Organization
Experience history – at the Museum in der Kulturbrauerei. We focus fully on the history of Communist East Germany, in the form of exhibitions, events, online projects and publications that all convey German contemporary history. With this thrust, the Museum in der Kulturbrauerei is one of four museums that are part of the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland Foundation.
Our permanent exhibition “Everyday Life in the GDR” features 800 original items and more than 200 documents as well as contemporary film and audio recordings giving an idea of everyday life in Communist East Germany. Two temporary exhibitions each year shed light on additional current topics. Educational services such as guided tours, workshops and materials enabling you to explore things for yourself are all customized to visitor needs and encourage a deeper interest in the themes.
Events such as book presentations, discussions with experts and family Sundays spark dialogue and enable contact between visitors and contemporary witnesses as well as political and cultural celebrities. The Industrial Design Collection forms the focal point of the collection. A total of some 160,000 everyday items and design objects from the Soviet Occupation Zone and Communist East Germany are being catalogued on an ongoing basis and are the subject of current research. They are gradually being made accessible via the object database “Search the Collections”.
Structures
Structures
The Museum in der Kulturbrauerei and the Tränenpalast form the “Berlin” organizational unit within the Haus der Geschichte Foundation. This Berlin section is made up of seven organizational units under Director Dr. Mike Lukasch. There are dedicated experts for the fields of exhibitions, media, education, the collection, collection management (registrars) and administration.
The Museum Building
The Museum Building
The Museum in der Kulturbrauerei is located on the heritage-listed industrial complex of the former Schultheiss brewery in the Prenzlauer Berg neighbourhood of Berlin. Beer was still brewed here until 1967, and later it functioned as a furniture warehouse. In the late 1980s, artists and cultural activists moved here, turning it into a vibrant quarter: The intellectual community that evolved was critical of the government and, among other things, helped fire the nascent citizens’ action groups mobilizing protest against the Communist regime.
In 2005, the venue and the Industrial Design Collection located here were transferred to the Haus der Geschichte Foundation, which began salvaging, caring for and cataloguing the collection. Initially, the rooms of the Kulturbrauerei required extensive modernization work. In autumn 2013 the permanent exhibition “Everyday Life in the GDR” opened in the new Museum in der Kulturbrauerei.
