Berlin Story Bunker, Documentary Center Flight..., Topography of Terror

I wanted to visit the Berlin Story Bunker, mainly because it mentions a reconstruction of Hitler's Berlin Bunker. But at the entrance I saw that visitors are not allowed to take pictures. Since taking pictures of the monuments and museums is my main reason to visit them this time, I decided it was not worth to pay 12 Euro. Some of the phrasings on the posters outside seem to make clear that a private initiative such as this one (the project was initiated by a journalist) can be problematic, if it is not supported by thorough research. For example, in the poster about the Reichspogromnacht it says categorically: "No one helped them [the Jews].", which is not true. Also, the sentence "Six million Jews and others were industrially murdered." is poorly phrased. First of all, it should not be implied that the (many) others are part of the six million, but also, a large part of the Jewish and other victims whom the Nazis murdered en masse were not killed in gas chambers ('industrially') but by firing squads, hunger, diseases etc. Still, I'm quite sure that the bunker can be interesting for students. It seems that its exhibition offers lots of visualization (which visitors are not allowed to take pictures of, unfortunately). The words near the entrance raised at least one of my eyebrows ('Whoever builds bunkers can/may bomb.')



Before I went to the Topography of Terror, I 'discovered' a museum that I didn't know yet, and it could very well be relevant for school visits: The Documentary Center Flight, Expulsion and Reconciliation. It deals with forced migration, displaced persons (mostly non-Jewish) in post-war Germany, and with refugees worldwide. It offers lots of information and space for group work and workshops.



"These little children are looking for their parents." - We Jews know about the efforts by the Red Cross to reunite deportees with their families after the war, but reuniting families was not only a Jewish problem, as this poster from the Red Cross in Hamburg shows us.

Shaming, Nazi-style: "A Jewish business! Whoever buys here is photographed."

Idem. "On this premise lives the Jew [name]".



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