Schulmuseum Leipzig

The Schulmuseum – Werkstatt für Schulgeschichte Leipzig stands in the city centre, in a building that once housed the East German Ministry for State Security. The structure was added in 1957 to a 1911–1913 insurance office and is now a protected monument. The museum occupies the second and third floors, where it explores how schools functioned under 20th-century dictatorships. Its permanent displays are split into two parts. The first covers 1212 to 1933, with sections on imperial Germany’s schools and special institutions such as the Leipzig Waldschule and the Jewish Carlebachschule. Visitors see more than 1 500 classroom wall charts, historic teaching aids and a rebuilt detention room. The second part covers 1933 to 1989, showing how schools were reshaped by the Nazis and later by the East German regime. Resistance stories and everyday objects from DDR classrooms bring the period to life. Beyond the exhibitions, the museum holds a reference library of over 25 000 books on education history. Its collections include 25 000 objects: documents, furniture, maps, films and children’s work. Groups can take part in reconstructed lessons from 1900 or from an East German polytechnic school. Workshops lasting two hours let visitors explore themes in greater depth, and the museum supports school anniversaries, film projects and class reunions.