From technical showroom to full-fledged museum: The German Tank Museum Munster

Abstract

It is ironic: for 25 years the German Tank Museum showed dozens and dozens of tanks, AFVs (armoured fighting vehicle), artillery pieces, military trucks and motorbikes and yet managed to keep the war out of the museum – not in spite of the objects shown, but because of them. Huge pieces of military equipment, especially if well restored, have a hypnotizing effect on the visitors. The unproblematic fascination for the technical aspects of the sterile objects completely dominates the experience of the visitors. So, although standing in a hall filled with war machines, the visitors could enjoy the exhibition untroubled; and the Museum supported this tendency, being able to conveniently avoid the complex and controversial field that is the topic of this conference. War and death were basically hidden behind the tanks. Although a few attempts were made to professionalize the museum, the situation was never substantially altered. But, in 2008, a real transformation was initiated. To fulfil the ICOM standards in the long run, the Museum no longer ignores the dark side of the history of tanks. It now tries to establish as much critical contextualization as possible to counteract the strong technical aura of the objects. So, the German Tank Museum has an interesting mission to accomplish: actually to bring war into a museum full of war machines.