DDR Museum - Sit Back, Relax, This Isn't Going to Hurt Too Much.

The Dance Dance Revolution Museum, wait, no, that's not right.

The DDR Museum is an interactive exhibit detailing the "everyday" life of citizens of East Germany- known in German as the Deutsche Demokratische Republik or DDR.


Youth

Schools in the DDR were centrally regulated with a standardized curriculum focusing on performance and selection.

Ten years of "polytechnic secondary school" were followed by a compulsory apprenticeship. Very few attended "extended secondary school" to qualify for university.

Marxism-Leninism was a mandatory subject for mathematicians and sportsmen alike.

"Collective Potty Breaks: Another Insight into the German Obsession with Excrement"
Daycare centers in the DDR implemented a system of collective potty breaks. Children sat at potty benches, a long wooden bench with holes for the children's bottoms, and everyone remained seated until the last person was done (numbers 1 & 2). This not only aimed at training them to use a toilet, but was the first step in "social education".


I am so bothered by the idea of this, that I can't even think of anything witty to say.

Free German Youth
Most young people in the DDR became a member of the Free German Youth (FGY or FDJ in German) at the age of 14.

In 1946 the FGY was created as a nonparty youth organization. However, its goals were quite clear. The organization was used as a tool to slowly introduce young people to Marxism and Leninism with educational seminars and also used youth clubs, group trips and youth festivals to reinforce the teachings.


Membership was optional. No one was forced to become part of the organization. However when it came time to apply to secondary schools and universities, non-members suffered heavy discrimination. The impact of the situation was clear. In 1985, roughly 80% of all young people between 14 and 25 were members of the FGY.

University

In the DDR, there was no such thing as anonymous mass universities. *Like my beloved UCLA*
A seminar group consisted of no more than 25 students, which in most cases became a real close-knit group over the years.

Going to university did not guarantee a well-paid job. In fact, engineers in the DDR often made less than construction workers. Nonetheless, many young people desired the opportunity to study. Unfortunately, only ten percent of the people were allowed to go to university.

Participating in the "coming of age ceremony", an FGY membership, and an extended service in the Army increased the chances of getting a spot at a university. Conscientious objectors to military service, at best, could study theology.

Every university in the DDR had the same curriculum. Nope, no underwater basketweaving here.

In addition, every student had to serve four weeks in a military camp and was forced to become a reserve officer cadet. Female students had to participate in a seminar for civil defense. Sports courses were mandatory once a week.

And during summer break, all students had to work for six weeks--at a construction site.

Students could get into trouble for telling political jokes, owning certain books, or not participating in May 1st demonstrations. In fact, being seen with a book by George Orwell would get you taken off the university register.

A Taste of the West

The Intershop gave East Germans a taste of the West. For Western money, people could buy Western goods, like cigarettes and alcohol, and later on, groceries, toys, music, electronics and jewelry.

Intershops were initially intended for Western travelers and were located at airports, near transit routes and hotels, as well as at Berlin-Friedrichstrasse station (one I am very familiar with at this point).

The DDR bought Western goods and, like a Duty-Free shop, sold them tax-free and at lower prices. Why? They needed Western currency to buy important raw materials such as cotton and coffee on the international market.

Quickly, the Intershop became popular with East Germans as well. There, they found what was missing in the DDR: variety, glamor, and a taste of the big wide world.

A Standardized World

Media
Yes, the DDR had 39 newspapers, 2 TV Channels, and 4 radio stations. BUT, there was only 1 option. The DDR media were only allowed to broadcast censor-approved material. the chief editors met every Wednesday to be briefed by the DDR Central Committee on linguistic regulations and directives.

The popular shows were Rumpelkammer and Das Sandmannchen, not particularly intellectual as seen below.



Politically interested viewers had to resort to Western television, which the government could not do anything to prevent.

Fashion
The government decided what was fashionable-Period. Whether it was blouses, skirts, or pants- the most important designs for the DDR textile industry came from the Modeinstitut Berlin. As the main designer for the mass-produced collections for the DDR since 1952, the institute had a great influence on the clothing styles of the people. Men and women, kids and teens--everyone wore the institutes creations. When designers at the Modeinstitut Berlin presented their collections, they were often one step behind the Western trends. Clothes for working women had to be hard-wearing and fit for everyday use.

