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All Germany Berlin Deutsches Currywurst Museum
Deutsches Currywurst Museum is permanently closed.

This entry remains in the Atlas as a record of its history, but it is no longer accessible to visitors.

Gastro Obscura

Deutsches Currywurst Museum

A museum dedicated to a Cold War era sausage.

Berlin, Germany

Added By
Henrik Johansson
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The Currywurst Museum.   hrnick / Atlas Obscura User
Inside of a modern Currywurst stand on display.   hrnick / Atlas Obscura User
The whole museum is Currywurst themed with ketchum dripping from the ceiling.   hrnick / Atlas Obscura User
The sausage shaped sofa.   hrnick / Atlas Obscura User
Currywurst on Wheels   Steffen Zahn/CC BY 2.0
Currywurst pommes frites   Tinoelf/Public Domain
The museum is a two minute walk from Checkpoint Charlie   Thomas Quine/CC BY-SA 2.0
  honzahol / Atlas Obscura User
  honzahol / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Not far from Checkpoint Charlie, the iconic Cold War-era crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin, there's a museum dedicated to a street food called “currywurst” - a peculiar, and singularly German, sausage dish.

It was in 1949, as Berlin was being rebuilt in the aftermath of World War II, that Herta Heuwer got hold of some ketchup and curry powder from British soldiers stationed in Germany. Provisions were short, so thinking outside the sausage-box, she used these not-exactly-German ingredients on a traditional German sausage, turning regular “bratwurst” into “currywurst.” Herta started selling her international concoction on the street in the district of Charlottenburg, near Checkpoint Charlie. The cheap but filling sausage soon became popular with the construction workers, and business at her stand grew - serving up to 10,000 currywursts a week.

The Currywurst Museum is dedicated to this novelty borne of scarcity. It is still widely popular in Germany, particularly in Berlin and other urban areas. The museum itself is interactive, and offers a lot of different ways to learn about and experience the wurst. There’s a currywurst stand, a currywurst computer game, a French fry challenge, and singing ketchup bottles telling the story of currywurst’s unique position in German popular culture. Grab a currywurst of your own and a snag a spot on the sausage sofa, and relish (sorry…) in the communal nature of street cuisine, this one offering a different take on Cold War Berlin, just around the corner from where East met West.

Update: The museum will be closing permanently at this location after 10 years on December 21, 2018.

Related Tags

Museums Collections Food Museums Food Germany Lost Wonders

Know Before You Go

The Museum is only a hundred yards from Checkpoint Charlie, and is open daily from 10:00am to 6:00pm. They have a variety of entrance options and fees (some including tastings, some not), so check the website for full details.

Community Contributors

Added By

hrnick

Edited By

mikehoeffner, honzahol

  • mikehoeffner
  • honzahol

Published

May 13, 2016

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  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currywurst
  • http://thatbackpacker.com/2014/04/29/berlin-currywurst-museum/
Deutsches Currywurst Museum
70 Schützenstraße
Berlin, 10117
Germany
52.508817, 13.391268
Visit Website
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