MACHINES WITH A HISTORY

Over 130 restored motorbikes, mopeds, sidecars and scooters provide a comprehensive insight into the history of mobility and two-wheeler production in the GDR.

Accompanying and object texts on the vehicles and their manufacturers, historical photographs, posters, videos as well as atmospheric installations and other original thematic objects await visitors on their journey into the past.

In the absence of sufficient passenger car production, mopeds and motorbikes provided individual mobility in the GDR, whilst in the Federal Republic they advanced to become purely sport and leisure vehicles from the 1970s onwards. Their availability at short notice without a long waiting period and their quite moderate prices compared to cars contributed to the high prevalence of mopeds and motorbikes in the GDR.

EXTENSIVE TWO-WHEELER COLLECTION

One probably thinks first of the two largest manufacturers: Simson from Suhl (Thuringia) and MZ from Zschopau (Saxony). But there is also room for the other manufacturers of the small republic in the motorbike exhibition of the DDR Museum. Spread over more than 800 square metres on two floors, almost all two-wheelers from 40 years of GDR production can be found.

The various exhibits create an overview of the origins and diversity of DDR motorbike production, which begins with its predecessors in the 1930s and ends with the closure of the manufacturer MZ in 2008, 18 years after reunification.

EVERYDAY THINGS AND RARITIES

In addition to widely used two-wheelers such as the »Schwalbe« moped, numerous self-built, off-road and racing machines as well as service vehicles of the National People's Army (NVA), the People's Police and the fire brigade are also on display.

Among the highlights are real rarities, e. g. an MZ motorbike from the escort of the Ministry of the Interior of the GDR, of which only 30 were produced, or an EMW »R 35/3« from 1953, the predecessor of which was built by BMW before the Second World War.