Historical-Technical Museum Peenemünde

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Historical-Technical Museum Peenemünde
Large exhibits on the museum's outdoor area

Outdoor area with the Peenemünde power plant exhibition building
Data
place Peenemünde , Germany
Art
opening May 9, 1991
Number of visitors (annually) 150,000 - 160,000
operator
Historical-Technical Museum Peenemünde GmbH
management
Michael Gericke
Website
ISIL DE-MUS-417116

The Historisch-Technische Museum Peenemünde (HTM) has been located in the bunker control room and the area of ​​the former power station in Peenemünde on the island of Usedom in the east of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania since 1991 . The museum deals with the history of the Heeresversuchsanstalt Peenemünde (HVA) and the test site of the air force "Peenemünde-West" , in particular the rockets and other missiles developed there between 1936 and 1945 .

The museum operation of the legally dependent company "Historisch-Technisches Informationszentrum" (HTI) of the municipality of Peenemünde , which opened on May 9, 1991, was transferred to the "Historisch-Technisches Museum Peenemünde GmbH" at the beginning of 2010.

Since January 2007 the museum has been an anchor point of the European Route of Industrial Culture (ERIH), a Europe-wide network of industrial monuments, and thus part of the ERIH themed routes Energy and Transport & Communication . The HTM received the Cross of Nails from Coventry in 2002 and the Europa Nostra Prize in 2013 , the highest prize in European monument preservation in Category I - Restoration / Conservation for the restoration project at the Peenemünde power plant, which was completed at the end of 2011. Today the museum is an international meeting place and cultural center with cultural events from the fields of theater, performance, music, visual arts and literature. Above all, the concerts that take place annually in the turbine hall of the power plant as part of the Usedom Music Festival are always a cultural highlight with artists of international standing and a point of attraction for internationally important personalities from politics, business and culture.

exhibition

Entrance and ticket office in a former bunker
Peenemünde, chapel 2016

In 1991, the “Historical-Technical Information Center” (HTI) opened a first exhibition in the bunker waiting room. This first exhibition under the motto "Peenemünde - the birthplace of space travel" attracted a mass audience. A media scandal about a commemorative event planned for October 3, 1992 by the German aerospace industry in Peenemünde with the title “50 years of space travel. Heritage - Obligation - Perspective ”, however, is the doom of the museum makers. The public criticism of a popular science and technology-related exhibition grew, so that the state government of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania initiated a scientific review of the history of the research institutes.

In 1996, an external project group made up of historians from the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania was set up and commissioned with the design and implementation of a new, larger permanent exhibition. The resulting permanent exhibition "Peenemünde - Myth and History of the Rocket, 1923 to 1989" was opened in 2000/2001 and can still be seen on two floors in the switchhouse extension of the former power plant .

The show in the power plant is primarily a historical exhibition in which, in addition to the history of technology, the memory of the victims also finds its place. Using exhibits, documents and films, visitors are informed about the fateful pact that the rocket builders and their technical director, Wernher von Braun, made with those in power at the time. Building on the technical experience from Peenemünde, Wernher von Braun and many of the former employees from Peenemünde were able to design the Saturn V rocket for NASA for the flight to the moon in the mid-1960s . However, the order for the missile builders at the HVA at that time was the development of war weapons. The effect of the so-called “ wonder weapons ” is shown to the visitor, for example by means of films. The wealth of knowledge from the HVA formed the basis of the nuclear missile development of the victorious powers. In the USA, the USSR, Great Britain and France ( Force de frappe ) Peenemünde experts were involved. The situation and working conditions of the forced laborers are examined in a detailed chronicle of the research institute. The concentration camp prisoners who had to assemble the “ miracle weapons ” under inhumane conditions are thought in detail . In the Peenemünde chapel from 1876 next to the site, all victims in Peenemünde are commemorated. From 1936 the chapel was in the restricted military area, was no longer used and was left to decay. In the 1990s it was demolished and then rebuilt true to the original.

Since 2012, the boiler house has also hosted an exhibition on the history of the power plant, the construction and use of the system up to 1990. Since May 2015, a glass elevator has been leading to a viewing platform on the roof of the power plant. In addition to the permanent exhibition, the museum shows special exhibitions that change every year.

Since it opened in 1991 until 2020, the museum has seen more than 6 million visitors, including many school classes. Plans are currently underway for a redesign of the permanent exhibition.

Showpieces in the outdoor area

Special showpieces are replicas of the Fieseler Fi 103 and the A4 rocket in the open area of ​​the museum.

