The Berlin Wall Memorial and Documentation Centre

– © Günter Steffen

The Berlin Wall Memorial is a reminder for the division of Germany and imparts an oppressive impression of the Wall and the times of the division.

Memorial

Located directly at the former border strip in the Bernauer Strasse is a piece of the Berlin Wall with border strip and watchtower. The facility shows how the border facilities were constructed and imparts to the visitor a lasting impression of the construction, which once divided the entire country.

Visitor Centre

Newly opened in 2009, the Visitor Centre is the first starting point for visitors, and offers information and orientation help on the extensive grounds.

Documentation Centre

The viewable exhibit in the Documentation Centre shows the 1961 history of the Wall’s construction and the circumstances of the divided city. From the tower, one has an impressive view of the preserved parts of the border facility and the memorial in memory of the division of the city and the victims of communist tyranny.

Chapel of Reconciliation

The Chapel of Reconciliation was opened in 2000. The Reconciliation Church was located at this site, which was blown-up in 1985, as it stood right on the no man’s land “death strip”. After the fall of the Wall, the Chapel of Reconciliation was erected on the foundations as an oval rammed earth building with a wood lamellar casing. The victims of the Wall are regularly remembered during church services.

Border and ghost railway stations in the divided Berlin

The exhibition in the S-Bahnhof Nordbahnhof shows an especially absurd chapter of the history of the divided city. Numerous U and S Bahn lines of West Berlin passed under the territory of the DDR. The railway stations on the DDR side, at which one wasn’t allowed to stop, were bricked up and abandoned. The trains from West Berlin lead through the dead railway stations, which have been named ghost railway stations.

Further expansion

The Berlin Wall Memorial and Documentation Centre is presently being expanded and extended around an exterior exhibition on the former Berlin Wall strip at the south side of the Bernauer Straße. On the 1.3-km long and 4.4-hectare large area, the still preserved tracks of the Wall will be integrated; and the exhibition will be a reminder of the dramatic events of the Bernauer Straße. In 2010, as an important element, the “window of commemoration” was completed on the former Sophien Cemetery.

Guided group tours and a comprehensive seminar programme for political education deepen the offerings.

Audioguide

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Infos for school classes

The grounds of the memorial are accessible all year round. For school groups, tours, seminars as well as (from April to September) three- to four-hour bicycle tours of the Wall along the former border strip are offered. School children under 16 can take part in contemporary witness discussions with moderation. All offers are free for school classes. Telephone registration is required.