete-slab apartment blocks. Within the cases there are plenty of drawers and doors to open, videos to watch and recordings to listen to. The objects are complemented by information panels in German and English.

This is the most hands-on museum I've ever been to. Take the 'education' area, where you can pick up a child's satchel and even take out and read a copy of a genuine school report. In the 'fashion' zone you can poke your nose into the wardrobe of a GDR girl-about-town and marvel at her scratchy yet colourful nylon slacks and apron dresses - visitors are even allowed to try them on if they're brave enough! The 'transport' section houses a genuine Trabant car (for which the waiting list used to be 16 years!) which you can clamber into and try out for size.

The exhibition's pièce de résistance has to be the fully-equipped GDR standard-issue flat, where weary tourists can have a nice sit down on the creaky sofa and take in a bit of GDR TV or peruse a sex education book or socialism manual from the bookcase. If you're even nosier, why not have a rummage through the bathroom cabinet or the kitchen cupboards, or check what's in the washing machine? You can't help but wonder why the museum is so relaxed about letting tourists get their grubby mitts all over the displays. Well, before the museum opened a few years ago, it advertised for donations in Germany and was inundated with GDR artifacts. They also came from apartment and house clearances, jumble sales and flea markets. It's rumoured that the museum has a whole warehouse full of these objects!


***That's socialism!***

The museum cinema shows (subtitled) GDR documentaries - last time I visited there was a faintly propagandistic reel on government housing projects and an interview with residents who complained about the lack of hot water, followed by a voiceover declaring without a hint of irony: "When all your needs are catered for: that's socialism!". There are also TV shows to watch and radio shows and pop music is available on headphones (my personal recommendations would be Die Puhdys' exuberant 'Wenn ein Mensch lebt' and City's sultry song 'Am Fenster', both of which were big hits beyond the GDR borders in the '70s). The 'media' section is interesting as it shows how all the major newspapers carried more or less the same articles.


***Bugbears***

The museum could do with giving out audio-guides for tourists who aren't fluent in German or English - there didn't seem to be any on offer both times that I was there. It should also provide subtitles for the TV shows and better explanations e.g. of the Stasi surveillance recordings (listening in is pointless if you can't understand them) and make the interactive quiz doable for someone who doesn't have a PhD in East German labour market history.

The museum really makes the most of its small space, managing to cram in a ticket desk, 'cafe' (really just a coffee machine and two bistro tables) and a souvenir shop. The latter has a decent collection of postcards, games and (quite pricey) novelty/ household items. There are plenty of books and DVDs, but again little for non-German speakers. I know there are English/ subtitled versions of most of them, so there's no excuse!


***Ostalgia***

The descriptions and information panels are, I think, respectful of the GDR's people and traditions; all objects are presented in a matter-of-fact way with straightforward descriptions of how things were at the time. The sections on naturist holidays and dodgy GDR fashions could have easily poked fun, but they don't. The tone of the museum carefully avoids making this long-lost state seem a kind of freak show - after all, for many of the city's residents this simply reflects the only life they knew until 1989.

But is it all too positive? Walking around the exhibition on my second visit I sometimes had the impression that it barely touched on the more political aspects of life behind the Iron Curtain and glossed over the dark aspects in favour of 'Ostalgie' or 'nostalgia for the GDR'. There is a corner devoted to the Stasi (state intelligence organisation) spying techniques, but it highlights the service's inefficiency and incompetence over its more nefarious side. There is little on the Berlin Wall and the 136 GDR citizens (at least) who were killed trying to cross it, nor on the brutal Stasi prison or even the moving individual stories of families and friends who were split up along with their country for decades.

On the other hand, Berlin already has its fair share of more 'serious' museums and historical sites. If you approach the DDR museum simply as a step back in time and behind the Iron Curtain, it's a fun and informative day out, whether you remember when East Germany played in the World Cup, or you weren't even born when the Berlin Wall came tumbling down.


***Practicalities***

Prices: Admission costs Euro5.50 for adults and Euro3.50 for concessions/groups. At the time of writing (Feb 2009) visitors receive a booklet of vouchers with their tickets which give 20% discount on further Berlin attractions such as the zoo. Guided tours of the museum are available on request.

Opening times: Mon-Sun 10am to 8pm (Sat 10am to 10pm).

Location: Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 1, close to Hackescher Markt and Alexanderplatz S-Bahn (suburban rail) stations in the city's eastern (where else?) centre, opposite the unmissable, green-roofed Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral).


***And finally...***

There's a huge selection of bars, restaurants and cafes down the road at Hackescher Markt and in the the surrounding streets, where you can wind down after having taken in all that history!

Summary: Unique museum, both in subject and style