Berlin Cold War History School Trip

The Berlin Wall Memorial is set out across a large site where the Wall used to separate the two halves of Berlin. You can see the marked routes of the tunnels dug by those trying to escape from East Berlin, and also those dug by the Stasi to get into West Berlin to kidnap people. There is a preserved section of Wall with lookout tower, and a very informative museum and exhibition which, among other things, documents the individual stories of those escapees. There is also a memorial to the many East Berliners who were shot whilst trying to escape to the West.

Take a trip to the top of the Berlin TV Tower, the Fernsehturm, for a sensational panoramic view of the city. The tower was built in the days when Berlin was a divided city and was intended to be a symbol of East German Communist power.

The Prison Museum at Hohenschönhausen is the so-called Stasi Prison. As recently as 1989 this was used by the East German secret service to imprison domestic enemies of the East German state., a mixture of dissidents and intellectuals and those who had tried to escape to the West. The prison is now a museum and memorial, but you can see the cells in which prisoners were kept, often in solitary confinement, and the interrogation rooms which were used to threaten and intimidate. The bleak concrete walls with watchtowers and barbed wire fences are an incongruous site in 21st century Berlin and show just how much has changed over the past 30 years.

The Museum in the Kulturbrauerei, also known as the GDR Museum, documents ordinary life in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and gives you a great picture of life under Communism. This somewhat quirky and out-of-the way museum shows what life was like for ordinary East Germans during the period from the formation of the East German state until the fall of the Berlin Wall. Many East Germans look back with some nostalgia on some aspects of their society, whilst others are happy to forget about it. The museum is located close to the Berlin Wall Memorial.

The Stasi Museum is located in the former headquarters of the East German secret police who were known as the Stasi. As recently as 1989, this was a greatly feared building in which the East German state directed espionage against its own people, as well as West Berliners and other Germans. From 1957 until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, this anonymous building was the office of Erich Mielke, the head of the Stasi, who ruthlessly suppressed dissent in East Germany and sent many of its citizens to prison for lengthy periods for various so-called ‘crimes against the state’. In 1990 after the fall of the Berlin Wall, protesters stormed and ransacked the building, scenes which were broadcast live on TV. Today it has been preserved as a museum and, as well as various exhibits which show how the Stasi spied on people in every walk of life, you can also visit the offices of Erich Mielke, suspended in time in a kind of East German time capsule of beige and grey.

At the end of World War 2, the city of Berlin was divided into four zones, each administered by one of the four victorious powers. Checkpoint Charlie was the main crossing between the American zone and the Russian zone and was a scene of intrigue and spy swaps. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification, the area was re-designed, and nothing now remains of the original American check post. Today just a small replica hut stands on the site. There are also various exhibits which document the ever-changing appearance of the former border area.

Although most of the Berlin Wall has been torn down, there remains a 1-mile preserved section made famous since 1990 by the varied street art and graffiti which it now supports.  The so-called East Side Gallery is the location of some of the most famous street art in the World including the iconic 1991 painting of former East German leader Erich Honecker kissing Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev.

The DDR Museum is located opposite Museum Island in the heart of the city and offers an immersive experience into East German life before reunification.

Somewhat off the beaten track, this fascinating museum documents the American and Allied presence in the city during the cold war period. There is a focus on the Berlin Airlift and you can see some of the original aircraft used in the supply of the city. There is also a cinema which was built for American GI’s to watch Hollywood films, and the museum houses the original Checkpoint Charlie building.