East Germans seem to have had a thing for postcards. During its roughly forty years of existence, the GDR generated well over 30,000 (!) unique postcards, a rather remarkable number for a country which was never the most popular tourist destination. Many of these were put out by Bild und Heimat (which can be roughly translated as Picture and Home), a publisher from the small Saxon town of Reichenbach, and the producer of the vast majority of the cards in my small collection.
Here’s where things stand now, organized by the GDR’s own administrative districts.
Berlin – Capital of the German Democratic Republic
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Berlin – German Sport Hall in Stalinallee (later Karl-Marx-Allee) – (VEB Volkskunstverlag Reichenbach, 1954). The first building erected in Stalinallee for the 3rd World Festival of Youth and Students in 1951, but torn down in 1971 due to poor construction methods.
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Berlin – Stalinallee (later Karl-Marx-Allee) – (VEB Volkskunstverlag Reichenbach, 1954)
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Berlin – Karl-Marx-Allee including the Kino International and Milch Mocha Eisbar (reprint of 1968 postcard)
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Berlin – Capital of the GDR (1983)
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Berlin TV Tower (Bild und Heimat, 1984)
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Berlin – Red City Hall and Neptune Fountain (Bild und Heimat, 1985)
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Berlin – 1. German State Opera, 2. Maria Church, 3. National Gallery (Bild und Heimat, 1985)
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Berlin – Bode Museum (Bild und Heimat, 1985)
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Berlin – German State Opera (Bild und Heimat, 1984)
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Tour group’s Berlin accomodations: Hotel Metropol (Bild und Heimat, 1990).
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Berlin – Interhotel “Unter den Linden” with its iconic “Where to in Berlin?” sign on the roof; both since removed (Bild und Heimat, 1979)
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Berlin, postcard issued for city’s 750th anniversary (Bild und Heimat, 1987).
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Berlin – Palace foyer with its distinctive “Glass Flower” sculpture (1977)
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Berlin – Staircase leading to Palace’s main foyer. Note the many lights, inspiration for the nickname “Erich’s Lamp Shop” (1976).
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Berlin – The Milk Bar, one of the Palace of the Republic’s 13 restaurants and cafés (1976).
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Berlin’s Ernst-Thälmann Park, last large scale housing development of GDR-era completed in time for city’s 750th anniversary (Bild und Heimat, 1987).
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Berlin – Capital of the GDR (Bild und Heimat, 1987)
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Berlin – Marzahn; This postcard presents Marzahn, an Berlin housing estate and the largest of its kind in the GDR (Bild und Heimat, 1989).
Cottbus District
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Cottbus (Bild und Heimat, 1961)
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Cottbus – Ernst Thälmann Square, Flower Clock, Altmarkt, Hotel “Lausitz” (Bild und Heimat, 1983)
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Cottbus – Theater, Historic Streetcar, City Ring Road (Bild und Heimat, 1989)
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Cottbus – Spremberger Strasse, Brandts Castle, The “Wend” Quarter, Ernst Thälmann Square (Bild und Heimat, ??)
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Cottbus – “Konsument” Department Store, Ernst Thälmann Square, Forster Street, Leipziger Street (Bild und Heimat, 1972)
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Cottbus – Train Station; alas, since renovated (reprint of 1980 postcard)
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Hoyerswerda, the GDR’s second planned city – 1. Shopping District, 2. “Glückauf” Restaurant, 3. “Friendship” Restaurant, 4. Miners’ Lake (Bild u. Heimat, 1968)
Dresden District
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Dresden’s Prager Strasse including Lenin Monument (Bild und Heimat, 1979)
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Dresden: District Court, “Käthe Kollwitz” Embankment, Prague Street, Cinema on Prague Street, view of “Blue Miracle” Bridge (Bild und Heimat, 1981)
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Dresden: Cinema on Prague Street, Pioneer Palace, Prague Street, Käthe Kollwitz Embankment, view of Pirna Square (Bild und Heimat, 1980)
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Dresden: Funicular railway and Luisenhof, Pillnitz Palace, Prague Street, Memorial to the Soviet Army at Unity Square (Bild und Heimat, 1980)
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Dresden – Cinema and Fountains in Prague Street (reprint of 1962 postcard)
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Dresden: Zwinger with Crown Gate, Neva Hotel on Prague Street, “Dr. Rudolph Friedrich” Bridge, Courtyard of Zwinger (Brück & Sohn, 1980)
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Dresden’s House of Culture (Brück & Sohn, 1980)
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Dresden, its Baroque face largely obscured (Bild u. Heimat, 1978).
