Topography of Terror, Military museum in Kreuzberg, Germany
Description
Topography of Terror is a documentation center in Kreuzberg built on the former Gestapo headquarters site, presenting exhibitions about Nazi persecution apparatus. The open grounds include excavated basement vaults, outdoor information panels, and a covered exhibition hall that extends across several levels.
History
The site housed command centers of the Gestapo, SS leadership, and Reich Security Main Office from 1933, organizing persecution and deportations from this location. After the war, the destroyed buildings lay vacant for decades until a provisional exhibition opened in 1987 and the current center was completed in 2010.
Culture
The name refers to the systematic mapping and persecution carried out by Nazi security organizations headquartered at this location. Visitors today can walk past information panels along the basement ruins that explain how interrogations and deportations originated from this address.
Practical
The center sits near Kochstraße subway station and is free to enter, with outdoor sections accessible at all times. Guided tours in several languages are available, and a café offers a chance to rest between exhibition areas.
Did you know?
A section of the foundation walls sits directly beneath a preserved stretch of the Berlin Wall running parallel to Niederkirchnerstraße. This overlap of two systems of repression at one site makes the layers of German history visible.
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