History Trip to Berlin
February 8, 2011On Friday 4th of February 48 students and 5 members of staff traveled to Berlin to visit the historical sites and monuments of the Nazi Reign and the Cold War. After travelling all day Friday, students woke bright and early Saturday morning and headed to the centre of Berlin. Here students visited The Reichstag, The Brandenburg Gate, Tiergarten, The Holocaust Memorial, the former site of the Fuherbunker, Topography of Terror, Checkpoint Charlie, Bebelplatz, Neue Wache and the Plotzensee Prison.
On Sunday the students visited the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp that operated between 1936 and 1945, housing 200,000 prisoners during that time. In contrast, the Olympiastadion, the home of the 1936 Olympics provided an insight into the propaganda at the time. At the British Military Cemetery students had an opportunity to reflect on their experiences. From the viewing tower at the Berlin Wall Documentation Centre they observed the original border fortifications.
Before traveling home the students explored the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial, the site of the main torture prison of the Stasi. They walked alongside the murals on the Berlin wall at the East Side Gallery. The last stop was the Treptow Park Soviet Memorial, a memorial to 20,000 Soviet soldiers that died during the battle of Berlin.
