Embedded Files
Examine WWII and the Holocaust, focusing on the conditions that led to Nazi power and genocide. Visit Munich, Berlin, Dachau concentration camp, and the Wannsee Conference site. Walking tours, museums, and discussions provide historical context, encouraging reflection on political oppression and moral responsibility. Share insights with the school community, fostering awareness and critical thinking about history’s lessons.
Day 1
Day 1
Yesterday we left late from DIA to board the plane for Munich, Germany. We had a long ten hour flight, but entertained ourselves with movies. We were in good hands as one of our student's uncles was the pilot! After arriving in Germany we went through customs and took a long one hour train ride to our Hotel in the city center of Munich. Since we got into our hotel at around 4:30 pm we did not have time for sightseeing and had a delicious dinner at 6 pm. We are now ready for bed and excited to take on our walking tour tomorrow.
Day 2
Day 2
Today we started bright and early with a traditional Bavarian breakfast of pretzel, bread, cheese and eggs. We then took the metro line down to our tour group at Radius Tours. Our kind tour guide led us on a 2 and a half hour walking tour throughout the city center of Munich. The tour was focused on the Third Reich and Hitler's rise to power in Munich specifically. We learned about the history, the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923, the former botanical gardens, the current palace of justice and the old residence of the monarchy of Bavaria. We walked through the famous Hofbrauhaus and ate lunch at a traditional Bavarian restaurant called Augustiner Klosterwirt.
Later in the day we took the train to the edge of the city to the BMW Museum. We had a guided tour for one hour and learned about the importance of BMW as an international brand. We saw old and new sports cars, saw the original James Bond car as well as Elvis's infamous white BMW. It was fascinating to learn about the new technology that is coming out of BMW and to also learn about its past.
We finished the day eating more German food at Löwenbrauerkeller. We now feel like pros at the German metro/tram station. While the weather was cold we had a great first day!
Day 3
Day 3
Today was the most challenging day in our Germany trip because we took a tour around the former concentration camp of Dachau. We had a long tour from 10-3 and our guide was an American musician who had lived in Germany for 43 years. During Covid he decided to become a tour guide at Dachau and took a six month course to become certified. The bus journey we took from the center of town to the main gates of the camp was the same path previous victims took on their way to Dachau concentration camp. We weren't the only school group there, as there were many German high school students also visiting for the day. It used to be compulsory in school to go, however now the laws have changed slightly and it is strongly encouraged for all school children to visit a concentration camp.
Visiting Dachau was a very moving experience and our guide not only told us facts about the camp, he recounted stories of many victims such as the one man who escaped Dachau and the first man who was sent there in 1933. In fact, Dachau was the first concentration camp to be opened and it was originally where political opponents of the Nazis would be sent. Anyone who did not vote for the German Workers Party which would later become the Nazi party would be sent there. It opened a few weeks after Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and later became the model for all concentration camps.
Dachau was not bombed by the Allied troops because they happened to stumble upon the camp not knowing of its existence beforehand. Because of this, the Nazi's also didn't know the Allies were coming and did not have time to burn their records. This means that the original buildings of the camp are still standing today as well as the records kept by the Nazis on every prisoner who entered the camp.
Our students did an incredible job being respectful and asking great questions of our tour guide. It was difficult to hear about the horrible things that happened to people in Dachau and see first hand the gas chambers and crematoriums. Going to Dachau in person was an experience that none of us will forget.
Day 4
Day 4
Today was our last day in Munich and to be honest it felt a bit bittersweet. We finally had gotten the hang of the metro station and we knew our way around the center of Munich like pros. I bet if you asked any of the students to tell you how to get to RosenheimerPlatz or MarienPlatz they would know. It was also a sunny day in Munich and the sky was blue as we sadly said our goodbyes.
Before leaving for our 4 hour train ride to Berlin we decided to make one last stop at the Palace of Justice where we were met by our wonderful tour guide. She brought us on a tour of the Palace of Justice to learn about the group known as the White Roses. The White Roses were a group of students from the University of Munich who resisted Hitler's Nazi Regime by passing out pamphlets against the dictatorship. They always signed their pamphlets with "The White Rose" so no one knew who actually wrote them. One day, someone bumped into the students at the University in the hallway and in doing so all of the pamphlets went flying out of their hands and landed all over the ground. One observer who was a supporter of the Nazi Party saw this happen and reported them immediately to the police. The next day they were sentenced in front of three judges who happened to all be loyal Nazi supporters and were immediately sentenced to death. Four days after their identity was discovered they were executed.
