Beyond the Wall

Film stills, The Hoffman Collection, 1958–69. This private home movie collection consists of 31 8 mm films capturing birthdays, holidays, vacations, and other family events. Diplomatic gift, 1969 in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the GDR. The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) invested considerable energy in its international relations. At first only recognized by the Eastern Bloc states, the People’s Republic of China, and Korea, the GDR launched an initiative in the 1950s to establish diplomatic relations with countries in other parts of the world, especially in Africa, the Middle East, and East Asia. East German leader Erich Honecker visited 38 countries and received 50 foreign delegations between 1971 and 1989. Elaborate state gifts were often exchanged at these official visits. Commemorative plate “Liberation Day,” 1970 Wallendorfer porcelain. Following World War II, porcelain manufactories like Meissen operated for the benefit of Soviet reparations and later regrouped as a VEB (Volkseigener Betrieb, or People’s Own Factory, i.e., state-owned company). In addition to traditionally delicate tea sets, table settings, vases, and figurines, the ceramics manufacturers produced commemorative plates under GDR government contract. “With greetings from Moscow/Chile/Hell?” Modified poster of Erich Honecker, General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of the GDR, 1989. Following the Peaceful Revolution and the toppling of the Berlin Wall, Honecker fled to Moscow. After a short stint in prison in Berlin, he spent the last years of his life in Chile. The Wall along the sector border at Berlin-Neukölln, 1961. In the early morning hours of August 13, 1961, construction crews from the GDR, backed by members of the Workers’ Militia (Kampfgruppen), began to lay the foundations for what would become the Berlin Wall. More than 100 miles of barbed wire and concrete blocks, interspersed with guard posts and searchlights, sealed off capitalist West Berlin from socialist East Germany. Architectural model Friedrichstrasse/ Zimmerstrasse border crossing, 1980s Stasi-Hauptabteilung VI, Berlin. The intersection of Friedrichstrasse and Zimmerstrasse, not far from Potsdamer Platz, served as the high-security crossing point for foreigners, diplomatic officials, members of the occupying Western military (American, British, French), and some authorized business travelers. Across the street, on the median strip in West Berlin, stood the Allied presence in the form of the white guard shack or information booth known as “Checkpoint Charlie.” The East German border installation was far larger, occupying a six-block, bombed-out area on which the GDR erected watchtowers and barriers. Booklet “People’s Physical Characteristics,” 1970 Stasi-Hauptabteilung VI. Without the benefit of digital systems, members of the passport-control unit were intensively trained in facial recognition by studying those individual characteristics not easily subject to change, e. g. ears, dimples, nostrils, and eyelids. Poster “The reconstruction is moving so quickly that no lies can succeed,” 1954. A range of posters and political advertisements were distributed to promote the GDR’s first 5-year economic plan, which was a response to the Marshall Plan. Poster “2nd meeting of the Young Pioneers,” 1955. Few parents wished to stigmatize their children by not allowing them to don blue neckerchiefs and join the Junge Pioniere (Young Pioneers), a scout-like organization, when they were old enough to enter school. Membership stood at more than 90 percent of the juvenile population, who took the oath of service to the state and initiated a seamless progression into the Thälmann Pioneers at age 10, and on into the Freie Deutsche Jugend (Free German Youth) in high school. Facial recognition documents, border guard training materials, 1970 Stasi-Hauptabteilung VI. The Stasi lorded over a world in which mail was routinely opened, houses bugged, citizens harangued, and dissidents imprisoned for ‘hostile negative’ attitudes and nonconformist activities. By the end, the Stasi had amassed some 180 kilometers of files, one million pictures, and 200,000 tapes to monitor its citizens. The ears and eyes of the state were apparently everywhere. Stasi communications hub, 1960s Produced in the USSR. The Stasi had access to an array of tools to spy at home and abroad, ranging from listening devices and recording equipment to communications gear and electrical generators. The now clunky-looking machinery was once cutting-edge technology. Mascot for the Leipzig Trade Fair, 1964. World War II interrupted one of Germany’s most venerable traditions: the Leipziger Messe (Leipzig Trade Fair), dating back to the year 1165. One of Europe’s oldest trade fairs was revived in 1946, now part of the Soviet Occupation Zone. After the formation of the German Democratic Republic in 1949, it became clear that the Leipzig Fair would become a showcase for the industrial production of the Eastern Bloc nations. Usually paranoid about foreign visitors, the East German government showed a different face during the fair weeks in spring and fall. Workers at a metallurgical plant in front of a public chart tracking personal progress towards the archievement of official quotas. Oderbruch, Brandenburg, 1990. Photo: Harald Hauswald Swimming pool on the deck of the “MS Völkerfreundschaft,” the East German luxury cruise ship reserved for party members and the privileged few, 1983 Menu design, milk bar “Penguin,” Leipzig, 1960s. Essentially synonymous with the similar Eiscafé, the Milchbar enjoyed a great vogue in both parts of Germany in the early postwar years. It appealed to underage couples on dates and families with children. Some were stand-alone enterprises, while others were embedded in the alternative offerings of large hotels, train stations, and shopping centers. Family scrapbook, 1966. The smallest unit in the GDR was seldom the individual in the Western sense but rather the ‘Kollektiv’, the family, the team, the tenants’ committee, or, at the workplace, the ‘Brigade’. Private and state-sponsored photo albums and scrapbooks provide an unexpected look at how both collective and individual memories developed over four decades in East Germany. Postcard, Hotel Pomorie, Bulgaria, 1984 Uniform of the National People’s Army of the GDR, 1956–1986 Uniform of the National People’s Army of the GDR, 1956–1986