Urbanities,
Vol. 3
·
No 2
·
November 2013
© 2013
Urbanities
73
representations of East Germany as a negative model offer an exclusive dimension. The listed
features of this negative heritage ‘are interesting markers of the rulers’ pedagogical drive, as
they contribute to put across their rhetoric about the “right things to do”, and the attendant
criteria of inclusion and exclusion’ (Pardo 2012: 68). I shall not discuss here the legitimacy
and the merits of the confrontation with the communist past introduced after the fall of the
Wall. This process proved to be salutary in numerous of its aspects.
7
However, the history of
the GDR is a period of the recent history which refers to the construction of a Manichean
past’s representation. This Manichaeism was occasionally exploited by the public authorities
and the media, causing the resentment of those who did not recognise themselves in these
‘dark’ visions of the communist period. Thus, it could be said that the brutality that marked
the beginning of the confrontation with the communist past in the reunified Germany
probably contributed – in some spheres of the East German society – to a tendency to give a
nostalgic look to the past.
Historic Tourism and the Increase in the Musealisation of the Communist Past
It would appear that the musealisation of the GDR was also determined by the development
of the local tourist economy. Even though the memorial institutions dedicated to the local
communist past are intended for groups of schoolchildren of all ages, students and
apprentices, they nonetheless attract crowds of tourists. Many of them – foreigners and
former Länder citizens alike – travel to Berlin to learn more about the history of the division,
to find themselves among authentic traces of the past and to relive the great events that
marked the Cold War era in their imagination.
The Karl-Marx-Allee (formerly Stalinallee) and the Frankfurter Tor are interesting
examples of how the preservation and promotion of certain traces of the communist past are
exploited by tourism. Designed in the post-war urban development schemes according to the
principles of Socialist Realism – socialist in content and national in form – this former
prestigious avenue of East Berlin is included in the local heritage because of its touristic
attraction. The growing number of companies offering thematic guided visits by bicycle or by
bus that focus on themes concerning the communist past of the city attests to the importance
of the historic tourism market in Berlin. Most Berlin souvenir shops located in prestigious
spots in the centre of Mitte (on Unter den Linden or around the Gendarmenmarkt), whose
dimensions are sometimes impressive, have at least one section selling different kind of GDR-
merchandising.
8
The inauguration of the DDR Museum in 2006 right in the centre of Mitte also clearly
testifies to this set-up. Located just opposite the Berliner Dom, this institution is far from
7
First of all it allowed to break the taboo on this part of the recent history. Further, it contributed to
guarantee the victims’ rehabilitation.
8
These products include several types of souvenirs as well as books (collections of photographs about
the daily life in East Germany, design and cookbooks, but also works on the Wall or the SED
dictatorship).
