Sundays in Germany are very different from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the week. The majority of stores and businesses are closed, with the exception of a few on the main thoroughfare. The hotel we stayed at in Leipzig had recently just opened (Motel One) and we were fortunate that our hotel had an extensive rooftop space. In the morning as I enjoyed my breakfast I could hear the century old church bells ringing through the city.
If you find yourself in Germany on a Sunday I highly suggest looking into the local museums, while many shops are closed, many museums are still open. Our group spent the morning in The Leipzig Forum of Contemporary History in Leipzig’s city center. This museum and main exhibition are free of charge! This museum commemorates the opposition, resistance and moral courage in the GDR during the German division. I have to say I learned so much in this museum and our personal tour guide was not only extremely informational, but really passionate about the topics within each section of the exhibit. I end the year teaching about WWII and the Holocaust. We end our unit by sharing how Germany was divided between the Allied powers after the war and what opportunities (or lack of opportunities) individuals in each sector were given. Since I don’t directly teach about the Cold War I’m not well educated in the history. I learned so much within this museum and I’m excited to share some of the highlights with you!
The museum’s permanent exhibit “Dictatorship and Democracy After 1945” was where we spent the majority of our time. This exhibit follows the division of Germany in chronological order starting with the end of WWII. I found this to be extremely easy to follow and was helping in making connections between how each decision regarding the division of Germany had a direct impact on the people living there. I’m not a “date” person by any means, in fact, as I teach my students about history I spend more time helping them to learn the stories of the past individuals we study rather than memorizing dates and numbers. However, there are a few important dates that I learned about. In 1949 the GDR (German Democratic Republic) is formed. On August 13, 1961 the Berlin Wall goes up and on October 27, 1961 German and American tanks face off outside Checkpoint Charlie when the People’s Police refuse to let a US officer pass. I had no idea that tanks from these two powers faced off and in reflecting back on all I had learned from my time at Point Alpha it really is shocking that the Cold War never turned “hot”. I found myself completely mesmerized watching video footage of this face off between the two tanks, it truly is an image that gives you goosebumps as you realize what was at stake for the world had this led to WWIII.
The first part of the exhibit that I found fascinating was what life was like years after the second world war, specially life in East Germany. My co-teachers and I have spent time teaching about the Berlin airlift, but this part of the exhibit really helped me to explore the daily life of individuals. One element that I had never really considered was what Germany did with all of the textbooks used in schools after WWII. Hitler and the Nazi regime spent significant time changing school curriculum to meet the ideas of their antisemetic regime, but what happened after the war? The picture below is from one of the German textbooks printed during the Nazi regime. Nearly all elements of teaching connected back to the government, army or idea of Germany as a superior country, and this book was no exception. In this book students are solving equivalent expressions using soldiers. Rather than reprint all of the books, teachers were instructed to “mark out” the swastika and other Nazi related symbols from each page. From our tour guide I learned that in Eastern Germany denazification had a major impact on schools. Not only did they have to modify the majority of teaching aids (such as books), but they replaced many teachers with others who often were not qualified for the job. Those who replaced the teachers were vetted to ensure they did not have any negative feeling or ideas of resistance with the new governing body.
I also had no idea that when the Soviet forces entered the city of Leipzig and took over they changed all of the clocks to follow Moscow’s time. In addition, the Red Army took down street signs and replaced them with names of Communist heroes back in the USSR. I cannot fathom the lives of the individuals living in Leipzig moving from one dictator to another. As time went on and the GDR officially blockaded itself off from West Germany it too began to use the feared Stasi to monitor and track the people, as well as limit contact with the West. Similar to the Nazi Regime, the GDR wanted to control what its citizens thought and to do that they systematically changed what was taught in school.
In an earlier part of my trip I had the opportunity to interview two gentlemen who had survived escaping the GDR, one of which who went to school there (see earlier post to learn about teachers who would try to trick the students into turning in their parents as GDR opponents). Everything that was shared within that interview connected so well with the school part of this exhibit. Within this example classroom I was able to get a first hand account of the alarming teaching methods within a GDR classroom. For instance, in the 1970’s teenagers from Weisswasser built a child’s tank from a blueprint. In PE class students practiced their throwing skills by pretending to throw grenades. In art students would be instructed to draw pictures of tanks and planes. It’s shocking what students in the GDR heard, saw and were surrounded by every day.
Similar to during WWII, foot shortages were a major issue in the GDR. Often people would stand in line for several hours just to realize that what they wanted to purchase was out of stock for the day. Our tour guide Irene explain that the many food in the GDR while called the same tasted much different. (Her grandparents lived in the GDR and her parents lived in West Germany and they would travel to see her grandparents each year). She said the chocolate was very bitter and she wanted nothing more than to throw it away. Western brands like Coca-Cola were never found in East German stores and if you read my post from Vacha, fruits like bananas were non-existent.
Further in the exhibit you can watch news programs from the 1970’s and 80’s that share the latest individuals to have left the GDR or who were allowed to leave due to their public outspoken words against the government.
As we continued through to the end of the exhibit the question is asked, why did the GDR fail and how has Germany grown together again after reunification. I was able to learn more about the jobs available in the GDR, the form of currency they used, the Monday Demonstrations, the fall of the Berlin Wall and ultimately reunification. The last part of the exhibit are large letters that spell Freedom in German. It is very symbolic with how these letters have been positioned in a matter to demonstrate as if they are falling over.
There is so much to see within this exhibit (more than 2,000 photos, films and primary sources)! If you are in Leipzig you will absolutely want to visit this museum. https://www.hdg.de/en/zeitgeschichtliches-forum/exhibitions/our-history-dictatorship-and-democracy-after-1945/
Motel One Leipzig – https://www.motel-one.com/en/hotels/leipzig/motel-one-leipzig-post/