Berlin - History School Trip

Day 1 - Fly to Berlin, walking tour, Reichstag

Travel by air to Berlin, and transfer by coach to your accommodation for check in.

Meet your local guide for an introductory guided walking tour of the main sights; Hitler’s bunker, Luftwaffe HQ and the 17 June Uprising Memorial highlight Berlin’s centrality to the major events of modern history.

You will also spend time at the poignant Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. One of many Holocaust memorials in Berlin, the 2,711 concrete slabs form a disorientating grid designed to show the loss of humanity in a supposedly ordered world.

In the evening visit The Reichstag, a key target for the Soviets during WW2. Closed under the Nazi dictatorship, this modern building is now topped by a spectacular transparent dome in symbolic reference to the victory of democracy.

Day 2 - Sachsenhausen, Stasi Prison

This morning, go north by coach to Oranienburg to visit the Sachsenhausen Memorial. Established in 1936, this was the nerve centre of the Nazi concentration camp system and a World War II site of lasting significance. Here, SS guards were trained, and under their control, more than 50,000 abused prisoners perished. After 1945, Soviet occupiers housed their political enemies here.

Continue in the afternoon to the Stasi Prison. Here students deepen their understanding of totalitarianism and the use of terror as they explore what was both a Nazi camp during WW2 and a prison for housing defectors from East Germany. Eyewitness testimony tells the stories of those held here in the many original buildings.

Tonight, lighten the mood a little and spend a couple of hours of fun at a local bowling alley.

Day 3 - Cold War walking tour, Topography of Terror, Checkpoint Charlie

Today, delve further into the Cold War with a tour of Cold War monuments in Berlin. Exploring Berlin's former Soviet sector, students learn about life behind the Iron Curtain and see how the DDR and the Stasi kept an entire population under observation. This tour covers Stalinallee (Karl Marx Allee), Berlin Stasi HQ, ghost stations, and the Berlin Wall.

Later on, visit the Topography of Terror, a museum situated at the headquarters site of the Secret State Police, the SS, and the Reich Security Main Office. The permanent exhibition documents the rise and fall of Nazi Germany, extending student knowledge of this vital topic.

In the evening, explore the famous site of Checkpoint Charlie. The Checkpoint Charlie Museum and the Asisi panorama walk-through graphically illustrate the oppressive nature of life in the DDR and the desperate measures people would go to in order to escape from the East during this most fascinating historical period.

Day 4 - Berlin Wall memorial, TV Tower

Travel to Bernauerstrasse, to visit the Berlin Wall Documentation Centre which offers students the opportunity to study the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall. The adjoining viewing platform, which overlooks a section of the original border, shows students the complexity of the wall, the terrifying features of the death strip, and the near impossibility of escape.

Tonight, ascend the tallest building in Germany for superb 360-degree views of Berlin. The TV Tower at Alexanderplatz was built in the 1960s by the East German government to deliver state-controlled TV in an area deprived of access to foreign media. It also stood as a symbol of the might and reach of Soviet control.

Day 5 - DDR Museum, Ku'damm, fly home

After check-out, tour the DDR Museum, a truly immersive experience for students to experience life in the DDR by allowing them to touch and feel real artefacts and documents from the Soviet Era.

Finish your educational trip to Berlin by exploring the busy shopping street Kurfürstendamm, the Zoo Station area, and the famous department store KaDeWe—the department store that has lived through the Empire, Weimar Germany, the Nazi era, and was restored to glory by the Western Powers.

Later on, head to the airport for your flight home.