A typical East German Christmas Eve – from a child’s perspective

Stefanie Kriebich is originally from Dresden, Germany and working on her Masters in International Museum Studies at Göteborgs Universitet in Gothenburg, Sweden. She has been interning at The Wende Museum since August.

The children had already opened the last door of their advent calendar in the morning of December 24^th. It contained a small piece of milk chocolate in shape of Santa. It would be a long day for them, because they were waiting anxiously for the presents to be exchanged in the evening. Would Santa come himself? Would he bring all the presents they wanted? Hopefully, they would recall the poem they had been learning by heart. Santa was not very pleased about naughty kids and knowing poem was supposed to prevent him from hitting them with birch sticks.

The apartment was decorated all Christmassy since the first advent, the 4^th Sunday before Christmas Eve. Mom pulled out the Christmas pyramid, a wooden carousel that spins with help of the rising heat of candles.

She also set up several Räuchermännchen, wooden figurines with cone incense inside of them. The incense made the room smell like gingerbread, fir trees and frankincense. Tables and commodes were decorated with Christmas linens.

On the morning of Christmas Eve, Dad had set up the Christmas tree, a noble fir. Mom and the kids went to the butcher early in the morning to queue for dinner ingredients. Mom was friends with one of the employees there, so they would get the Vienna sausages in the quantity they wanted. Yes, Vienna sausages were their Christmas Eve dinner and they came with handmade potato salad – a true delight!

Back home the family decorated the tree with little wooden angels, glass balls, electric candles and, of course, tinsel.

While Mom prepared the potato salad, the kids played in their room hoping that time would pass a little faster. In the early evening, Mom finally lit the tree and they sat in front of the TV watching Weihnachtsgans Auguste (Christmas goose Auguste), a movie about children who save a goose from being turned into a Christmas dinner – a real GDR classic! Then, a knock at the door. Santa, are you there?

The door opened and Santa stepped in. He was huge! His tummy was chubby and his nose was red from the cold. His face was veiled by his white beard. He must be very old!

Santa asked the kids whether they had been nice. Of course, they answered. Lying was pointless. Santa knew exactly when they had been naughty. Only when the kids promised to behave better would he hand out the presents. After the ceremony, Mom invited Santa to stay for dinner but he declined. Other children were still waiting to get their presents. As a goodbye, Santa waived his birch sticks to remind the kids of their promise. Only then, the kids noticed that Dad wasn’t there. He must be more afraid of Santa than they are or he forgot to learn his poem.

While the children unwrapped their presents and tried the new toys out with Dad, who had finally returned from his hiding place, Mom prepared dinner. Meeting Santa had made everybody hungry.

Tomorrow they would visit Grandma and Grandpa and hopefully, Santa had left some presents there as well.

A diary between personal and working life – Das Brigadebuch

By Stefanie Kreibich

The ”Brigadebuch” or ”Brigadetagebuch” was a diary that every collective in East German enterprises had to create yearly. The term ”Brigade” has its roots in the Russian language, where it draws its meaning as a unit of co-workers.

The Brigadebuch showcases all aspects of the professional life of the East German workers. However, from today’s current perspective, their professional life seems to be a rather vague mixture of both professional and private life.

After scrutinizing a handful of Brigadebuecher (German plural), the general layout and content of these diaries was clear. Brigadebuecher had several official and unofficial functions. On the one hand, the worker units had to document their achievements in an attempt to fulfill the economic plans given by the government. On the other hand, working according to socialist norms required commitment to the group of people that formed the Brigade. The pictures and reports in the diaries reveal stories of bachelor parties, day-trips and weekend parties that co-workers celebrated together.
Besides its character as a documentation of the fulfillment of socialist duties, the Brigadebuch was also a form of creative self-realization of the person who actually made the Brigadebuch. Besides photos, newspaper articles and data, it contained drawings, graphic designs or even poetry created by the workers.

