The tour through the permanent exhibition begins at the Outpost Theater. The point of departure is the entry of the Western troops into their Berlin occupation sectors on July 4, 1945. The large photo in the building foyer shows a destroyed Berlin, with primarily women and children, as well as a few older men, following the advance. Visitors will find a similar theme in the photo in the library building foyer: Almost exactly 50 years later, on Sept. 4, 1994, the population of West Berlin cheered the final parade of the Western Allied troops on "Strasse des 17. Juni." With that, the unique history of the Western Allies and Berlin came to an end. Victors and occupiers had turned into allies and friends.

The permanent exhibition is divided chronologically into two parts, divided spatially between the Outpost Theater and Nicholson Memorial Library buildings. The years 1945 through 1950 are explored in the Outpost. The focus is on the history of the Berlin Airlift in1948/49.

The exhibition sequence in the library building is dedicated to the years from 1951 to 1994. The presentation here is concentrated on the military confrontation during the Cold War. The highlight is the restored segment from the famous spy tunnel, built by American and British intelligence in 1953/54 to tap the Soviet lines of communication in Berlin. Following that portion of the exhibition, the events from German unification on Oct. 3, 1990 until the withdrawal of the Western troops four years thereafter are highlighted.

The open-air space between the two buildings presents the Museum's outstanding large exhibition items. They all recall the major problem that the Western powers were forced to deal with from the beginning: access to Berlin. After the end of the war, the city was located in the middle of the Soviet occupation sector, and the victorious forces did not clearly delineate the rights of access to the city. The first major crisis came in 1948 with the Soviet blockade, to which the Western forces responded with the Airlift. The center of the open-air museum space is thus taken up by a "Hastings" airplane, which was used for the Airlift by the Royal Air Force. Behind it is the restaurant car of the French military train. Military trains of the three Western forces ran daily between the Western zones and Berlin. In addition to supplying the city with military goods, they also served as an early warning system for the case of a renewed blockade. Finally, visitors can also get a look at the world-famous control hut of Checkpoint Charlie. As an exhibition item, it symbolizes the uninterrupted free movement within the city. The ensemble of large items is complemented by a slab of the Berlin Wall and a watchtower, symbols of the sector border that was carefully guarded by the East German military.

All information in the exhibition is provided in German, English and French.