4700 film and sound documents narrate contemporary history audio-visually and present the testimony of contemporary witnesses, as for example in the interviews conducted by Günter Gaus. Selected features from the WDR broadcasting network’s “ZeitZeichen” series, music and films reflect the times with their feel for life and their Zeitgeist. The Museum’s media resources also include another 36,000 multimedia with restricted rights of use, such as the talkshow series moderated by Sandra Maischberger, which are registered in an internal database.

Questions on the above will be answered by the Mediathek/Multimedia Resource Centre, tel. (0228) 9165-505.

The range of interactive media resources in the exhibitions of the Museum of Contemporary History is wide: in the new permanent exhibition, visitors can test their knowledge of contemporary history by taking multiple-choice quizzes. A special system for evaluating the findings guides the users in assessing their own level of knowledge. Other featured resources invite visitors to get actively involved by voting: thus the programme of debates in the “German Bundestag” (parliament) is decided by majority vote.

Audio-visual media make complex ramifications of German history experienceable by presenting contemporary witnesses: visitors taking the chronological tour encounter at 15 media stations – recognizable as recurrent structural elements of the exhibition – a special multimedia feature. By touchscreen they can access the statements of contemporary witnesses – sometimes augmented by contemporary film documents – on major events and basic developments of German history.

In June 1997 the Museum of Contemporary History also published a CD-ROM reflecting the basic principles of the permanent exhibition and entitled “Erlebnis Geschichte – Deutschland seit 1945” (“Experience History – Germany since 1945”).

Since May 2000 visitors to the website can explore the Museum and its permanent exhibition on a virtual tour.

With the Live Virtual Museum Online (LeMO), the Museum of Contemporary History presents on the Internet a multimedia information resource on German history from 1900 to the present. LeMO is a joint project of the Museum of Contemporary History, the German Historical Museum and the Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering. For the virtual tour of the 20th century, 3-D animations (VRML) plus film and sound documents with the Museum’s objects and written information (HTML), thus presenting a comprehensive picture of history.
The LeMO archive provides a survey of all film and sound documents featured in LeMO.

The virtual exhibition „Beobachtungen – Der Parlamentarische Rat 1948/49. Fotografien von Erna Wagner-Hehmke“ (“Observations – The Parliamentary Council of 1948-49. Photographs by Erna Wagner-Hehmke”) presents a unique collection resource of the Museum of Contemporary History: the photographer Erna Wagner-Hehmke documented the Parliamentary Council’s consultations on the Basic Law (provisional constitution). Her photographs capture important moments of the history of German democracy. Extensive sound documents supplement the exhibition.

© 2002-2011 Netzwerk Mediatheken / Network of Multimedia Resource Centres