The exhibition established during the 1980s on the site of the Gestapo and SS headquarters is perhaps the most self-conscious attempt to uncover the historical legacy of a particular place in Berlin. The exhibition’s title, “The Topography of Terror,” reveals its organizers’ ambition: to link history (the Third Reich) and geography (Berlin and Europe). And there can be little doubt about the historical significance of the site in question. Unlike the Wannsee villa, its notoriety does not depend on a single day or event.
