A superb History trip to Berlin

November 4th 2024

We had a wonderful trip to Berlin learning so much, enjoying beautiful blue skies and walking over 50 km in 4 days!

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Day 1

Was a travelling day leaving school just before lunch and travelling via Easyjet to Berlin. We arrived in Berlin at 6pm, got a coach and were at our accommodation by 8pm.

Day 2

Began with a four hour walking tour to envelope us into the diverse history of the city. Along the way we saw the Reichstag, which is now the Bundestag - the Parliament of Germany. We learnt about the Battle of Berlin and saw the Soviet War Memorial commemorating the 30 million Soviets who lost their lives in WW2. We saw the infamous Brandenburg Gate and the Holocaust Memorial where we also had a glimpse of the American President, Joe Biden and his convoy, who was in Berlin for a meeting with the German President and Chancellor.

We saw the site of Hitler’s bunker, the former Air Ministry, and at the Topography of Terror Museum, we learnt about the role of the Gestapo and SS in creating an atmosphere of terror during the Third Reich, this was particularly useful for the A Level historians.

After lunch, where the Lower 6^th Boys enjoyed buying lots of different types of Russian hats, we visited Checkpoint Charlie, the boarder crossing between the American and Soviet Sectors during the Cold War. We then visited the Resistance Museum, which was famous for the July Bomb plot which tried to kill Hitler, and saw where all of the conspirators were killed. We walked through Tiergarten to the Siegsaule Monument and climbed up it after the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, had driven past us.

After a delicious meal at a local restaurant, the evening involved us climbing to the top of the Reichstag dome. It was incredible and so nice to see Berlin at night time.

Day 3

Started off with a tour of Sachsenhausen concentration camp, about 45 minutes on the coach away from Berlin. Built in 1936, the camp saw 200,000 prisoners, 30,000 of whom were murdered in the camp. Many people in the group found it eerie that while the stadium for the Berlin Olympics was being built, so was the Sachsenhausen concentration camp (using slave labour) just 30 or so kilometres outside of Berlin. Over all, all of us enjoyed the tour, it was very interesting, and the guides were great for both of the groups.

After lunch, we made our way to Potsdam, where we split into two groups, the 6^th Form went to look around the Kaiser's ‘New Palace’ and the 5^th Form went to Cecilienhof, the site of the Potsdam conference at the end of WW2. The New Palace was incredible to say the least, it was enormous, incredible looking from the outside, and no less opulent from the inside. There were endless corridors of bedrooms, hallways, ballrooms, bathrooms guestrooms, and a grotto room which was filled with exotic sea shells, dripstone, and gifts from other nobles and monarchs from around the world. While the 6^th Form were in the New Palace, the 5^th Formers were looking around Cecilienhof, the place where the 3 victorious great powers came together to carve up Europe, and define its borders, which still exist today.

Lastly, on our way back to the hotel, we stopped off for a look at the Olympic Stadium, built in 1936, and we took a moment to remember Jessie Owens, the American sprinter and long jumper, and how he violated the racial stereotypes that the Nazis believed in. We then saw the Charlottenburg, which was a former building of the Kaisers, and the current Presidential Palace, where Joe Biden had been the previous day. After this, we went back to the hotel for some much needed rest after two very busy days.

Day 4

Started well with us waking up to another beautiful German morning. First, we walked through the Berlin War Memorial, looking at and touching the fascinating concrete containing so much vibrant history. Whilst here, all of us managed to squeeze into the world's smallest church. We then went to the high ground to look down on the death strip. After this we took a short train ride into Alexanderplatz where we stopped for a coffee and saw the very tall TV Tower. We then proceeded to see the newly refurbished Kaiser Palace - built in the past 5 years on the site where the old DDR Government building used to be. Opposite the Palace, there was a very impressive cathedral that we all loved. We had lunch in the Lustgarten, which was an area where Hitler held many rallies during his time in power. After lunch, we went into the DDR museum. We all made the most of this by trying on the clothes that East Germans would have worn and trying out old fashioned technology such as typewriters! There were also cars there and displays which showed how people were smuggled across the border between East and West Berlin. After this, we moved on to the Jewish Museum. This was a truly fascinating experience as it portrayed all Jewish history in Germany, not just focusing on the Holocaust. There were some very eery faces on the pavement, which you could walk across, which were very loud and disorientating which is the whole point of the Museum. We then went and saw more including the University Square and the Memorial of the Book Burning that the Nazis carried out in 1933. After a very busy and very educating day, we went to supper at a restaurant to have a delicious Weinerschnitzel and ice cream, and Fabienne, a former Priory girl, came to say hello. Tired and weary, we took the tram back to the hotel and had a quiet night of games to finish off the day.

Day 5

Our final morning in Berlin was spent visiting Hohenschausen Prison. We had a guided tour and learnt all about the harsh conditions and brutal regime under Stalin, and later the Stasi terror police. We saw old prison cells and areas where horrific torture was carried out. Most of the prisoners here were completely innocent, but the East German Government was very brutal. It was interesting to see this aspect of German society during the Cold War. We then had lunch and returned to our accommodation to collect our bags and boarded the flight home to Bristol.

It was a superb tour and we all really loved seeing Berlin and finding out how much history was there for us to discover.

Thank you to Mr Bunday, Mrs Bunday and Mr Spenser Underhill for coming on the trip and a huge thank you to Mrs Simper for organising it.

By Emily W (Prefect, Priory House), Harriet V (Head of School, Priory House), George G (U6^th Form, Blackford House), Dan J (L6^th Form Blackford House) and Emily S (5^th Form, Wellesley House).