Discover Berlin

Spend the day in Berlin and see the Bebelplatz, Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate and the holocaust memorial which are all within walking distance.

Spend the afternoon in the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp museum located north of the city.

Spend a second day exploring this fascinating city. See the Third Reich Air Ministry building and the Topographie des Terrors exhibition. This afternoon you will visit the Jewish Museum.

Time permitting, take in any last sights of Berlin and then travel to the airport for your return flight to the UK.

Your group will be impressed with the magnificent 18th-century Brandenburg Gate which is one of the largest and most beautiful neoclassical monuments, built on the orders of Prussian King Frederick William II, and is one of the main symbols of Berlin. The Brandenburg Gate was badly damaged during WW2 and had to have major reconstruction. Your group can visit the museum to learn more about this magnificent creation. The Brandenburg Gate was often a site for major historical events and is today seen as a symbol of European unity and peace.

Your students will discover that the Quadriga is one of the best known landmarks of Germany. The chariot drawn by four horses was erected on the site of a former city gate and marked the start of the road from Berlin to Brandenburg and der Havel.  After the defeat of Prussia in 1806, Napoleon abducted the Quadriga to Paris. But with the victory of the alliance she could be brought back eight years later and placed at her old destination.

Allow your students to discover this unusual place of remembrance, commonly known as the Memorial to the Murdered Jews. Learn more in the visitor centre which has several galleries. The Memorial, which was opened in 2005, is a memorial in Berlin to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, designed by architect Peter Eisenman and engineer Buro Happold. Walk amongst the 2711 concrete slabs of different heights and fully immerse yourselves in this place of contemplation and remembrance. Discover a moment of slight giddiness as you traverse the sloped concrete floor, giving you a wave like feeling.

The Jewish Museum in Berlin is the largest Jewish museum in Europe and consists of three buildings.  Your students will discover the German-Jewish history whilst visiting the collections which are divided into four areas: ceremonial objects and applied arts, fine arts, photography, and lastly, everyday culture. Your students can visit the basement gallery where Jewish history is presented in a multimedia and interactive way. Under the headings of ”Things”, ”Stories”, and ”Faces”, students can deepen their knowledge, e.g. on the life story of Albert Einstein. Your group can experience the inspirational ‘Installation Shalekhet  – Fallen Leaves’, which is an exhibition of 10 000 faces punched out of steel which are distributed on the ground of the Memory Void. The artist dedicated this artwork not only to Jews killed during the Shoah, but to all victims of violence and war. Visitors are invited to walk on the faces and listen to the sounds created by the metal sheets, as they clang and rattle against one another.

Sachsenhausen Camp was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of 1945 when 200,000 people passed through its gates. Students can visit the memorial and museum, Sachsenhausen, to experience this place of remembrance as well as learn about modern time-history.  It includes the collection and preservation of historical testimonies and relics and students will learn about the special significance of historical and political education.

Checkpoint Charlie was the name given by the Western Allies to the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. The border crossing gained its fame in October 1961 when American and Soviet tanks took up their positions after members of the US mission were called on the GDR border post to identify themselves as they passed the Allied checkpoint. They faced each other with live ammunition and it almost came to a third world war. In the following years, the checkpoint was the scene of spectacular escapes that often led to death. Your students can visit the Wall Museum nearby, which documents numerous escape attempts.

The Topography of Terror is an outdoor and indoor history museum in Berlin and your group will discover that it is a documentation centre which holds details of those exterminated by the Nazi regime. This is one of the most visited memorial sites in Berlin. Students will discover that during the “Third Reich” this was the headquarters of Nazi terror from 1933 to 1945 which included the Secret State Police, the SS and the Reich Security Main Office.

Charlottenburg Palace is the largest palace in Berlin. It was built at the end of the 17th century and was greatly expanded during the 18th century. Your group can discover its lavish internal decoration in baroque and rococo styles including a collection of 18th century French paintings; Chinese and Japanese porcelain; silverware chambers; as well as the New Wing, with its rococo splendour and fine furniture. The palace was severely damaged in World War II, and rebuilding starting in the 1950’s. Charlottenburg Palace’s former theatre is now home to the Museum for Pre- and Early History.

The Wannsee Villa was the meeting place of Nazi German officials in 1942, to discuss and coordinate the deportation and murder of the Jews of Europe. Today, the villa is a Holocaust Memorial. The permanent exhibition titled ”The Wannsee Conference and the Genocide of European Jews” will provide your group information on the history of the persecution of Jews, their disenfranchisement and displacement between 1933 and 1939 as well as on the Nazi deportation, ghettoisation and murder of European Jews during WWII.

Students will tour this interactive exhibition with multimedia shows about the development through Berlin’s 800-plus year history. Each section has plenty to keep your group busy, with touch screens, information drawers, and presentation ranging from clever to intense including a vibrating floor like a factory. A special series of rooms show the grim nature of the Third Reich in a thought-provoking, conceptual fashion. Your students will glimpse life on each side of the Berlin Wall when visiting the divided living rooms and the still-functioning underground nuclear bomb shelter.

The TV Tower at Alexanderplatz, which was constructed in 1965 & 1969, is Berlin’s most prominent landmark and the tallest building in Germany. Its steel sphere contains a visitor platform and a revolving restaurant. Students can ascend the tower and see the capital at their feet in just 40 seconds! A breathtaking 360° view of the city awaits your group from 203 meters! Spend your time waiting by strolling through Alexanderplatz.

Your students can visit the venue of The Potsdam Conference which was held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm in Potsdam, occupied Germany, from 17 July to 2 August 1945. This conference was also referred to as the Berlin Conference of the Three Heads of Government of the USSR, USA, and UK. These countries were represented respectively by Communist Party General Secretary Joseph Stalin, Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and Clement Attlee, and President Harry S. Truman. They gathered to decide how to administer Germany, which had agreed to unconditional surrender nine weeks earlier on 8 May. The objectives of the conference also included the establishment of post war order, peace treaty issues, and countering the effects of the war.

Your group could visit The Olympiastadion, originally built for the 1936 Summer Olympics. It is best remembered for African American Jesse Owens four golds in 1936, amidst Nazi propaganda promoting ”Aryan racial superiority”. Today the stadium is part of the Olympiapark Berlin and besides its use as an athletics stadium; the arena is also used for many footballing events. It hosted three matches in the 1974 FIFA World Cup and was renovated for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, when it hosted six matches, including the final.

When the Nazis came to power in Germany (1933), they decided to use the Olympic Games in 1936 for propaganda purposes. The games were officially inaugurated by the head of state Adolf Hitler and one of the most memorable events was the performance of the African-American track and field athlete Jesse Owens (USA), when he won the gold medal in the 100, 200, long jump and 4 x 100 relay. One of the main streets outside the stadium is named Jesse Owens Allee in recognition of his performance.

School trips can offer the opportunity for students to develop their relationships and interactions with others.

Personal experience and close interactions with these locations can help students understand the subject and put it into perspective.

A trip can make a students engage with a subject and become more positive about a subject.

Students will work together in an unfamiliar environment and rely on each other for help.

This trip can be a reward trip for students that have studied hard over the course of the year and can give them a well-deserved break with their friends.

This tour is great for history students, giving them an insight into the events that took place and a sense of what it was like during this period in history.

This tour focuses on World War 1 events and goes to key historical sights.

Explore the impact of World War 2 and how events shaped the landscape.

Students can practise their language skills when exploring this fascinating country.

Take an in-depth look at the Art of this fantastic destination where students can get up close and be inspired by world famous displays.