For historians today Brigadebuecher are a very interesting source of GDR history, because they document how different layers of society were linked together with socialism as their connective element. It was common for Brigade to have contractual partnerships with school classes which was, of course, documented in the Brigadebuch. From what can be seen in the diaries, these partnerships were more pretentious than real. It seemed very bizarre to read about 6-year olds congratulating the workers on the first of May or about the Brigade members sending greeting cards to children on the occasion of their newly achieved membership in the Pioneer organization.

For German speakers with a further interest in Brigaebuecher I recommend a doctoral thesis by Angelika Wolters called ”Alltagskommunikation in der DDR – eine pragmalinguistische Untersuchung der Textsorte Brigadetagebuch” with a focus on the aspects of language use in the Brigadebuecher which can be downloaded as a pdf-file.

Touching History

Marshall Wilson was one of the two Getty Interns who worked at The Wende Museum this past summer. He gives us a sneak-peak into some of The Museum’s recently acquired surveillance equipment and reflects on his time as an intern.

This summer, I  had the pleasure of working closely with The Wende Museum’s  latest shipment of military and surveillance technology.

The goal…to find out exactly how these blocky metallic machines worked and for what purposes they served.

With intensive research into areas previously unknown to me, and a little bit of intuition and common sense, I began to shed light on the items in our collection…

However, making headway in a field I had no formal education in came with its own set of headaches and hiccups.

My endeavors in researching our surveillance and military tech equipment could best be described as a treasure hunt. I felt like Indiana Jones, without the awesome hat or whip, but giddy nonetheless.

I cannot count the number of times I said in my head, “I’m touching history.” I would have jumped up and down with excitement, but that’s probably not a good idea on the stepladder; some of the objects I tried to maneuver weigh as much as 30 pounds—sometimes even more.

The Wende has allowed me to “touch history.” When I was looking for an internship, one consideration which was very important to me was the ability to expand upon my knowledge and actually put what I learned to use…something that’s a little hard to do with a background so immersed in the humanities and liberal arts.

What fascinates me so much about the Cold War are the personal stories which lie underneath the overarching discourse of the Cold War. What’s often forgotten amongst the traditional history of the Cold War are the personal narratives. These people and stories had as much an impact on the outcome of the Cold War as international policy had. To touch an object is to go back in time, and in that moment, history is lifted off the page—it comes to life.

Two Weeks at The Wende Museum

Elias Richter interned at The Wende Museum for two weeks before the start of his junior year of high school. He shares his experience and highlights some of his favorite discoveries.

During the last two weeks of August I worked as an intern at The Wende Museum on the TASCHEN project. During this time I saw a lot of what the Museum has to offer. For the first couple of days I spent a lot of time scanning old GDR menus.

This may seem boring but when you take the time to read through them and appreciate the art and graphics they become fun to look at.

The next couple of days I worked on the new Stasi surveillance objects. The first time I walked through the door to the storage facility for this equipment, I was blown away by what I saw. There was a wall of machinery going around the entire room; I had no idea what they were or what they were used for. We then proceeded to unpack some boxes for the TASCHEN review session. We unpacked numerous briefcases that all had some sort of surveillance equipment in it, including radios and even one that had a passport forging kit inside. We also unpacked a lot of cameras and even a Stasi recording device that was disguised as a pen. One of the days that I was working I was put on a separate side project in response to a research request. My job was to look through a cabinet that was located at one of the allied check points for Stasi files on Americans. On the very top of all the documents, most of which were copies of passports, were three pictures, all of the same person; however, the names and birthdates were all different.

During my time at The Wende Museum I learned a lot about the way a museum is organized and runs. This experience also exposed me to a variety of careers that I might be interested in looking into once I get to college.

The Hoffman Collection: An Update

By Lisa Bechtold

In June of 2009, intern Nina Rao introduced the Hoffman Collection, thirty-one 8mm home videos of a DDR family spanning from 1939 to 1969. Now, 2 years later, we have the opportunity to revisit the collection in lieu of an exciting new project.

