Berlin Exhibit Confronts Hitler’s Rise to Power
I always thought it'd be kinda cool to see Hitler's bunker complex. Have to check this out if I ever visit Berlin.A new exhibit on the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany asks a question with no easy answer: "How could it happen?"
The permanent exhibit, of the same name, which opened in May, follows the timeline of Hitler's rise to power and the events of World War II leading up to his suicide on April 30, 1945. Through models, timelines, historical photographs and artifacts, it seeks to explore what could've led the Nazis to commit unspeakable acts during the Holocaust.
The exhibition is housed in the Berlin Story Museum, which gained notoriety last fall when it first opened a replica of the bunker Hitler spent his final days in (it's believed that most or all of Hitler's actual bunker was demolished following the fall of the Berlin Wall, and today the site lies under a parking lot). Exhibition curator Wieland Giebel has fielded accusations that replica glorifies the infamous site, but he argues the exhibit is intended to be educational and focuses on the crimes committed by Hitler's regime, Michelle Martin of Reuters reports.
The Berlin Story Museum's new exhibit expands on and complements the bunker replica by looking back at how Hitler ended up there, Martin reports. Starting with his childhood and early days as an aspiring painter, through his time as a soldier in World War I and then his rise to power, the exhibit documents how Hitler inspired the German people to follow him to war and ignominy.
