Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
of Nazi domination in this area. A timeline of events and old photographs, documents, and
newspaper clippings illustrate how Hitler and his team expertly manipulated the German
people to build a broadly supported “dictatorship of consent.”
The exhibit walks you through the evolution of Hitler's regime: the Nazi takeover; in-
stitutions of terror (Himmler's “SS State”); terror, persecution, and extermination; atrocities
in Nazi-occupied countries; and the war's end and postwar. Some images here are indelible,
such as photos of SS soldiers stationed at Auschwitz, gleefully yukking it up on a retreat in
the countryside (even as their helpless prisoners were being gassed and burned a few miles
away). The exhibit profiles specific members of the various reprehensible SS branches, as
wellasthegroupstheytargeted:Jews,Roma,andSinti(Gypsies);theunemployedorhome-
less;homosexuals;andthephysicallyandmentallyill(considered“uselesseaters”whocon-
sumed resources without contributing work).
Downstairs is a WC and a library with research books on these topics. Before heading
outside, ask at the information desk to borrow the free audioguide that describes the outdoor
exhibits.
Outside,inthetrenchalongtheWall,you'llfindtheexhibit
Berlin1933-1945:Between
Propaganda and Terror,
which overlaps slightly with the indoor exhibit but focuses on
Berlin.Thechronologicalsurveybeginswiththepost-WWIWeimarRepublicandcontinues
through the ragged days just after World War II. One display explains how Nazis invented
holidays (or injected new Aryan meaning into existing ones) as a means of winning over
the public. Other exhibits cover the “Aryanization” of Jewish businesses (they were simply
taken over by the state and handed over to new Aryan owners); Hitler's plans for converting
Berlin into a gigantic “Welthauptstadt (World Capital) Germania”; and the postwar Berlin
Airlift, which brought provisions to some 2.2 million West Berliners whose supply lines
were cut off by East Berlin.
With more time, explore the grounds around the blocky building on a
“Site Tour.”
Pos-
ted signs explain 15 different locations, including the scant remains of the prison cellars.
Across the street (facing the Wall chunk) are the former headquarters of the Nazi Luftwaffe
(Air Force), the only major Hitler-era government building that survived the war's bombs.
Notice how the whole building gives off a monumental feel, making the average person feel
small and powerless. Walk into the stark courtyard. After the war, this was the headquarters
for the Soviet occupation. Later the DDR was founded here, and the communists used the
building to house their—no joke—Ministry of Ministries. Walk up Wilhelmstrasse (to the
north) to see an entry gate (on your left) that looks much like it did when Germany occupied
nearly all of Europe. On the north side of the building (farther up Wilhelmstrasse, at corner
with Leipziger Strasse) is a wonderful example of communist art. The mural, Max Lingn-
