The museum was opened in 1999 and focuses on the history of the German division, everyday life in the communist dictatorship of the GDR, and the reunification process.

The permanent exhibition gives insight into the history of opposition and civil disobedience in the repressive one-party state of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED).

Furthermore, it focuses on the history of everyday life in the Soviet Occupation Zone and the GDR from the end of World War II in 1945 until the Peaceful Revolution of 1989 and German reunification.

The fundamental revision of the permanent exhibition, completed in 2018, gives more space to the time period after the reunification.

2000 objects, photos and films, as well as numerous interviews with eyewitnesses illustrate the recent history of Germany.