For Free - Berlin - page 81

ages. Across town, the Story of Berlin uses a more experiential multimedia approach to
provide insight into Berlin's various epochs.
For a comprehensive survey of German history from the early Middle Ages to the
present, visit the Deutsches Historisches Museum . Berlin's Jewish history gets the spotlight
at the Jüdisches Museum .
The Third Reich
Few periods shaped the fate of Berlin as much as its 12-year stint as capital of Nazi Ger-
many. Numerous museums and memorial sites, all of them free, keep the memory alive. For
insight into the sinister machinations of the Nazi state, visit the Topographie des Terrors .
Nazi leaders decided on the implementation of the so-called 'Final Solution' in a lakeside
villa that is now the Gedenkstätte Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz .
The unfathomable impact of Nazi terror is emotionally documented at the Ort der Inform-
ation and at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. The brave locals who tried to stand up
against the Nazis are commemorated at the Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand , the
Gedenkstätte Stille Helden and the Museum Blindenwerkstatt Otto Weidt .
When WWII finally came to an end, the German surrender was signed at what is now the
Deutsch-Russisches Museum Berlin-Karlshorst , whose exhibits present WWII from the
point of view of the Soviet Union. Two giant monuments honour the vast number of Russi-
an soldiers who died in the Battle of Berlin: the Sowjetisches Ehrenmal Treptow and the
Sowjetisches Ehrenmal Tiergarten . To see where the victorious Allies hammered out Ger-
many's postwar fate, visit Schloss Cecilienhof .
The Cold War
After World War II, Berlin was caught in the cross-hairs of the Cold War superpowers - the
US and the USSR - as epitomised in the city's division and the construction of the Berlin
Wall. The longest surviving vestige of this barrier is the street-art festooned East Side
Gallery , but to deepen your understanding of what the border fortifications actually looked
like and their impact, the Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer and the Tränenpalast are essential
stops. Daily life behind the Iron Curtain is documented in interactive fashion at the DDR
Museum , while the free new Museum in der Kulturbrauerei follows a comparatively tradi-
tional approach on the same subject. Both exhibits also address the role of East Germany's
Ministry of State Security (Stasi) in shoring up the power base of the country's regime.
Learn more at the Stasimuseum Berlin and on a guided tour of the Stasi Prison where re-
gime critics were incarcerated. For a quick overview on the subject, there's also the Stasi
Ausstellung near Checkpoint Charlie . This is also where you'll find the privately-run Mauer-