East German Press Portal

Startseite der Website Presse in der DDR

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This online portal offers free access to more than 40 years of GDR history.

The ZZF, in cooperation with the Staatsbibliothek Berlin, has digitised three daily newspapers of the GDR: Neues Deutschland, Berliner Zeitung, and Neue Zeit for the period 1949-1990 and 1994 respectively. The collection’s full texts can be searched online.

The project was funded for four years by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Access has been provided via the GDR Press Portal at ZEFYS (Zeitungsinformationssystem). Access for researchers is free. The ZZF further provides introductory texts as well as detailed information about the GDR’s press system. The Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur has provided biographical background information in the book ‘Wer war wer in der DDR’ (Who was Who in the GDR?, Berlin: CH. Links Verlag, 1992, and subsequent editions).

Access is provided by the Staatsbibliothek and via an OpenID account (available for free at VDB).

Press Portal of the ZZF Potsdam
The portal provides an academic research environment with introductory and background texts on the East German press system.

Zefys at the State Library in Berlin
Everyone with a library card or an OpenID account (VDB) (freely available at xlogon.net), can assess the complete texts via the Internet.