Museum Hürtgenwald 1944 und im Frieden

About the museum

The museum has its roots in the "Friedensmuseum Hürtgenwald 1944" (Hürtgenwald 1944 Peace Museum), which opened on March 29, 1983, in a stone barn in Kleinhau. Its foundation was the collection of Konrad Schall from Winden, who had gathered vehicles, documents, uniforms and other testimonies of the fighting in the area.

Parts of this estate were later taken over by the municipality and passed on to the Geschichtsverein Hürtgenwald (local history society), which on September 15, 2001, opened today's museum "Hürtgenwald 1944 und im Frieden" (Hürtgenwald 1944 and in Peace) in Vossenack. The society runs the museum on a volunteer basis and also opens the former medical bunker in nearby Simonskall to visitors.

The focus is on the All Souls' Day Battle, which began on November 2, 1944, lasted until February 1945 and devastated the forest and villages. The exhibition treats military finds as historical witnesses, not as ends in themselves; photos, maps, documents and accounts tell of the fighting as well as of evacuation, return and reconstruction. Themed rooms are devoted to local history, the Westwall (Siegfried Line), the Wehrmacht and the US Army in the Hürtgen Forest, and the postwar period.

Since 2024 the exhibition has been gradually revised and supplemented with information panels in four languages; since 2025, original Westwall anti-tank obstacles have been on display. In 2024 the museum team received the Düren district's honorary award for social engagement, and it contributes to the municipality's scientific advisory board on remembrance culture.

Highlights

• Documentation of the All Souls' Day Battle of November 1944
• Themed rooms on the Wehrmacht and the US Army in the Hürtgen Forest
• Original Westwall anti-tank obstacles ("dragon's teeth")
• Simonskall medical bunker on the 1st Sunday of the month
• Guided tours along historic routes such as the Kall Trail

Permanent exhibitions

• Hürtgenwald 1944 und im Frieden – Themed rooms on local history, the Westwall, the fighting between the Wehrmacht and the US Army in the Hürtgen Forest, and the postwar period with mine clearance and reconstruction.

Founded

1983

Operated by

Geschichtsverein Hürtgenwald e. V.

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