DDR-Museum Pforzheim

About the museum

The foundation of the museum was laid by Klaus Knabe (1939–2012), who fled from the GDR to West Berlin with his wife shortly before the Berlin Wall was built in 1961. After the fall of the Wall, he brought back items from numerous trips to the East that had lost their value overnight, and with the support of friends he gathered objects from border installations, former Stasi prisons and other collectors.

On 12 September 1998, his collection on the history of the GDR opened as a museum – in a former kindergarten of the French garrison on Hagenschießstraße on the edge of Pforzheim. Two years later the association "Gegen das Vergessen" (Against Forgetting) was founded, which runs the museum on a voluntary basis. With the support of the City of Pforzheim and the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship, the exhibition could be expanded from 2003 to three floors with twelve rooms.

Since 2012, the non-profit foundation "Lernort Demokratie – Das DDR-Museum Pforzheim" has run the museum; the association "Gegen das Vergessen e. V. Pforzheim" still supports it in operating the museum. For example, the association organizes the Sunday opening hours, including the guided tour, entirely on a volunteer basis. The museum sees itself as a place of democracy education and is aimed especially at school classes. The newly structured permanent exhibition ranges from the postwar period and SED rule through youth, the inner-German border and escape to the Peaceful Revolution and reunification. A separate focus with a regional connection is on the arrival of refugees and emigrants in the southwest, for example in the transit camps that also existed in Pforzheim before 1961.

Highlights

• Collection of the museum's founder Klaus Knabe on the history of the GDR
• Room on the inner-German border, escape, emigration and the ransoming of prisoners
• Focus on the arrival and integration of GDR refugees in the southwest
• Rooms on the Peaceful Revolution of 1989 and on reunification
• Free public guided tour every Sunday at 2 pm

Permanent exhibition

• Dauerausstellung zur Geschichte der DDR und der deutschen Teilung – Eight themed rooms on two floors lead from the postwar period and the SED state through youth in the GDR, contacts with the West and the border to arriving in the West, the Peaceful Revolution and unity.

Founded

1998

Operated by

Stiftung „Lernort Demokratie – Das DDR-Museum Pforzheim“ mit dem Verein „Gegen das Vergessen e. V.“

Admission & discounts

Admission is free.

Admission and tours (including group and school class tours) are free of charge; donations are welcome.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible: not available
• Elevator: no information
• Accessible restroom: no information
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

Neither the access nor the exhibition is barrier-free. Pets are not allowed, except guide dogs for the blind; visually impaired guests are advised to bring a companion.

Kids & families

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Getting there & parking

The museum is located in a former kindergarten of the French garrison on the left side of Hagenschießstraße. From both stops it is about a 10-minute walk.

Amenities & dining

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit