Geschichte der Kindheit

In addition to education at home, the village school of the 19th century played an increasingly important role. The focus of the presentation is the reconstruction of a historical classroom at the beginning of the 20th century.

The "Historical toys" exhibition area is divided into "educational toys", toys for boys and toys for girls. Construction sets, optical toys and steam engines introduced children of the 19th and early 20th century to the adult world in a playful way. The mechanization of everyday life gave rise to a large number of toys that were primarily aimed at boys, with mobility of all kinds at the forefront of interest. The exhibition shows a cross-section of products from the most important German toy manufacturers. Dolls, doll's houses and kitchens as well as soft toys are the focus of the toys for girls. Among the soft toys, a teddy bear produced in a workshop in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt between 1945 and 1952 is worth mentioning.

Another segment of this section is dedicated to the "militarization of childhood". Rarely have children and young people been so prepared for a coming war with toys, books and school materials as in the years between 1910 and 1945.