Student WW2 History Tour to Germany and Prague

Day 1

Flight to Munich

Flight to Munich: You depart from home today for the overnight flight to Munich

Day 2

Arrival in Munich. Walking tour and the Residence Palace

Arrival in Munich: You will be met by your Tour Manager and transfer to your hotel for check-in.

Walking Tour: This afternoon you have a walking tour exploring the historic Old Town area and Marienplatz in the center of the city. One of the highlights is the Glockenspiel. This famous clock chimes every day at 11 am, noon and 5 pm. When its 43 bells ring out, more than 30 figures make merry, fight and dance! At the top of the 255 feet tower is an observation deck that can be reached by elevator and which offers a birds-eye view across the roofs of the city, and on a clear day as far as the Bavarian Alps.

Residence Palace: You continue to the Residence Palace, the largest Renaissance building north of Italy. The palace was the former home of the Wittelsbach monarchs of Bavaria who ruled up until 1918. The palace includes magnificent State Rooms and a fine theater in the rococo design, and once hosted the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.

Day 3

The White Rose Memorial, the Alta Pinakothek Museum, the English Garden and the Hofbrauhaus

White Rose Memorial: This morning you visit the White Rose Memorial Museum at the Ludwig Maximillian University. On February 18, 1943, brother and sister Sophie and Hans Scholl were arrested while distributing the sixth White Rose leaflet in the University’s atrium. Their arrest marked the end for the White Rose resistance and they, along with several other members, were tried and executed. The tour includes a visit to the University Atrium where the leaflet was distributed. You continue to the Justizpalast to see Courtroom 253 where the actual trial took place at the Peoples Court, presided over by the notorious judge Roland Friesler, known as Hitler’s executioner. The film Sophie Scholl – the Final Days is required viewing before making this visit.

Alte Pinakothek: After lunch you explore the Alte Pinakothek, one of the world’s great art museums. It houses a large and important collection that represents the greatest European artists from the 14th to the 18th century, including Botticelli, Raphael, Titian, Dürer, Holbein, Rembrandt, Rubens, Bruegel, Hals, and El Greco.

The English Garden: The English Garden is the perfect place to visit in the late afternoon. One of the largest city parks in Europe, bigger even than Central Park, it was first laid out in 1789 and includes a Chinese Pagoda, cafes, and a lake and for boating.

The Hofbrauhaus: For dinner this evening you visit the famous Hofbrauhaus, the historic Beer Hall much favored by Hitler and other leading Nazis where you can sample traditional Bavarian dishes and enjoy some local live music.

Day 4

Berchtesgaden, the Berghof, the Eagles Nest and Hallein Salt Mines

Berchtesgaden: This morning you travel to Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps, close to the Austrian border. The narrow streets in the pretty pedestrian area are lined with pastel-colored houses in the traditional alpine style, with restaurants, cafés and souvenir shops. Bavarian traditions and customs are preserved here and there is often typical Bavarian music and dancing in the town center.

Obersalzburg and the Berghof: You visit the site of the Berghof, Hitler’s mountain retreat where he spent much time towards the end of the War and where he was so often filmed with Eva Braun. The Obersalzburg Document Center which is close by gives a narrative of the events that took place here.

The Eagles Nest: You take a trip to the Kehlsteinhaus restaurant and viewpoint, known in English as the Eagles Nest. This was once one of Hitler’s favorite retreats, gifted to him by Martin Boorman and the Nazi Party for his 50th birthday, and it has a superb panoramic view over the Alpine foothills. Getting to the Eagles Nest is quite a challenge – a narrow mountain road takes you high up to a tunnel in the rock from where an elevator whisks you up to the building.

Hallein Salt Mines: In the afternoon you go underground with a visit to the fascinating Salt Mines at Hallein. Deep underground, for over five centuries local miners have carved out tunnels and grottoes while extracting the salt rock, and today you can see incredible carvings and even chapels many hundreds of feet underground.

