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The library was founded in 1990 as a place to collect formerly banned books. Today it has become a special collection of factual and narrative literature to raise awareness of the causes and consequences of Soviet communism as a universal threat to the free and democratic world. The library includes more than 11,500 works primarily for socialism research, the GDR’s history with an emphasis Justice and Homeland Security, opposition and resistance, the history of the former Soviet Union, its repression and the crimes of Stalinism. There are personal memories of detention and imprisonment and literature by former East German  and Soviet bloc dissident writers. The entire catalog of books is available online.

Having hosted more than 500 events, Gedenkbibliothek has become a valuable resource for political education in Berlin. There are also opportunities to meet with witnesses and victims of the communist dictatorship.

In addition to temporary exhibitions, there is also the permanent exhibition UTOPIA AND TERROR about Alja Rachmanowa and Alexander Solzhenitsyn – two Russian writers, located at library’s Lessing House since 2010. It is a biographical documentary about the lives of these outstanding artists.

For more information please visit www.Gedenkbibliothek.de