Insider Educational No. 2 in 2026 – The DDR Depot

This is where the team from the DDR Museum stores approximately 360,000 artefacts from the state once known as the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany.

Above  cross-sections of armoured personnel carriers, repurposed into an art installation reminiscent of those erected by the Mutoid Waste Company and others in no man’s land in the early 1990s.

Scandinavian furniture manufactured in the DDR in the 1970s. 

Petrol pumps preserved for posterity.

Who is the chap in the large frame? Learn all about one of the most important politicians in the DDR, Herr Willi Stoff. 

 

A restored room featuring furniture from the DDR elite, aptly named “Klub der Funktionäre.” Each cabinet contains items from everyday life in the DDR, including replica grenades used in school sports—Granatwerfen!

There were not many cars in the DDR, but plenty of motorbikes and mopeds. Those still in working order enjoy cult status among fans of “Ostalgie.”

Flags, banners, and emblems ranging from trade unions to knitting clubs. 

The waiting time for one of these was approximately three years and it cost around six months’ wages.

Insider guides enjoyed a sneak peek behind the scenes, where both special and everyday items from the former East Germany are carefully preserved for future generations.

Insider's Educational Nr. 1 in 2026 - Teufelsberg, Commonwealth Cemetery and Military History Museum, Gatow Airport

Insider tour guides were treated to a rewarding and educational day out visiting three iconic Berlin sites associated with WWII and the Cold War.

 

First up was the iconic Teufelsberg Listening Station located on a rubble hill, which covers the former Albert Speer designed massive Nazi ‘Wehrtechnische Fakultät (Military Technical College), deep in the Grunewald forest.

 

Starting in 1963 the U.S. NSA built a listening (spy) station there, as part of their Europe-wide ECHELON system. The goal was to garner military and/or economic news of relevance about countries of the Warsaw Pact. At its height 1500 people worked here manually gathering, translating, deciphering and forwarding information.

 

Abandoned and gutted of all technical equipment post German reunification, in the 90s this complex became an illegal rave and graffiti location. Currently it is an event location, and an eerie reminder of dark times past.

Our group was given an enthralling historical account of this site by top Berlin tour guide, Jörg Rupert Schöpfel.

 

Second site visited was the Berlin Commonwealth cemetery. Here, mainly airmen killed over Berlin during WWII are buried.

All Commonwealth graves are adorned with uniform headstones of Portland stone from England. Nationalities buried here are: UK - 2692, Australia - 228, Canada - 527, India - 51, New Zealand - 56, South Africa - 31, Poland - 5, Unidentified - 8.
Some of those who are buried here were P.O.W.s.

   “Their name liveth for evermore” 

 

The third site visited was the absolutely exemplary Military History Museum - Gatow Airport.

There we were treated to an excellent tour of the Luftwaffe during the Nazi era by their top class in-house guide, Stefan Horn.

Above, a retired renowned Starfighter jet (also known as the 'widowmaker') with vertical booster and nuclear payload.
 

 This 'Dakota' is a long way from home.

 Heinkel bomber from WW2.

A large part of our discussion at this location was taken up by the massive human cost suffered by forced labourers and concentration camp inmates in building and maintaining the doomed Nazi air force.

The Military History Museum - Gatow Airport, with its outdoor and indoor exhibition spaces, is a treasure trove of information about the history of the Luftwaffe since its inception in 1884!