Fighting Hitler - Berlin's Nazi Resistance Movement

Berlin, Germany
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With Berlin’s only World War II tour specialists, discover the bravery and resistance of those who fought against Nazi oppression.

This tour takes you on a journey through Berlin's Jewish district, exploring key historical events and sites related to the rise of anti-Semitism in 1930s Germany.

You will learn about the stories of resistance, including Otto Weidt's sanctuary for blind and deaf Jews. Hear the remarkable story of the women who protested for the release of their Jewish husbands from concentration camps.

If you're looking for an educational and meaningful experience, this is it.

Key Tour Highlights:

- Visit Berlin's oldest Jewish landmarks
- Deportation centre
- Otto Weidts factory - Berlin's Oscar Schindler
- Burning of the Books and more!

Description

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Stiftung Neue Synagoge Berlin - Centrum Judaicum, Oranienburger Str. 28 - 30, 10117 Berlin Germany

The starting point for this tour is the Neue Synagogue, New Synagogue. Constructed in 1866, the Synagogue was the largest and most magnificent in Berlin, a literal representation of the thriving 160,000 Berlin Jewish community members.
Saved from vandals during the infamous Kristallnacht pogrom.
The Synagogue remained in use until 1940 until being confiscated by the Army and used to store military uniforms. In November 1943, the Synagogue was severely damaged in an allied bombing raid. The main hall was torn down in 1958, partly rebuilt in 1988 and officially reopened in 1995. Today the Synagogue houses the Centrum Judaicum foundation, an institution for preserving Jewish memory and tradition.

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Jüdisches Gymnasium Moses Mendelssohn, Große Hamburger Str. 27, 10115 Berlin, Germany

Founded in 1779, the Jewish boy's school was the first Jewish school in Germany without fees. Although a Jewish institution the school was open to all faiths and promoted liberal Jewishness and accepted female students in 1931.
In the Fall of 1941, the deportation of Jews to the newly conquered territories to the East resulted in banning all Jewish schools. In 1942, the Reich Main Security office under the SS turned the building into a transit camp. The windows were barred, and Jews were crammed inside to await deportation.

Duration: 5 minutes

Stop At: Jewish Cemetery and Holocaust Memorial, Zelik 1, Mostar Bosnia and Herzegovina

Between 1672 and 1827, some 12,000 Jewish community members were buried here.
On the orders of the Gestapo, the SS destroyed the cemetery in 1943, smashing thousands of gravestones, throwing away remains and playing football with skulls.
In April 1945 burials once again took place. Almost 2500 German soldiers and Berlin civilians killed during the fighting or shot by the SS for hanging white flags from their windows are buried in mass graves.

Duration: 15 minutes

Stop At: Museum Blindenwerkstatt Otto Weidt, Rosenthaler Str. 39, 10178 Berlin Germany

Located in a hidden courtyard is Otto Weidt'd Workshop for the Blind. Weidt supported by his wife Else employed more than 30 blind and deaf Jewish workers between 1940 to 1945.
As tensions grew, Weidt endeavoured to protect his mostly blind and deaf employees from persecution and deportation, regularly bribing Gestapo officers and falsifying documents. Even going as far as to travel to Auschwitz concentration camp to break one of his employees out.

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Denkmal Rosenstraße, Rosenstraße 2, 10178 Berlin, Germany

A remarkable story, on the 27th of February 1943, the Gestapo, Waffen-SS and Berlin Police arrested , two-thousand Jewish men, married to non-Jewish German women.
Outraged, the wives of those detained numbering in the hundreds gathered to protest. Despite periodic threats of being shot if the women did not disperse the women would scatter briefly, only to return in larger numbers to continue protesting.
As pressure mounted Goebbels authorized the prisoner's release.

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Am Lustgarten 1 Museum Island, 10178 Berlin Germany

The Lustgarten is framed on three sides by the Berlin Cathedral, the Altes Museum and the Zeughaus. Before the Nazi's, the Lustgarten was a favourite location for protests and speeches.
One week after Hitler's appointment as Chancellor 200,000 Berliner's protested the new Government.
Strict regulations imposed by the Nazi's over the coming month's restricted Germans' right to protest, hefty fines and arrests made protesting the Nazi regime very dangerous.
In 1934, the Lustgarten was paved over to make way for Nazi propaganda rallies, swearing-in ceremonies and military parades.

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Zeughaus, Unter den Linden 2, 10117 Berlin, Germany

The magnificent Zeughaus is the oldest building along Unter den Linden constructed in 1730 as an artillery arsenal.
On March 21, 1943, the Zeughaus was chosen to exhibit captured Soviet weapons. Major General Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff, a member of the Wehrmacht resistance, was chosen to lead the exhibit. Despite 27 failed assassination attempts to kill Adolf Hitler. Gersdorff was resolute to succeed and agreed to blow himself up with the Führer. With two concealed Bristish clam mines, he planned to throw himself around Hitler in a death embrace that would blow them both up.
A detailed coup d'état was in place and ready to go, learn what happens next on this tour.

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Neue Wache, Unter den Linden 4, 10117 Berlin Germany

The monument is a moving site in the middle of this busy city and stands as Germany’s central memorial for the victims of war and tyranny.

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Book Burning Memorial at Bebelplatz, Bebelplatz 1, 10117 Berlin Germany

On 10 May 1933, members of the Nazi German Student Union and their professors gathered here in Bebel Platz adjacent the historical and prestigious Humboldt University. In a nationwide action “against the un-German spirit”. Students burned upwards of 25,000 volumes of books that were deemed "un-German".

Duration: 10 minutes

Stop At: Trains To Life Trains To Death, Georgenstrasse 14 Berlin Friedrichstrasse station, 10117 Berlin Germany

The almost life-size sculpture, Trains to Life – Trains to Death. The monument depicts two groups of Jewish children's contrasting fates during the Nazi era. The groups gaze in opposing directions representing the Jewish children whose lives were saved by the Kindertransport to England and the suffering of those deported to concentration camps.
Designed by sculpture Frank Meisle, himself among those rescued by the Kindertransporte travelling from here to England in 1939.

Duration: 10 minutes

Inclusions

  • FREE hand and feet warmers in winter (Dec-Feb)
  • FREE rain ponchos throughout the year (In event of rain)

Additional information

  • Wheelchair accessible
  • Stroller accessible
  • Service animals allowed
  • Near public transportation
  • Transportation is wheelchair accessible
  • Surfaces are wheelchair accessible
  • Most travelers can participate
  • Face masks provided for travelers
  • Hand sanitizer available to travelers and staff
  • Social distancing enforced throughout experience
  • Guides required to regularly wash hands
  • This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund
  • This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund
  • This tour/activity will have a maximum of 15 travelers
  • Confirmation will be received at time of booking

Ticket delivery

You can present either a paper or an electronic voucher for this activity.

Operates

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Cancellation

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours in advance of the start time of the experience.

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