Today we visited the Karlshorst Museum, a joint German-Russian museum dedicated to the end of the war. However, as we soon learned this building had a busy history used for multiple purposes over the course since it was built. It was originally built by the Nazis in 1935 as part of a military college for engineers. The building was used as offices and as a dining hall for officers. After the war, it was hardly touched and was used for the signing of the German surrender in 1945. Afterwards, this site was used by the Russian military and this building served as the headquarters of the Soviet Military Administration. Once the headquarters was moved, the building still served some use to the Soviets, and was later turned into a museum by the Soviets. When they pulled out in 1994, the museum changed hands and was refreshed to the state we see it today. When we began our tour, our tour guide described it as different; it had a story. The story was certainly present throughout the rooms, beginning with the signing of the surrender and culminating on a Soviet stained glass painting signifying the victory over Nazi Germany. However, we experienced this story in reverse and I personally felt that the story was just as strong or even stronger than how it was designed to be experienced. This impressive feat I feel was due to some prior knowledge of the events, and the dedication of our tour guide.
1 comment:
This museum is currently a German-Russian museum. There are many exhibits that the Germans displayed and there are still traces of the former Soviet War Museum. Do you think that the traces of the Soviet War Museum should be kept or should they be taken out since there are obvious problems with some of these exhibits such as the war condition display near the end of the museum?
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