Photo: Michael Seybold

In addition to various informative exhibition elements, the pop-up learning space primarily offers a venue for formats focused on sharing experiences and collective remembrance.

What makes the learning space at Grindelallee 129 special is that, on the one hand, it gives all visitors the opportunity to engage—perhaps for the first time—with memories of the GDR in Hamburg. On the other hand, it provides a special space for people with GDR backgrounds to share their experiences and thoughts. They can help shape the space and tell their personal stories. The goal is to transform the pop-up concept into a permanent memorial site with the active participation of the visitors.

Following the opening on 30 October, the pop-up learning space will offer a multifaceted and varied program on the history of the GDR in Hamburg. For example, on 7 November, Ostwest(t)räume – Encounter, Listen, Understand will be a full-day event where memories and experiences from East and West are shared. And at the Sunday matinee on 8 November (11 am), Lisa Ströer, a specialist in remembrance culture for the Pinneberg district, will offer insights into art from the GDR in public spaces in her lecture I See Something You Don’t See.

There will also be special events surrounding the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November and the expatriation of Wolf Biermann on 16 November. Activities such as storytelling cafés, plays, discussions with eyewitnesses, workshops for school groups, and guided tours of the exhibition round out the educational offerings. Admission—including to all events—is free.

An overview of the entire program can be found on the website of the pop-up learning space

Members of the press and anyone interested are cordially invited to the opening reception on 30 October at 6 pm (Grindelallee 129, 20146 Hamburg).

The pop-up learning space, which is funded by the Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft, is part of the research project Gateway to Freedom?! An Extracurricular Learning Center on GDR History in Hamburg. The goal is to create a space where memories of the SED dictatorship and injustices of the GDR are linked to Hamburg’s local history and anchored in the Hanseatic city for the long term. The learning center is intended, in particular, to enable young people to engage with these aspects of German history and to contribute their own experiences on topics such as fleeing, arriving, and settling into a new society.

Researchers from the Public History Department at the University of Hamburg have been collaborating with the Hamburg State Center for Political Education since 2021 to make memories of the German Democratic Republic in Hamburg—as well as the diverse connections—visible and accessible to a broad audience. In the project Places of (In)Visibility (2021–2023), for example, stories of flight, emigration, and arrival from the GDR in the Hanseatic city were brought to life through an audio walk and an accompanying exhibition. Parts of these offerings will also be integrated into the pop-up learning space via various listening stations.

Project coordinator Theresa Hertrich from the University of Hamburg: “We cannot rest on the fact that we have no memorial sites dedicated to GDR history in Hamburg. Spaces must also be created in Hamburg where dialogue and encounters can take place. We see the pop-up learning space as a place that facilitates this exchange. I am particularly pleased that, with the accompanying program at the pop-up learning space, we can establish a local connection to Hamburg and also highlight networks that have been steadily growing for many years.”

Dr. Sabine Bamberger-Stemmann, Director of the Hamburg State Center for Political Education: “Exploring the GDR and the people who fled this dictatorship—including those who fled to Hamburg!—is a key priority for the Hamburg State Center for Political Education, as it helps make the topics of dictatorship and democracy vividly understandable, especially for young people. Significant parts of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region were also part of the GDR. The pop-up learning space encourages people of all ages to engage with these topics, which are also important for Hamburg.”

Prof. Dr. Thorsten Logge, professor of Public History at the University of Hamburg: “With this pop-up learning space, we are opening up a space for possibilities where the topic of GDR remembrance in Hamburg—which has been neglected for far too long—can be addressed. We invite the people of Hamburg to help us set up and shape this space together, thereby offering a kind of preview of what would be possible in a permanent out-of-school learning center.”

(This content has been translated automatically.)