German-American Heritage Museum

2.75 stars.
One floor, a lot of reading but just the same, interesting tid bits to take from it all. Towards the end of my visit it got a little loud. I was not sure if 1. random people coming in to see the place being loud. In which case the worker/​volunteer should tell the people to quiet down a little. But, was not sure if it was 2. the worker giving a tour, could not tell. In which case, he should maybe tone down the volume a little so others can read all the information. It is very wordy, so it should be more lilke a library. Not sure what the deal was, if it was case 1 or 2, but regardless, I had to leave before finishing everything. But while it was more quiet, it ws interesting. Plus they have some nice videos about Germany. Overall, check it out if you are in the neighborhood and in no rush, as it is free (cool!). But I would not go out of your way to see it just the same.

I’ve passed by this museum a bunch of times as I’ve walked around the Penn Quarter/​Chinatown area and was curious about it. I ventured in today to escape the rain. The exhibits are on one floor and are interesting — there’s a «music corner», a timeline of relevant events, a kiosk with multimedia stuff focused mainly on travel to/​in Germany and Berlin, and exhibits on various eras.
It was pretty interesting learning about German singing societies, how the Pennsylvania Dutch are actually German because Dutch is a corruption of Deutsch, and about how many cities were founded/​settled by Germans (New Berlin, New Brunswick, Bismarck, etc.).
I was able to get in and out pretty quickly — less than half an hour — but I still feel like I got some interesting tidbits out of it. Also, if I ever decide to take a trip to Germany, I’ll probably swing by again and pick up some brochures/​maps.

It’s a good museum to stop by if you’re in need of someplace quick (takes less than 20 minutes). There is no admission and the exhibits aren’t big at all. The German-​American Heritage Museum is located in Downtown Washington, D.C., just north of the National Mall.

This place just open in March 2010. My wife is German and she loved the place. There is no admission charge and it is not a huge exhibit. Well worth a quick stop.