Many officials, particularly those responsible for purchases for the textile industry, had to give their blessing to the designers. Rarely having the necessary raw materials to work with, designers could not always live out their creativity. Time and again, designs had to be considerably simplified to save on material. This usually meant fewer ornamental seams, smaller collars and no unnecessary buttons.

With hardly any cotton available, the production of synthetic fibers like the polyester product "Prasent 20" boomed. It was easy care, durable, and wrinkle-free but the low breath-ability of the material caused heavy sweating. The DDR had to save material, so accessories were the only form of variety and people learned to tailor their own clothes.

Levi's jeans or other Western imports were in high demand but almost unavailable. To the right you see Levi jeans, next to the East German version.

Fashion magazines were the most read magazines in the DDR. The main reason was that they included sewing patterns and instructions. "Sibylle" was the most well known, containing high-quality fashion picture by famous photographers and small sideswipes. "Die Pramo" (practical fashion) and the knitting magazine "Modische Maschen" (fashionable stitches) had much higher circulations.

Since it is no longer fashionable to sit at the sewing machine, none of these magazines exist anymore.

Music

Musicians in the DDR had an advantage: Their music was sure to be played in clubs and on the radio. City, Puhdys and Karat were famous bands, but people longed for Western music.

The City song "Am Fenster" (click link to listen to song) became the greatest hit in the history of GDR rock music. It was a mixture of cool melancholy and Balkan spirit. The single sold 120,000. The album (of the same title) was the first East German record to become a gold record in the west (Greece and FRG).




Karat was one of the greatest rock bands in the DDR. In 1975, they gave their debut concert. Their first record, which included the song "Konig der Welt" was released in 1978 and made them an overnight sensation. Karat sold seven million records.
The Peter Maffay version of their song "Uber Sieben Brucken"(click to hear the Karat version) even hit the FRG music charts.





Formed in 1969, the band Puhdys was the most famous and long-lived rock bands of the DDR. Their breakthrough came in 1973 at the 10th World Festival. The musicians were even allowed to release their records in the FRG, give concerts there, and even go on tour in the USA. By 1989, 15 million vinyl records and tapes had been sold. "Wenn ein Mensch lebt" was their greatest hit.






Music that was played on the radio, in restaurants, at office parties or dancing events was subject to a quota rule in the DDR. 60% of all songs played had to be composed by either DDR musicians or their socialist neighbors. The remaining 40% were songs from other countries provided they were released by a DDR record company.

How was that enforced? The "Anstalt zur Wahrung der Auffuhrungs-und Vervielfaltigungsrechte" (AWA--and no I did not make any of that up) sent out inspectors to ensure that the order issued in 1958 was observed. If the quota was not met, musicians were banned from stage--or even from their profession!

Discotheques (haha) often found a way to circumvent the quota rule: They only played short parts of the DDR songs and then put on more trendy music.

"ROCK FUR DEN FRIEDEN" or Rock for Peace was a popular music festival between 1982 and 1987 organized by the Palace of the Republic, the Music Committee and the FYG. DDR rock bands, as well as bands from socialist and Western countries played at the festival. The Youth and even the DDR leading officials loved the festival. After only three years, however, apparently a large number of bands had grown tired of writing one song for peace after another.




Generally, Western music was the thorn in the SED's side. In order to "contain" the success of Rock 'n' Roll, they needed to devise their own dances. The most famous is the Lipsi (click to watch a video of the Lipsi) from 1959. It was faster than any previous dances, but still a classic ballroom dance. In general, the young people ignored it.

"We don't need the Lipsi or Ado Koll. We need Elvis with his Rock 'n' Roll."





Sports

Encouraged by top-class athletes like Schur, Seyfert, Sparwasser, Weissflog and Witt, young people committed themselves to sports. The secret to the DDR's success in sports was its system of sport schools and selection. international success meant so much to them, they resorted to doping their athletes (also see: China).


