This mandate, that something of such importance be made “free to be seen,” is the first thing I want to ramble about, because it seems very central to the greater design of Berlin and its on-going critical conversation regarding its history. For example, recent construction on the official German government building, the Reichstag, includes a dome on top made entirely of glass windowpanes, maximizing its literal transparency; anyone can see into the building and, theoretically, I guess, know what government officials are doing. In this way, the building stands to embody the German government’s new ideals after Reunification and the fall of the Berlin Wall—to have a government that does not obfuscate its proceedings, etc. The same transparency of architecture can be seen in the Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus (which contains the Parliament’s library, archive, classified information, and press documents).
Inside the museum, I was surprised to find the display made up entirely of text and image—all original objects that belonged to or bear association with the National Socialist Party are kept elsewhere. It is an unusual sort of museum in this respect, and I admit that I was a little disappointed at first. Who doesn’t want to see the material evidence of massive world history? But it is easy to appreciate what the museum does provide, which is an historical documentation of the NS dictatorship by way of concise descriptions, quotation, and photography, with a particular emphasis on the perpetrators of terror.
Given this focus of the exhibit upon the war criminals, the mechanisms of their administration
The range of the photographs is impressive, and what they depict extremely emotional; in my opinion, it is very important to see. The Topography of Terror museum makes for a heavy afternoon but, should emotional and psychological weariness set in, there is an amazing and enormous book available (in either English or German for 15€) that contains the entire display—the text in 12 point font and the photographs in black and white.
No comments:
Post a Comment