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Dresden: Urban expressway, Zwinger, The Golden Rider, Kreuz Church (Brück & Sohn, ?)
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Dresden: Liberation Street, Neustaedter Market, view of City Hall and Kreuz Church, view from Unity Bridge (Verlag Görtz, 1981)
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Dresden: Funicular to Löschwitz district with “Blue Miracle” Bridge (Bild und Heimat, 1970)
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Dresden: Wachwitz TV tower, View of city highway, House of Culture (Verlag Görtz, 1978)
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Radebeul: “Indian Museum” of the Karl May Foundation (VEB Bild und Heimat, 1972)
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Löbau in eastern Saxony: Post milestone, a view up to Löbauer Hill, Town Hall and Liberation Square (Bild und Heimat, 1980)
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Saxon Switzerland, a mountainous region in southern Saxony which runs along the Czech border (AR Adam, 1976)
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Saxonian Switzerland, Open Air Ampitheatre Rathen (Bild und Heimat, 1978)
Erfurt District
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International Garden Show, Erfurt (Auslese Bild Verlag, 1976)
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Eisenach: The Wartburg (Kunstanstalt Straub and Fischer, 1980)
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The Wartburg in Eisenach incl. Donkey Station at lower right (Auslese Bild Verlag, 1980)
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Eisenach: Wartburg and more (VEB Foto-Verlag, 1979)
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Eisenach incl. city view and Bach monument (Kunstanstalt Straub und Fischer, 1980)
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Eisenach: Luther House, Wartburg, Luther Monument, Luther’s Room at Wartburg (Kunstanstalt Straub und Fischer, 1980)
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Eisenach incl. Market Square (Kunstanstalt Straub und Fischer, 1980)
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Eisenach: the Bach Monument (Auslese – Bild Verlag, 1975)
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Eisenach: The Wartburg (Bild und Heimat, 1975)
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Eisenach: The Wartburg (Kunstanstalt Straub und Fischer, 1980)
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Eisenach: The Wartburg (Kunstanstalt Straub und Fischer, 1980)
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Eisenach: Palace at the Wartburg (Bild und Heimat, 1975)
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Eisenach: Wartburg, Hotel (Bild und Heimat, 1975)
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Eisenach: Luther House (VEB Foto-Verlag, 1978)
Frankfurt (Oder) District
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Frankfurt/Oder – View from highrise, View from Polish bank of Oder, Friendship Bridge, City Hall (Bild und Heimat, 1979)
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Frankfurt/Oder – Highrise on Republic Square, Kleist Monument, Soviet War Memorial, Karl Marx Street, Hotel “Stadt Frankfurt” (Bild und Heimat, 1980)
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Frankfurt/Oder – “View from People’s Republic of Poland” (Bild und Heimat, 1981)
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Frankfurt/Oder – Fountains in town centre (Bild und Heimat, 1982)
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Frankfurt / Oder – “View from tower block on Guben Street (Bild und Heimat, 1982)
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Frankfurt / Oder – High-rise for Youth Tourist Hotel on Republic Square (Bild und Heimat, 1985)
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Frankfurt/Oder – Hotel “Stadt Frankfurt” (Bild und Heimat, 1985)
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Frankfurt/Oder – Karl Marx Street (Bild und Heimat, 1981)
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Eisenhüttenstadt: WK VI, Open Air Pool, Leninallee, Street of the Republic (Bild u. Heimat, 1978)
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Eisenhüttenstadt: Leninallee (People’s Own Graphokopie, 1972)
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Eisenhüttenstadt: Greetings from E (Bild u. Heimat, 1978)
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Schwedt: Centrum, District Hospital, “Historical fountain” in Leninallee, Sculpture in Leninallee, Catholic Church, Wading Pool with Walrus Slide (Bild u. Heimat, 1988).