Our tour guide, who is a judge herself in the Bavarian Civil Courts, kept emphasizing the role of the Judiciary System in supporting Nazi Germany. Instead of being unbiased, they used the law to support their Nazi ideology and sentenced many people to jail and to death for resisting the dictatorship. After the war ended, the main judges who sentenced the White Roses were put on trial. The main judge was killed in a bomb attack in 1945, however the other two were still alive after the war. While they had the same amount of culpability as the main judge due to their voting power, they were never sentenced to jail for their crimes.
After the war, many judges and lawyers who worked for the Nazis remained in the court system in Germany. Very few people in the judiciary system received any consequences. Our guide stressed the importance of judges in Germany now upholding the rule of law and constantly asking oneself what is justice, what is right and what is unjust.
Day 5
Day 5
Today we discovered the center of Berlin including the Reichstag, the Jewish Memorial, the Tiergarten and the Museum Topography of Terror. We started our day with a walking tour around Berlin. Our tour guide Xavier first showed us to the Reichstag and explained the importance of this building in helping Hitler gain absolute power. In 1933, the Nazis staged a fire at the Reichstag that they blamed on the Communist. They then used this event to enact Marshall law and absolute power across Germany. Seeing it in person was a really special moment for our group as we have learned so much about it in the past few days.
We also visited a monument to the fallen soldiers of the Soviet Union that stands next to the Tiergarten in the center of Berlin. The monument was fascinating because it commemorated lost soldiers from the Soviet Union during 1941-1945 who died in World War II. It is a controversial monument because taxpayers are paying for its upkeep even though it commemorates soldiers who committed horrible atrocities against the people of Berlin.
Later we went to the location where Hitler's final bunker was. It would have been easy to miss it because today it is just a parking lot with a sign saying that this is where Hitler committed suicide in his bunker. The German government has made it an unimportant site for a reason, because they do not want to give any attention to Hitler and the atrocities he commited. Right next door is the Jewish Memorial composed of 2,711 concrete blocks that are separated and gradually become taller. The memorial site is meant to represent many different things and has been interpreted to look like tombstones and to make the visitor feel trapped and claustrophobic and think about how such a horrible atrocity could happen.
We ended our day at the Museum known as the Topography of Terror. The Museum was extremely informative, while also being a heavy subject matter because it dived deep into how the Nazi Police known as the SS were formed and who were the key players. We learned so much new information about the Nazis in Berlin and tomorrow we will learn about the Berlin Wall and the Cold War.
While we engaged with difficult subject matter today, we also saw the beauty of the center of the German capital. We are very excited to learn more tomorrow and hope that the sun continues to keep shining!
Day 6
Day 6
Today we had our second walking tour of Berlin that focused on the Cold War and the Berlin Wall. Our guide, Xavier, walked us to a metro station that used to be divided between the West and Eastern side of The Wall. We learned about the guards posted there to watch the tunnels for anyone trying to escape to the West. Today, this metro station is used daily to get around Berlin and is called the North Bahnhof.
We then walked to the Berlin Wall Memorial. We learned about the impossible task of escaping the East and all of the ways that people in East Berlin tried to survive from 1961-1989. It was hard to imagine that the wall was put up over night and many people were stuck on the wrong side of the wall by morning. The people in East Berlin suffered horrible psychological distress with 1 in 8 people being a member of the Stasi (the secret police). All phones and homes were tapped and one could not talk freely. Eventually, as a way to talk to friends without being overhood, ping pong became the sport de jour because a ping pong hall was noisy and microphones could not pick up on conversations.
The end of our day consisted of a long walk to the Jewish Museum which happened to be closed once we got there, even though it had said it was open. It was disappointing, however, we walked by Checkpoint Charlie and briefly learned about the significance of this landmark. We ended the day walking by the Brandenburg Gate and having some time to shop at The Mall of Berlin.
Tomorrow we go to Potsdam and we are so excited to see more!
Day 7
Day 7
Happy Friday,
Today we visited the wonderful town of Potsdam! We were met by our tour guide at the train station who brought us to the center of Potsdam and the royal palace. It had beautiful baroque buildings and an interesting fact is that many of the original buildings were bombed during the war, but were reconstructed to look like the original palaces and churches.
Later in the day we took a tour of the Jewish Museum of Berlin. It was an incredible experience to learn so much about the Jewish population of Germany. It was such a large exhibit that we could have stayed many hours more, but unfortunately did not have time.
We finished our day at a typical German restaurant. We are sad to say goodbye to Berlin, but we are very excited to see all our friends and family back in Colorado!
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