History Trip to Berlin

At the start of October half term, 34 Fifth Year students travelled to Berlin to explore some of the topics that they had been studying in their History GCSE first-hand. 

The city was at its most beautiful in the Autumn sunshine and we managed to visit a huge number of places of interest in just three days. 

During our first two days we explored the history of Nazi Germany, visiting the site of the Holocaust Memorial, the Olympic Stadium where the 1936 Games were held, and the House at Wannsee where leading Nazis met to prepare the ‘Final Solution’. Perhaps the most moving of our visits was to the former concentration camp at Sachsenhausen where we were able to see for ourselves the conditions in which those considered to be ‘enemies’ of the Nazi regime were held and learn more about life – and all too often death – in the camps. 

On the third day of the trip our attentions turned to the Cold War and Berlin’s unique position as the meeting place between the communist East and capitalist West. After a fascinating trip to the DDR Museum which allowed us to step back in time to see what life was like in East Berlin, we explored the history of the Berlin Wall with a visit to Checkpoint Charlie and the brilliant Berlin Wall memorial on Bernauer Strasse. 

We particularly enjoyed learning about all of the amazing escape attempts and seeing ‘Tunnel 29’ which allowed 29 men, women and even children to escape from East to West in 1962.

Although cancelled flights added an extra dimension to the end of our trip, the students were absolutely incredible and handled their detour via Nuremberg and Munich with amazing good grace and humour!

Flickr album: 5th Year History Trip to Berlin - October 2022 | Height: auto | Theme: Default | Skin: Default Skin