Allied Museum

The Allied Museum
GDR watchtower

The Allied Museum (German: AlliiertenMuseum) is a museum in Berlin. It documents the political history and the military commitments and roles of the Western Allies (US, France and Britain) in Germany – particularly Berlin – between 1945 and 1994 and their contribution to liberty in Berlin.

Location: American Sector

The museum is located on the Clayallee in Dahlem, Steglitz-Zehlendorf, in the former American sector of postwar Berlin. It was previously the location of an American cinema, "Outpost", and a library. Entrance is free.

Since the closure of Berlin Tempelhof Airport in 2008, the Allied Museum has announced its interest in relocating to the old airport at some point.[1][2][3]

The Allies

The early period of Soviet troops marching into Berlin and plans of how to divide Berlin in sectors is documented. United States, Great Britain and France formed the Western Allies in the Cold War and were then in opposition to the Soviet Union. The museum shows an important part of the military and political scenery of cold war, i.e. the period after World War II and the beginning of the 1990s in Berlin.

The Outpost Theater: From victory to airlift

Maps of Berlin with planned sectors, pictures of Soviets marching into Berlin, uniforms, first editions of Berlin newspapers, Denazification, logistics and sacrifices of life by the British-American air lift are shown in the former cinema.[4]

Open-Air exhibition: Aircraft and watchtower

Transport plane from the Berlin Airlift
Guardhouse from Checkpoint Charlie

Some of the largest objects in the permanent collection are presented in the open-air exhibition space and include a British Handley Page Hastings transport plane, a railway carriage from a French military train, the guard house from the famous border crossing point Checkpoint Charlie and a GDR watchtower.

The Nicholson Memorial Library: Privileged position of Berlin

In this part of the museum documents are shown concerning the fall of the wall, the methods to analyze the political situation by western Allies and the measures by the USA, Great Britain and France to guarantee liberty in Berlin. Part of this hall is reserved for temporary exhibitions on themes of modern-day relevance.

Organization

The Allied Museum has the legal status of a non-profit association, whose members are the Federal Republic of Germany, the state of Berlin, France, the UK, the USA, the Deutsches Historisches Museum, and the Institut für Zeitgeschichte in Munich.

Sculpture Fall of the Wall

Veryl Goodnight: The Day the Wall Came Down in Clayallee, Berlin-Zehlendorf near Allied Museum

Near the Allied Museum, in Clayallee, a sculpture by Veryl Goodnight remembers the joyous event when the Berlin wall came down. Five wild horses are shown jumping over the remains of the wall.

Notes

  1. A Future for Berlin's Cold War Icon? – Allied Museum Wants to Move into Tempelhof Airport R. Jay Magill, Jr., Der Spiegel, 5 February 2008.
  2. Allied Museum angles for space at Tempelhof Airport Julia Lipkins, The Local, 11 December 2009.
  3. Berlin's Allied Museum seeks new home at old airport Earth Times, 31 December 2009.
  4. Allied Museum (Editor): Guide to the Indoor and Open-Air Exhibition Spaces. Folder in english from about 2011.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Allied Museum.

Coordinates: 52°27′21″N 13°16′21″E / 52.45583°N 13.27250°E / 52.45583; 13.27250

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