After a disappointing visit to the Jewish Museum I went to Stadtmuseum which is across the street(they have deals where I believe certain museums are 50% off if you show a receipt). I paid extra for the exhibit on art that the Nazis stole from Jews.
Didn't pay for an audioguide as the English translations were pretty good in the sense that most displays did have translations.
Mixed experience.
To start let's be honest, you probably just came to see Nazi stuff (I know I did). The exhibit on Nazism in Munich was excellent. It was specific to Munich without essentially telling me why the Holocaust started, who the Nazis were, etc (basically what every standard museum on the topic discusses). I will give Germany credit that their city museums really do a good job at discussing that particular city's role in the worst, disgusting part of Germany's history. I read everything there.
The exhibit on stolen on was fairly good as well.Part of it was a little dry, but toward the end of the exhibit, they gave bios of the Jewish families who had their art stolen and about their descendants (if any...). They also (this was sad to see them not actually discuss) didn't really talk about how the German government was making it very difficult for Jews to claim back art that was theirs or belonged to their family (similar to Woman in Gold which was in Austria...not much different).
Something fascinating to know that this actual museum was a collaborator in Nazi Germany in the sense that they were on board with stealing art and worked alongside Nazis. The exhibit did not hide that.
Locker room was clean and modern. Bathrooms were fairly clean as well. There were 2 gift shops. One was more like an antique shop, and the other had extremely overpriced fun souvenirs like dachshund notepads with them wearing lederhosen (came close to buying but couldn't see myself spending a lot of $ on a notepad lol...).
The workers here were awful.
I was told in an exhibit that didn't have a no photographs sign that I couldn't take photos so I said no problem and stopped. That guy (Indian guy I believe) kept following me throughout the exhibit as I was taking notes on my Ipad since photos were not allowed). I saw him later whisper to another worker something and sure enough they followed me a little bit too.
When I was done at the museum, I went back to the lobby to check the time of my train on my phone. (Note they say that they have free WIFI but they don't have the password displayed so you do have to ask them for it). The woman working the register yelled at me no photos.THIS WAS IN THE LOBBY THERE WAS NOTHING TO BE DISPLAYED WHATSOEVER!!! The worst part is, I didn't take a photo as there was nothing to take a photo of. When she yelled at me I showed her that I was on the Bahn app. No apology....she just looked embarrassed.
The Germans have a thing with photos...probably because they don't want evidence.
In any event well worth a visit. read more