ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the memorial site and museum at Point Alpha, in a rural region along the former border between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic. The memorial commemorates both the Cold War division of Germany and the American military presence along the border. This chapter argues for an approach to commemorating the Cold War through entangledness, embracing the complexities of the lived experience at the international, national and local levels. The presentation of the Cold War at Point Alpha points towards a fundamental tension in musealising this period of German and European history: the centrality to the story of a military buildup that ultimately did not result in armed conflict juxtaposed against representations of social change that are less easily portrayed in museum collections.
