Topography of Terror
The Topography of Terror on Niederkirchnerstrasse (formerly Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse) is located on the site of buildings during the Nazi regime that housed the SS Reich Main Security Office, the headquarters of the Sicherheitspolizei, SD, Einsatzgruppen and Gestapo. The Gestapo and SS headquarters buildings were largely destroyed by Allied bombing during early 1945; the ruins were demolished after the war. The boundary between the American and Soviet zones of occupation ran along Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse, thus the street soon became a fortified boundary. The Berlin Wall ran along the south side of the street (renamed Niederkirchnerstrasse). The wall here was never demolished. The section adjacent to the Topography of Terror is the longest extant segment of the outer wall.
The first exhibitions on the site took place in 1987, as part of Berlin's 750th anniversary. The cellar of the Gestapo headquarters, where many political prisoners were tortured and executed, was found and excavated. The site was then turned into an open-air memorial and museum, protected from the elements by a canopy, detailing the history of Nazi repression. A joint exhibition was shown both at the site and in East Germany in 1989. In 1993, three years after German reunification, a foundation established to take care of the site initiated chose architect Peter Zumthor to design a permanent museum. However, construction was stopped due to funding problems after the concrete core of the structure had been built, which stood on the site for nearly a decade until it was demolished in 2004 and a new building begun. Construction of the new Documentation Center according to a prize-winning design by the architect Ursula Wilms and the landscape architect Heinz W. Hallmann was finished in 2010.
Topography of Terror
The Topography of Terror on Niederkirchnerstrasse (formerly Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse) is located on the site of buildings during the Nazi regime that housed the SS Reich Main Security Office, the headquarters of the Sicherheitspolizei, SD, Einsatzgruppen and Gestapo. The Gestapo and SS headquarters buildings were largely destroyed by Allied bombing during early 1945; the ruins were demolished after the war. The boundary between the American and Soviet zones of occupation ran along Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse, thus the street soon became a fortified boundary. The Berlin Wall ran along the south side of the street (renamed Niederkirchnerstrasse). The wall here was never demolished. The section adjacent to the Topography of Terror is the longest extant segment of the outer wall.
The first exhibitions on the site took place in 1987, as part of Berlin's 750th anniversary. The cellar of the Gestapo headquarters, where many political prisoners were tortured and executed, was found and excavated. The site was then turned into an open-air memorial and museum, protected from the elements by a canopy, detailing the history of Nazi repression. A joint exhibition was shown both at the site and in East Germany in 1989. In 1993, three years after German reunification, a foundation established to take care of the site initiated chose architect Peter Zumthor to design a permanent museum. However, construction was stopped due to funding problems after the concrete core of the structure had been built, which stood on the site for nearly a decade until it was demolished in 2004 and a new building begun. Construction of the new Documentation Center according to a prize-winning design by the architect Ursula Wilms and the landscape architect Heinz W. Hallmann was finished in 2010.