Allied Museum

Under the title “How Enemies Became Friends”, the Allied Museum tells a unique story full of suspense and drama. This story begins with the German defeat in the Second World War in the summer of 1945. The victorious powers, the USA, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union, aimed to free the German Reich of Nazism. Conflicts soon arose, however. The Western powers wanted to reconstruct Germany on the basis of capitalism and democracy. The Soviet Union, in contrast, took its own communist social system as a model. Berlin became one of the most important scenes of the struggle that has gone down in history as the Cold War. The first part of the permanent exhibition in the former American Outpost Movie Theater explores the years 1945 to 1950. The themes are the Allied victory at the end of the Second World War, the first years of the occupation, and the process of democratic renewal. The Berlin Airlift during the Soviet blockade of 1948/49 is a central focus. The second part of the permanent exhibition in the Nicholson Memorial Library examines the period 1951 to 1994. The focus is on the military confrontation between East and West during the Cold War. Berlin was an especially important scene of rivalries between opposing intelligence services. Apart from everyday life in the garrisons, the exhibition also highlights the events from German unity in 1990 to the withdrawal of the Western forces in 1994. Alongside the permanent exhibition, the temporary exhibitions address a variety of relevant topics. Events, film screenings and guided tours of the exhibitions round out the program.