Thoughts from the Director: Berlin

I decided that I wanted to to do the 3rd Reich walking tour from Insider Tour to start off with today so I needed to hop on the U-Bahn and get to the starting point near the Berlin Zoo. This meant that I should have been able to catch the U6 to Hallesches Tor and then change for the U1, which would get me near enough.

When I arrived on the platform for the U1 (which had a covering of ice given so of it was outside), even with my poor German I knew there was a problem on the U1 line. A few stops along everyone got out so I followed suit not exactly knowing what what was going on. Don’t ask me how but we ended up on a platfor of a U2 train. That didn’t gel with my map so I held off while the train headed off. As I pondered my map a station attendant came over to me (obviously because I had a map) and let me know that the train on this platform did in fact go where I wanted to go. In fact it would take be closer, so I jumped aboard the next train.

After exiting the station I quickly located the tour meeting point (outside McDonalds opposite the main entrance to the S line Zoo station. There I bought a ticket, once again receiving a discount because of my Welcome Berlin card, met up with my guide, Kenny and waited for the tour to kick off.

Our first stop was just around the corner to look at the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachtniskirche which remains in ruins to this day to remind everyone about the terrible cost of the war.

We then jumped on a bus and headed to the German Resistance Memorial.

Probably the most famous one time resident of this building (which was an Army headquarters during World War II) was Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg. He was the man who planted the bomb that probably came closest to killing Hitler. The whole subject has been made into a recent movies Valkyrie starring Tom Cruise, which I’m now even keener to see.

The above picture if taken in the courtyard where von Stauffenberg and other plotter where executed by firing squad. They stood approximately where the bronze statue now stands.

The museum is full of information not just about von Stauffenberg but about the German resistance to Nazis. Our tour guide gave a great run through of the events surrounding the von Stauffenberg plot in the actual rooms in which it took place. The above shot is actually from von Stauffenberg’s office.

After having a brief look through the museum we headed back to courtyard for a few more photos before heading off.

Above you can see some of the scars of the battle for Berlin between the remnants of German army and the Soviets. Our guide gave us a graphic account of those last days and the costs to both sides. His summary was that the battle for Berlin killed the equivalent of two of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima.

A bit further along we stopped at the memorial to the Nazi T 4 program. This was the beginning of the Nazi program of euthanasia for those who did not meet their ‘standards’. I must admit that I have never heard of this program and will certainly do some more research into it.

We then headed to Under den Linten across the Tiergarden and came across the memorial to the homosexuals murdered by the Nazis, which isn’t that far from the Holocaust memorial.

We crossed over the road and spent some time at the Holocaust memorial (which I visited yesterday) and spent some time giving us the sad facts and figures of what the Nazis inflicted.

We took a coffee break and then headed for the location of Hitler’s bunker which I also visited yesterday.

Our next stop was at this subway station. The reason is that that the marble you can see on the walls actually came from Hilter’s offices after it was destroyed.

We continued along the street some more and stopped outside what used to be the headquarters of the Luftwaffe. Which amazingly (by pure chance) survived the war.

A bit further down the street was a remaining piece of the Berlin All that I photographed last night.

A little further down is the Topography of Terror.

This is where the Nazi security services like the SS and Gestapo resided. The buildings where totally destroyed after the war the location cleared and levelled. They are now building a memorial and in the meantime they have an outdoor exhibit.

The tour finished up here with a brief overview of the legacy of the Nazi’s in today’s Germany.

I gotta say this tour was really worth the money. The Insider Tour guide (Kenny) was fantastic and I can’t recommend these guys highly enough. They run a whole heap of tours that are all worth doing. If you are in Berlin for any length of time do yourself a favour and take a tour. I’m even considering taking another one tomorrow I’m that impressed.

I returned to the marble subway station to head to the Stassi Museum (the old East German secret police headquarters)

The only problem is that teh majority of the museum is in German which makes it a little hard to get a full understanding of everything.

I headed back to the subway past some pretty drab block of units. It was interesting at how different this neighbourhood (old East Germany) was when compared to other places I’ve seen here. I was something that struck me straight away.

I returned to the Topograhie of Terror but was ushered out at 6pm when the exhibit closes. I’ll have to come back tomorrow to finish looking at all the information.