Day 5

Munich Olympic Park, BMW Museum and Dachau Concentration Camp

Munich Olympic Park: This morning you visit the Munich Olympic Stadium and Park, built for the 1972 Olympics. You do a stadium tour and can then ascend to the observation platform at the Olympiaturm, the Olympic Tower. The tower is 955 feet highand provides a spectacular panorama across the city and towards the Alps.

BMW Museum: Also located by the Olympic Park is the BMW Museum which documents the history and heritage of this most famous automobile maker. The museum building is a spectacular example of cutting-edge architecture in which many iconic BMW vehicles, both modern and historic, are on display.

Dachau Concentration Camp: After lunch you visit the concentration camp at Dachau. This was the first such camp and was established by the Nazis in 1933. Originally it held German Communists and other opponents of the Nazi regime, but it was subsequently expanded to hold Jewish prisoners, particularly after Kristallnacht, many of whom were deported to other camps in the East. Medical experiments and forced labor were part of the routine of Dachau and the camp became a training ground for the SS in the administering of other camps.

Travel to Nuremberg: In the afternoon you continue by road to the city of Nuremberg for check in at your hotel and dinner at a city restaurant.

Day 6

Nuremburg Nazi Party Rally Grounds, Nuremburg War Trials Court and Old Nuremburg

Nazi Party Rally Grounds: After lunch you visit the Zeppelinfeld, the huge parade ground used by the Nazis for their triumphalist marches and rallies of the 1930’s. The site has not changed significantly since the end of the War and is now periodically used for car racing and music festivals. As well as the main parade ground and grandstand, you can visit the Congress Hall and the informative Document Center with its permanent exhibition detailing the rise of the Nazi Party and the history of the rallies that took place here.

Nuremberg War Trials: This morning you visit the Court House where the Nuremberg War Trials took place in 1946. The building still functions as a court and the opening times are subject to court scheduling. There is an informative museum and a small observation windows where the press & visitors’ gallery once stood during the International Military Tribunal and which can give a glimpse into Courtroom 600 on days of ongoing trials. Assuming no trials are in session, the Courtroom 600 can be visited. The appearance has only changed slightly since 1946 and the locations where the defendants and judges were seated can all be identified.

Nuremberg Old Town: In the afternoon you have a walking tour of the Old Town area, the Altstadt, featuring the ruins of the ramparts that once surrounded the city. As well as the historic buildings you see the attractive Market Square with the Frauenkirche, Albrecht Dürer’s House and Monument, and the medieval shopping center of Handwerkerhof with its characterful half-timbered buildings.

Day 7

Following in the footsteps of Patton to Pilsen and Prague

Travel to Prague: This morning you depart from Nuremburg by private bus, traveling towards Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. Along the route we will stop for lunch in Plzen, in Western Bohemia, a city famous for its beer and breweries and also known as Pilsen.

Pilsen and General Patton: In May 1945, the US Third Army led by General Patton entered Pilsen to liberate the Czech people from six years of occupation by Nazi Germany. We visit Pilsen’s ‘Thank You America’ Memorial, a unique commemorative piece of history. We also visit the Patton Memorial Museum which documents the advance of the US Army through Bohemia. The museum displays more than a thousand exhibits from private collections as well as items left behind by US soldiers.

Prague: After lunch you continue the journey to Prague, the capital city of the Czech Republic, where you check into your centrally located hotel.

Walking Tour: In the afternoon there will be a short walking tour of Old Town Prague. You see the gothic town hall with its famous astronomical clock before continuing to the pedestrian Charles Bridge which connects Prague’s Old Town to the so-called Little Quarter. Spanning the Vltava River, this is one of the most famous and visited sites in the city and in the summer, it throngs with tourists.

Evening: Dinner this evening will be at a characterful restaurant in the Old Town district of the city.

