The DDR collections, assembled from individual artists' and scholars' papers, chronicle the evolution of a national cultural policy in East German visual arts, art history, and architecture, through forty years of German Socialism. Well represented are the activities of the Union of Visual Artists (Verband Bildender Künstler, or VBK), the organization of its congresses and art exhibitions, and the editorial agendas of its journal Bildende Kunst. Also represented is the creation of a socialist history of German art, with a corresponding curriculum. Lastly, the collection documents activities of the Central Working Group for Architecture and Visual Arts (ZAG/AbK), whose responsibilities included architectural and urban policy. The DDR collections contain scant testimony of East Germany's alternative culture, prominent in the 1989 uprising. Rather the documents reflect official culture and the use of art as a medium for domestic propaganda.

1945 Berlin is occupied and placed under the administrative control of the "four powers;" foundation of the (ZK/KPD) and ( FDGB); and I. Congress of the "Cultural Union for the Democratic Renewal of Germany," Berlin.

circa 160 Linear Feet (325 boxes, 15 ** folders, 1** roll)

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