The Wende Museum is very pleased to be working on a book with TASCHEN Publication. The 800 page book will explore the cultural artifacts of extinct East Germany through images and scholarship. The selection process is underway and sifting through the museum’s 60,000 unique objects is no small feat. The book aims to present more than a scope of the museum’s collection. As Chair Wayne Ratkovich said, “It will provide a unique view of life behind the Iron Curtain.”

The Hoffman Collection does just that. The videos capture family dynamics, customs, and travel, adding another dimension to our understanding of the time. Because of their uniqueness and value, we are considering how we can integrate the videos into the project through an audio-visual component.

Since Nina first blogged about the collection, we have not had the opportunity to transfer the videos. Serendipitously, this summer at the MOCA, the Levi’s Film Workshop opened in conjunction with the exhibit Art in The Streets. It is a temporary, free, do-it-yourself workshop that provides the equipment to make, edit, and transfer all different types of film.

I have been in a few times to transfer the Hoffman videos and am nearly done. It has been an amazing experience. Not only are the people who work there helpful and supportive, the public has taken interest too. There is a constant stream of people coming in and out of the workshop, not necessarily to use the facilities but rather to see what is going on. Many of them are captured by the beautiful and nostalgic moments they see on the screen. Witnessing all the interest reminds me of why we are doing this— to share this rarely seen footage.

We must thank Levi’s and MOCA for coming together to offer this rare opportunity and to TASCHEN for being the catalyst in the revival of the Hoffman Collection. We will keep you updated on the progress of the Taschen project and the other collections that the book will bring to life!

International Children’s Day

Wouldn’t it be nice if every day was a Children’s Day? What kind of kid wouldn’t want a special day just devoted to him/her?  If I were a kid, I would buy all the toys from Fao Schwarz, I would watch my favorite cartoons all day and I would eat all the junk foods in the world without having my mom yell at me.  But alas, not every day can be dedicated just to children! Luckily, there are two major days on which children are honored.  Some countries celebrate Universal Children’s Day on November 20^th, as designated by the United Nations in 1954; however, most countries from the former Eastern bloc celebrate International Children’s Day on June 1^st.

International Children’s Day was declared at the World Conference for the Well-being of Children in Geneva in 1925.  No one knows for sure why this day is celebrated on June 1^st. Some believe that this day was chosen because the day of the Geneva conference coincided with the Dragon Boat Festival, in which the Chinese consul-general in San Francisco gathered Chinese orphans to celebrate it on June 1, 1925. In the Soviet Union, International Children’s Day was formally established in November 1949 at the International Democratic Women’s Federation and was celebrated for the first time the following year.

On this day, every activity revolves around children. Speeches are given on children’s rights and their well-being, favorite cartoons and films are shown on TV, sports events, parties and other activities are organized for the children and their families. While International Children’s Day is a joyous holiday for children, it is also a day for adults to remember that they have the responsibility to care for children and to respect their rights.

Well, since June 1^st is approaching, we at the Wende want to celebrate International Children’s Day by posting few items related to children from our collection.

Russian school children from Leningrad school number 198. 1975-1976.

A scrapbook describing pioneer-related activities with photographs of pioneers who participated in these activities. From East Germany. Circa 1980-1981.

Young Pioneer doll from East Germany.

 A DDR pilot doll from East Germany.

“Голосую, За Счастье Детей!” or “I Vote, for the Happiness of Children!” in English.  

Plate with children dressed in costumes representing the Army, Navy and Space program of the USSR.

A rattle toy

Happy International Children’s Day!

Picnics

When Mikhail Gorbachev, the former leader of the Soviet Union, launched his policies of glasnost and perestroika, he never anticipated for his fear-based regime to lose its power. A crucial peace demonstration led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain. This event is known as the Pan-European Picnic, which was held on the Austrian-Hungarian border on August 19, 1989.

