Behind the Iron Curtain: Vintage designs from communist East Germany | CNN

Behind the Iron Curtain: Vintage designs from communist East Germany

CNN Staff
2 minute read
Published 7:01 AM EST, Wed January 10, 2018
EastGermanxl_wende_collection_211
Courtesy Taschen
CNN  — 

Stepping into the Wende Museum in Los Angeles is like traveling through time, right back to the Cold War era.

Its name means “transformation,” referring to the period of change that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Founded in 2002, the museum hosts more than 100,000 items that illustrate the culture of the former Eastern Bloc – the largest collection of such objects outside Europe.

The East German Hanbook (Taschen).
The East German Hanbook (Taschen).
Taschen

The collection has one of its strengths in the materials originating from East Germany – officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR) – which offer a travel guide to a country that only existed between 1949 and 1990. About 2,000 of these items, spanning propaganda poster to cosmetics, have been collected in “The East German Handbook,” a more compact version of another Taschen publication, “Beyond the Wall,” that first cataloged East Germany’s visual culture.

The book offers a comprehensive view of life in the country, showing both the mundane (toys, radios, hairspray) and the frightening (gas masks, straitjackets, training kits for detecting land mines), with a few delightful excursions into the kitschy.

More than 2,000 items from East Germany tell the story of a vanished country in Taschen's "The East German Handbook." It includes objects selected from the vast collection of Los Angeles' Wende Museum.<br /><br />Picutred here: A fan advertisement from 1973 that reads: "Swing In and Around the Hair."
More than 2,000 items from East Germany tell the story of a vanished country in Taschen's "The East German Handbook." It includes objects selected from the vast collection of Los Angeles' Wende Museum.

Picutred here: A fan advertisement from 1973 that reads: "Swing In and Around the Hair."
Courtesy Taschen
An issue of The Path to Good Shopping catalog from the 1960s.
An issue of The Path to Good Shopping catalog from the 1960s.
Courtesy Taschen
A suitcase used for passport control and border security in the 1980s. It contained a variety of stamps and special inks for border officers to use while checking travel documents and updating visas.
A suitcase used for passport control and border security in the 1980s. It contained a variety of stamps and special inks for border officers to use while checking travel documents and updating visas.
Courtesy Taschen
A Rema Trabant T6 plastic portable radio from 1964.
A Rema Trabant T6 plastic portable radio from 1964.
Courtesy Taschen
A "Pink Lenin" bust, originally from the 1960s, modified during the peaceful Leipzig Monday demonstrations in 1989.
A "Pink Lenin" bust, originally from the 1960s, modified during the peaceful Leipzig Monday demonstrations in 1989.
Courtesy Taschen
A poster from 1965 that reads: "New Triumph of the USSR: The Soviet Man Walks into Space. Joy for All of Us!"
A poster from 1965 that reads: "New Triumph of the USSR: The Soviet Man Walks into Space. Joy for All of Us!"
Courtesy Taschen
A children's lamp with Sandman figure from the 1970s.
A children's lamp with Sandman figure from the 1970s.
Courtesy Taschen
A wall clock from the 1960s, in metal and plastic.
A wall clock from the 1960s, in metal and plastic.
Courtesy Taschen
A garden Egg Chair from 1971, designed by Peter Ghyczy.
A garden Egg Chair from 1971, designed by Peter Ghyczy.
Courtesy Taschen
A watering can from the 1960s, designed by Klaus Kunis.
A watering can from the 1960s, designed by Klaus Kunis.
Courtesy Taschen
A training kit for detecting land mines.
A training kit for detecting land mines.
Courtesy Taschen
A cloth-and-leather straitjacket from Nazi Germany, later used in the German Democratic Republic.
A cloth-and-leather straitjacket from Nazi Germany, later used in the German Democratic Republic.
Courtesy Taschen
Life behind the Iron Curtain

“The objects presented in this book are luxurious and plebeian, ugly and beautiful, handmade and mass-produced, personal and official, and shades in between,” writes Justinian Jampol, founder of the Wende Museum, in the foreword.

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“Taken altogether, they suggest that life in the GDR was represented by more than dissidence and repression, and included everyday concerns, habits, and activities. Even the symbols of the socialist dream – badges, posters, flags, artworks, and monuments – had become part of East Germans’ everyday lives, and did not necessarily mean support for the ruling regime.”

“The East German Handbook,” published by Taschen, is out now.