Day 8

Historical Prague, the KBG Museum and the Secret Nuclear Bunker

Discovering Historical Prague: This morning you visit Prague Castle which dates to the 9th century. Here you will find St. Vitus Cathedral, the city’s most prominent landmark. The Cathedral was founded in 1344 but was not fully completed until 1953, a period of some 600 years, with much of the work being done in the 19th and early 20th centuries. As such, it contains a unique blend of Renaissance, Baroque and Gothic styles. We also visit the Old Royal Palace, the seat of the Bohemian Kings. The tour includes Golden Lane, one of Prague’s most charming streets with its colorful historic houses.

KGB Museum: After lunch you visit Prague’s KGB Museum which contains everything from a death mask of Lenin to the various secret cameras and spying equipment used by Lavrentiy Beria’s secret police, the NKVD. It also claims to have the ice pick used to assassinate Trotsky in Mexico in 1940.

Secret Nuclear Bunker: You continue with a visit to the Secret Nuclear Bunker at the Hotel Jalta. This was built by the Communist regime under the hotel so they could use it if a nuclear war ever broke out between the East and West. In case of war, the Warsaw Pact countries would have had their military headquarters here. The bunker was kept secret for many years but was revealed after the Velvet revolution of 1989. It is now open to the public and offers a glimpse into how the regime planned to survive nuclear fallout in the event of war.

Day 9

Travel to Dresden. Walking tour of the city and the Military History Museum

Travel to Dresden: This morning you travel back into Germany to the city of Dresden. The city was once one of the most elegant cities in Europe but was almost completely destroyed by Royal Air Force bombing raids over the nights of February 13-15, 1945 when high explosives and incendiary bombs were dropped in their thousands. The resulting fire storm killed an estimated 25,000 people and was witnessed by author Kurt Vonnegut who was a POW in Dresden at the time of the raids.

Dresden Walking Tour: On arrival there will be a walking tour. We begin at the Statue of the Golden Horsemen by the Augustusbrücke bridge which reveals a superb panorama of the baroque skyline and old city. We see the Opera House and Frauenkirche, both completely destroyed and rebuilt as exact replicas. We also see the Royal Palace – the Residenzschloss – which has also been faithfully reconstructed from its post-war ruins.

Military History Museum: In the afternoon we visit the Military History Museum which opened in 2011. The main architect, Daniel Libeskind, responsible for many cutting-edge and unorthodox designs, created a spectacular arrowhead which projects from the neo-classical façade of the original nineteenth century building which was formerly the city Armoury. The museum encompasses a broad swathe of military history from Medieval times and the Prussian period through to the 20th Century, the World Wars and the Cold War.

Day 10

Travel to Berlin. Potsdam Conference and Wannsee Conference House

Travel to Berlin: Today we travel to Berlin. As we approach the city, we will stop in the historic town of Potsdam with its sumptuous palaces in the baroque rococo style. New Palace and Sanssouci were both built in the middle of the 18th century by Frederick the Great, the King of Prussia and have extensive gardens. A third palace, Cecilienhof, was built between 1914 and 1917 in the style of an English country house.

Potsdam Conference House: Cecilienhof is famous for hosting the Potsdam Conference after the end of WW2. These were the negotiations between Stalin, Truman and Churchill (subsequently Clement Attlee) which took place from July 17 to August 2, 1945. We can see the room in which the meetings took place and the table at which the leaders sat.

Wannsee Conference House: We then continue to Wannsee Conference House where the ‘Final Solution’ conference was held on January 20, 1942. The villa is located on the shores of Wannsee, a beautiful lake surrounded by forests which belies the sinister nature of the meeting. Leading Nazis including Reinhard Heydrich and Adolf Eichmann attended the conference, which decided the ultimate fate of Europe’s Jews.

Evening: After dinner we will have time to explore the historic Nikolai Quarter. This is the last remaining section of Berlin as it would have been before the Red Army redesigned the city in April 1945. Even now the majority of the apparently medieval and baroque buildings were authentically reconstructed after WW2.

