European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 3, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Colourful chunks of the Berlin Wall below and banners and posters carried by antigovernment marchers last fall right Are now part of the collection at the museum for German history in East Berlin. East Berlin a new look at history by Deborah g. Seward associated press East Berlin s museum for German history has added to its displays an element that often was distorted or missing the truth. Huge chunks of the Berlin Wall now Are displayed at the museum part of a new exhibit that depicts the peaceful revolution last fall that reversed four decades of communist Rule. Less than six months ago a newly refurbished exhibit at the museum glorified the 1961 construction of the Barrier As a contribution to securing state Borders. But the Post-1949 East German history exhibits Are now closed and curators have installed a panel admitting the museum s Quot guilt and responsibility Quot for displays that Quot As we know today permitted no Active living relation to history and the  a new West German Guidebook claims the exhibit beginning in 1949 was closed because it offered an Quot All too euphoric Quot View of East German history. A new exhibit opened april 12 with impressive collections of banners and posters carried by protesters during Waves of pro democracy marches that swept East Germany last fall. The pro democracy exhibit Marks a Radical departure for the museum that under the previous communist government was a showcase for the accomplishments of marxism. But museum officials in East Berlin still seem embarrassed by their collection of 450,000 artefacts ranging from the office furnishings of the former communist rulers to clothing and dishes produced at the first state run enterprises. Despite the apology posted in the museum the remaining exhibits on the years from world War ii to the founding of East Germany in 1949 arouse scorn among some visitors. The creation of the communist state for instance is called a Quot wonder in the history of the German people and Europe Quot and the now dissolved communist party is portrayed As incorporating the Best traditions of German history. Quot this is unbelievable. One can even laugh Quot said Klaus reberts As he looked at a collection of hand tools that belonged to Wilhelm Pieck the first president of East Germany. Quot this museum won t be Here much longer Quot said reberts a retired factory worker from West Berlin on his first visit to the museum. The two Germany Are moving toward a merger that could create a unified state by 1991 a possibly obviating the need for a a 2 separate museum on the communist state. However a close look at the museum guest Book reveals that Many recent visitors believe the exhibit should be kept in its current form. Quot leave everything As it is and build a new one with with whole truth Quot wrote Andreas Kiest who identified himself As a West German Schoolboy. Quot this museum is also part document. Leave it As is Quot wrote another student Werner fihrer. A swedish history teacher wrote in English Quot please save this exhibition for the future. It is itself a Monument of How to lie with the help of  All told the museum s collections cover events of 15,000 years. They Are housed in a massive Gray Stone building of late 17th-Century neoclassical design which was converted in the late 1900s into a museum honouring the achievements of the prussian army. During the nazi Era it displayed special exhibits directed against non aryans. The museum was founded in 1952, three years after the creation of East Germany and the first major exhibition was called Quot Karl Marx his life and  today a marxist interpretation of history permeates the exhibits from the Middle Ages to 1949, where history now stops except for the special show on the events of 1989. Conflicts in the Middle Ages Between poor peasants and Rich craftsmen Are portrayed As an example of Quot class warfare Quot while the defeat of Imperial Germany in world War i was made possible by the efforts of the Quot working  there Are major omissions. The Section on world War ii fails to mention the 1939 Molotov Ribbentrop pact that ceded the Independent Baltic states to the soviet Union and carved up Poland. The suffering of East Germany s communists at the hands of the nazis figures prominently while the destruction of the jews gets Short shrift being described As just part of the fascist struggle for Hegemony. Visitors to the museum have snapped up a collection of postcards portraying the most famous pro democracy slogans displayed on banners and signs during last autumn s revolution. Already sold out is a picture featuring the wide Grin and Large Teeth of Egon Krenz the first successor to Erich Honecker the Leader ousted in october. But there Are plenty of copies of a Book called Lenin in Berlin and there Are piles of unsold postcards showing the red army supplying East Germany with food from the soviet Union. May 3, 1990 stripes Magazine