Saxony: A museum invites you to a GDR prefab apartment

by time news
Deutschland Saxony

“You should see how we lived in the GDR”

What did a typical prefab apartment in the GDR look like? If you want to know that or immerse yourself in memories, you can now visit a replica apartment in the Vogtland. The makers attached particular importance to the attention to detail in the equipment.

Old beers, spirits and canned vegetables are on the shelves in the replica kitchen in the Auerbach City Museum

Old beers, spirits and canned vegetables are on the shelves in the replica kitchen in the Auerbach City Museum

Source: dpa-tmn

Dhe Wernesgrüner Pils is on the kitchen cupboard, next to it the table is set with butter in original paper for breakfast. The year is 1983, as the calendar on the closet door reveals, the location is a typical prefab apartment of the time.

With the new exhibition, the Stadtmuseum Auerbach in the Saxon Vogtland wants to create the illusion of a journey through time to the GDR. For this purpose, a new apartment was recreated true to the original in the museum. It was opened on September 24th and the city hopes to become a magnet for visitors.

Not only GDR-typical furniture can be found in the rooms. The cupboards are filled with crockery, decorations from the past are on the shelves, toys and the popular plush figures Pittiplatsch, Schnatterinchen and Moppi are ready in the children’s room.

The cupboards, the wallpaper, the crockery: This is what the kitchen looks like in the replica GDR apartment

The cupboards, the wallpaper, the crockery: This is what the kitchen looks like in the replica GDR apartment

Source: dpa-tmn

The collection comes from Roland Schmidt, the former head of the Auerbach housing cooperative. “The things are part of the German cultural heritage. Younger people should see how we lived back then,” says the current pensioner. His passion for collecting began more than 30 years ago – at a time when many wanted to get rid of everyday objects from the GDR.

Wall unit is meant here literally: When furnishing the GDR living room, the motto was bulky rather than airy

Wall unit is meant here literally: When furnishing the GDR living room, the motto was bulky rather than airy

Source: dpa-tmn

Schmidt kept them in a vacant apartment belonging to the cooperative. “Many people gave me things, I also got some from the flea market,” he says.

“Are you drinking a pepper?” – In the living room there is also a bottle of peppermint liqueur in a stylish holder

Source: dpa-tmn

An area of ​​more than 120 square meters is available in the museum for the replica of the new apartment building. “Even the bathing cell was rebuilt, with original light switches,” says Schmidt. All of this allows guests to travel back in time to the 1980s. “It’s the time I lived in myself back in my mid-twenties.”

Color taste in bathroom furnishings has changed since the 1980s

Color taste in bathroom furnishings has changed since the 1980s

Source: dpa-tmn

Other museums with GDR objects were less fortunate, says Conny Kaden, head of the GDR Museum in Pirna near Dresden – the largest institution of its kind in Saxony. Extensive collections have been dissolved in recent years. “The reasons are varied, often it fails to find suitable rooms.”

What is usually not lacking is visitor interest, says Kaden. “People like to remember details. They often praise the little things that they know from their previous everyday lives.”

Of course, the sandman, Mrs. Elster and Pittiplatsch should not be missing in the children's room

Of course, the sandman, Mrs. Elster and Pittiplatsch should not be missing in the children’s room

Source: dpa-tmn

Since 2005 he has been showing GDR history in his 2000 square meter private museum with the most important stages of life at that time – with a maternity ward, a kindergarten and a school through to everyday adult life with a visit to a supermarket or a camping trip.

He was sorry when, in the early 1990s, there were large heaps of bulky waste on the streets with objects from a bygone era. “That’s when I started collecting.”

More memories of the GDR:

The Stadtmuseum Auerbach is open on weekends and public holidays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., otherwise Tuesday to Friday from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., admission from 2 euros for adults (stadt-auerbach.de).

The DDR-Museum Pirna is open from April to October Tuesday to Thursday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and on weekends from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., from November to March on weekends from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission for adults is 10 euros, for children 8 euros (ddr-museum-pirna.de).

You may also like

Leave a Comment