The collections of the German Historical Museum

The time frame of the collection "Documents 2" extends from the beginning of World War I up to the present. More than 100,000 objects are currently available: leaflets, placards, brochures, newpapers, magazines, passports, maps, diplomas, food stamps, autographs, albums, literary bequests and documents of other kinds. The largest part of the collection, gathered by the former Museum for German History, bears a predominantly documentary character, whereas the objects acquired by the DHM have been collected with an eye toward presentability.

The three epochs (World War I, the Third Reich, the German Democratic Republic) are widely documented and form the centers of the collection. The material basis is somewhat smaller in quantity for the Federal Republic of Germany and for the time between 1945 and 1948, when Germany was occupied by the Allies. Materials for these areas have been collected more intensely since 3 October 1990.

The documents for both world wars are also relatively broad: personal experience reports, newpapers, special editions, passports and leaflets. The German foreign policy for occupied Belgium and France during World War II is especially well documented. Worth mentioning, too, is the extensive collection of leaflets dropped by Allied warplanes during World War II. Due to the takeover of inventory from the Center for Information of the East German Office of State Security (Stasi), the DHM today possesses an almost complete collection of pamphlets and leaflets from the time of the Cold War. Likewise, numerous pamphlets, brochures, stickers, and similar items demonstrate the so-called "Wende", the toppling of -he old political regime in East Germany in fall 1989, and here especially for the time of the pre-election campaigns for the parliamentary elections of March 1990, and the municipal elections of May 1990, when most of the newly established East German parties were already supported by their West German "sisters parties". In contrast to this, the document collection about the people's movement in East Germany before 1989 is relatively small.

A separate section of Documents 2 and a unique source for the history of East Germany is the "Special Inventory Collection", which presently consists of about 2,500 items. Here gifts, bestowed to heads of the East German government and the Social Unity Party (SED) by companies and mass organisations, can be found as well as gifts presented either by foreign delegations in East Germany or to East German delegates abroad. From the estate of the first East German president, Wilhelm Pieck, about 800 scriptbooks and photo albums along with other memorabilia are still in good condition. Furthermore, the inventory of the collection of Documents 2 holds an extensive documentation from the archives of the Association of Returning Prisoners of War (Verband der Heimkehrer) as well as about 350 banners from the 4 November 1989 demonstration on East Berlin's Alexanderplatz.

Have a look at the archive.