History/RS trip to Berlin and Krakow
Piece contributors: Lucie Brinker, Robbie Maclean, Alfie Dackombe, Ben Pearson, Hattie Dunn and
Tabitha Gulliver-Lawrence
At the start of the Easter break, a group of 35 pupils from years 10, 11, L6 and U6
and four teachers travelled to eastern Germany to begin a three-day visit to
Berlin, before moving to spend three days in Krakow in Poland. The trip was to
help learn and understand about the history and ethical issues surrounding what
life was like for those living under the Nazi regime.
On the first day of our trip, we had a tour around Berlin and we saw the Reichstag from the outside.
The Reichstag is the building of the German parliament, the Bundestag. The building was designed
by Paul Wallot and built southeast of the river Spree. After ten years of construction work, the final
stone was laid by Kaiser Wilhelm II on 5 December 1894. Before this, there were two other
Reichstage, all with different uses such as hosting different governing bodies that served as part of
the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. When the new German Reich was founded in 1871
after the Franco-Prussian war, its government needed a parliament building and they chose the
Reichstag. Building it costed 24 million marks and it originally looked different to how it does now. On
top of the building there are now the dome and a roof terrace which visitors can access and have a
tour around, whether that’s at night time or during the day. When the building was first constructed
many hundreds of years ago, it didn’t have either and the dome was only introduced in 1894 when
the building was used for the recently founded German Reich. In 1933, the Reichstag had been badly
damaged and especially the dome when the building was set on fire. There is still no proof but the
Nazis are believed to be responsible for this. During the 12 years of Nazi ruling, the Reichstag building
had not been used. The building hadn´t been fully repaired and was damaged even more during the
second world war when it was bombed. It took many years to rebuild and repair the building and it
was first used again for German political purposes in 1990. The Reichstag with its new dome was
officially opened in 1999 with the availability for visitors to access. On the second day of our tour, we
went into the Reichstag dome in the evening. We had headsets which gave us information about the
building and its history. Even though it was already dark, we had a wonderful view on Berlin and
enjoyed our walk around the dome and seeing more of Berlin when strolling around the roof terrace.
At the centre of the Nazi regime was propaganda: material designed to make people think and
behave in a certain way. One of the biggest set-pieces of propaganda was the 1936 Olympic Games,
held in Berlin, which allowed the Nazis to show off all that was great about Germany in the 1930s.
We arrived at the Olympic stadium on our second day in Berlin, after a short coach journey from out
hotel. The stadium was a symbol of the Nazi affluence during that period and was based in Western
Berlin. The Olympics were used as a propaganda tool, and all thoughts and feelings regarding antiSemitic behaviours were kept quiet. The Olympic stadium greeted us with a huge presence and the
entrance toward over. It features impressive Nazi architecture and showed how they achieved power.
This was the first Olympics to be televised but was also radio broadcasted in over 28 languages. It
was built between 1934 and 1936 to serve as the centrepiece of the 1936 Olympic Games. It opened
on the 1st of August 1936 with the Olympic opening ceremony. During the Olympics the record
attendance was over 100,000 and the most notable event during the Games were the four gold
medals of African-American track and field athlete Jesse Owens. The stadium remained largely
unchanged until it underwent a major renovation in 1972, which had the main aim of using the
stadium for the upcoming 1974 World Cup. The works included the construction of two roofs over
the upper tiers of both long sides. The stadium had significantly aged by the 1990s and the city of
Berlin started a debate over its future. Some wanted it as a purpose built football stadium, however
decision was finalised to name it as a multi-purpose stadium. Although it has changed since 1936,
the grand architecture was a reminder of how, even in their buildings, the Nazis wanted to impose
their political views on the people of Germany.
The economic recovery which Hitler brought to Germany was based primarily on rearming the country,
ready to recover territory which had been lost after World War One, and to create ‘living space’ for
the Germans over whom Hitler ruled. Within this living space, no Jews were to be allowed. Territorial
conquests in the prelude to World War Two saw an increasing number of Jews come under the
German sphere of influence, and a series of increasingly restrictive measures were taken against Jews
in retaliation for what was perceived as Jewish responsibility for all of Germany’s ills. With the outbreak
of war with Russia in 1941, what the Nazis termed the ‘Jewish problem’ could no longer be solved by
forced Jewish emigration.
On January 20, 1942, high-ranking members of the SS, the police force, the government
administration and the Nazi party met to discuss the “final solution of the Jewish question” in the
Villa Minoux on the Greater Wannsee, the guesthouse of the Security Police and the Security Service
. Since 1992, the memorial and educational site has had a permanent exhibition in the Wannsee
Conference’s historical rooms. There are tours of the exhibition accompanied by discussions. We were
lucky enough to be given a tour of the villa on the third day of our trip. It was very detailed and gave
us not only the story of the Wannsee conference but also the reasons why it happened and the history
of anti-Semitism leading up to that point. It was a very interesting talk and definitely a highlight of a
very good trip.