The event was organized by the Pan-European Union, in which the rulers of Austria and Hungary agreed to cut down the barbed wire of the border fence for approximately three hours. The event was advertized ahead of time: pamphlets were distributed, inviting East German holiday-makers to a picnic. Once arriving to the picnic, they were given various presents and food before crossing over to the West. A total of 661 gate-crashers eager to escape from the Communist Bloc flooded to cross the border into Austria.

A couple of months later on September 11, 1989, Hungary opened its borders for citizens of the GDR and other Eastern European countries. This marked the beginning of the fall of the Iron Curtain. Only a few months after the opening, 70,000 people fled to the West through Hungary.

Now, with summer approaching, people are starting to dust off their picnic baskets and head to parks and beaches to enjoy the warm sunshine. While the Pan-European Picnic was significant politically, I thought it would be interesting to explore the aspects of more every-day picnics in East Germany.

These are two examples of typical picnic containers that were used to carry necessary dishes, utensils, food, and beverages.

Here is a men’s straw summer hat, which would be a perfect accessory for a picnic in the summer.

Picnic-goers passed the time by eating, drinking, conversing with one another, and sometimes playing card games using cards such as these.

Victory Day

On May 9, 1945, Nazi Germany surrendered in the Second World War, or the Great Patriotic War as it was called in the Soviet Union. May 9, or Victory Day, was celebrated across the Soviet Union and continues to be celebrated in former Soviet states.

At The Wende Museum, we’re celebrating the 66th anniversary of Victory Day by highlighting some relevant items from the collection.

“1941-1945″ is from our Ferris Poster Collection, a collection of original, hand-painted  Soviet posters, created by artists as visual responses to Mikhail Gorbachev’s transformative policies of Glasnost and Perestroika of the late 1980s.

This poster, painted by C.N. Aleksandrov in 1990, commemorates the lives lost during the War.

The following greeting card, created in 1988, commemorates the 45th anniversary and was meant to be given to veterans. The outside of the card shows the years of the War and reads: “To A Veteran of the Great Patriotic War.”

The inside of the card can be personalized with the recipient’s name:

“Dear Comrade ___________,

We cordially congratulate  you, veteran of the Great Patriotic War, on the 45th Anniversary of the Victory of the Soviet People in the Great Patriotic War. We wish you good health and personal happiness.

Military Commissar of the Riga Region, V. Lobachyov – Chairman of the Riga District Committee for Militrary Registration and Enlistment I. Dubinkii”

The surrender document was actually signed late in the evening of May 8 in Berlin – it was already after midnight in Moscow, which is why the Soviet Union celebrates on May 9. East Germany recognized Tag der Befreiung (Day of Liberation) on May 8 from 1950 to 1966 and in 1985, on the 40th anniversary, and began celebrating Tag des Sieges (Victory Day) in 1975 until 1990, when German reunited.

We have several artifacts in the collection commemorating Tag der Befreiung and Tag des Sieges.

The inscription on the plate above reads:

“40th Anniversary of the Victory over Nazism and the Liberation of the German People”

Russia celebrated Victory Day this year with a large parade in Red Square. See a video of some of the events here.

Starman

As the month of March comes to an end, the Wende will bid farewell to our GDR State Gifts exhibit and begin the installation of our new exhibition, Cedars Flight Vostock 1: Icons and Artifacts of the Soviet Space Program. Commemorating the 50^th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s 108-minute voyage into space, the exhibition will feature commemorative objects from East Germany and the Soviet Union and its satellite states.

Known as the first cosmonaut to enter space, Yuri Gagarin became the hero of the USSR and a symbol of Soviet achievement. In the recently released biography of Gagarin titled, Starman: The Truth Behind the Legend Yuri Gagarin, Jamie Doran and Piers Bizony explore interviews and secret government files to shed light on Gagarin’s public and private life.

