Topographie des Terrors, Berlin

Topography of Terror is a documentation centre and open-air historical site on Niederkirchnerstraße. Its subject is the machinery of Nazi persecution: this ground once held the Gestapo headquarters, along with central offices of the SS and its security services during the Nazi period. The long surviving stretch of Berlin Wall marks the boundary beside the street, while an exhibition trench below it exposes remnants of the former buildings.

The outdoor display explains Berlin under dictatorship, linking propaganda with terror through the history of the city and its people. Inside, the permanent exhibition follows the institutions of repression and the crimes they carried out across Europe, while also giving attention to those they persecuted. The centre opened in 2010, but the project began in 1987 with an exhibition created for Berlin’s anniversary.

A public site tour now traces the grounds through 15 stations, using the excavated remains to explain what happened here. The name is exact in its intention: this is a place for information and confrontation with the crimes of the Nazi state, not simply a conventional museum or memorial.