Museumsportal Berlin

The year 2011 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the construction of the Berlin Wall. Uniquely in Germany, the special exhibition at the Allied Museum focuses on the international dimension of the events surrounding this prominent date in contemporary history.

Berlin had resembled a powder keg ever since the 1958 Soviet threat to force the Western powers out of Berlin once and for all. The tank face-off at Checkpoint Charlie in October 1961 was one of those explosive movements when World War III might have broken out.

The summit meeting of the most powerful men of their day, propaganda as discordant background music, the attitude of the Western powers towards the erection of the Wall or the anxious glances towards Cuba in October 1962, when West Berlin threatened to become a Soviet pawn, are among the themes of the temporary exhibition at the Allied Museum.

The international history of the building of the Wall forms the central narrative thread, into which aspects of everyday life and the biographies of Berliners as well as Allied soldiers are woven. So-called frozen moments with personal souvenirs will help visitors grasp the individual experiences of the Cold War in Berlin.