The Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr (Bundeswehr Military History Museum) in Dresden contains a large number of military exhibits covering the modern history of Germany and has free admittance on Monday nights. I was fortunate enough to be visiting Dresden on a Monday, so after spending the day exploring Dresden’s old city and New Green Vault my friend and I caught a tram the few kilometers to the museum.
My primary motivation for visiting the museum (other than free entry) was to see the Soyuz Space Capsule and V-2 Rocket. When I arrived, I decided to follow the recommended path through the museum which takes you from the middle ages through to current German military deployments.
The quality of the exhibits and the tone of the museum is really good. Over the last 150 years, Germany has experienced many wars. By following the historical timeline through the museum you see both the advancement of technology but also the history of the modern state of Germany. The museum did well to not express a statement about the might of German technology nor did it have walls of remembrance like many military museums in Australia and New Zealand have. I was most impressed by how it handled the Second World War exhibits which included historical German propaganda and other political items, they were presented them in a simple, clear and factual manner.
Below are a few photos from my visit. Despite originally going to see the Soyuz capsule and V-2 I ended up becoming more engrossed in the Prussian and Cold-War era exhibits.
