DDR Museum

The DDR Museum in Berlin-Mitte is a privately run institution devoted to everyday life and culture in the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany). Founded by Freiburg ethnologist Peter Kenzelmann and opened in 2006 in the DomAquarée, the museum receives no government funding and is one of the most visited museums in the city. Its interactive permanent exhibition invites you not just to look at East German history but to experience it firsthand. Most of the exhibits can be touched, so you can sit in a Trabant, rummage through the cupboards of a replica prefab apartment, or virtually try on East German clothing in front of a digital mirror. This hands-on approach is meant to convey what history felt like while deliberately steering clear of nostalgia.

The exhibition is divided into several thematic areas that shed light on public life, political structures, and private living. The first section depicts everyday life through a true-to-scale prefab housing estate, a Trabant driving simulator, and a kindergarten. The second section is devoted to the party, the state, and the economy, with insight into the work of the Stasi (State Security) provided by a replica interrogation room and a holding cell. One highlight is the entrance via an original prefab-building elevator into a meticulously reconstructed WBS 70 apartment. Here you can compare East and West German television, type on an Erika typewriter, or print out recipes from East German cookbooks. Since 2023, the exhibition has also been split into the areas German Division and DDR Compact, complemented by a six-meter-long piece of the Berlin Wall.

In addition to the main exhibition, the museum maintains one of the world's largest collections on everyday East German culture, comprising around 360,000 objects. These holdings are preserved in the newly opened storage facility in Berlin-Marzahn and are partly displayed in showcase collections such as the Klub der Funktionäre (Officials' Club), where hunting trophies and ceremonial gifts are among the items on view. The museum sees itself as a place of preservation and education, with the staged arrangement of the exhibits at the forefront, making history tangible.