Berlin's Second World War and Cold War Stories, led by Andy Johnson

Independent travel to London Heathrow Airport for the lunchtime flight to Berlin. On arrival we have a private coach transfer to the city centre where we check-in to the Park Inn by Radisson, Alexanderplatz for our 7-night stay. Our guide will give an introduction to the days ahead before a welcome dinner served in the hotel restaurant.

Today’s tour introduces the National Socialist German Worker’s party and visits the Reichstag where Hitler introduced the Enabling Act of 1933 and Kroll Opera House, which was taken over by German parliament to serve as its meeting place after fire damaged the Reichstag. At the site of the 1936 Olympics we visit the Glockenturm and learn how Hitler fooled the world aided by Leni Riefenstahl’s propaganda movies, and of African American sprinter Jesse Owens, who emerged as the standout figure of the Fuhrer’s signature games. At the Berlin 1939 – 1945 War Cemetery we pay our respects to the fallen, many were airmen who lost their lives in raids over East Germany, or died as prisoners of war. We’ll visit the memorial site of Anhalter Bahnhof. The notorious station was where on June 2^nd 1942, 50 elderly Jewish men and women boarded a train to Theresienstadt – the first of many Jews transported to Nazi concentration camps. In the final months of the Second World War the building was destroyed by Allied bombing raids and whilst here we’ll here about the mission of March 18^th, 1945 that was the largest wartime raid on Berlin. Our tour concludes with a visit to the Berlin Story Bunker, a fascinating exhibition that showcases the sequence of events leading up to Hitler’s suicide, the German Resistance Memorial and site of the Stauffenberg execution. The evening is at leisure.

Between 1933 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its Allies established more than 44,000 camps and incarceration sites. Located near Oranienburg, Sachsenhausen was established as the principal concentration camp for the Berlin area. When opened on July 12^th 1936, it mainly held political opponents, and real or perceived criminals. However, between 1939 and 1945, Jews, Soviet prisoners of war and Polish civilians deported from Warsaw in retaliation for the August 1944 Polish Home Army uprising were amongst the hundreds of thousands incarcerated here. A visit to the museum reveals the brutal history of the facility and grim realities of life and death at Sachsenhausen, and the memorial stands as a stark reminder of the horrors of the 20^th century. Today’s tour returns to the hotel mid-afternoon and the remainder of the day is at leisure.

Today we explore one of the last major offensives in the European theatre of World War Two that involved two and a half million Red Army troops, 6,000 tanks and over 40,000 artillery pieces deployed for the final onslaught against the German capital. We visit the site of a Red Army bridgehead on the Oder River, which in April 1945 had become the frontline between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. We’ll walk to the observation post from where Marshall Zukhov witnessed the launch of one of the most powerful artillery barrages in history against German positions west of the Oder. Our tour follows the route of the Red Army advance towards Seelow. The Nazis had chosen Seelow Heights as the last defensive stronghold before Berlin. A visit to the Seelow Heights Memorial Site and Museum gives fascinating insight into the Battle of Seelow Heights in April 1945. In just four days tens of thousands of soldiers died and visits to the Soviet and German cemeteries are a poignant reminder to the scale of the losses. At the Soviet War Cemetery in Müncheberg a large star with the coat of arms of the 15 Soviet republics illustrates that the Soviet victims buried here belonged to many different nationalities. After the Soviet army broke through the defence, the way to Berlin was open and after a fascinating day we return to the city for an evening at leisure.

This morning we focus on the end-game of the Battle of Berlin and how the Soviet army surrounding the city tightened its stranglehold on the remaining Nazi defenders. We’ll visit Moltke Bridge, which, spanning the River Spree, was partially blown up by the Germans hoping to stop the advance of Russian soldiers. The Reichstag was considered by the Red Army to be at the heart of its fascist enemy. In its shadow we’ll learn of the fierce combat that took place within its walls, its capture and the raising of the Soviet flag above this symbolic building. It’s estimated 80,000 Soviet troops lost their lives fighting to take Berlin and we visit the Soviet War Memorial in Tiergarten, the first of three memorials built in the city to commemorate them. We see the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This remarkable field of pillars stands close to the iconic Brandenburg Gate – a symbol of Berlin’s Cold War division into East and West. Our final visit is to the site of the Fürherbunker where we learn of the end of the Third Reich and the death of Hitler. The remainder of the day and evening are at leisure.

On a nine-acre site, the Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park is the largest in Germany. Not just a memorial it is the final resting place of 7,000 soldiers from the Red Army that fell in the liberation of Berlin. The park is our first visit on today’s tour, which moves the focus from World War Two to the Cold War. The vast Tempelhof Aerodrome is an expression of Nazi ideology. During the Second World War it served as a production site for weapons using forced labourers, who were freed by the Red Army in 1945. Handed over to US forces, Tempelhof played a key role when in June 1948 Soviet forces blockaded rail, road and river access to West Berlin leading to serious supply problems. During the 322 days Berlin was isolated help came from the skies. Our visit to Tempelhof includes the Luftbrückendenkmal commemorating the Berlin Airlift. We drive by Gatow Airfield en route to the Allied Museum where fascinating exhibitions trace the history of the Western powers in Berlin from the end of the war to the Allies’ ceremonial withdrawal in 1994. Today’s final visit is Glienicke Bridge, which straddled the border between East and West Berlin. It was nicknamed the Bridge of Spies and we’ll learn of some of the high-ranking spies exchanged between Eastern and Western powers during the Cold War. The evening is at leisure.

Today’s tour continues its focus on a divided Germany. In the compound of the former headquarters of the GDR Ministry for State Security, the Stasi Museum provides a stark reminder of life in communist East Germany. During our visit we’ll learn how the Stasi operated, how informants were recruited, how the population was controlled and how surveillance impacted the lives of everyday people. Checkpoint Charlie was perhaps the most famous crossing point between East and West Germany. This important Cold War site was the scene of a confrontation between American and Soviet tanks in October 1961, and also witnessed numerous attempts to escape from East Berlin. We’ll walk along Bernauer Strasse where an open-air exhibition explains the history and the impact the Berlin Wall had on residents of the divided city. We return to the hotel by train from Nordbahnhof, one of Berlin’s ghost stations. During the Cold War period the station was boarded up and border guards inside monitored train traffic to ensure no one tried to use the trains passing through as means of escape to the west. This evening we enjoy a farewell dinner in the hotel.

After a leisurely breakfast we check-out of the hotel and transfer to Berlin’s Tegal Airport for our return flight arriving London Heathrow early afternoon.