(Note for Mum and family: Yesterday’s blog was in the wrong spot – it’s further below if you missed it)
Checkpoint Charlie, the major gateway between East & West Berlin during the Cold War, is a site Marthese remembered from her first visit here years ago. We managed to snap a photo at the checkpoint reconstruction before dress-up American troops arrived to pose with tourists. This whole end of town felt trashy and touristy but that still didn’t prepare us for the next bit.
You are entering the McDonald’s Sector
Checkpoint Charlie. Don’t mess with The Tez.
The Checkpoint Charlie Museum is complete and utter shit. Mostly printed out articles plastered on the walls and left slowly peel in the overly lit space since the early 90s, the museum is the most poorly maintained and pathetically curated museum I’ve ever visited. There are moments of interest – some interesting artworks, some stories of East Berlin escape attempts and artefacts that help illustrate them – but these moments are a rarity in this minefield of shit. As you wander aimlessly, squinting to read a faded story on a wall, you realise that the museum has suddenly turned into an anti-communist propaganda machine, celebrating the subsequent accomplishments of NATO and the allies and damning the Soviets and Russians in exhibitions that seem entirely irrelevant to the site. Marthese put it well when she described it as a museum in which no pride has been taken. I would like to describe it as an overpriced piece of shit. Avoid it.
Imagine a dozen rooms covered with these peeling sepia printouts. Thats what you pay 12.50 euros for at the spectacular Checkpoint Charlie Museum.
Sometimes there is an item on display and, if you’re lucky, a high quality plaque like this beside.
Feeling burnt, we walked a few blocks to the free Topography of Terror Museum – which redeemed the entire day. A beautifully presented exhibition of photos and documents, it tells the chilling story of how the National Socialists established their absolute grip on Germany and how the SS enforced the ideals of Hitler and Himmler with astonishing effectiveness. Another sobering space, with the Germans clearly acknowledging their history and their people’s part in one of the darkest times in modern memory. We may visit this museum again tomorrow to take in a bit more.
Outside Topography of Terror – a whole section of the Berlin Wall remains!
Inside the Topography of Terror exhibit
Following The Topopgraphy of Terror’s retelling of the subjugation and murder of European Jews, it felt appropriate to make our next stop the Jewish Museum Berlin. Upon entering you are faced with a zig-zagging maze and some impressive architectural design, creating a representational expression of the European Jewish experience. Embedded in the walls are personal items from murdered WWII Jews and short, effective written pieces beside each. Some impressive artworks before the main exhibition had Marthese and I feeling relieved that this wasn’t another Checkpoint Charlie Museum, but one of the better museums we’d visited. The rest of the Museum told the thousand year story of Jews in Europe, predominantly those in Germany, and it was told with well written text, artefacts, artworks, multimedia and hands-on exhibitions. An extremely well presented museum that made us appreciate how difficult the European experience has been for Jews throughout the ages, but also celebrated their many achievements. The exhibition ends soon after the Second World War, only slightly touching on the modern experience of German Jews and leaving alone the minefield of modern Israel.
The harrowing Fallen Leaves installation
Example of experiential exhibit – early Jewish trader fabrics and spices you can touch and smell.
Overall a good day, despite an annoying hiccup at the start.
Elias Rambles 