With the decision made at Wannsee to move towards ‘the Final Solution’, the systematic mass-murder
of the Jews of Europe, existing Nazi labour camps were to be converted to death camps. The most
famous of these is Auschwitz. Auschwitz is undeniably the most famous Nazi extermination camp. It
is a place I personally believe everyone should try and visit at least once in their life. While you may
learn about its history and the sheer number of deaths that occurred within its walls nothing can truly
prepare you for when you step inside. On Monday the 27th of March, we visited the two remaining
camps. Auschwitz 1 and Auschwitz Birkenau. Once we had been supplied with headsets in order to
hear our tour guide and entered through the iconic gates that read “work will set you free” we had
our first real look at Auschwitz 1. It was rows upon rows of plain brick buildings, with fences
surrounding its perimeter. Our tour guide led us into various buildings, of which the first few supplied
us with its history. We were then showed into the rooms that contained the property of Jews and
other Nazi “undesirables”. Perhaps most memorable were the thousands of shoes all piled up behind
glass. After being shown examples of punishments we were taken to a gas chamber. Absolute silence
had to be kept as we walked through. We could see the scratches on the walls left by those who had
tried to claw their way out. It was indescribable. We were then driven to Auschwitz Birkenau. Although
most of the buildings have been destroyed, we could still see how enormous it was. Stretching acres
in every direction. It’s estimated as a minimum that 2.1-2.5 million Jews died there. Perhaps most
hauntingly we were shown into a building in which sick women were kept. It was intended to contain
750 women but often there were over 1000. In winter the life expectancy there was a matter of days
if you were lucky. Later in the afternoon we met a holocaust survivor. She explained to us that her
parents had given her to a nunnery before they were taken to a concentration camp. From there she
had been adopted and had been on the run from the Nazis for the majority of her childhood. It was
fascinating yet so awful to learn what life was like for Jews during the Second World War. Even those
who had managed to avoid capture. I can’t imagine I’ll ever forget the experience and I feel privileged
to have met her. Especially since every day there are less survivors from the holocaust.
Poland today is a far cry from the Poland of World War Two. One of the most magisterial sites is the
city of Krakow, which was our base for our stay. Krakow is known for its well-preserved medieval core
and Jewish quarter. The old town is centered on the expansive market plaza, the site of the Cloth
Hall and St. Mary’s Basilica, a 14th-century Gothic church. Krakow is also the site of Wawel Castle,
built in the fourteenth century, and used by Hans Frank as his residence after he was named Nazi
Governor-General of the German-occupied Polish territories in October 1939.
On our first day in Krakow we were given a guided tour of the main historical sites of the city. We
started by walking around the main Jewish sector, with the main square where the biggest synagogue
in Krakow is situated, there was a memorial to remember all of the Jews that lost their lives as a
result of the holocaust, one thing that was significant to see on the memorial was stones and pebbles
all of different shapes and sizes. This is a tradition carried out by Jews as they believe that as a stone
lives forever so does the soul of the dead, they are used as a symbol of this. We then proceeded to
walk to another sector of Krakow where Schindler's list was filmed.
However the main aspect of the tour was to the Wawel Castle, which is over 900 years old and, as
the Polish national sanctuary, has traditionally served as the coronation site of the Polish monarchs as
well as the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Krakow. The walls inside are all painted in stark white
and the flooring is a light coloured stone, there are three different floors, which were inhabited by the
servants and the royalty living there at the time. We were able to see all of the tapestries that had
been created using gold and silver threads, which originally consisted of 365 pieces to decorate the
interior, in one room the ceiling was lined with 30 human heads that had been made to symbolise
that you are always watched.
The main attraction that most of us saw was the oil painting Lady with an ermine, by Leonardo Da
Vinci it is quite small in size and has the dimensions 54cm x 39cm painted in about 1489-1490. We
were only allowed to see this because the teachers had queued for the last tickets of the day and I’m
sure for this everyone is grateful.
The end of the war in 1945 did not lead to a united Europe. Germany was instead divided in two:
the Communist East, under the control of the Soviet Union, and the Capitalist West, under the control
of Britain, France, and the USA. On 13 August 1961, the Soviet Union erected the Berlin Wall to stop
citizens moving from the communist east to the capitalist west of the city. The Brandenburg Gate,
built on the site of a former city gate that marked the start of the road from Berlin to the town of
Brandenburg, became one of the eight Berlin Wall crossings which were opened, carefully monitored,
and extensively barricaded. When the Nazis had come to power, they used the gate as a party
symbol, and following the building of the Berlin Wall, the gate itself was isolated and inaccessible
immediately next to the Berlin Wall. When the Revolutions of 1989 occurred and the Berlin Wall was
demolished, the Gate came to symbolise freedom and the desire for unification; indeed, the Gate
today is considered not only a symbol of the tumultuous history of Europe and Germany, but also of
European unity and peace. There was no greater illustration of this than when, in a gesture of solidarity
following the Westminster Terror Attack at the start of the Easter break, the Brandenburg Gate was
illuminated with the Union Jack in an act which was beamed around the world. We were lucky enough
to be there to witness this in person.
Even in 2017, then, a Gate that has symbolised both unity and division, not only of a city but of a
country and a continent, serves to remind us that unity, cooperation and understanding are the
bulwarks against hatred, division and fear. In a world that seems increasingly unpredictable, it is good
to remember that, as John F. Kennedy said, If we cannot end our differences, at least we can
help make the world safe for diversity. In remembering the victims of Auschwitz, we must never
forget how intolerance and fear of what is different led not only to the Holocaust, but to a division of
Europe the scars of which are still evident today. In our visit to Berlin and Krakow, we were reminded
of the difficult past of these two European cities, but also of their determination to look toward a
bright future.