Click here to read excerpts from Starman that were featured in the March 8^th edition of the New York Times.

On Tuesday, April 12^th at 6:00 PM the Wende Museum will host a discussion with Lawrence Gipe and Andrew Jenks* on the use of Soviet imagery in contemporary art. This discussion will also coincide with the opening of the exhibition, which will prove to be out of this world! For further details on this and other upcoming events, check out the website.

*Andrew Jenks is currently working on a biography about Yuri Gagarin. Click here to read his blog and follow his writing process.

Correction: The book, Starman: The Truth Behind the Legend Yuri Gagarin, is being re-released in lieu of the anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s historic flight.

The Social Realities of Social Realism or The Dual Role of Women in the GDR

An article by Juliane Schremer, former Wende Intern extraordinaire, on the occasion of the International Women’s Day 2011

On March 8th countries around the world will celebrate International Women’s Day. In many societies, women will be spoiled with flowers, candy and little gifts. But this day is not merely about the celebration of the existence of women. In Germany for example, where this article is written, the weeks leading up to this occasion are often used to discuss the changing status of women within society and the professional world. What has often been ignored and has only in recent years become a topic of discussion, are the different approaches to the emancipation of women in East and West. This division has not only been observed among German feminists, but can at least be considered a European phenomenon, which is reason enough to look back on the situation of women in the last 20 years of the GDR’s existence.

In 1989, 91.2 % of women in the GDR were employed. This number has often been referred to in support of the argument that women in the socialist state enjoyed more privileges than in other countries at the time. The full employment of women was in accordance with Marxist-Leninist theory and was promoted by the government in many ways. Take for example the 10 Mark bill of the GDR, the bank note that would pass through everyone’s hands in daily life.

The front of this bill depicts Clara Zetkin, a passionate German feminist, communist and famous initiator of the International Women’s Day. To make this important woman the front of an everyday bank note reflects the importance that was ideologically given to the equality of women. The back of the bill shows a woman working at a control center in an industrial setting. It is interesting to note that this artistic choice deviates from usual romantic depictions of women, e.g. as the bearers of the nation (see for example the 50 Pfennig coin of West Germany showing a woman planting a German oak tree) or the personification as a young and strong woman (see for example the French Marianne).

The East German ideal of the working woman has been an important part of Social Realism, the state-supported art form in most socialist countries. Woman were often depicted in a working environment such as the one on the 10 Mark Schein. Take for example the picture The Female Factory Worker (n.d., 1971) from the Vault of the Wende Museum.

This picture is representative of one important aspect: the neutral depiction of women in Social Realism. The worker in the picture appears neither as a mother nor a very feminine figure. The ideal she is supposed to represent is very different from such romanticized pictures of women. The painting shows her, first and foremost, as a worker contributing to the building of a socialist state. An employment rate of 91.2 % is the statistic realization of this ideal.

What has often been left unconsidered in discussions after the Wende, were the social realities of Social Realism. Even though the rate of employment for women was indeed very high in the GDR, inequalities continued to exist both in professional and private life. Not only were women employed in less well-payed jobs than men (25-30% difference in pay), there was also an undeniable glass ceiling that was only seldom broken for representative reasons.

At the same time, women still had to deal with the social pressures of a still patriarchal society. Even though political ideology expected both partners to contribute to daily family chores (a single life for a woman was hardly tolerated both socially and politically), these tasks were often left to be done by the wife. Women were therefore pushed to really work two jobs, one professionally and one at home.

Here lies the reason for the fundamental difference in the two streams of feminism. While Western feminists often argue for a general access to the professional world supported by public childcare facilities, many East Germans or Eastern European feminists argue for the possibility to freely choose between family and job.

The different approaches have often lead to fundamental misunderstandings but can be clarified by looking at the different developments of a divided Germany and, more generally, a divided Europe. Luckily, International Women’s Day is about acknowledging not the differences in approach, but the rights, wishes and needs of all women around the globe.