Summer Three-City Tour - Berlin

We planned this trip to Europe for about ten months and were excited to be on the way. The first stop on our summer three-city tour was Berlin.

After checking into the hotel, we headed out to see the sites. We took the bus tour first thing in Berlin and in the other cities we visited. We like the bus tours, they give you a map and headset and really help you get your bearings in a new city.

First full day in Berlin and we are all rested and ready to go. We are up for our walking tour of Berlin and excited to be at our favorite coffee place before heading out.

Suspected and confirmed they are everywhere . . . good coffee to go!

Bebalplatz

Bebalplatz was an early stop on our day two walking tour. The curved building below is part of Humboldt University now, and the pink-colored building is the State Opera House. Interestingly, the opera house was destroyed twice over the years and rebuilt both times.

During Hitler’s time, twenty thousand books were burned at Bebalplatz. To remember, a memorial was created in the middle of the square containing the following quote…

That was but a prelude; where they burn books,
they will ultimately burn people as well.
Heinrich Heine 1820

Close to the plack, a glass window embedded in the square highlights the empty bookshelves commemorating the book burnings.

Berlin Wall

Later in the day, we had our first glimpse of the Berlin wall.

The history of the Berlin Wall is pretty interesting. After World War II, Berlin split between the allies. The Soviet Union, the US, France, and England. People from East Berlin (Soviet) kept leaving to go to West Berlin (the other 3 counties). Suddenly one night, the Soviets put up a barbed-wire fence to keep people in. The remains of the wall in these pictures are from the third version of the wall . . . complete with rebar, and the rounded section at the top. Rebar added to the walls to keep cars from attempting to drive through them; the rounded top made it difficult to grasp and thereby impossible for folks to climb.

In the picture below, you can see the two walls: the shorter one in front, where the steel beams are located, and the taller one behind. The gap between the two walls known as the “death strip”, and is wider in some areas making it more difficult to escape without notice.

The Soviets posted sentry towers close enough that each could see the next one. The sentries would kill anyone trying to cross, and yet some escaped anyway. One story we heard was of a man who waited until dark, went up into a nearby office building, tossed a rope to a family member on the west side, then he and his family ziplined over the wall. Many others dug tunnels underneath the wall.

Checkpoint Charlie

Checkpoint Charlie was one of the crossings between East and West Germany before 1989. Apparently, it was the most used checkpoint. Wondering how the name Checkpoint Charlie came to be? Us too. Easy answer, it was number three in the list of checkpoints: alpha, bravo, Charlie. The guide told us the guy in the picture was just a random soldier picture the military chose for the site. Not actually Charlie. Interesting story for such a famous place.

Holocaust Memorial

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe also known as the Holocaust Memorial resides near the Berlin Wall in a death strip area. Not only are the stones different sizes, but the ground has many ups, downs, and slopes. Definitely worth a visit if you get to Berlin. Very thought-provoking.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Berlin, Germany, Summer Three-City Tour

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Berlin, Germany

On our last day in Berlin, we took a tour of Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. I couldn’t help but reflect on the many people who died there, visualizing them moving around the camp—working, trying to survive, or dying. Approximately 100,000 people died at Sachsenhausen from 1936 to 1945. It was a sobering experience. I’ll have another post about the visit to Sachsenhausen in the future.

Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, Berlin Germany

Berliner Dom

In the later part of the day, we visited the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral). After walking around inside for a bit, we climbed to the top (270 steps). After I caught my breath from the climb, we saw the most amazing view all around Berlin. It was definitely well worth the climb!