Cooperations
Exchanges and dialogue are important to us, which is why the Berlin Wall Foundation participates in numerous collaborative projects and networks on a national and international level. An overview of current projects and plans is provided here.
If you would like to collaborate with us, please get in touch.
Iron Curtain Network
The second half of the 20th century was dominated by the struggle between capitalism and communism which manifested itself as the “Iron Curtain,” the border that cut through the middle of Germany and Europe.
Today, more than two decades since the end of the Cold War, few sites still exist that can convey an impression of the political, economic, and, most notably, military dividing line that existed at that time. Especially for young people it is difficult to grasp the reality of this confrontation which contained the daily threat of a nuclear inferno with the capacity to destroy a large expanse of our planet.
The network of places and sites of the “Iron Curtain” connects institutions and places that represent typical aspects of the cold-war confrontation as it played out in Germany. It is their aim to teach younger generations about this threat and to convey how it was overcome.
Observing Walls: 1989-2019
The project Observing Walls: 1989-2019, supported by the Europe for Citizens programme, focused on the walls in Europe - both as a physical reality and as a symbol of division in divided cities: Berlin, Gorizia/Nova Gorica, and Sarajevo. It was triggered by the realization that thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall the process of democratisation of Europe had failed to fully accomplish its goals. Many walls were brought down, but new ones were raised instead and some of them were deeply troubling for our society. The project helped to understand these facts and to build a sense of community among the citizens. Five partners – The National Museum of Contemporary History of Slovenia, Beletrina Academic Press, The Berlin Wall Foundation, The History Museum of Bosnia and Hercegovina and The Quarantasettezeroquatro – from four countries, Slovenia, Germany, Bosna and Hercegovina and Italy, joined forces to highlight Europe’s important and complex legacy.
Currently, projects are supported with public funds from the following institutions:
Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media
Youth remembers
What connects us. Expericences of Forced Migration
Together with the Friedland Museum and the Documentation Centre for Displacement, Expulsion and Reconciliation, the Berlin Wall Foundation is launching a project that will establish new connections on the topics of flight and migration at the Marienfelde Refugee Centre until March 2025. As part of the project the Foundation is implementing the sub-project "Treffpunkt Flucht. A multimedia exhibition intervention". The aim is to link the existing narratives of the history of German flight in the permanent exhibition of the Marienfelde Refugee Centre with other perspectives on the place of remembrance and to make them tangible through a multimedia exhibition intervention. Methodologically, new possibilities of co-creative exhibition curation will be tested with approaches of curatorial dreaming. In several interdisciplinary workshops, new perspectives and possible connections will be developed together with experts who themselves have histories of flight. The aim is to expand forms of cultural participation alongside the narrative interweavings within an established permanent exhibition and to reflect on the question of what constitutes good cooperation in curatorial practice. As a result of the exchange across institutions, the Foundation intends to publish a handout with lessons learned from the collaboration between curation, education and outreach.
Focal Point Checkpoint Charlie. Digital Storytelling via Messenger (from January 2022)
In October 1961, news and pictures of the US and Soviet tanks at Checkpoint Charlie went around the world and made the place world-famous. The Berlin Wall Foundation ist developing a digital service for this historic site that focuses on the history of the Allied checkpoint and the GDR border crossing at Friedrichstrasse/Zimmerstrasse. From the perspective of Michael, who was 13 years old at the time, the effects of the construction of the Wall on the life of a young person in East Berlin will be conveyed via messenger service. From August to October 2023, participants receive text and voice messages from him from 1961 and thus accompany him in real time on his escape. They gain insights into the events as well as into his thoughts and feelings. In addition, they can get in touch with him and react with their own comments. For the historical background, news is sent from the editorial office. The offer is aimed at young people aged 14 to 29 and those interested in history of all ages. The project is part of the federal programme "Youth Remembers" (funding line SED Injustice).
Inclusion project "I AM"
Over the next two years, the Berlin Wall Foundation, together with partners, will develop various tools for inclusive education and outreach work as part of an EU inclusion project, which will also be adaptable for other museums and memorial sites. The experiences and results of the project will be prepared and made available in an e-book. The aim is to give young people access to places and topics by means of the tools to be developed and to enable them to have a positive (learning) experience.
In cooperation with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Lisbon), the Museum of Contemporary Art Castilla-Léon (Léon) and the art mediator mu-zee-um (Oostende), the Museum of Occupations and Freedom (VABUMU) in Tallinn and the organisation Kreaktiv (Northern Macedonia).
Funded by Erasmus+ of the European Union
- AlliiertenMuseum
- Anschutz Entertainment Group
- Arbeitsgemeinschaft Gedenkstätten zur Diktatur in SBZ und DDR
- Baumpatenverein e.V.
- BerlinHistory e.V.
- Berlin on Bike
- Berliner Beauftragter zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur
- Berliner Kolleg Kalter Krieg am Institut für Zeitgeschichte München-Berlin
- Brandenburgisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologisches Landesmuseum
- Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus-Senftenberg, Fachgebiet Denkmalpflege
- Bundeskanzler-Willy-Brandt-Stiftung
- Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur
- Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung
- Bürgerbüro e.V.
- Ch. Links Verlag im Aufbau Verlag
- Checkpoint Bravo, e.V., Kleinmachnow
- Collegium Hungaricum, Berlin
- Deutsch-Russisches Museum Berlin-Karlshorst
- Die Beauftragte des Landes Brandenburg zur Aufarbeitung der Folgen der kommunistischen Diktatur
- Deutschlandradio
- Evangelische Versöhnungsgemeinde Berlin
- Ernst-Reuter-Schule, Berlin
- FernUniversität Hagen (Institut für Geschichte und Biographie)
- Fotogalerie Friedrichshain
- Friedensbrot e.V.
- Gedenkstätte Berlin Hohenschönhausen
- Berlin HANDSHAPE
- Hoffnungstaler Stiftung Lobetal
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Albrecht Daniel Thaer - Institut für Agrar- und Gartenbauwissenschaften
- Internationaler Bund Berlin
- Kulturprojekte Berlin GmbH
- Künstlerinitiative East Side Gallery e.V.
- Künstlerinnen und Künstler der East Side Gallery
- Landesdenkmalamt Berlin
- Leibniz-Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung, Potsdam
- Lycée Marcel Rudloff, Strasbourg
- Musealia Exhibitions & Museums Sl., San Sebastián
- Papageno-Grundschule, Berlin
- Robert-Havemann-Gesellschaft, Berlin
- Stern und Kreisschifffahrt, Berlin
- Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten
- Theater Strahl, Berlin
- Union der Opferverbände Kommunistischer Gewaltherrschaft e.V.
- Universität Konstanz (Binational School of Education)
- University of York, Department of Archaeology
- visitBerlin
- Wüstenrot Stiftung
- Zalando SE
- Zentrum für Osteuropa- und internationale Studien (ZOiS)