The Peenemünde Historical Technical Museum ( or HTM), former "Peenemünde Information Centre for History and Technology" ( or HTI), is a museum, founded in 1991, in the observation bunker and site of the former power station in

Peenemünde Peenemünde (, ) is a municipality on the Baltic Sea island of Usedom in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in north-eastern Germany. It is part of the ''Amt (country subdivision), Amt'' (collective municipality) of Used ...

on the island of

Usedom Usedom ( , ) is a Baltic Sea island in Pomerania, divided between Germany and Poland. It is the second largest Pomeranian island after Rügen, and the most populous island in the Baltic Sea. It lies north of the Szczecin Lagoon estuary of the ...

in eastern

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its Anglicisation, anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a Federated state, state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's States of Germany, sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpom ...

in Germany. The museum is dedicated to the history of the Peenemünde Army Research Centre and the

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

test site of " Peenemünde-West", especially the

rocket A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...

s and missiles developed there between 1936 and 1945. Since January 2007 the information centre has become an anchor point on the

European Route of Industrial Heritage The European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH) is a tourist route of the most important industrial heritage sites in Europe. This is a tourism industry information initiative to present a network of industrial heritage sites across Europe. The ...

(ERIH), a Europe-wide network of industrial monuments, and a part of the ERIH themed routes for ''Energy'' and ''Transport & Communication''. In 2008 the museum had around 222,000 visitors including many school classes. Around €6.5 M were invested in the museum's renovation and expansion; a further investment of €3.9 M is planned. In 2002 the HTM was given the Coventry

Cross of Nails A Coventry Cross of Nails (in German, ''Nagelkreuz von Coventry'') is a Christian cross made from iron nails, employed as a symbol of peace and reconciliation. The original version was made from three large medieval nails salvaged from the Cov ...

and in 2013 the ''European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage /

Europa Nostra Award Europa may refer to: Places * Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace * Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro * Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development * Europa Cliffs, Alexan ...

''.

Exhibition

The main purpose of the exhibition in the power station is to be a memorial site where visitors can learn from exhibits, documents and films about the fateful pact made by the rocket engineers around

Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( ; ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German–American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and '' Allgemeine SS'', the leading figure in the development of ...

with former powers in order to develop the aerospace industry. In the mid-1960s, building on his technical experience from Peenemünde, Wernher von Braun led the design team which developed the

Saturn V The Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, had multistage rocket, three stages, and was powered by liquid-propel ...

rocket for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

that was used to fly to the

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

. The role of the former rocket engineer in Peenemünde, however, was to develop weapons of war. Films show visitors how

V-1 flying bomb The V-1 flying bomb ( "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Reich Aviation Ministry () name was Fieseler Fi 103 and its suggestive name was (hellhound). It was also known to the Allies as the buzz bomb or doodlebug a ...

s worked. These experiences formed the basis for the development of nuclear missiles by the Allies after the war. According to documents in the exhibition even Peenemünde experts took part, including in Great Britain and France, where they helped to develop the

Force de Frappe The ''Force de dissuasion'' (), known as the ''Force de frappe'' ('Strike Force') prior to 1961,Gunston, Bill. Bombers of the West. New York: Charles Scribner's and Sons; 1973. p104 is the French nuclear deterrence force. The ''Force de dissua ...

. As part of a detailed chronicle about the test site, the living and working conditions of the forced labourers and prisoners of war in Peenemünde is illustrated. In addition, there is extensive information on

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

prisoners, who assembled the V1-flying bombs in Bavaria and Austria under inhuman conditions. There is a chapel near the site which commemorates all the victims.

Open air displays

Amongst the showpieces on display in the open-air part of the site are a replica

(''Fieseler Fi 103'') and the A4 rocket. Exhibits in the Peenemünde Historical Technical Museum include: File:Peenem Museum V1 Modell.jpg, The

File:Peenemünde 2001 -NEWA 5W 57- by-RaBoe 01.jpg,

Anti-aircraft missile Anti-aircraft missiles are guided missiles designed to destroy or damage aircraft. These include * air-to-air missile, a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying another aircraft * subsurface-to-air missile, a missile usually l ...

s File:Peenemünder Triebwagen.JPG, Former Peenemünde railbus in the open air site File:MiG-23ML 332.jpg, MiG-23ML of JG-9 squadron, displayed since 30 April 2010 at the Rechline Aerotechnology Museum. File:Launching pad for V1.JPG, Launching pad for V1 File:Peenemünde 2001 -Hans Beimler (ship, 1986)- by-RaBoe 01.jpg, The ''Hans Beimler'', a former Soviet-built, missile

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...

of the Tarantul class operated by the

Volksmarine The (VM, ; ) was the Navy, naval force of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990. The was one of the service branches of the National People's Army and primarily performed a Coastal defence and fortification, coastal defence ...

File:Fusée V2.jpg,

V-2 rocket The V2 (), with the technical name ''Aggregat (rocket family), Aggregat-4'' (A4), was the world's first long-range missile guidance, guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was developed during the S ...

replica

Information boards on the Peenemünder Haken

There is a large number of information boards at historic locations, connected with the Army Research Centre and Luftwaffe test site, spread over the whole ''Peenemünder Haken'' ("Peenemünde Hook") and managed by the HTI. The sites include Oxygen Factory II (''Sauerstoffwerk II''), two former forced labour camps and a halt on the old Peenemünde industrial railway. The displayed objects and terrain are generally freely accessible and often inconspicuous. Several were laid out with the help of youth volunteers.

References

Literature

*Bernd Kuhlmann: ''Peenemünde - Das Raketenzentrum und seine Werkbahn'', GVE-Verlag, Berlin, 2. Auflage 2003, *Johannes Erichsen und Bernhard M. Hoppe (Hg.): ''Peenemünde - Mythos und Geschichte der Rakete 1923 - 1989; Katalog des Museums Peenemünde'', Nicolai-Verlag, Berlin, 2004 *Volkhard Bode und Christian Thiel: ''Raketenspuren - Peenemünde 1936 - 2004; eine historische Reportage (Mit aktuellen Fotos von Christian Thiel''), Links-Verlag, Berlin, 5. Auflage 2004,

External links