Berlin Clayallee AlliiertenMuseum UAV 04-2017

The Allied Museum (german: AlliiertenMuseum) is a museum in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. It documents the political history and the military commitments and roles of the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

Allies ( US,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

) in Germany – particularly Berlin – between 1945 and 1994 and their contribution to liberty in Berlin during the Cold War era.

Location: American Sector

The museum is located on Clayallee, an arterial road named after General

Lucius D. Clay General Lucius Dubignon Clay (April 23, 1898 – April 16, 1978) was a senior officer of the United States Army who was known for his administration of occupied Germany after World War II. He served as the deputy to General of the Army Dwight D ...

(1898–1978), in the Dahlem quarter of the southwestern Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough. Until German reunification in 1990, the area was located in the

American sector American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

of postwar

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

. The buildings near the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

headquarters then housed an American movie theater, called ''Outpost'', and the Nicholson Memorial Library. The museum was inaugurated in 1998, on the fiftieth anniversary of the

Berlin airlift The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, roa ...

, in the presence of Chancellor

Helmut Kohl Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longes ...

. Entrance is free. Since the closure of Berlin Tempelhof Airport in 2008, the Allied Museum has announced its interest in relocating to the old airport at some point.

The Allies

The museum shows an important part of the military and political scenery of the Cold War in Berlin, from immediately after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and the final disengagement of the Allied forces in the 1990s. The early period of partition plans evolved by the

European Advisory Commission The formation of the European Advisory Commission (EAC) was agreed on at the Moscow Conference on 30 October 1943 between the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, Anthony Eden, the United States, Cordell Hull, and the Soviet Union, Vyache ...

is documented. When in February 1945, the United States, Great Britain, and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

decided to split the former

German Reich German ''Reich'' (lit. German Realm, German Empire, from german: Deutsches Reich, ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The ''Reich'' became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty ...

occupation zones Germany was already de facto occupied by the Allies from the real fall of Nazi Germany in World War II on 8 May 1945 to the establishment of the East Germany on 7 October 1949. The Allies (United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and France ...

at the

Yalta Conference The Yalta Conference (codenamed Argonaut), also known as the Crimea Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the post ...

, including a fourth area assigned to the French, the German capital likewise was divided into four sectors. In late April, Soviet

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

troops fought their way into the city during the Battle of Berlin and enforced the

unconditional surrender An unconditional surrender is a surrender in which no guarantees are given to the surrendering party. It is often demanded with the threat of complete destruction, extermination or annihilation. In modern times, unconditional surrenders most ofte ...

by the German

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

armed 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 the

Allied Kommandatura The Allied Kommandatura, or often just Kommandatura, also known as the ''Alliierte Kommandantur'' in German, was the governing body for the city of Berlin following Germany's defeat in World War II. The victorious allied powers established c ...

and the following

Berlin Blockade The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, ro ...

in 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 the Berlin Crisis of 1961 and the building of the Berlin Wall. A significant step towards the easing of tensions was made in the 1971

Four Power Agreement on Berlin The Four Power Agreement on Berlin, also known as the Berlin Agreement or the Quadripartite Agreement on Berlin, was agreed on 3 September 1971 by the four wartime Allied powers, represented by their ambassadors. The four foreign ministers, Ale ...

, until the "Berlin question" was solved after the East German Peaceful Revolution and the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989.

Exhibition

Outpost Theater: From victory to airlift

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, denazification documents, CARE packages. Particular emphasis is on logistics and sacrifices of life by the British-American airlift to West Berlin.Allied Museum (Editor): ''Guide to the Indoor and Open-Air Exhibition Spaces.'' Folder in English from about 2011. Lectures and screenings are held regularly.

Open-Air: Aircraft and watchtower

Skulptur Clayallee 135 (Dahle) Candy Bär

Some of the largest objects in the permanent collection are presented in the open-air exhibition space and include a

Handley Page Hastings The Handley Page HP.67 Hastings is a retired British troop-carrier and freight transport aircraft designed and manufactured by aviation company Handley Page for the Royal Air Force (RAF). Upon its introduction to service during September 1948, ...

transport plane deployed by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

in the Berlin airlift, a railway carriage from a French military train, the last guard house from the famous Berlin

Checkpoint Charlie Checkpoint Charlie (or "Checkpoint C") was the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War (1947–1991), as named by the Western Allies. East German leader Walter Ulbricht agitated and maneu ...

border crossing, and a rebuilt East German watchtower.

Nicholson Memorial Library: Privileged position of Berlin

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 guarantee liberty in West Berlin. The collections include the reconstruction of an espionage tunnel built during the

Operation Gold Operation Gold (also known as Operation Stopwatch by the British) was a joint operation conducted by the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the British MI6 Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) in the 1950s to tap into landline communic ...

conducted 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 a

non-profit association A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

, whose members are the Federal Republic of Germany, the state of Berlin, France, the UK and the US, as well as the

Deutsches Historisches Museum The German Historical Museum (german: Deutsches Historisches Museum), known by the acronym DHM, is a museum in Berlin, Germany devoted to German history. It describes itself as a place of "enlightenment and understanding of the shared history ...

, and the

Institut für Zeitgeschichte The Institute of Contemporary History (''Institut für Zeitgeschichte'') in Munich was conceived in 1947 under the name ''Deutsches Institut für Geschichte der nationalsozialistischen Zeit'' ("German Institute of the History of the National Sociali ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

Sculpture ''The Day the Wall Came Down''

Near the Allied Museum, in Clayallee, the 1998 sculpture '' The Day the Wall Came Down'' by

Veryl Goodnight Veryl Goodnight (born January 26, 1947) is a sculptor and since 2006 has been living in Mancos, Colorado. She is known for her equine sculpture - in particular a realistic depiction of horses, often in an American West context.Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand von Steuben (born Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin Louis von Steuben; September 17, 1730 – November 28, 1794), also referred to as Baron von Steuben (), was a Prussian military officer who ...

stands nearby.

Notes

External links

Website
{{Authority control Museums in Berlin History museums in Germany Buildings and structures in Steglitz-Zehlendorf Museums established in 1998 Cold War museums in Germany