The collections of the German Historical Museum

The Collection Graphic Arts of the German Historical Museum has a long history, which has still to be studied in detail. Its origins date back to the 19th century, when the Zeughaus was still used as a Prussian museum for weapons and a German museum for army history, in which one could find material witnesses for the history of the fatherland. The library of the Zeughaus collected not only manuscripts and documents but also pictures: illustrations of those wars that helped Prussia establish itself as a European power, leading to German unification in 1871; single sheets and plates on the history of uniforms, flags and coats of arms, atlases and maps. Much has survived from this first collection of graphic arts.

The systematical development of the Graphic Arts Collection started with the foundation of the Museum for German History in 1952, concentrating on the distinct themes of the marxist-leninist conception of history.

Thus, on hand are a large number of folders on the history of the Revolution of 1848, the Labor movement, socialism, and also a smaller number of illustrations on the history of former dynasties: conscious efforts to reinforce their supremacy by propagandistic means. Due to the difficult situation on the East German art market, only a few contemporary graphics are on hand for themes that had particular importance according to the East German understanding of history, like the Reformation and the Peasants' War of 1525.

Popular and working-class art has also been collected. Works of this kind can be found especially in gift folders, which were presented mainly by organizations and firms, but also by foreign statesmen to East German high officials for the commemoration of special events. These gift folders also came from the special purpose chambers of party organizations — some of them before 1989, others after the unification of the two Germanies.

Several graphic folders derive from events like anniversaries and jubilees and were presented by order of parties, mass organizations, and various firms; they portray themes that played a special role in the historial consciousness of East Germany. These folders form a separate section in the collection; on hand are subjects like the Peasants' War, the October and November Revolutions, the German Labor movement, the German-Soviet friendship, and socialist everyday life.

The collection also administers works by those artists who, already during the Weimar Republic, lent their talents to the goals of their socialist and communist conviction. Some of them continued working in the same way in the GDR: Conrad Felixmüller, Sella Hasse, Käthe Kollwitz, Wilhelm Lachnit, Max Lingner, Otto Nagel, Oskar Nerlinger, and Herbert Sandberg. The Museum for German History was able to acquire various private collections and bequests, which still constitute an essential part of the Graphic Arts Collection.

In 1954, a series of 25,000 single sheets was bought from the collector Felix Suppe from Bad Dürrenberg (1887-1965). Suppe had gathered them prior to World War II, including parts of the collection of the Saxon King Friedrich August II. It consists of duplicates that were sold at various auctions in the 1920s and '30s. Thematically, Suppe's collection is very diverse; on hand are: topographical views of towns and landscapes, fashion papers, and Japanese colored wood engravings, but also portraits and political graphics on different events. The main emphasis is on the 19th century. Graphics dating back to before 1700 or even 1600 are very rare in the collection.

Other important series of graphics came into the possession of the museum during the 1950s from the collection of Hermann Wäscher: a series by Chodowiecki, including 564 individual sheets, a topographical collection of 1376 sheets, and furthermore several leaflets with illustrations of uniforms. Around 1960, to the collection of caricatures was added a series of more than 400 German caricatures of Napoleon.

In the beginning, the collecting policy of the German Historical Museum inevitably had to be oriented toward the entire variety of illustrations on German history in the European context. Since the takeover of the Museum for German story in 1990, the collection has been able to concentrate on filling the existing gaps. Political graphics, political allegories and caricatures are the focus of new acquisitions.

Today the entire collection of graphic arts comprises approximately 80,000 items spanning dates between the late 15th century and the present.

Have a look at the archive.