The London Blitz Museum--or ??
 

OK I am having a very protracted Senior Moment. Please help me. My DH and I went to a fabulous museum--it was a re-creation of the London Blitz. We walked through wreckage while sirens wailed and buildings 'burned'. I've "googled" this every which way and cannot find it. Has it been shut down? Did I imagine it in some jet-lagged, sleep-deprived hallucination?

Try the Imperial War Museum on Lambeth Road.

The Imperial War museum

It also has the new Churchill museum as part of it-a great place!

Oh, but isn't that the one that has the exhibit of Churchill's war rooms etc? I thought that was a different place--we went there, too.

Sound's to me more like Winston Churchill's Britain at War Experience. http://www.britainatwar.co.uk/

The Imperial War Museum has both permanent and temporary exhibits w/ war damage and such http://london.iwm.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.00b

The Cabinet War Rooms doesn't have "wreckage while sirens wailed and buildings burned"

The Britain at War Experience does . . . .

Ron you are a star! That is the one! It left a great impression on our then 15yr old son. What a wonderful way to get our American kids shocked into seeing history!

A friend of mine is taking her kids to England for the first time and I'm recommending this place to her--just couldn't recall the name. Thanks again!

janisj, dutyfree and VirginiaC: thank you for your prompt replies but it was the one that ron referenced.
bless you all!

People are confusing three seperate places.

There's the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth (you would remember this one - it's the one with the huge naval guns in front of it. It's also full of tanks and the like)

There's the Cabinet War Rooms in Whitehall - an underground command bunker

Finally there's the Britain at War Museum in Tooley St by London Bridge station (and next to the London Dungeon). THis is run by Tussauds and I've never been.

I hope that jogs your memory.

Mahl, thanks for posting. Sounds like something I would like too.

But I am fascinated to read your comment:

"What a wonderful way to get our American kids shocked into seeing history."

Don't they learn ANYTHING about WWII at school? Oh, and by school I don't mean higher education which is the way you seem to use the word. I mean education before the age of 18.

If WWII isn't mentioned at all (which would be surprising seing as the Americans won it) then what do they teach as "history" during those early years?

Posted in the interests of international understanding.

Afterall: Is it really that surprising that American might not have studied WWII? In my English school I never studied it (and we also won.)

I think the earliest school history lesson tend to go is the Classical period, Greeks and Romans and all that - there's a lot of history between then and now so schools have to pick and choose.

I've never been to the Britain at War exhibition, though I pass it most workdays. But I have been to the Blitz Experience at the Imperial War Museum: you sit in a replica surface air raid shelter while the soundtrack gives you conversation, sirens and bangs (and at one point the floor jolts at a "near miss"). And then you come out to a stage set of a WVS tea van, bomb-damaged buildings and a painted panorama of searchlights and fires across London. The effect is a little bit hokey, and I was a bit distracted by being able to recognise some of the actors' voices on the soundtrack. But it's free....

afterall & PeteR- want to reassure you that American kids are indeed taught quite a bit about WWII. Both as a high schooler in the mid 70's and as the mother of two recent HS grads WWII is definitely one of the Big 3 American history topics (Revolutionary War, Civil War being the other 2). We were really interested in the Secret War Rooms at Dover Castle on our family trip to England and the Normandy beaches were a highlight of our France trip. Of course my Canadian husband takes great offense to many Americans' belief that WWII started in 1941...

The Britain at War Experience is a created commercial venture; the Cabinet War Rooms/Churchill Museum are a genuine historical site. The exhibits at the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth are top-notch.

I'd skip Britain at War.

Atl - thanks. Interesting to know that WWII is taught in American schools. And I love your tongue in cheek comment: "Of course my Canadian husband takes great offense to many Americans' belief that WWII started in 1941..."

Many Canadians, of course, fought with the Allies before the US got involved - as did nationals of so many other countries which I won't list for fear of missing one out and giving offence.

To PeteR - how old are you? I didn't study WWII at school either, but that is because there was no need. Like it was still 'real' in the 60s. There used to be a programme on TV called "All our Yesterdays" - does anyone else remember it? The format was to show news footage from the same week 25 years earlier. 1965 = 1940. You get the general idea?

But if kids at school in Europe now, in 2008, aren't studying it then they ought to be.

Everything, EVERYTHING, in todays' world stems from that conflict.

I'm just a history freak getting on my soapbox, but this something I feel passionately about.

afterall, i doubt that mahl was implying that WWII history is not taught in american schools. the imperial war museum brings war 'to life' in many ways from great art exhibits to the dramatic raid recreation that is mentioned in this thread. they also have a war clock that gives a real time count of people dying in war at the moment (obviously based on stats/trends). they also have a pretty good holocaust exhibit (not just nazi related but others as well). no matter the quality of one's formal history education, it is sure to leave an impression and teach many new things. and it's not just about WWII but all major worldwide conflicts.

>>Everything, EVERYTHING, in todays' world stems from that conflict.<<

Well, wandering off topic, you could actually say it stems from 1914-18. If there'd been no assassination in Sarajevo there <i>might</i> not have been a major war in Europe, and there <i>might</i> not have been a Russian revolution or a defeated Germany prey to a lunatic, and hence no Second World War.

But what happened in Sarajevo (in both 1914 and 1992) stemmed from the inability or the unwillingness of the Great Powers to arrive at a definitive resolution of Balkan nationalism and the collapse of the Ottoman empire there. And no doubt one could go back further.....

The &quot;Britain at War&quot; is on our tentative itinerary. However, there appears to be varied opinions on the experience. Further viewpoints from those whom have actually visited the attraction would be greatly appreciated.

Are the negative perspectives relative to other sites such as the Cabinet Rooms or the Imperial War Museum, or simply a thumbs-down on its face?

afterall- I'm sure we learned a little in grade school, but in high school, we had one year of US history, and we barely got through to 1900! There was so much to cover already, with the previous 200+ years. If they do get to it, they're probably rushing through to make it in time for recap + exams.