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Schwedt: Marchlewski Ring, Sport Hall, Ernst-Thälmann-Street, Leninallee (Bild u. Heimat, 1973)
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Schwedt: (top left) French Church and Pharmacy, (bottom left) HO-Grocery Store, (right side from top) House of Culture, View of City, Liberation Square (Bild u. Heimat 1981)
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Schwedt, a small town on Polish border transformed into an industrial centre and the GDR’s third ‘socialist city’ during the 60s/70s (Bild u. Heimat, 1965)
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Schwedt: Centrum Department Store, District Hospital, Workers’ Hostel (Bild u. Heimat, 1978)
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Schwedt: Centrum Department Store, “French” Church, WKI VI, Leninallee (Bild u. Heimat, 1978).
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Schwedt: Berlischiky Pavillion (former “French” Church), House of Culture, Leninallee with view of City Park, Park next to House of Culture (Bild u. Heimat, 1988).
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Schwedt: Leninallee (Bild und Heimat, 1980).
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Schwedt: “Centra” restaurant with the sculpture “Lovers” in foreground (PK Verlag Mader, 1971).
Gera District
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Gera – City Centre (Bild und Heimat, ??)
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Gera – Republic Street (Bild und Heimat, 1968)
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Gera – Osterstein Terrace Cafe, Republic Street, City Hall (Bild und Heimat, 1969)
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Gera – Lusan Estate (Bild und Heimat, 1978)
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Gera – Republic Square (Bild und Heimat , 1973)
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The Interhotel in Gera (Bild u. Heimat, 1980)
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Gera – Church of Mary (Gebr. Karloff KG, 1970)
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Jena from above (Bild und Heimat, 1980)
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Jena – tower share by Schiller University and Research department of Carl Zeiss Jena (Bild und Heimat, 1986)
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View of central Market Square in Jena (Bild und Heimat, 1984)
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Cosmonauts Square, Jena (Bild und Heimat, ?)
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Cosmonauts Square, Jena (Bild und Heimat, 1981)
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Cosmonauts Square, Jena (Bild und Heimat, 1982)
Halle District
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Halle – Square named for Ernst Thälmann, leader of Weimar-era Communist Party murdered by Nazis in Buchenwald, with the House of Teachers (VEB Bild und Heimat Reichenbach, 1972)
Karl-Marx-Stadt District
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Karl-Marx-Stadt – Stadthalle with Interhotel (Bild und Heimat, 1980)
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Karl-Marx Stadt – Karl Marx Strasse with view onto Interhotel (Bild und Heimat, 1980)
Leipzig District
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Leipzig – Aerial View of City Centre (Bild und Heimat, 1986)
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Leipzig Main Station (Bild und Heimat, 1968)
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Leipzig City Hall (Bild und Heimat, 1982)
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Leipzig – Old Stock Exchange (VEB Bild und Heimat Reichenbach, 1969)
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Leipzig’s Bruehl including the ‘Konsument’ department store in the foreground; all since removed (reprint of 1973 postcard)
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Leipzig – Saxon Square; since removed to make way for Museum of Fine Arts (Bild und Heimat, 1986)
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Leipzig – Saxon Square; since removed (reprint of 1975 postcard)
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Leipzig – Apartment on Winter Garden Street (Bild und Heimat, 1986)
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Leipzig – Main concert hall of New Gewandhaus (Bild und Heimat, 1985)
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Leipzig – Trabant 601 in front of Leipzig Opera; the banner reads “When we strengthen our Republic, We are strengthening Socialism” (reprint of 1975 postcard)
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Leipzig: Youth Tourist Hotel ‘Georg Schumann” in Leipzig (Bild und Heimat, Reichenbach, 1980).
