Museum #3: Topographie des Terrors

Topographie des Terrors
Niederkirchnerstrasse 8, 10963 Berlin
U-Bahn Kochstrasse

Standing with your back towards Wilhelmstrasse, you might first notice a remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall, running along Niederkirchnerstrasse. Perhaps you’ll be drawn next to the brick hollows of exposed buildings and underground remains. Then, finally, to a grey steel structure, brutal and unadorned, surrounded by railway gravel. No matter how you encounter this site, you will likely be struck by its atmosphere of infertility and emptiness. This is a place of death and terror, now quiet and stilled.

The landscape belongs to the Topography of Terror (Topographie des Terrors). Consisting of a documentation centre, open-air exhibition trench and excavated buildings, it’s a memorial that occupies the former address of Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse 8, once the site of Nazi SS, Gestapo and Reich Security Main Office headquarters, the most feared address in Berlin, and the hub of Nazi atrocities. 

Read my full review of the Topografie des Terrors on Slow Travel Berlin (http://slowtravelberlin.com).