DMZ – The Last Frontier of the Cold War

AlliiertenMuseum

28 July 2023 to 31 March 2024

History

DMZ – The Last Frontier of the Cold War

AlliiertenMuseum

28 July 2023 to 31 March 2024

The Allied Museum, which has dedicated itself for the past 25 years to the history of the Cold War and what the Allies accomplished for Berlin and Germany, takes a look in this exhibition at an international political conflict and, by showing the photographs of Park Jongwoo alongside historical photos of the former inner-German border, sheds light on a tragic contemporaneity. With this exhibition, the Allied Museum underscores its unique role in Germany’s museum landscape as an institution with multinational roots and an international perspective of the history of the Cold War.

The date 27 July 2023 marks the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Panmunjom ceasefire. This agreement ended the Korean War, which lasted from 1950 to 1953. Until then, fierce fighting took place between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and China – which intervened during the conflict – on one side, and the Republic of Korea and United Nations troops led by the United States on the other. About four million people were killed as a result of the Korean War. The 70th anniversary of the end of fighting and the establishment of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) have prompted the Allied Museum to present a selection of Park Jongwoo’s photographs.

The South Korean photo documentarist Park Jongwoo (born in 1958) was invited in the years 2009 and 2010 by the South Korean Ministry of Defence to accompany soldiers stationed in the DMZ. This makes him the first civilian ever to be given the opportunity to document everyday military life, but also the landscape and nature there in photographs and film. The result was a series of fascinating, detailed and diverse images.

The DMZ remains testimony to the Cold War today – a conflict that left its mark on the entire world. In Europe, the Iron Curtain disappeared more than 30 years ago with Germany’s reunification, but it is still a bitter reality on the Korean peninsula.

DMZ – The Last Frontier of the Cold War
28.07.2023 – 31.03.2024
AlliiertenMuseum, Clayallee 135, 14195 Berlin
Opening times: Tue–Sun 10AM–6PM. Free entrance

www.alliiertenmuseum.de/en

Press material

Press photos

  • Südkoreanische Soldaten patrouillieren innerhalb der DMZ. Im Hintergrund ein südkoreanischer Wachposten. Foto: Park Jongwoo
  • Als Militärpolizei gekennzeichnete südkoreanische Soldaten auf einer Fußpatrouille im Schnee. Foto: Park Jongwoo
  • Ein südkoreanischer Soldat steht in der Joint Security Area (JSA), Panmunjeom Wache. Foto: Park Jongwoo
  • Ein nordkoreanischer Soldat beobachtet mit einem Fernglas den südkoreanischen Teil der Joint Security Area (JSA), Panmunjeom. Foto: Park Jongwoo
  • US-Soldaten mit Schneeschuhen und in Winteruniform
    patrouillieren entlang der innerdeutschen Grenze, 1988. Foto: AlliiertenMuseum/U.S. Army Photograph/Tony Nauroth
  • Postenturm und teilweise doppelter Sicherungszaun
    entlang des Grenzverlaufs bei Bad Hersfeld, 1987. Foto: AlliiertenMuseum/U.S. Army Photograph/Emmet Lewis
  • US-Soldaten beobachten Grenztruppen der DDR und überprüfen eventuelle Veränderungen an einer grenznahen Radaranlage der NVA, 1985. Foto: AlliiertenMuseum/U.S. Army Photograph