Allied Museum

TheAllied Museum(German:AlliiertenMuseum) is a museum inBerlin.It documents the political history and the military commitments and roles of theWesternAllies(US,FranceandBritain) in Germany – particularly Berlin – between 1945 and 1994 and their contribution to liberty in Berlin during theCold Warera.

The Allied Museum

Allied Museum

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Allied Museum, Berlin

Location: American Sector

The museum is located on Clayallee, an arterial road named after GeneralLucius D. Clay(1898–1978), in theDahlemquarter of the southwesternSteglitz-Zehlendorfborough. UntilGerman reunificationin 1990, the area was located in theAmerican sectorof postwarWest Berlin.The buildings near theUS Armyheadquarters then housed an American movie theater, calledOutpost,and the Nicholson Memorial Library. The museum was inaugurated in 1998, on the fiftieth anniversary of theBerlin airlift,in the presence of ChancellorHelmut Kohl.Entrance is free.

Since the closure ofBerlin Tempelhof Airportin 2008, the Allied Museum has announced its interest in relocating to the old airport at some point.

The Allies

Four sectors of occupied Berlin

The museum shows an important part of the military and political scenery of the Cold War in Berlin, from immediately afterWorld War IIand the final disengagement of the Allied forces in the 1990s.

The early period of partition plans evolved by theEuropean Advisory Commissionis documented. When in February 1945, the United States, Great Britain, and theSoviet Uniondecided to split the formerGerman Reichintooccupation zonesat theYalta Conference,including a fourth area assigned to the French, the German capital likewise was divided into four sectors. In late April, SovietRed Armytroops fought their way into the city during theBattle of Berlinand enforced theunconditional surrenderby the GermanWehrmachtarmed forces. In Summer they pulled out from the city's Western sectors according to the agreements concluded.

In the beginning East-West conflict, first marked by the withdrawal of the Soviet representatives from theAllied Kommandaturaand the followingBerlin Blockadein 1948–49, the US, Britain and France formed the Western Allies and came in opposition to the Soviet occupation forces. The increasing tensions culminated in theBerlin Crisis of 1961and the building of theBerlin Wall.A significant step towards the easing of tensions was made in the 1971Four Power Agreement on Berlin,until the "Berlin question" was solved after the East GermanPeaceful Revolutionand the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989.

Exhibition

Outpost Theater: From victory to airlift

Outposttheater

The former movie theater, a protected monument built in 1953, houses a collection of Berlin maps with planned sectors, pictures of Red Army forces marching into Berlin, uniforms, the first post-war editions of Berlin newspapers,denazificationdocuments,CARE packages.Particular emphasis is on logistics and sacrifices of life by the British-American airlift to West Berlin.Lectures and screenings are held regularly.

Open-Air: Aircraft and watchtower

Handley Page Hastings which was used in the Berlin Airlift

Buddy Bearin front of the museum

Some of the largest objects in the permanent collection are presented in the open-air exhibition space and include aHandley Page Hastingstransport plane deployed by theRoyal Air Forcein the Berlin airlift, a railway carriage from a French military train, the last guard house from the famous BerlinCheckpoint Charlieborder crossing, and a rebuilt East German watchtower.

Nicholson Memorial Library: Privileged position of Berlin

Original Checkpoint Charlie building at the museum

In the former library building, documents are shown concerning every-day life of the Allied garrisons, the political situation under Cold War terms until the fall of the Wall, as well as methods to analyze the measures by the USA, Great Britain and France to maintain control in West Berlin. The collections include the reconstruction of an espionage tunnel built during theOperation Goldconducted by the American and British intelligence services in 1955. Part of the hall is reserved for temporary exhibitions on themes of modern-day relevance.

Organization

The Allied Museum has the legal status of anon-profit association,whose members are the Federal Republic of Germany, the state of Berlin, France, the UK and the US, as well as theDeutsches Historisches Museum,and theInstitut für ZeitgeschichteinMunich.

SculptureThe Day the Wall Came Down

The Day the Wall Came Down,1998 sculpture byVeryl Goodnightin Clayallee,Berlin-Zehlendorfnear Allied Museum

Near the Allied Museum, in Clayallee, the 1998 sculptureThe Day the Wall Came DownbyVeryl Goodnightremembers the joyous event of November 9, 1989, when the Berlin Wall was effectively neutralized. Five wild horses are shown jumping over actual remains of the wall. A statue of GeneralFriedrich Wilhelm von Steubenstands nearby.

See also

• German-Russian Museum
• List of museums and galleries in Berlin

Notes

• Durie, William (2012).The British Garrison Berlin 1945 - 1994: nowhere to go... a pictorial historiography of the British Military occupation / presence in Berlin.Berlin: Vergangenheitsverlag (de).ISBN978-3-86408-068-5.OCLC978161722.

External links

• WebsiteArchived2018-10-18 at theWayback Machine