Like many other institutions in Berlin, the Allied Museum will be marking the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with a special exhibition.
Entitled Wall Patrol, the exhibition will focus on the daily patrols deployed by the Western powers between 1961 and 1990 to observe the situation along the Berlin Wall and the fortifications on the GDR border. The objective was early detection of any military threat from troops on the Eastern side. The exhibition reminds us that for the Western powers, as for the population of Berlin, confronting the Berlin Wall was an everyday experience. When American, British and French units were on patrol they had to show their colors and document the presence of the Western powers to the political and military enemy as well as to Berliners on both sides of the border. The centerpiece of the exhibition is the “Ferret Scout Car,” a British reconnaissance vehicle, the presentation of which is supplemented by film clips, photographs, maps, and assessment reports, but also uniforms and radio technology relating to the deployment of the patrols. The exhibition provides an informative and lively picture of the running and usefulness of this special mission of the Western powers in Berlin.
