ABSTRACT
The history of the Berlin Wall after the Berlin Wall is both national and global: since its “fall” in November 1989, the positioning, political meaning and materiality of its remnants have continued to raise questions for curators, academics and wider publics, in Germany and across the world. But what of the curation of thousands of pieces of Berlin Wall – or assumed pieces of that iconic Cold War structure – that are kept in people’s homes? What stories do people tell about these objects or about themselves using Cold War artefacts? And how and why do people create such “domestic museums” using the diverse material traces of this lengthy and complex conflict? Using the case study of one group of foreign observers in West Germany – the sizeable British military communities that were dotted around the north-west regions – this chapter examines the personal narratives attached to such objects and the Cold War histories they are used to tell. By meaningfully engaging with such domestic collections as part of Cold War heritage, this chapter suggests, we can reveal in far greater detail the complex, interwoven concerns – both national and international – that shaped British Cold War experience and continue to influence how it is remembered today.
