Based on central key moments in German history, the Deutsches Historisches Museum presents a retrospective of decisive historical events of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Actual turns of events are contrasted with possible courses of events that did not occur for very different reasons. The probabilities of history not happening are shown on the basis of 14 striking turning points in German history - prevented by coincidence or the weight of personal shortcomings. The exhibition begins in 1989 with the Peaceful Revolution in the GDR and ends in 1848, when the first democratic awakening was attempted in Germany. In reverse order, it takes up topics such as Ostpolitik, the building of the Wall, the Cold War, the Nazi takeover or revolution and democratization at decisive tipping points and explains that things did not have to turn out the way they did.
In this way, milestones such as the Stalin Notes of 1952, the Korean War in connection with the Berlin Airlift of 1948/49, the failed blowing up of the bridge at Remagen in 1945, the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler in 1944, the fall of Chancellor Brüning in 1932, the revolution of 1918, the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 and the German War of 1866 appear in a new light.
In the exhibition "Roads not Taken. Or: It could have turned out differently" © DHM/David von Becker
This perspective, which is unusual for a historical museum, is intended to sharpen the focus on known facts and the fundamental openness of history as the result of constellations and decisions, actions and omissions.
until November 24, 2024