One phenomenal athlete from the DDR (probably not on drugs) the figure skater, Gabriele Seyfert is pictured here alongside her 1960 trophy. At the age of 12, she won the second national winter festival of the Pioneer organization Ernst Thalmann which marked the beginning of an extraordinary career. She was given the title "Sports Woman of the Year" and became a world-class athlete in her discipline.









The two German states only met once on the football pitch (aka Soccer Field): the 1974 World Cup in West Germany. They faced each other in the last game of the group stages at the Hamburger Volksparkstadion (in Hamburg). The FGR (West Germany) were expected to win. They played moderately well, but in the 77th minute Jurgen Sparwasser did the unbelievable and scored the winning goal, putting the DDR 1 up. The "Victory over Capitalism" improved the DDR's respect. Although the DDR was the group winner, they were defeated in the intermediate round. In the end, the West German team won the World Cup.


The "Footy" to the left was signed by all members of the 1974 DDR World Cup team.









Home Sweet Home

Comfort was a major requirement for all fully-furnished concrete-slab buildings, old buildings, and single-family homes. Flowery wallpaper on every wall, carpets, net curtains, and three-piece suites, all offered a cushion to the hard realities of daily life.

Furniture stores had little variety, so people resorted to DIY projects. Apartments were decorated with Granny's furniture, balconies with carriage wheels and horseshoes. Oil lamps lit up the shelves. The search for variety and style created a new kind of conformity.



Marital Bliss
Father, mother, and the children--even in the DDR, the family was a source of security. Marriage at the early age of 20 was common and supported through governmental benefits like apartments and interest-free marriage loans. Debts decreased with every child. Working mothers were given maternity leave and the option to return to their job. The guaranteed daycare (with evil potty breaks) for children enabled 90% of women to be employed.

Home from Work, Straight into the Kitchen
In the DDR, "women were equal to men". The government encouraged women to work in qualified positions and technical jobs, thus raising their numbers in these areas of work. Many women continued their education by attending correspondence degree courses and evening school. Child care (for children older than eleven weeks) and other social institutions made life easier for women.
Despite options like maternity leave, legal protection or working mothers, and day care centers, the existing role allocations remained the same. The division of labor between men and women in the DDR did not change, either. Women were still primarily employed in the education profession and in the nurturing profession, while men mostly worked in technical professions.

Women took on the additional task of making money, which used to be a male domain, but at the same they continued to be mothers and housewives. Women in leading positions were the exception. The Politburo of the SED, the body of highest political power in the DDR, never had any women amongst their employees.

Despite their promises and efforts, the DDR was still a society in which men made the decisions.
All in all, not that different from America during the same period.


Another illustration of the infamous toilet shelf.











The Dacha
If you've ever read Anton Chekov you are probably familiar with a dacha. If not, its the Russian term for a seasonal house.

For East Germans, the dacha was not just a summer house on a piece of land. It represented the people's longing for harmony in a completely nonpolitical way. The SED was not entirely happy about seeing people escape to this previous sanctuary. They preferred it, however, to seeing them escape to the West. Many a weekend were spent at the dacha. Colleagues helped each other find the right materials to add supplementary space to it. It was an idyllic place where, in the evenings, barbecue parties were held and the often mocked garden gnome was always standing guard.





Vacations
In contrast to the travel freedom of the West, East Germans had to organize their domestic vacation plans through trade-union coupons or government travel agencies. They were only permitted to visit neighboring East European states if they went abroad – restrictions that added to popular frustration with the regime.

Baltic beaches were popular vacation spots for many East Germans. Apparently, beach visits were often naked. In spite of the SED's efforts, skinny dipping was a regular occurrence. Nudism became a mass movement after academic protests from nudists: four in five East Germans had been skinny dipping at least once, and only one in ten rejected nudism in principle. (These are statistics provided from the museum) Along with the failure of the ban, the pleading of the Cultural Minister, Becher to "protect the eyes of the nation" also failed.

Luckily these older women did wear clothing, thus protecting my eyes. I am beginning to think they might have planned food shortages to prevent naked fat people from being nude at the beach.


