At the end of Michaelmas term, Year 11 embarked on a History trip to Berlin. Read a student reflection below.
On the first day, after a very early wake-up and a long day of travelling, we were all grateful to reach the City Light Hotel and, shortly after, going out into Berlin for a much-needed McDonalds! Next, we saw the Brandenburg Gate, which was incredible to see in person as it symbolizes German unity which allowed everything we have learnt in history to come to life. We were all amazed as we took a guided tour of the Reichstag, due to its huge scale and grand features. It was really interesting to see the past and the present come together as we learnt about the history of the Reichstag, such as the fire, the tunnels, and the Russian graffiti, whilst also learning how it is being used in the present day, with all the systems they use to make important decisions. The roof of the Reichstag was also really beautiful as it gave us a great overview of the whole city.
On day two, we started by visiting the Stasi prison which, unsurprisingly, had an uninviting and aloof atmosphere. Originally, it held thousands of political prisoners in horrible conditions. We were able to see where the prisoners were kept, and we were all shocked by how inhumane and cruel it was. We had an amazing tour guide who allowed us to have an insight into what life would have been like when kept there and the daily routine people had to endure. We later went to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where more than 220,000 people were interned from 1936-1945. Throughout the tour we were able to see a lot of the areas where people being kept there would live their daily lives and all the horrors of the environment were very sad to see in person, but it allowed us to further understand what happened in concentration camps and what led it to happen. The memorial on site was an amazing tribute to all of the people who had to endure the terror of the camp. In the evening, we went bowling, where Mr Hunt was the best without a doubt!
On the third day, we took a walking tour across Berlin where we saw many remaining sections of the Berlin Wall, such as the famous Checkpoint Charlie. As we were toured around, we were told about the ways in which the building of the wall negatively impacted everyone across Berlin and how the attempt to cross the wall could even lead to death. Next, we saw the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Here there was a mass of large concrete blocks varying in size which felt as though they were swallowing you the more you walked through the memorial, which to us signified the entrapment that Jewish people would have felt in Germany and other parts of Europe during this time. We also saw the site of Hitler’s bunker which had been completely covered over by a carpark showing the understandable act of forgetting by the people of Germany. We next went to a lovely Christmas market saw some beautiful crafts for sale and we all truly embraced the Christmas spirit!
We visited The Jewish Museum of Berlin, and the vast amount of information was fascinating to take in. We were all truly amazed by the memorial which contained thousands of metal faces which were made to be walked across. As we walked, they made a loud sound which to us may have conveyed the screams and cries of people during the Holocaust, and the vast amount of metal faces which seemingly went on forever, showed us the 6 million Jews who were killed in the holocaust. We then went out for an Italian dinner and went to another Christmas market. Lucky us! It was great and the views from the Ferris wheel across the market were exquisite.
On the fourth and final day, we went to the DDR museum, which had a fantastic interactive museum that allowed us to see how people lived life throughout different periods of time in Germany. It contained a fully curated house which even showed us the views they would have seen of barbed wire on the streets below. Seeing all these artefacts left us feeling informed, enthused and knowledgeable of topics we may not have known of before. The last museum we visited was the Topography of Terror on the site of Gestapo and SD HQ. It was an excellently curated insight into the scale and the scope of the terrors in Germany as well as the banality of evil.
Overall, we had an excellent trip that we left feeling very informed with a further understanding of all the aspects of the topics we learnt about at school.
For more photos see the History department’s Instagram account: @shsk_history
