DDR Museum

I'm not the biggest museum guy but this was really cool to see. At first I was a bit confused and thought GDR was west Germany, but this whole museum is about East Germany and the communist part before the Berlin Wall fell.

As an American who is pretty much taught nothing about global history in public school growing up, I learned so much. A lot of things clicked for me that I didn't understand in the past.

I like how interactive this museum is, like you gotta open cabinets and the reading is not too too dense. I truly learned a lot. It was cool to see the East Berlin housing establishment and how it functioned.

The Bruce Springsteen music cabinet was sooo cool. Really nostalgic for me. I always heard of that song but I didn't know it was heard around the world. Bruce Springsteen has a lot of balls for playing "Born in the USA" in communist East Berlin. Also, that looked like an amazing crowd, wish I could time travel.

This was a really great way to learn more about the GDR and what people's lives were like who lived there. So many interactive exhibits, videos, photos, etc. Even my BF who isn't a big museum guy was glad we visited. Definitely a must-visit if you're in Berlin and/or have interest in WWII history and the time period before and after the war.

This museum seeks to uniformly portray life in the DDR as miserable, and every artifact is explained in that light. It backfires, though, because many of the displays are comparable or even better than life in capitalist societies at the time (eg the US). the prison cell, for example, looked better than a US prison cell of the time. The artifacts are nonetheless interesting.

This museum showcases East German lifestyle before unification and dang it was dreary. Lots of hands on things to do-open doors, pull out drawers and read signs, etc. It was crowded and lots of people were bumping into each other. It is an interesting slice of life thing, but I'm not sure what I thought about the whole experience.

To be honest I was not so impressed with the DDR museum. I guess as a historian I expected more. However, some information is better then no information at all.

This museum is a neat, immersive way to get an overview into Cold War history in Berlin. The exhibits are very interactive so you get to experience what shopping, living and everyday life was like.

Highly interactive museum highlighting the East a German DDR government era. Gives you insight and perspective on East Germany, it's people and culture. Lots of hands on exhibits, is quite fun. It is very popular, and gets really busy

Very interesting museum in a neat location close to Alexanderplatz as well as Museum Island. It is a small museum and if it's not crowded, you can probably do the entire thing in 90 min to two hours and that is if you read every drawer or door that you can open.

This museum serves as a good primer for what life was like in East Germany after WW II. It's interesting to see how things started and then how they ended up. Good intentions only go so far, but you can't change human nature!

Although most of the museum focuses on the bad parts of living in the DDR, it also sheds some light on some ideals (such as women in the workforce) that were actually pretty progressive even if the execution didn't quite work out as well as anticipated.

The model apartment was very neat and made you feel like you were in an East German housing bloc when you walked in.

The parts about industry in East Germany I found particularly interesting. There were a lot of smart people there who had to make due with limited resources and access to global technology so it's kind of amazing they were able to produce some of the things they did.

Make sure you hold onto your ticket as you need to scan it when you exit through the gift shop.

It's a little pricey for the size (my admission was almost €10, which seemed a lot for what you get) but as the museum was well done, I won't get too bent out of shape about it. Also, I went late in the evening, about 6:30 pm and finished about 10 minutes before closing time which was 8:00 pm and it wasn't too crowded then. Due to the small size, it can definitely get overcrowded so plan accordingly.

So glad I visited this museum. It's not large but is filled with memories, stories & exhibits of another time.

Great for kids and adults, the museum brings Cold War life in the east to the present day.

From here we wandered into the Soviet War Memorial and the German History Museum. Recommend a visit to all these if you are interested in knowing more about the last 100 years. Checkpoint Charlie is not worth seeing except for the novelty.

The DDR museum is a hands-on museum even little ones will enjoy. If you have the chance, purchase a timer ticket online to save a couple Euros and some time waiting in line. Remember to keep your ticket as you need to scan it once again to exit the museum to the gift shop. Up to two hours is more than enough time here.

The museum is pretty small, but it's packed with information. Pull drawers or open cabinets to reveal interactive displays or reading material. Be prepared to read! The main attraction in the first small room was the simulated car where you had the chance to be the driver. The line for this can be rather long because there isn't anyone monitoring it. My favorite area had to be the various rooms in a house...was interesting to see and read how life was back then. Don't pull the red knob in the elevator or you'll be in for a surprise! C loves playing with the mini foosball table and the kindergarten room. He probably could have spent half the day playing in there!

With the museum being so small, bring your patience as certain areas got crowded quickly. The DDR Musuem is definitely worth a visit!