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Sport Show of the German Gymnastics and Sport Union, Leipzig, 1977 – “Strength and Courage” with the logo of the Dynamo, the Sportclub of the GDR’s ‘armed organs’ (reprint of 1977 Bild und Heimat postcard)
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Sport Show of the German Gymnastics and Sport Union, Leipzig, 1977 – “Healthy and Happy” (reprint of 1977 Bild und Heimat postcard)
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Sport Show of German Gymnastics and Sport Union, Leipzig, 1977 – “Always ready”, the slogan of the Young Pioneers, the GDR’s version of the Scouts (reprint of 1977 Bild und Heimat postcard)
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Döblen, Public Garden (Bild und Heimat, 1977)
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Leisnig, a small town in western Saxony (Bild und Heimat, 1975)
Magdeburg District
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Magdeburg – Wilhelm Pieck Alle (Bild und Heimat, 1981)
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Magdeburg – Crystal Palace, Karl Marx Street, Cathedral and St. Sebastian Church, Julius Bremer Street, Halberstadt Street (Bild und Heimat, 1982)
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Magdeburg – “Our Ladies” Cloister (Bild und Heimat, 1986)
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Magdeburg – Karl Marx Street (Bild und Heimat, 1985)
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Magdeburg – Exhibition Tower, Cathedral, Elbe River, Karl Marx Street (Verlag Konsum Foku, 1961)
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Magdeburg – Elbe River (Verlag Konsum Fokus, 1959)
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Magdeburg – Elbe River with Cathedral (Konsum Fotocolor, 1979)
Potsdam District
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Potsdam – “Hans Marchewitz” House of Culture, “See Rose” Restaurant, East Centre District, Institute for Teachers’ Education (Bild und Heimat, 1986)
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Potsdam – Brandenburg Gate, Nauen Gate, Hunters’ Gate, Island of Friendship, Sanssouci Castle (Bild und Heimat, 1979)
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Potsdam – Brew House Hill with “Minsk” Restaurant and Swimming Hall (Bild und Heimat, 1983)
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Potsdam – Nikolai Church with “Hans Marchewitz” House of Culture, View from Brew House Hill, Unity Square, Hunters’ Gate (Bild und Heimat, ??)
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‘Hans Marchwitza” House of Culture, Potsdam (Bild und Heimat, 1984)
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Potsdam – Russian Colonly “Alexandrowska”, New buildings on the Havel Bay, Friedrich Ebert Street, F. Ebert Street with Nauen Gate (Bild und Heimat, 1986)
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Potsdam – Sanssouci Castle (Bild und Heimat, 1964)
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Potsdam – “Am Stern” Residential District (Bild und Heimat, 1981)
Rostock District
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Rostock-Warnemünde (Bild und Heimat, 1982).
Suhl District
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Oberhof: Postcard from 1980 highlighting the socialist makeover of the town
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Oberhof: top left: Interhotel Panorama, Oberhof’s socialist landmark.
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Oberhof: Ski jump circa 1980.
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Oberhof: Free German Trade Union Association’s Holiday House “Fritz Weineck” – since removed.
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Oberhof: A large scale restaurant built in the late 1960s as part of efforts to give Oberhof a “socialist face”; Interhotel Panorama sits in the background.
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Oberhof: The “Luisensitz” Holiday Home of the Free German Union Association, one of a number of family run hotels that were nationalized in 1950.
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Oberhof: More scenes of pre-Ulbricht era
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Oberhof in 1980: “Beograd” Restaurant in the Interhotel Panorama.
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Oberhof in 1980 – clockwise from top left: Rennsteig Hotel, View of Hotel Panorama, ****, View from Rennsteig and “Fritz Heckert” Holiday Hotel.
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Oberhof: X marks the spot. circa 1980: “Had our coffee on the 11th floor of the Rennsteig”. Lovely view from up here!”
Schwerin & Neubrandenburg Districts
Shamefully, I have no exponents from these districts. I will work to remedy this!
The Use of Postcards in East Germany
East Germans certainly used postcards much in the way these are typically used today: as a means to send vacation greetings or a quick hello to friends and family. However,this use accounted for only some of the postcard mail that circulated in the country. Indeed, the large number of different motifs churned out in the GDR reflects a strong demand for this item and a short consideration of the context of postcards’ use in the country is helpful to understand what was driving consumers to use so many postcards.
Postcard from East Germany’s Interflug airline (Bild und Heimat, year unknown)
Front of blank postcard. These cost 1 Pfennig each (< 1 cent).
Back of blank postcard, a popular means of communication in a country where personal phones were rare.
Hand-painted spring motiv on a postcard from the 1960s
One of the hallmarks of East German life was its slow pace and I would argue that this tempo was a result of a number of factors. First, the transport infrastructure for both people and goods was generally old and didn’t facilitate quick movement. Second, the country’s socialist planned economy did away with competition, a corollary of which was that the dynamism which this can bring to public life was largely absent from the GDR. Finally, communications were dramatically different from both what we know today and what was typical in the Western world in the 1970s and 80s.
