Berlin 2018 Itinerary
Schedule:
Friday 9 February 2018 04.30 Meet next to Jamie’s Italian at Gatwick North terminal 04.45 Baggage Drop and check in 06.30 Flight departs - Flight Number EZY8207 09.25 Arrival in Berlin Schoenefeld airport where we will be met by our local representative and transfer to the Hotel Transit Loft by public transport. AM The representative will stay with the group for their guided walking tour. PM Visit the Topography of Terror PM Group to return to the hotel. 19.00 Evening meal at a local restaurant
Saturday 10 February 2018 08.30 Meet our coach for transfers to Sachsenhausen and Wannsee 10.00 Confirmed guided tour of Sachsenhausen 14.00 Confirmed guided tour of The Wannsee Conference House. 19.00 Evening meal at a local restaurant
Sunday 11 February 2018 10.00 Guided tour of the Olympic Stadium. AM Group to return to central Berlin using public transport. Take the S5 from Olympiastadium and alight at Hackescher Markt. 14.00 Visit to the Otto Weidt Museum. PM Sightseeing 18.00 Evening meal at a local restaurant
Monday 12 February 2018 AM Check out of hotel after breakfast. 10.00 Visit the Reichstag. AM Sightseeing and lunch 15.00 Further sightseeing/museums/shopping PM Return to hotel on foot to collect luggage PM Group to travel to Berlin Schoenefeld airport by public transport. 19.30 Baggage Drop for Easyjet flight 20.50 Baggage Drop closes 21.30 Flight departs - Flight Number EZY8216 22.35 Arrival in UK at London Gatwick - North Terminal PM On return to the UK we will again be met by an airport agencies representative who will assist with escorting the group through immigration and direct us to baggage reclaim 11:15 Students collected from Gatwick North
About our visits:
Topography of Terror
Between 1933 and 1945, the central institutions of Nazi persecution and terror – the Secret State Police Office with its own “house prison,” the leadership of the SS and, during the Second World War, the Reich Security Main Office – were located on the present-day grounds of the “Topography of Terror” that are next to the Martin Gropius Building and close to Potsdamer Platz. The museum contains information on the use of both terror and propaganda in the Nazi state.
Sachsenhausen
The Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp was built in the summer of 1936 and was the first new camp to be established after Himmler was appointed Chief of the German Police in 1936. The design of the grounds was conceived by the SS architects as the ideal concentration camp setting. As a model for other camps, and in view of its location just outside the capital, Sachsenhausen acquired a special role in the Nazi concentration camp system.
More than 200,000 people were imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp between 1936 and 1945. At first the prisoners were mostly political opponents of the Nazi regime. However, increasing numbers of members of groups defined by the Nazis as racially or biologically inferior were later included. By 1939 large numbers of citizens from the occupied European states arrived. Tens of thousands of people died of starvation, disease, forced labour and mistreatment, or were victims of the systematic extermination operations of the SS. Thousands of other prisoners died during the death marches following the evacuation of the camp at the end of April 1945. Approximately 3,000 sick prisoners, along with the doctors and nurses who had stayed behind in the camp, were liberated by Soviet and Polish soldiers. This visit will support our understanding of the SS use of terror and also the study of the Holocaust that we will undertake later this term.
The Wannsee Conference House
The luxurious mansion at Großen Wannsee was the location for a conference with earth-shattering consequences. In 1942, leading figures in the Nazi government and SS meet here to discuss their so- called Final Solution to the Jewish Question. The exhibition in the House of the Wannsee Conference gives an insight into this criminal meeting, and how the plan was put into practice. It details the genocide perpetrated on the European Jews through the use of original documents and audio-visual presentations.
The Berlin Olympic Stadium
From 1934 to 1936, during the Nazi era, the old stadium on this site was demolished and a new stadium and sports complex built as the venue for the 1936 Olympic Games. Inspired by the clear geometric forms of sports’ arenas in the classical world, architect Werner March created a stadium capable of holding an audience of 100,000 people.
Today’s Maifeld is just one part of the Reichssportfeld (Imperial Sports Arena) planned by the Nazi regime as a site for propaganda events. The sports and events complex constructed for the Olympic Games also included the Waldbühne venue, designed like an ancient amphitheatre. In 1936, the Waldbühne was the site of the Olympic gymnastics competitions. Today, it has become a much-loved open-air concert venue, surrounded by green spaces.
Anyone visiting the Olympic Stadium complex is sure to visit the Glockenturm – the bell tower – especially renowned for its amazing views. The lift whisks you to the top of the tower for a panoramic vista out across the nearby Maifeld and stadium to the city or over the Waldbühne to the woodlands beyond.
The eleventh Olympic Games took place from 1 to 16 August 1936. After 1936, another 20 major events were held at the Reichssportfeld, including the 1937 German football championship, the state reception for Mussolini and various sports festivals. At the beginning of the Second World War, the Reichssportfeld, which was partially set below ground level, was converted to a bunker, a production site for detonators, a storage area for munitions, food and wine, and a back-up radio broadcasting site.
A history trail on the Olympic site has 45 panels in English and German offering a fascinating insight into the complex’s origins and development down the years, as well as information on the historical art works from the early years of the Nazi regime. Our visit here will help support the students’ understanding of the role of propaganda, the international perceptions of Nazi Germany and the power the Nazis had during the rule.
Otto Weidt Museum
The Museum of Otto Weidt’s Workshop for the Blind tells the story of the workshop. The owner of the small factory, Otto Weidt, employed mainly blind and deaf Jews here during World War II. They produced brooms and brushes.
Various life stories tell of Otto Weidt’s efforts to protect his Jewish workers from persecution and deportation. When the threat grew ever greater he found places for some of them to hide. One of these was on the premises of what is now the museum.
The Reichstag
The Reichstag is an internationally recognisable symbol of democracy and the current home of the German parliament. Both as an architectural wonder and a historical testimony, the Reichstag has an important role to play in Berlin.
The original building is designed by Paul Wallot and modelled after the Memorial Hall in Philadelphia, yet Kaiser Wilhelm II regarded the building as “the pinnacle of bad taste”.
The Reichstag served as the home of the German parliament until 1933 when the building was badly damaged in a fire. This event marked the end of the Weimar Republic and provided a convenient pretext for Hitler to suppress dissent. Under Nazi dictatorship, the building fell into neglect and was severely damaged during the Second World War. In 1945 it became one of the primary targets for the Red Army due to its perceived propaganda value. Visiting this site will undoubtedly support students’ understanding of German politics in the period.
The German Resistance Memorial Centre
This is a site of remembrance, documentation, and research. An extensive permanent exhibition, a series of temporary special exhibitions, events, and a range of publications document illustrate resistance that took place against National Socialism. The centre’s goal is to show how individual people and groups took action against the Nazi regime from 1933 to 1945 and made use of what freedom of action they had. This visit will support the students’ study of opposition during Hitler’s rule and the forms this took at different time periods.