Day 11

Berlin Walking Tour and the Reichstag Building

Berlin Walking Tour: After lunch you have a Berlin Walking Tour which explores many of the key historic sites spanning the Nazi era. At Bebelplatz you can see where Nazi book burnings took place. You walk along the Unter den Linden and pass through the famous Brandenburg Gate which marked the division between East and West Berlin. Beyond this lies the location of the Fuhrer Bunker and the New Reich Chancellery although aside from an information plaque nothing now remains above ground except a parking lot and anonymous apartment buildings. You then continue to the Holocaust Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe. At Wilhelm Strasse, once the most feared address in the Third Reich, Goering’s Air Ministry building has survived, almost identical today to its wartime appearance, minus the swastikas and bronze eagles. Finally, you continue to Checkpoint Charlie, the famous crossing point between East and West Berlin.

Reichstag Building: In the afternoon you visit the Reichstag Building, the seat of the German Parliament, to see the spectacular dome which was designed by the British architect Norman Foster. The Reichstag building was notorious for the fire in 1933 which was the pretext for the Nazi’s seizing complete power in the Enabling Act. In 1945 it was the place where the Red Army raised the Hammer and Sickle flag to mark their victory in the Battle of Berlin. After the War it remained derelict for many years while the Federal Capital was moved to Bonn. After the reunification of Germany in 1990 the building was renovated and the Bundestag, the new German Parliament, met there for the first time in April 1999. The tour allows you to ascend the glass dome and access the roof of the Reichstag for views across the city.

Sony Center:  This evening you have dinner in the spectacular Sony Center, built at Potsdamer Platz. This square was once the center of Berlin, but it was marooned in no-man’s-land during the city’s division. Only since 1990 and reunification has it been redeveloped into the modern heart of the Capital.

Day 12

Topography of Terror, the Pergamon Museum and West Berlin

Topography of Terror: This morning you visit the Topography of Terror, a museum and memorial to the victims of Nazi rule. The museum stands on the former site of the Gestapo and Reich Security Office. The museum opened in 2010 and examines the history of the location as well as the institutions of terror of the Nazi government district and the crimes committed all over Europe.

Pergamon Museum: After lunch you go to Museum Island where you visit the Pergamon Museum, famous for its Greek and Roman antiquities. The museum should be visited, if only to see the incredible Ishtar Gate which was built at Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in 575 BC. Although partly a reconstruction, the elaborate and vibrant glazed bricks would have been a spectacular site for those entering the city. Also on display here and of similar magnitude is the Gate of Miletus, an outstanding piece of Roman architecture.

Kurfürstendamm: In afternoon you have a walking tour through the center of former West Berlin. This is a fashionable and cosmopolitan part of the city with many upscale shops and restaurants, but the Kaiser-Wilhelm Church stands out. It suffered significant bomb damage during WW2 and has been left in its current damaged state as a reminder of the consequences of war.

Hard Rock Café: Dinner this evening will be at the Hard Rock Café on Kurfürstendamm

Day 13

Berlin Wall Memorial and German Resistance Center

Berlin Wall Memorial: This morning you take the U-Bahn to Bernauer Strasse and visit the fascinating Berlin Wall Memorial. 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.

German Resistance Memorial Center: This afternoon you visit the German Resistance Memorial Center which remembers those who had the courage to stand up to Hitler and the Nazis. The building was originally a German military headquarters which survived the war intact. Claus von Stauffenberg, who attempted to assassinate Hitler, had his office here. The centre also has exhibits documenting the Edelweiss Pirates, and also the White Rose group which saw young Munich university students publish and distribute pamphlets attacking Hitler and the Nazis, and for which many of them faced execution. Berlin TV Tower: This evening you take a trip to the top of the Berlin TV Tower for a sensational view across the city.

Day 14

Flight Home

Flight Home: Your rewarding and enjoyable tour concludes as your Tour Manager accompanies you to the airport for your flight back home.