Historical Museums & Memorials

From its humble medieval beginnings, Berlin's history – especially its key role in major events of the 20th century – has created a rich and endlessly fascinating tapestry. It's also extremely well documented in numerous museums, memorial sites and monuments, many of them in original historic locations that are open to the public.

The Evolution of Berlin & Germany

Trace Berlin's evolution from its medieval birth to today's modern metropolis at the traditional Märkisches Museum, or head to the Story of Berlin for a more experiential and multimedia approach, providing insight into Berlin's various epochs. If you like your history in a nutshell (or in 20 minutes), take in the multimedia show, The Gate.

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 Germany. Numerous museums and memorial sites, almost 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 Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz.

The unfathomable impact of Nazi terror is emotionally documented at the Ort der Information 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 Russian 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 Germany's postwar fate, visit Schloss Cecilienhof in nearby Potsdam.

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. To deepen your understanding of the physical appearance of the border fortifications and their human toll, 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 traditional approach to the same subject. Both exhibits also address the role of East Germany's Ministry of State Security (the Stasi) in shoring up the power base of the country's regime. Learn more at the Stasimuseum and on a guided tour of the Stasi Prison where regime critics were incarcerated.

Near Checkpoint Charlie, the famous border crossing, you can learn about the daring attempts by East Germans to escape to the West at the privately run Mauermuseum. For a take on the Cold War in Berlin from the perspective of the occupying Western allies, visit the AlliiertenMuseum. Berlin's legacy as the capital of spies is the subject of the Spy Museum on Leipziger Platz.