Topography of Terror

About it…

It is an outdoor museum located in Berlin. Specifically, the Topography of Terror was located in Niederkirchnerstrasse. The permanent exhibition “Topography of Terror: Gestapo, SS and Reich Security Main Office on Wilhelm- and Prinz-Albrecht-Straße” focuses on the central institutions of the SS and police during the “Third Reich” and the crimes that they committed throughout Europe. - photographic material on a “ribbon of panels” and documents (facsimiles) presented at subject-oriented lecterns

There’s five main segments of the exhibition: The National Socialist Takeover of Power (I); Institutions of Terror (SS and Police) (II); Terror, Persecution and Extermination on Reich Territory (III); SS and Reich Security Main Office in the Occupied Countries (IV); and The End of the War and the Postwar Era (V). Computer stations and reading folders provide in-depth information, often addressing subjects beyond the scope of the exhibition.

Also, theres a couple audio and film recordings within the exhibition. At three areas, a projector superimposes images onto blocks to elucidate both temporal and spatial stages of development: Maps show the location of SS and police command stations (Leitstellen) and the sites where atrocities occurred. A diagram of the National Socialist concentration camp system, as the central component of the terror system in the “Third Reich,” is also presented.

The exhibition Showcases the location where headquarters of the Secret State Police, SS and the Reich Security Main Office were situated during the “Third Reich” (when Adolf Hitler came to power, Germany became known as the Nazi state otherwise referred to as the Third Reich. It Known by historians as the Third Reich’s “center of evil” because at one time it was where the Gestapo, the SS, and other Nazi agencies party to the National Socialist Rule from 1933-1945. Some of the offices there were for high-ranking officials such as Reinhard Heydrich, Adolf Eichmann, and SS-Chief Heinrich Himmler.

The director of the new center, Professor Dr. Andreas Nechama, explained that it was both a strategy and political choice behind the reason that the Third Reich put the agencies in the middle of the city rather than the outside. The reason was to place citizens in a situation where they would have to face the violence of the state if they chose active resistance over conformity with the regime.

The original buildings were damaged during the war and were torn down afterward. Since they were near the Berlin Wall, the grounds became more or less forgotten through much of the Cold War period. The site became overgrown with grass, trees, and rubble. Nechama described it as “an attempt to let grass grow over history in the true sense of the word"

Since 1987 the site has been known as a permanent exhibition meant to inform the public about its history. It was decided by the city of Berlin and the Federal Government of Germany to create a museum-like structure there. The site attracted up to 500,000 visitors per year. Nechama believes it is the site's authenticity that attracts so many visitors, saying "People coming to Berlin still want to know 'Where were the agencies of terror? Where was the capital of the Third Reich?"

The total cost of the center was about 25 million Euros and includes exhibition spaces, a multimedia research library, and seminar rooms. Other exhibits document how the Third Reich operated and how Germans dealt with this dark chapter in history in the aftermath of World War 2. It provides the public with information about the most important institutions of National Socialist persecution and terror. The documentary exhibition conveys the European dimensions of the Nazi reign of terror

The New Building of the Topography of Terror

The Historic Site…

The main institutions of Nazi persecution and terror include the Secret State Police Office, which has a “house prison,” the leadership of the SS, and the Reich Security Main Office during the Second World War. All these institutions were situated on the grounds of the “Topography of Terror” right next to the Martin Gropius Building between 1933 and 1945. Initially, the grounds were used for commercial purposes but later later the area was opened to the public in 1987 and referred to as “Topography of Terror."the history of the site was documented from an exhibition hall and the remaining parts of the building on the former Prinz-Albrecht-Straße (today’s Niederkirchnerstraße) and Wilhelmstraße

In 2006 there was an architectural competition to design a permanent museum. It was the third competition for the construction of a documentation center and redesign of the grounds of the “Topography of Terror” was won by the Berlin architect Ursula Wilms and the landscape architect Professor Heinz W. Hallmann. The new documentation center opened on May 7, 2010.

As the “site of the perpetrators,” the “Topography of Terror” was an important part of Berlin’s history of National Socialism. It is found in the center of the capital and provides information at a site about the headquarters of the National Socialist SS and police state and exposes the European view of the Nazi reign of terror.

An inside view of the exhibition

Anna Amalia Library

About the Library…

It is one of the first ducal libraries to be made accessible to the public. The public research library houses a major collection of German literature and historical documents. The collection is primarily focused on German literature from the period around 1800. The library preserves these documents dating from the 9^th to the 21^st centuries as sources of cultural history and research, files them based on form and content and then makes them available for use.There are about 1 million articles in the collection.-The library contains about one million volumes with about 200,000 dating before 1850. Today, the library is known as a literary and cultural research center concentrated on the period around 1800. Sections of the collection derive from the private estate of the prior ruling ducal houses of Saxe-Weimar and Eisenach.