The reasons for the popularity of nudism was less to do with sexual freedom and more of a resistance to the eternal conformity of the DDR, and nudity was a sign of "true classlessness". (This is museum term. Whehter it means no social classes or no social grace, I have yet to decide.) In the end, those wearing swimsuits became the odd ones out.

Then, the museum presents a little diorama of naked beach activities, in addition to photographs of more nude activities. I am officially a prude American.

Why are these people running on the beach? Why are they running on the beach while holding hands? Why are they naked while running on the beach holding hands? Not cool






Here a mother and child (I assume) smile at eachother--while naked.


Naked parenting--aka pedophilia.













Of course, that age old pastime of nude volleyball with your best male friends. Who doesn't like to play with their friend's balls? I mean, play ball with their friends....

They even realistically included a guy with a farmer's tan. Thanks for the accuracy, Germany!






There are other disturbing images, I assure you, I have them on my computer. I just don't feel the need to subject you to such sites. They involve a naked couple, a naked woman with her hand between her legs as she reads, and a naked woman swimming "froggy style" in the shallow end of the water. Of all the things to replicate in a museum....

And on that note, I bring you to the most exciting part of the museum: The part where Doug ends up under a car.

Transportation
Getting from A to B was not easy in the DDR. The streets were full of potholes, the trains were old fashioned: traveling was time consuming and arduous. Buses and trains were rarely on time, yet tickets were sometimes free. Going by train was fairly inexpensive but most people saved up for their own car, waiting up to 16 years for it to arrive.

Only every other family owned a car in 1985 and the two-stroke engine was dated. The convoys of Trabis moving towards the West became a symbol for the fall of the Wall.

The what, you say? The Trabi!

People had never experienced so much love for a car, as they did for the Trabi. In a country where freedom was restricted, it at least offered some mobility. People who wanted to buy a Trabi, however, had to wait a long time to actually get it.

In 1954, the Politburo commissioned a project for a compact car that could compete with the successful Western Beetle. It had to be robust, yet small and inexpensive.

The first result of this project, the Trabant P50, went into production in 1958. It was produced at the VEB Sachsenring Auto-Mobilweke Zwickau which originated from the merger of the two companies Horch and Audi.

Technologically, the P50 was not perfect. Its brakes were weak and required a special permit. Still, the car was met with great approval. The DDR had its own compact car!

Instead of a fuel gauge, the Trabi had a less than useful electronic device known as Mausekino, a mechanism that was prone to fail, thus sometimes bringing the whole car to a standstill.

Experienced drivers used the mileage indicator to estimate how much fuel remained. When the fuel level got too low, the car started to jolt, so the driver had to switch to reserve and use the remaining two liters to get to the next service station.

Trabi drivers knew the insides of their car almost as well as the mechanics did, and could do most of the repairs themselves. Many an engine was taken apart on the kitchen table. Trabi drivers did not have to rely on others.

Hunting down spare parts, however, was quite an endeavor. The mechanic's first question to a customer usually was: "Can you provide the parts?"
You had to make sure you had the spares ready in advance.

It took such a long time to actually get a Trabi that nobody stood a chance of getting another one in the near future. For this reason, Trabi drivers were very particular about their cars and kept them operational as long as possible.

The Trabi was a companion--with it a trunkload of memories and emotions.

The Trabi also went by the name of "Plastic Racer" which was meant either affectionately or mockingly. The nickname derived from the rather unusual material the Trabant's body was made of. In order to save on steel, the design engineers at Zwickau used a new material called Duroplast, which was also lighter and more robust.

Duroplast is an exceptional synthetic material. To fabricate the individual car body panels, engineers combined cotton fleece with granulated phenol resin. The composite was then cut to size and heated under pressure and steam. The heat liquefied the resin, which could then seem into the fleece. While cooling, the material solidified to a rigid component, and then was attached to the steel frame of the car.

BAM! The plastic racer was ready to roll!

And that, I suppose, was everyday life in East Germany. All of which was meticulously spied on by the Stasi.....