The »Special Inventory«
by Andreas Michaelis

The date the two Germanies were unified, 3 October 1990, is assured its place in the history books. It was a day that set a seal on a remarkable process of disintegration: not with a bang but a whimper, East Germany - the German Democratic Republic - disappeared from the political map. An entire society, complete with its structures and networks, was consigned (as author Stefan Heym put it) to the »garbage heap of history«.
But numerous relics of the now defunct state remained to tell their tales. Some were to be found in the Museum für Deutsche Geschichte (Museum of German History). The museum's task, under the rule of the East German SED (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands: the German Socialist Unity Party), was to present a Marxist-Leninist interpretation of German history to those within and outside the country, an interpretation that viewed the history of East Germany as the crown and climax. The museum was one of the GDR's foremost ideological power-houses; the museum's collections, and its exhibition policies and contents, were directly laid down and supported by the leadership of the East German Communist Party and the state.
After unification, the use of, and rights to, the arsenal and the museum collections passed to the Deutsches Historisches Museum (German History Museum), which had been established in West Berlin in 1987. This meant, among other things, that the Deutsches Historisches Museum found itself with holdings which, both by their constituent character and by their origins, were quite new to western museum staff: the »Special Inventory«. This was a remarkable collection of unfamiliar, odd or commonplace objects that could scarcely be seen as meeting the criteria of any normal, rationally conceived museum collection; and they amazed, amused or appalled the staff who found them on their hands. In the first instance their interest was doubtless aroused by a whiff of the exotic, but they soon realised that in fact the »special inventory« afforded a unique glimpse of GDR history, and indeed a more instructive mirror than any other items in the museum's collections.
The collection included gifts exchanged on the occasion of state visits to or from East Germany, as well as personal birthday or anniversary presents given to state and Party leaders in the 40-year history of the GDR. There were also items that had been made specially for Party congresses and similar occasions.
Generally speaking, these things are not valuables; the value they possess lies in their symbolic character. In the main, the materials from which they are made, and the subject matter expressed, reflect the national folklore and craft tradition of the country of origin. Presents from other Communist-ruled countries tend often to be of an unsubtle revolutionary nature, and may carry slogans in favour of peace and friendship, solidarity, or the triumph of socialism. Gifts connected with Party congresses, anniversaries or birthdays are particularly prone to carry class struggle messages. Presents received from guests, by contrast, are usually free of tendentious material, and reflect the national character of the country of origin.
The »Special Inventory« is a complex and illuminating collection, an altogether unique collection of material drawn from the realm of political pomp and circumstance, a collection that vividly illustrates the iconography of the GDR and its socialist brothers in the Soviet bloc. Furthermore, it affords us an exceptional insight into the ritualized relations between East German social organizations and institutions and the SED, and sheds instructive light on the SED's relations with Communist parties elsewhere and with revolutionary movements in the Third World.
The present publication is the first attempt to present these museum holdings in any genuine complexity. This cross section of some 250 select items now in the Deutsches Historisches Museum adds up to far more than so many pages of photographs: it is a (partial) history of the GDR and of the Communist movement.