History…

The History of Library dates back to the year 1522. In 1691 the library was expanded under Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Saxe-Weimar. originally the library was located in three rooms of the royal palace, but was later moved into its own building that became accessible in 1766. It was Duchess Anna Amalia who decided that the 16^th century Green Palace should be restructured for the library. The first floor had a bookroom with two galleries in late Rococo style with a diverse array of collections focused on such areas as history and art. In 1789 Johann Wolfgang Goethe and Christian Gottlob Voigt were appointed to manage the library. By 1832 the library grew to hold a collection of 80,0000 volumes. In the late 19^th century the growth in the amount of collections abated. Eventually by 1969 the house combined with the Central Library of German Classics to eventually form what became known as the Anna Amalia Library. The name derives from Duchess Anna Amalia, its most important patron, since its 300^th anniversary in 1991. A surprising event On September 2, 2004 ocurred where the historical building lit on fire, destroying the upper-level floors and created the need for restoration of the damaged parts of the library.

September 2, 2004 Fire

Building and Rococo Hall...

In 1998 it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization)

The fire of September 2, 2004 was found to be caused by a defective electrical connection that destroyed two attic floors and other parts were damaged from the water to put out the fire. Eventually, the Historical Building with Duchess Anna Amalia Library reopened on October 24, 2007. Today houses book restoration and preservation workshop, the special collections department & the administrative department. The 2^nd gallery of Rococo hall was not reparable and was converted into a reading room. It is a nice place to study maps, manuscripts, sheet music, globes, etc.

The plan to renovate the historical building, which houses the Anna Amalia Library, was decided even before the fire in 2004. Architect, Walther Grunwald who was chosen in 2004 to lead the planning teams and the cost to renovate was estimated to be about 8.4 million Euro with extra expenses coming to a total of about 3.4 million Euro.

The Historical Building

The German public was initially in supportive of the outbreak of the First World War in Germany. From a German perspective at the time, parties were looked down upon as self-interested and a danger to the nation’s unity. People believed the war would be over soon, but to their dismay later found that the war was not ending soon enough. Germany faced great food shortages, which instigated protests against hunger. The Russian government finally decided in order to end the war “a peace without annexations or reparations” would be needed. An inter-party Committee was formed by the three delegations in the Reichstag with the goal to put pressure on the government with threats to deny an important bill to ratify war loans. The majority in the Reichstag were in support of the proposal to end war, which moved Reichstag into an independent political force. Two important figures to the German people were the military commanders: Paul Von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff. Ludendorff contributed to creating the groundwork for totalitarian dictatorship through his outlook that “You are nothing, the people are everything.” Nevertheless, Ludendorff’s management of the economy served no benefits as it did not solve the growing social and political conflicts in Germany. Soon, as a result of being tired of the war, those involved in the war(armaments industry, army draftees, navy) agreed that there needed to be a revolution. Ludendorff called for a truce and the creation of a new government that would consist of member s of the Inter-Party committee. Unfortunately, the German democracy was created due to desperate situation Germany was in. Civilian politicians would run the truce negotians rather than the generals of the High Command. However, some sentences needed to be changed to turn the state into parliamentary democracy. German people were more concerned about the steps towards reaching peace rather than minor adjustments to the wording of the constitution.

The First World War eventually came to a close, but became a Civil War in Germany. Three parties fought for power including the Reichstag, social democrats, Liberals, and the Center Party. Their opposition were a conglomeration of leftist groups. Thesse groups became known as the red-gold forces and received the most votes. This signified that a democratic government had the majority of the peoples vote. However, in 1919 allies caused havoc through their requirements that Germany would have to lose quite a lot of territory. The allies would not renegotiate the terms they set in place and threatened to continue fighting if Germany did not comply with its terms. This Treaty of Versailles caused great harm to Germany through its restrictive terms that placed restraints on Germany’s ability to exercise its political and economic powers. Germans were impacted because they saw democracy the same as the Treaty of Versailles.

Germany underwent many issues in its efforts to establish democracy. The radical right-wing extremists were a threat to democracy.

(pictures: all of Reichstag)

Founding of Germany

One issue Germany faced in its history was an economic bloc due to its poor system of transporting goods. In order to address this issue economist Friedrich List and other industrialists initiated the first German railway line which opened on December 7, 1835 (130). The new railway was a revolutionary accomplishment since for years the country faced opposition to technology. The track went from Nuremberg to Furth but grew rapidly over time.

map of Holy Roman Empire

I found the development of the railroads in Germany compelling because its what allowed the Customs Union to become a single market and leveled the economic playing field for Germany against outside competition. The importance of this major development in Germany’s infrastructure is evident because Germany experienced a major boom in its iron-processing industry thereafter. There was a great demand for cars, machines and railroad cars. Therfore, factory outputs increased along with production across Germany. The new transpotation created the foundation for the industrial development in 1848.

A golden era for entrepreneurship also evolved out of this industrial revolution Banks sprang up everywhere due to need for revenue to support the railroad construction. There was also the founding of stock companies and the amount of revenue in the German Customs Union increased at an unprecedented rate.