Feuerwehrmuseum Berlin, Firefighting museum in Germany
The Feuerwehrmuseum Berlin is a firefighting museum located in the Reinickendorf district. It displays vehicles, equipment, and documents that show how fire suppression and rescue work have evolved from earlier times to today.
The collection began as a historical teaching display in a room of the Charlottenburg-Lietzow main fire station. Oberbaurat Hans Scheele founded a firefighting museum in 1911, but the First World War halted its growth, and on 1 February 1922 the collection passed to the city of Berlin. From 1 January 1927 it was shown to the public in three large watch rooms of the Suarez fire station. After the Second World War a teaching collection was rebuilt in Schöneberg, and in 1983 the museum opened on the second floor of the Tegel fire station.
The museum's name and collection trace back to the Historische Lehrmittelschau, begun in a small room of the Charlottenburg-Lietzow main fire station. A 1898 photographic device, bought to record fire scenes, produced images used for training and as models for oil paintings. Visitors can test themselves on the equipment once used in recruitment exams: gymnastics, psychotechnical tests, arithmetic and writing.
The museum occupies the second floor of the Tegel fire station at Berliner Straße 16 / Veitstraße 5. The 20 historic fire engines, including Daimler-Benz, MAN and Magirus-Deutz models, cannot be shown for lack of space, so visitors see the exhibition rooms and archive instead. Allow time for the hands-on stations, where you can try the old recruitment tests.
The 20 historic fire engines from makers such as Daimler-Benz, MAN and Magirus-Deutz are not on show: there is no room for them in the museum. Outside the building stands a Bölkow Bo 105 rescue helicopter, recalling the years when Christoph 31 flew with an American registration and an American pilot under Allied reservation rights.
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