From our 21st century perspective, it’s difficult to imagine just how different communication was in East Germany, but this was a country where only 24.6% of the population had access to a telephone at home (1989 figures). If one did not have an obliging neighbour or didn’t wish to conduct personal conversations in someone else’s home, the other options were to try using a phone booth (these were few and far between and often out of service) or line up at a post office to use one of the phones found there.

The reverse of card pictured left: “Can you please come to my place on Monday, February 7th?” – a postcard sent within Karl Marx Stadt to set up a visit between two friends.
Given these hurdles, it’s not surprising that many East Germans simply did not use the phone all that often outside of their work settings. Instead, it was common for friends to simply drop in on one another unannounced in order to catch up on things. (Indeed, this aspect of the East German culture has largely disappeared but is often fondly recalled as one of the elements of the GDR lifestyle that people miss today.) When it was necessary or desirable to make more formal arrangements, people would often use a postcard to communicate with friends or family, and my collection of postcards has several examples of postcards used in just this way.
For instance, one postcard sees the writer informing the recipients of her train’s planned arrival time on an impending visit. Another postcard from a Leipzig resident to a relative in a small town asks for specific instructions regarding purchases the city dweller is going to make on the relative’s behalf. Most interesting are a series of postcards written by one Leipziger to a good friend who lived across town. These postcards communicate the sort of everyday content (e.g. work schedule, plans for meeting for a concert or for a coffee) which a West German (or Canadian) would have normally carried out in a phone call in the 80s (or, in an email, text message or tweet in more recent times). For an outsider, the tone and content of these postcards are more than a bit odd as they represent a kind of communication that is completely foreign (in all this word implies). The way in which the most basic of exchanges were stretched out over a period of days gives a clear sense of the different way in which time was often experienced in the GDR.
Motifs
East German postcards are largely comparable to those found elsewhere. Most presented either historic or important buildings, natural landscapes, artwork and the like. Naturally there is an emphasis on “socialist themes” and this makes postcards a useful means of assessing the regime’s priorities. It was not uncommon to find postcards depicting major industrial plants and housing estates which the Party erected as part of its housing program in the 70s and 80s. My collection has examples fro most of these categories, but I have a particular fondness for those which document GDR-specific scenes (e.g. housing estates, “socialist” streetscapes, etc.).
Related Themes – Further Reading
The DDR-Postkarten-Museum has been the first destination for anyone interested in East German postcards for a while now. This website presents a private collection of some 33,000 different postcards produced in the GDR 40+ years of existence. At present, the site is being reorganized as part of a process which will see Berlin’s DDR Museum take on the oversight of this fascinating archive. Apparently the site will be back up “soon” and you can register your email address with them at the link above to be informed when things are up and running again.
English artist/photographer Martin Parr’s Langweilige Postkarten (Boring Postcards) has edited a most enjoyable collection of postcards with prosaic motifs which were produced in the two Germanies between the end of WWII and German unification in 1990. Housing estates, autobahns, highway rest stops, hotels/holiday camps get the bulk of the attention and what is most remarkable are the clear parallels in aesthetic sensibility on display on either side of the Iron Curtain.
To get a sense of the motifs common to the East German postcard, there’s a nice online collection of some which were produced for the city of Schwedt, the GDR’s third “socialist city” (read: planned city) and home to the country’s only oil refinery. The postcards are from the mid-50s to the late 60s and can be found at:
http://www.portal-schwedt.de/stadtportrait/bildervonschwedt/ddransichtskarten/index.html
Mail Art in the GDR
One interesting topic related to postcards in the GDR but which is not (yet!) represented in my collection is the phenomenon of Mail Art. This movement involved a small group of underground artists who used mail art as a means of both circumventing the strict public controls placed on artists and their work in the East and to overcome the isolation many of them experienced working in such a society. Mail Art took many different forms but often directly addressed notions of artistic freedom and the surveillance regime in place in the GDR (which included close controls of the postal system).
For an overview of the Mail Art movement in Eastern Europe, including the GDR, see this piece by Hungarian artist Bálint Szombathy found in issue 21of the journal Left Curve. It was written on the occasion of an exhibit of Mail Art in the eastern German city of Schwerin and provides some background on the Mail Art movement in Eastern Europe, including the GDR.
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