Bundeswehr Military History Museum

The Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr shortly after it re-opened in October 2011

The Bundeswehr Military History Museum (German: Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr (MHM)) is the military museum of the German Armed Forces, the Bundeswehr, and one of the major military history museums in Germany.

The museum is under the technical and administrative chain of command of the German Armed Forces Military History Research Office. It is located in a former military arsenal in the Albertstadt neighborhood of Dresden. The museum includes the original Brandtaucher, the first German submarine, built in Kiel in 1850.

Museum history

The museum shortly after it's opening in 1972

The building was constructed from 1873-77 as an Arsenal on Dresden’s Olbrichtplatz. Installed on the ground floor were the guns of the Saxon army and the upper floors were used as a depot for arms and edged weapons. In 1914, the Saxon army museum was established in the arsenal. After World War I it was abandoned as a military depot. In 1940, the museum was renamed the Army Museum and remained opened until 1945. After the war the Red Army seized large parts of the collection which were taken to the Soviet Union. The Army Museum was subsequently dissolved.

The building was acquired by the city of Dresden and was known as "North Hall" until 1967. Then it became the city museum with exhibitions and other events, including the Striezelmarkt. The first exhibition on the reconstruction of Dresden was shown in the North Hall.

The East German Army museum founded in 1961 in Potsdam was moved to the Arsenal buildings in Dresden in 1972. The focus of Army Museum exhibition was the history of East Germany’s National People's Army and their Warsaw Pact allies. The Soviet Union returned large portions of the holdings of the Saxon army museum which were also exhibited. In 1990 the Ministry of Defense renamed the museum the "Military History Museum."

After the reunification of Germany, the Ministry of Defense Minister Volker Ruhe, decided in 1994 to renovate the museum and make it the new site to the Central Museum of the Bundeswehr. In 2001, the city opened an architectural competition in an effort to breathe new life into the old building, stipulating that they hoped to find a submission that ‘changed the way we think about war’. Similar to I.M. Pei’s 1989 glass pyramid in the Paris Musee du Louvre palace, and Rafael Moneo’s addition to the Madrid Prado, the Museum hoped to retain their original structure while connecting additional gallery space.

The selected design was created by an originally Polish, but American-based architect named Daniel Libeskind. With the help of his pupil Gottfried Semper, and structural engineers GSE Ingenieur, the firm created a ninety-eight foot high, 14,500 ton, wedge of concrete and steel that cuts through the 19th century stone arsenal. Emerging from the rigid order and symmetry of the original Arsenal, the shard–like wedge appears stark yet open in form, utilizing strips of metal to allow the effect of transparency and lightness. Most amazingly, the wedge does not truly cut into the old masonry, but instead is fixed to the iron and sandstone using steel. The construction lasted for six years, and cost the German Military eight-six million dollars.^{[citation needed]}

Emerging from the rigid order and symmetry of the original Arsenal, the shard–like wedge appears stark yet open in form, utilizing strips of metal to allow the effect of transparency and lightness. Most amazingly, the wedge does not truly cut into the old masonry, but instead is fixed to the iron and sandstone using steel. Certainly a symbolic addition, the wedge rises as a testament to democratic freedom against the unyielding power of Germany’s past reign. The wedge also cuts directly through the exhibits that focus on WWI and WWII, breaking the chronological progression and allowing space for thematic exhibitions focusing on the societal forces and human impulses that foster human violence. In a Nation that is criticized for brushing their history ‘under the rug’, the new addition personifies the gaping void left by oppressive regimes like the Third Reich, facilitating the much needed attention and discussion. The History Museum is the optimal setting for such emotive recollection, and the new building has provides an excellent forum for the necessary attention and discussion.^{[citation needed]}

Museum directors

Army Museum of the GDR

Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr

Scientific director of the permanent exhibition

See also

• Deutsches Panzermuseum, German tank museum in Munster.
• Luftwaffenmuseum der Bundeswehr, the German Air Force Museum

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr

• Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr Dresden
• Picture gallery (in German)

Coordinates: 51°04′42″N 13°45′36″E / 51.07833°N 13.76°E / 51.07833; 13.76

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