Museums about World War II

Museums about the Second World War focus on topics from the Second World War . There are, however, museums about history in which the Second World War is a focus alongside other topics. From the point of view of museum education, the question always arises as to how information about this time, those involved in the war and about historical contexts beyond the memory of individual dates, people or groups of people should be designed for future generations. In addition, the museums are politically influenced by the culture of remembrance in the respective country, so that there are more or less large overlaps between memorial and memorial already in the conception. It is not always possible to draw a line between memorial and museum .

Internationally, there are primarily memorials for this period in the 20th century , which sometimes require knowledge of the connections and are intended to illustrate a single aspect or even just a single person. A well-known example is Anne Frank .

Building of the Latvian Occupation Museum in Riga

The Second World War was accompanied by the systematic persecution and murder of large parts of the population ( civilian population ). That is why memorials and museums, which mainly depict the Shoah - the persecution of the Jews , are arranged in the same historical context. The same applies to aspects of the peace movement / pacifism , conscientious objection (compare Peace Museum) or national identity (National History Museum , long-term loss of sovereignty). For several decades now, the difference between new exhibitions on the Second World War and monothematic military museums in history and museum didactics has been very pronounced (see under War Museum ), but it is not always possible to define a clear allocation / delimitation of the two main themes for a museum.

Overview by countries and locations

Belgium

• Parts of the Koninklijk Museum van het Leger en de Krijgsgeschiedenis , Brussels

Germany

• Parts of the German Historical Museum , Zeughaus , since 1990
• Humberghaus , an authentic historical site about Jewish life in a small town, Westmünsterland , 1938 - 1945: successful escape to Canada or extermination in a concentration camp

Estonia

• Okupatsioonide muuseum (Occupation Museum) , Tallinn

France

• Mémorial de Caen , Caen
• Mémorial Leclerc et de la Liberation de Paris - Musée Jean Moulin , Paris

Canada

• Canadian War Museum, Section 3 • Canada in World War II , Ottawa

Latvia

• Parts of the Latvian Occupation Museum ( Latvijas Okupācijas muzejs ), Riga

Japan

• Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (Japanese 平和 記念 資料 館, Heiwa Kinen Shiryōkan), Hiroshima

Netherlands

• Anne Frank House
• Liberty Park / Nationaal Oorlogs- en Verzetsmuseum , Overloon / North Brabant

Ken Shorei Kan, Hiroshima

Poland

• Muzeum II Wojny Światowej , Gdańsk (Danzig)

Russia

• Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War , Moscow

United States of North America (USA)

• National World War II Museum , New Orleans
• Rendell Museum of World War II , Natick / Boston

United Kingdom of Great Britain)

• Northern Ireland War Memorial , Belfast
• The Second World War Experience Center, Walton , West Yorkshire

Military museums

Imperial War Museum North, Manchester, UK

People's Republic of China

• Zhōngguó rénmín gémìng jūnshì bówùguǎn (China People's Revolution Military Museum - Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution; Museum of the People's Liberation Army ), Beijing (Peking)

National Museum in Beijing

• Parts of the Chinese National Museum , Beijing (Peking), (Zhongguo guojia bowuguan, rededicated in 2003; before that, Museum of the History of China and Museum of the Chinese Revolution )

United Kingdom of Great Britain)

• Parts of the Imperial War Museum , London

See also

• Category: World War II Memorial
• List of memorials for the victims of National Socialism
• List of war cemeteries (and associated museums)
• Calendar-like overview of the course: Chronology of the Second World War

literature

• Aleida Assmann : The long shadow of the past. Culture of remembrance and politics of history. In: Series 633, Federal Agency for Civic Education. Bonn 2007, ISBN 978-3-89331-787-5 .
• Peter Reichel : Historical-political disaster - The permanent exhibition of the German Historical Museum. (from: Tribüne 45, 2006, no. 3, pp. 95-106; also online )
• Edgar Wolfrum : History politics in the Federal Republic of Germany. The way to Federal Republican memory. 1948-1990. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1999, ISBN 3-534-14479-1