Concentration Camp Sachsenhausen train&walk (6h), Berlin

We delve deep into the psychology of Nazi terror. See how atrocities developed from bad to worst in only 9 years. The system of concentration camps changed from protective custody via slave labour up to the "final solution"death camps. 3,000 inmates had to build this model camp in the forest during the Berlin Olympic Games 36. The camps architecture is a manifest for the SS´s omnipotent power over their victims. This camp hosted the overall administration for more than 1.000 camps. We visit authentic baracks, the death „Station Z“ as well as the medical research facilities of the "sick barracks". We talk about remembrance culture and societal learning in the mirror of the times, about the SS as an organization of a terrorist "elite", about perpetrators and victims. The tour is characterized by a high density of information. We talk about different storylines that happened here simultaneously. Our guides have the official certification of the memorial site.

Inclusions & Exclusions

✔ All fees and/or taxes

✖ You should bring some water and a snack with you as there is not much to buy on the site

✖ Public transport - you need an ABC ticket. Recommended is a 24 hour option. Sums up max 10 € p.p.

Departure & Return

Departure: ,

MP is at the corner Oranienburger Strasse / Tucholskystrasse. Directly beside S-Bahn (S1, S2 - check BVG) exit "Oranienburger Strasse". In front of an impressing brick building (former imperial post office).
The guide will be waiting with a very large umbrella in rainbow colors.

Return: End right where it started.

View Map

Itinerary

1

Stiftung Neue Synagoge Berlin - Centrum Judaicum See an amazing building in the heart of the former Jewish quarter of Berlin. It was build when the German Empire was formed. Jewish people were given then full citizen rights - after fighting in the French-German war 1870/71. See the fantastic but also alien Mauric architecture and hear the story behind. Learn about the variety of Jewish life in Berlin in the 1920ies. Learn why the biggest Synagogue in Germany survived the November Pogromes 1938. It is the story of a brave Prussian policeman following laws instead of a dictator. We will follow up this terrible history of burning Synagogues then at the memorial site in the barracks. We talk about the growing Nazi atrocities against Jewish people which finally ended in killing 6 million humans in death camps like Auschwitz.

Duration: 20 minutes

2

Oranienburg After a 45 minutes ride we get of the train in the town Oranienburg – exactly the way inmates arrived. We will talk about how Hitler overtook power and how the first „wild camps“ were build up - provisoric close to big cities. The first inmates were mostly political oponents as the Nazis in the first years had the focus on securing the power. We talk about how visible inmates had been in the town. They had to do slave work on so many places outside the camp and were often walking daily between camp and worksite. This typical German small town with a lot of industry was taking massive benefit. After the night oft he long knifes in 1934 the SS took over from the SA. The terror organisation was then running the camp and a lot of SS men were settling in town. Get the story of the untypical heavy air bombing on that site by US bombers in the last weeks of the war.

Duration: 20 minutes

3

Oranienburg At Bernauer Strasse we will visit the war memorial. Learn about the battle of Berlin by the Soviet army. They were liberating the camp on their way to the Berlin outskirts. We will talk about the last days of the camp, the death marches and how it went on the first weeks after the war for the former inmates.

Duration: 20 minutes

4

Oranienburg We will pass some remaining SS villas – a settlement created as a belt around the concentration camp. Learn how the SS was rewarding evil with career and wealth. In front of the T-building we will talk about the SS (Schutz Staffel) under the terrible minister of interior Heinrich Himmler. They felt themselves as the elite organisation that has to do the „necessary evil“. Learn about how ideology and psychology was manipulating men into monsters. The building was the center of evil, the former inspectorate of all concentration camps. We will explain you in what sense the Sachsenhausen concentration camp was the most important camp when it comes to administration.

Duration: 20 minutes

5

Gedenkstatte und Museum Sachsenhausen At the memorial site we will gain an overview at a huge map and see how the camp was growing in only 9 years. You learn what inmates experienced at „check In“. In tower A you get an idea about the perspective of the perpetrators. Through the famous „Arbeit macht frei“ we enter the roll call square and talk about daily camp life. in the rebuild „Jewish“ barrack you can imagine how life might have felt in an overcrowded wooden barn. In front of the former GDR memorial we discuss about remembering culture and how to create awareness. Station Z is corresponding with Tower A. The SS killed thousends here in the shooting trench and in the neck shooting system. See the remaining 4 crematory ovens. At the former infirmery barracks we talk about euthanasia and medical experiments. Finally we talk about how German society was struggeling more than one generation to create full awareness. Hear some stories about what happened to former victims and perpetrators.

Duration: 3 hours

Additional info

• Wheelchair accessible

• Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller

• Public transportation options are available nearby

• Transportation options are wheelchair accessible

• All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible

• Suitable for all physical fitness levels

• Please note: we will do a trainride of 30 km (45 minutes) to the town Oranienburg. You need ABC tickets (not included) from lokal public transport company "BVG". Best option is often the 24 hour mini group ticket. On the site we will walk about 4-5 km.

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