Erwin-Strittmatter-Gedenkstätte Der Laden

About the museum

The simple house on Bohsdorfer Dorfstraße was built around 1895. In June 1919 the parents of the later writer Erwin Strittmatter took it over from relatives and ran a village shop with a bakery here until the end of 1949, which became the meeting place of the village. Erwin Strittmatter grew up in the house and returned for a few years in November 1945 after the Second World War. He worked his childhood and youth in the village, which he called Bossdom, into the three-volume novel sequence "Der Laden", the first volume of which appeared in 1983 and which was later also filmed.

From 1950 the shop passed to the Konsum cooperative, after which the building served, among other things, as a municipal office, post office and multipurpose room. After a reconstruction it opened as a memorial on 30 January 1999, run by the Erwin-Strittmatter-Verein, which is dedicated to preserving the writer's regional heritage.

In the shop stand once again the original shelves and sales counters with goods from the 1920s, along with the old scales and the goods-received book that Strittmatter himself kept from autumn 1945. A side room of the former bakehouse shows a small exhibition on the family, on the historical background of the trilogy and on the author's work. In the nearby meeting place "Unter Eechen", another small show provides information on details of the novel sequence and on local history; a signposted circular trail connects further locations in the village.

Highlights

• Original shelves and sales counters of the village shop from the 1920s
• Old shop scales and peephole in the bakehouse door
• Goods-received book kept by Erwin Strittmatter from October 1945
• Small exhibition on family and work in the former bakehouse
• Signposted circular trail (1.7 km) to further locations of the trilogy

Permanent exhibitions

• Der Laden – The restored grocer's shop of the Strittmatter family with original furniture, goods of the 1920s, scales and goods-received book.
• Familie und Werk Erwin Strittmatters – Small exhibition in a room of the former bakehouse on the family, the setting of the trilogy and the author's work.

Founded

1999

Operated by

Erwin-Strittmatter-Verein e. V.

Admission & discounts

Accessibility

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Kids & families

The museum education programmes are aimed at school groups of all age levels.

Getting there & parking

The shop is located at Dorfstraße 37 in the Bohsdorf district of the municipality of Felixsee (Spree-Neiße district); opposite, a village sign shows the route of the Strittmatter circular trail.

Amenities & dining

• Museum shop

Mainly antiquarian books by Erwin and Eva Strittmatter are sold in the shop.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit