It’s easy enough to become desensitised to world events, but that’s precisely the motivation behind this powerful new installation in the German capital.
Before even entering, visitors are ‘targeted’ by a Russian drone and glimpse themselves on the screen of the weapon’s camera. They then descend into a windowless basement of a Second World War air-raid bunker, built in central Berlin for civilians, which is now filled with remnants from the frontline of the Ukraine-Russia war.
This is the Ukraine Museum, which opened this week to mark the fourth anniversary of the ongoing war, and was assembled with the help of the National Military History Museum in Kyiv as well as frontline troops from the 7th Rapid Response Corps in Pokrovsk.
It uses everything from photography of the conflict to damaged equipment to tell the story of the war, and features first-hand accounts of those whose lives have been altered.
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‘We want to show people something of the physical reality of the conflict,’ Wieland Giebel, a museum curator, told The Guardian. ‘We hope to bring it home to them that this is a war going on here and now in Europe, and that we ignore it at our peril.’
Geibel, along with co-curator Enno Lenze, regularly travel to Ukraine to deliver aid (which includes bullet-proof vests for children) and bring back new artefacts to include in the museum. Hanging from the ceiling are 20 Russian drones, and the pair have also recreated a Russian missile through 3D printing, which is flanked by an image of the building which was damaged by the original weapon.
One of the focal points of the collection is a Fiat Scudo that used to serve as a ‘social taxi’ – a vehicle used for evacuating elderly residents and dropping injured children off at hospitals.
In April 2025, Oleg Salnyk, a 28-year old aid worker and his friend and colleague Oleg Degusarov, were driving it when it was hit by a Russian drone, with only Degusarov surviving. The car sits in the middle of the museum, with blood-spattered seats and a shattered windshield boldly on display.
‘People are in danger of getting tired of the war,’ said Geibel. ‘This is a living, moving exhibition which aims to jolt them out of doing so.’
The Ukraine Museum sits within the Berlin Story Bunker, and you can book tickets on the official website.
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