Freezing but fascinating: History trip to Berlin

Sixth Form History students spent an enthralling – if chilly – few days in Berlin, last month, enriching their knowledge of German history with first-hand experience.

Highlights included a visit to Checkpoint Charlie museum, at which a citizen of former West Germany told tales of his kidnap, arrest and incarceration by the Stasi (East Germany’s secret police) – an event that causes quite a Cold War incident at the time. The group also visited the Jewish Museum, which chronicles 2,000 years of the history of Jews in Germany, and also boasts an impressive architectural memorial to the Holocaust.

Students went on to visit Sachsenhausen concentration camp, which housed tens of thousands of political prisoners during the era of the Third Reich, before continuing to the Stasi Museum in former East Berlin.

Despite the sub-zero temperatures, the trip was enormously worthwhile. Not only were students afforded an enchanting glimpse of snowy Berlin; they also got to see in person some of the historical sites that feature in their studies.