A bookshelf with trumpet books, which were very popular with children in GDR times, a sitting area with a rocking chair and reading lamp, as well as exquisite book copies guide interested visitors into the "Reading Land GDR". The show, published by the Federal Foundation for Reappraisal and curated by Dr. Stefan Wolle, tells of people who did not want to be dictated their reading and stood in line for rare books.
On 20 exhibition panels with texts, pictures and references to videos, a vivid journey through time is made possible by the "reading country GDR". In the process, visitors reach not only the territory of the writing workers of socialist realism and Soviet literature, but also the realms of the best-known cookbooks, the world of detective stories and fairy tales, as well as the science fiction cosmos.
In this exhibition, much can be learned about a country whose authorities firmly believed in the power of the written word and feared it at the same time. Where reading and writing were promoted at great expense, while politically undesirable literature was only accessible in libraries with a "poison certificate" and mail and travelers from the West were specifically searched for printed matter.
At the very end, visitors are invited to browse through a shelf of GDR literature, take a seat in a comfortable reading chair and go on a literary voyage of discovery in the books from this country, about which visitors to the exhibition can learn many new things.
When and where?
Opening hours: Tuesdays-Sundays 11:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Museum Viadrina – Junkerhaus, Carl-Philipp-Emanuel-Bach-Strasse 11, 15230 Frankfurt (Oder)
Museum admission: 5.00 € per person/reduced 3.00 €
Duration of the exhibition: until November 12, 2023
Press inquiries
Press inquiries are answered under 0335 40 15 60 or
halina.muchow@museum-viadrina.de gladly.