February 2025, the museum is in “Round Corner”, 
 

As part of a two-day trip to Leipzig, I (Elisabeth Buller, research assistant) visited a permanent exhibition on the GDR’s history, more specifically on the Ministry for State Security. The museum is in the so-called “Round Corner”, the former headquarters of the district administration for state security. An audio guide of the museum teaches a lot about the function, working methods and effects of the Stasi on GDR society.

(24. 03. 2025 Elisabeth Buller )

The Library for Educational History Research (Biblothek für Bildungsgeschichtliche Forschung - BBF) at Warschauer Straße in Berlin-Friedrichshain is the largest specialist educational library in Germany. It holds around 730,000 volumes, making it a center of educational history research in Germany. Its beginnings date back to 1876, when the “German Teachers' Association” created a collection of teaching materials and set up the “Deutsches Schulmuseum” (German School Museum). In 1908, the library was separated from the teaching materials collection and renamend as “Deutsche Lehrerbücherei” (German Teachers' Library) and from the beginning served both teacher training and research into the education system. After 1945, the teachers' library was integrated into the "Pädagogische Zentralbibliothek" Central Pedagogical Library) of the GDR and from 1970 it was part of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences (Akademie der Pädagogischen Wissenschaften - APW) of the GDR. Following the fall of communism and the dissolution of the APW in 1992, the library was transferred to the German Institute for International Educational Research (Deutsches Institut für Internationale Pädagogische Forschung - DIPF) and given its current name. The BBF is open to the public and is making more and more of its holdings available online, as well as organizing exhibitions and conferences. There are also a number of exhibits relating to the history of education in the entrance area.

For our research project “Makarenko's Collective Education beyond the Iron Curtain - Debates on Socialist Competitions and their Practical Consequences in the GDR, Japan and the Soviet Union”, the BBF is of the utmost importance, as a large number of the holdings of pedagogical and educational journals from the GDR are located here. As a research assistant, I (Timmo Stoll ) therefore regularly spend a lot of time in the special reading room of the BBF, going through the old journals and scanning relevant articles. The staff are very friendly and helpful, and journal orders are usually available within a day. Below are a few pictures to give you a small impression of the BBF. More on the BBF homepage: https://bbf.dipf.de

(13. 03. 2025  Timmo Stoll )