The Black Box sheds light on the mystery

Checkpoint Charlie, memorial at the Berlin Wall, Tränenpalast ("Palace of Tears"). Does Berlin really need another exhibition about the Cold War? That is what I ask myself en route to the preview of the Black Box - an exhibition which is expected to open during the middle of the year on this very topic.

I go past Checkpoint Charlie and approach the picture gallery on Friedrichstraße, which documents the history of the Berlin Wall. Behind it, a black futuristic building rises up. That must be the Black Box. With anticipation, I walk to the pavilion where many journalists are already pulling out their cameras. But when the door opens we only glimpse empty wall units on an area covering 200m². Disappointment sets in.

Jürgen Reiche, the curator of the Info box, explains the concept and the future design of the exhibition. Yalta, Wannsee Conference, Perestroika, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Korea… And colours. Red, black, blue. There is a riot of colour in my mind. Slowly, however, light is shed on the mystery.

The curator outlines a complex picture that makes this time of tension and conflict comprehensible. The walls fill with photos before my inner eye. I imagine the cinema, the two armoured tanks and the remains of the Wall which will soon be set up here. In the middle of the room, a white table in the shape of Berlin serves as a projection screen. At the end of the tour, visitors will be able to photograph themselves and send greetings to the world via e-mail.

Jürgen Reiche also explains the design of the pavilion: The black of the external facade symbolises the black box - the flight recorder that logs events for posterity. The red of the column stands for the Soviet Union and the blue windows for the US. I also learned today that the black box is actually red rather than black.

One thing is clear after this preview: Berlin definitely needs this exhibition! For where else should we understand history other than here, in Berlin's historic centre?