During the Third Reich, the SS (aka the Gestapo) Reich Main Security office was located along Prinz-Albrecht Straße , where, today, the longest segment of the Berlin Wall stands as a memorial. The headquarters building was largely destroyed by Allied bombing at the end of World War II. When the War ended and the occupying forces took over the city, the ruins of the building were demolished and the site was turned into a bumper car amusement park, as well as a dumping ground for rubble from around Berlin.
At the height of the Cold War, a fortified boundary (the Berlin Wall) between the American and Russian sectors ran down the south side of the street. Because of the significance of this site, plans began to emerge to turn it into a memorial in 1978. The first exhibition of this memorial, chronicalling the terror of the National Socialist Party ( the Nazis) opened in 1987, while construction of a permanent building began in 1992, unfortunately, the contractor went bankrupt in mid-construction and no one else seemed willing to take it on. By 2005, a new architectural design competition was held in an effort to complete the project. Once the new design was decided on and awarded, the project took another two years to complete. It finally opened to the public on May 9, 2010 with three permanent exhibitions; (1) an overall history of the site; (2) a focus on the SS-Gestspo headquarters building itself; (3) and a history of Berlin during the era of the Third Reich.
Being so close to the largest segment of the Berlin Wall left standing, this was an easy two-attraction visit day ( even though there is a lot of written material to absorb and we love to read everything).
The Topography of Terror building is along Prinz-Albrecht Straße on the site of the former Nazi SS headquarters
In front of the building is the longest segment of the Berlin Wall (on the upper level of this photo), as well as a memorial (on the lower level) chronicling the history of the Third Reich.
The building is also just a few blocks from Checkpoint Charlie, the only official crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War.
Approaching the building, visitors encounter the first of its presentations...
...while, inside, the permanent exhibits focus in the overall history of the site...
...and the history of Berlin during the era of the Bationsl Socislists Party (the Nazis) regime.
Its library serves as an important research center for those studying this period of the world’s history.
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