The History of the Allies in Moving Images
We show you our favorite objects from the permanent collection. Historical film material and conversations with contemporary witnesses give insights into nearly 50 years of Allied presence.
With Jill Gallard, British Ambassador to Germany
Dr. Amy Gutmann, United States Ambassador to Germany
François Delattre, French Ambassador to Germany
moderated by Nora Müller, executive director of International Affairs at the Körber Foundation
What is it like to work in a museum? Our collections manager Florian Pauls presents his fascinating work in the Allied Museum. Only in German.
The video tells the fascinating story behind the chocolate parachutes from the time of the Berlin Airlift in 1948/49. We also show you how to make one of these parachutes yourself!
Just a wooden hammer? Absolutely not! The Allied Kommandatura gavel sometimes even broke during especially hot debates. Our guide Andreas Hoffmann introduces this fascinating object.
Decommissioning Checkpoint Charlie (in German)
Checkpoint Charlie was decommissioned on June 22, 1990. This military ceremony was organized by the Americans. For the purposes of internal documentation, the US Army Berlin filmed the entire event. The material is in the Allied Museum collection.
We take you to our depot for large-scale objects. Here you will find, among other things, a British FV432 armored personnel carrier. Our collections manager Florian Pauls explains why the British experimented with a special camouflage pattern in Berlin and what else makes the vehicle special.
Svetoslao N. Hlopoff was born in Italy to Russian parents and raised in France and the USA. Hlopoff, who worked for the American occupying forces as an interpreter at the Berlin Kommandatura, talks about the journey of the US convoy from Halle to Berlin in early July 1945.
Satellite image of Berlin
Our guide Jessica Posel presents one of her favorite objects at the Allied Museum, a satellite image of Berlin taken in 1965 as part of the American Corona satellite program. The CIA program produced the world’s first reconnaissance satellites.
They are popular collectors‘ items from the time of the occupation and division of Berlin. Hundreds of them existed in different versions. We are speaking of the so-called sector signs. Over the decades, these signs became symbols of the division of the city during the Cold War. Our guide Céline Gilly presents one of the signs from the French sector—in French!
Online Collection
We provide glimpses of our collection. Here you can search our holdings, which we have made accessible online via the platform museum-digital. You will also find our objects in the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek and Europeana.
Online-Project Berliner Airlift 75 years ago
As the Cold War’s first confrontation between western nations and the Soviet Union, the Berlin Airlift of 1948-1949 was a highly significant historical event, with continuing relevance and resonance in the present day. To mark the 75th anniversary of the Airlift in 2023 and 2024, Allied Museum, Militärhistorisches Museum, the National Museum of the United States Air Force and the Royal Air Force Museum have collaborated in the creation of this website.
1 to 2 posts will be added every week through the period of the airlift anniversary, giving a better idea of what happened 75 years ago.
THE MULTIMEDIA GUIDE FOR HOME USE
Discover our permanent exhibition from the comfort of your own home. Click the link below to access our multimedia guide website from wherever you are. Get to know our most interesting objects in 35 stations and seven languages.
The multimedia guide is already chock full of facts. Additional levels of more detailed information, texts in simplified German (leichte Sprache), and a tour for children will follow.
Virtual Tour of the Exhibition “Inspired by Freedom“
In 2022/2023, the Allied Museum presented its vision for the Museum’s refounding at Tempelhof Airport in the temporary exhibition “Inspired by Freedom.“
Although the exhibition has been taken down, you can still explore a fascinating museum project by taking a virtual tour.
VIRTUAL TOUR OF THE GUARDHOUSE AT CHECK-POINT CHARLIE
Take a virtual tour and discover the last surviving guardhouse at Checkpoint Charlie. At ten stations, you will learn more about the function and history of the Allied military checkpoint, which has come to symbolize the Cold War and the division of Berlin. Step inside virtually and explore the interior.
Virtual Classroom
Our virtual classroom explores the history of the Berlin Airlift of 1948/49. In cooperation with the US Embassy in Berlin and the aid organization CARE, we have developed an interactive presentation for digital teaching that spans the period up to the present day.
Prefer to investigate on your own?
For some five decades, American soldiers influenced Berlin and the lives of its people. Their traces remain visible today, especially in the southwest of the city. Discover and explore former US facilities such as military headquarters, a church building, an officers’ housing development or barracks during a walk with the help of your smartphone.
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