Guide to the Kuratorium Unteilbares Deutschland photograph collection, 1959-1964

Kuratorium Unteilbares Deutschland photograph C0061

Historical Information

The KUD was organized on a national, state, and local level and cooperated with all institutions concerned with the "German Question": schools, universities, unions, industry, youth organizations, and the media in Germany and internationally. It functioned as an above party lines platform to discuss perspectives of reunification and to organize various campaigns to express the collective desire for unification. Leading members included important ministers of successive governments from all of the main political parties. The work of the KUD focused particularly on Berlin because the organization wanted the West German capital to move from Bonn to Berlin in order to more directly confront the Soviet sphere of influence. The KUD's influence diminished with the advent of Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik in which the two-state status quo was accepted as a fact and basis for a policy of détente in the late 1960s. In 1991 the KUD ceased to exist.

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Scope and Content

The Kuratorium Unteilbares Deutschland (KUD) photograph collection consists of approximately 3,400 photographic prints that document the activities of the KUD, a West German organization that campaigned for reunification. Many of the photographs document the construction of the Berlin Wall and the response of West German citizens, including campaigns, memorials, and exhibitions. There are also photographs of KUD leaders and visits by foreign political leaders. The photographs are almost all black and white prints and range in size from 3 x 4" to 11 x 17" with most measuring approximately 5 x 7".

Some of the most spectacular and dramatic images are found in the first three boxes that contain photographs of the Wall's construction and subsequent events that took place during the time of the Cuban missile crisis. Approximately half of the photographs are from professional news agencies, including the Associated Press, the Deutche Presse-Agentus, Aktueller Bilderdienst, and Telegraf/Bankhardt. The KUD members are responsible for the most of the remaining photographs that document their various activities and events. Each subject category represents a textbook illustration of the existence and activities of this important organization from the late 1950s through the early 1960s.

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Arrangement

Organized by subject.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

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Related Material

Special Collections Research Center also holds a large collection of posters that document the history of East Germany from the 1940s through the first elections in the 1990s.

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Index Terms

Persons:

Geographical Names:

Subjects:

Document Types:

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Administrative Information

Custodial History

Shortly after the KUD ceased to exist in 1991, Thomas Hill acquired the photograph archives from a former KUD member.

Preferred Citation

Kuratorium Unteilbares Deutschland photograph collection, Collection #C0061, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University.

Acquisition Information

Purchased from Thomas Hill in 2009.

Processing Information

Processed by Jordan Patty in 2010. EAD markup completed by Eron Ackerman and Jordan Patty in 2010.

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