Page 486 - Le Operazioni Interforze e Multinazionali nella Storia Militare - ACTA Tomo II

1126 XXXIX Congresso della CommIssIone InternazIonale dI storIa mIlItare • CIHm

Photo 14: (n. d.) The swearing-in of young Red Army Soldiers in the „Zala Kapituljacii“ (Hall of
Capitulation) in the Muzej Kapituljacii (Museum of Capitulation), in: Fotoarchiv, Museum Berlin-
Karlshorst.

5. As a teleological climax: the seizure of Berlin the Red Army soldier figuring as a
humanitarian liberator
6. The signing of the capitulation in Karlshorst, a historic manifestation of the Soviet
victory.
7. The Soviet role in the formation and the maintainance of the GDR
Beside the claimed „Great Friendship“ between East-Germany and the Soviet Union,
the foundation of the GDR by Antifascists and the military presence of the Red Army
on the east part of Germany was to be legitimized and communicated. The exhibition
should achieve these goals via a visual and narrative representation of the above listed
discourses. This mise-en-scène of the master-narrative of the Great Patriotic War was
supported by the pedagogic approach of the museum: The historical place and the
exhibition was not only a commemoration site, but an opportunity to present role-models
and to educate the East-German population. It was the political aim of the exhibition to
resolve inherent contradictions and tensions by educating the East German population
to develop an affirmative attitude towards the Soviet Union.