The collections of the German Historical Museum

The collection of Clothing and Textiles consists of approximately 8,000 pieces of non-military clothing dating from the middle of the 18th century up to the present.

One emphasis of the collection (and further collecting activities) is being put on historical events: On hand are, for example, a ribbon from the Seven-Year-War (1756-1763), a pantaloon from the time of the French Revolution, or an English lace curtain that shows the proclamation of the German Kaiser in 1871.

Larger in quantity are the holdings that refer to subjects from everyday life and cultural events: Charleston dresses as well as afternoon and cocktail dresses round off the image of the "New Woman" in the 1920s; corsets from the 18th century and underwear from the 19th and 20th centuries complete the realm of body and hygiene; youth and adolescence are represented by a parka from 1968, a "Hippie velvet jacket", and a skinhead bomber jacket.

The collection of clothing and textiles includes a number of special sections:

• liveries from around 1910, worn by servants of the old royal residence in Berlin
• textiles and clothing from East Germany:
• clothing from "Exquisit" stores
• "Präsent-20" suits
• childrens' and infant clothing
• scarves for all sorts of events and celebrations
• garments worn by Wilhelm Pieck, Otto Grotewohl, and Walter Ulbricht
• sportswear and Olympic clothes of Katarina Witt and Gabriele Seyfert
• 365 fabric banners (paper banners are part of the Collection of Documents II): 240 are from the November 4, 1989, demonstration on East Berlin's Alexanderplatz, 60 were used during a 1990 demonstration for membership in a unified police union in Berlin, about 50 come from demonstrations of members of the East German Socialist Unity Party (SED) of November and December 1989, and 15 banners belonged to the Berlin section of Greenpeace.
• 200 ribbons of ceremonial wreathes, placed between 1970 and 1985 on various occasions in East Germany by different persons and organizations.

As far as the time between 1800 and 1930 goes, the textile collection consists mainly of old inventory of other institutions: the "Collection Budzinski", belonging to the Museum of Arts and Crafts (SMPK), and the "Hohenzollern Museum." Both collections had been taken in part to the Soviet Union at the end of World War II, but were returned to the East German Museum of German History in the 1950s.

Non-military clothing and textiles used to be included in the larger collection of Art. In 1960 they were put in a separate collection. Since the unification of the two German historical museums (MfDG and DHM) in 1991, the collection of textiles has been part of "Everyday Life Culture."

Have a look at the archive.