Agricultural machinery in East Germany - Then & Now

Special Exhibit in the BARNIM PANORAMA from 8th of December 2016 until 28th of October 2017

The special exhibit offered visitors an overview of the development history of the east German agricultural machinery industry from 1946 to the present. Photos, models, and tractors from the agricultural museum’s collection show how products and companies developed in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Visitors could also see which companies are still around today and how production changed over time.

Many agricultural machinery companies, most of them small, called the eastern part of Germany home until 1945. The aftermath of World War II, land reform, and the rise of machine-tractor stations (a state-owned rental pool of farm machinery) caused demand for farm machines to increase swiftly. However, the ‘Socialist Spring’ in the GDR led to a change in agricultural machines. The restructured farmland required more powerful machinery and mechanization systems. At the time, even the massive combine “Fortschritt” Landmaschinen were overwhelmed with the need for adaptation. How did the GDR’s agricultural industry overcome these challenges to become one of the most stable sectors in East Germany? After 1989, the shift to a market economy went hand-in-hand with radical change and restructuring of the production of agricultural machinery. What happened to the companies of the “Fortschritt” combine? Which producers of agricultural machinery still exist, which companies are newly-founded? How have the products and means of production changed? The exhibit answers these questions.

The exhibition is a project of the booster club Agrarmuseum Wandlitz e.V. The project was sponsored by the rural district of Barnim and financially supported by the municipality of Wandlitz.

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