  • A4 model (HTM Peenemünde)

  • The Fieseler Fi 103 "V1" (meanwhile exhibited lying on the launch pad)

  • Rocket high-speed boat "Hans Beimler" of the Tarantul class of the Volksmarine (currently not accessible from the museum, but from the opposite side of the harbor)

  • Former railcar of the Peenemünder Werkbahn in the outdoor area

  • Launch pad for the Fieseler Fi 103 "V1"

  • Memorial stone in honor of Mikhail Petrovich Dewjatajew and the prisoners who fled with him (meanwhile restored and standing on a pedestal)

Information boards on the Peenemünder Haken

Information board in the entrance area of ​​the permanent exhibition "Heaven and Hell"
Ruins of the Peene Bunker

Spread over the entire Peenemünder Haken, the HTM operates a large number of information boards at historical locations that are connected to the Army Research Institute and the Air Force Testing Center : The “Monument Landscape Peenemünde” . It is a circular route of 25 km in length with currently 23 stations. While leaving out sensitive areas, visitors are guided to the most historically interesting points. At each station there is a sign with further information.

Starting from the Historical-Technical Museum Peenemünde, the individual tour also enables the visitor to experience the ecological and symbolic value of this landscape, because it invites you to reflect on the relationship between man, nature and technology. These include the ruins of the Peenemünde-Dorf oxygen works , former forced labor camps and stops on the former Peenemünde factory railway. The objects and grounds shown are mostly freely accessible. Some were uncovered in cooperation with young people as part of the international youth exchange.

literature

  • Historical-Technical Museum Peenemünde (ed.): The Historical-Technical Museum Peenemünde - museum guide through the open-air site exhibition monument landscape. Peenemünder Hefte 4.2 - Series of publications by the Historisch-Technische Museum Peenemünde, Peenemünde 2015.
  • Johannes Erichsen, Bernhard M. Hoppe (ed.): Peenemünde - Myth and History of the Rocket 1923–1989. Catalog of the Peenemünde Museum. Nicolai-Verlag, Berlin 2004, ISBN 978-3-89479-127-8 .
  • Leo Schmidt, Uta K. Mense: Monument landscape Peenemünde. A scientific inventory - Conservation Management Plan. Ch.Links Verlag, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-86153-718-2 .
  • Manfred Kanetzki: Operation Crossbow. Bombs on Peenemünde. (Accompanying volume for the special exhibition of the same name). Ch.Links Verlag, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-86153-805-9 .
  • Philipp Aumann: Armaments put to the test. Kummersdorf, Peenemünde and the "total mobilization". (Accompanying volume for the special exhibition of the same name). Ch.Links Verlag, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-86153-864-6 .
  • Historical-Technical Museum Peenemünde (ed.): Large-scale Nazi systems and tourism. Chances and limits of the marketing of places of National Socialism. Ch.Links Verlag, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-86153-877-6 .
  • Historical-Technical Museum Peenemünde (ed.): Miracles with calculation. The Peenemünde long-range weapons projects as part of the German armaments system. (Accompanying volume for the special exhibition of the same name). Ch.Links Verlag, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-86153-926-1 .
  • Philipp Aumann, Thomas Köhler: Destructive progress. Series production and war use of the Peenemünde »retribution weapons«. (Accompanying volume for the special exhibition of the same name). Ch.Links Verlag, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-96289-030-8 .
  • Historisch-Technisches Museum Peenemünde (ed.): War or space travel? Peenemünde in public memory since 1945 (accompanying volume for the special exhibition of the same name). Ch.Links Verlag, Berlin 2019, ISBN 978-3-96289-068-1 .
  • Volkhard Bode, Christian Thiel: Raketenspuren - Peenemünde 1936-2004. A historical report. (With photos by Christian Thiel). Ch.Links Verlag, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-86153-345-6 .

Web links

Commons : Historisch-Technische Museum Peenemünde  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Imprint on museum-peenemuende.de. Retrieved March 3, 2020 .
  2. ^ Information from the state government MV about the participation in the HTM Peenemünde GmbH. Retrieved March 3, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Information on museum-peenemuende.de. Retrieved March 3, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Information on museum-peenemuende.de. Retrieved March 3, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Constanze Seifert-Hartz, Thomas Köhler: The memory scandal of Peenemünde. (Guest article in the magazine of the Technical University of Braunschweig). December 27, 2017, accessed March 3, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Overview of all special exhibitions from 2009 on at museum-peenemuende.de. Retrieved March 3, 2020 .
  7. ↑ News from August 19, 2019 on museum-peenemuende.de. Retrieved March 3, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Overview of the monument landscape on museum-peenemuende.de. Retrieved March 3, 2020 .

Coordinates: 54 ° 8 ′ 16 ″  N , 13 ° 46 ′ 8 ″  E