Culture Palaces of the GDR: From shine to danger - what is left?

Culture Palaces of the GDR: From shine to danger - what is left?

Gera, Deutschland - Gera/Leipzig (dpa) - The GDR left an impressive legacy of around 2,000 cultural palaces, but 35 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, many of these architectural witnesses have disappeared in the sinking. Uta Bretschneider, director of the contemporary history forum in Leipzig, estimates that only about half of the former cultural houses exist. The remaining buildings are often faced with decay. The examples from Unterwellenborn, Schkopau and Lauchhammer, which illustrate the precarious location of these cultural sites, are particularly alarming.

"With the end of the GDR, the cultural houses lost their function and became a financial burden for municipalities and owners," explains Bretschneider. In rural regions, however, these houses could still act as cultural centers that could enrich community life and bring events to the villages. But reality looks different: Most cultural houses are oversized for the small communities, which makes it difficult to use economic use. High energy costs and personnel expenses make it almost impossible to operate these historical buildings profitably.

new perspectives for old buildings

Despite the challenges, there are bright spots! Bretschneider emphasizes positive examples of how the former cultural center "October 7" in Suhl, which now serves as a museum depot and city archive, or the cultural center Beucha in Brandis, where a co-working space is to be built. These new uses show that there are definitely opportunities to revive the former cultural centers.

The GDR cultural houses were built with the aim of adapting the living conditions in the city and country and raising the population to "socialist personalities". These politically charged places were not only intended for education and leisure, but also for the spread of socialist ideology. In order to shed light on the history and present of these cultural sites, the conference "Pale Cultures. History and Present of the GDR culture houses" will take place on Monday and Tuesday in the Gera cultural and congress center. 120 experts are expected to discuss the future of this important but often neglected building.