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Year 10 and 12 History and Politics - Berlin Trip
Aylin in Nightingale 1 sent this report:
On Sunday, 31 March, 36 students from Year 10 and Year 12 arrived at school at 3am to set off on the History trip to Berlin. Despite the early start, we were all excited to get to the airport and on our flight.
After landing in Berlin, the activities for the day began immediately, the first on the list being a walking tour of Berlin. Our tour guide led us to multiple spots in Berlin, where significant historical events had taken place such as the Berlin Wall, or rather what’s left of it, Checkpoint Charlie and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews. At each stop, we were encouraged to consider the implications that specific historical event would have on Germany and how it has shaped its current state. We recognised how important it is for the German people to acknowledge their history, however, to also find ways to improve and learn from previous mistakes.
On the second day, we embarked on a second tour. This time the focus was on the rise of Hitler and the Nazi regime. This was extremely interesting as we were able to see the actual places where a lot of the content we covered in history has taken place and helped us to better understand the challenges facing Germany after WW2. We also visited the impressive for its time, TV Tower, which we learnt was built partly as a symbol of Communist power as the East aimed to show the West how ideal communism was as opposed to capitalism.
After taking in the amazing views from 203m high, we headed to the German parliament – the Reichstag. Year 12 was particularly keen on visiting the building as it is a very influential aspect of the A-level course, due to the number of important decisions made in the parliament and how they massively shaped the country. The visit comprised a tour of the older parts of the building, some of them purposefully conserved, such as the writing on the walls by Soviet soldiers at the end of WW2. It also included a detailed insight into how the German political system works in regard to the function of the Reichstag and a visit to the glass dome, which sits on top of the Reichstag building.
On the third day, we visited an old Stasi prison, where prisoners of East Germany were held for interrogation in hopes they would reveal useful information about any political plots against the Soviets. We learned about the appalling treatment of the prisoners and about the different ways the prison was altered to become a higher security institution. No one was ever recorded to have escaped! Following this, we made the journey to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where our tour guide talked us through the initial establishment of the camp and how it developed through the period of the Nazi regime. We felt deep sympathy for anyone affected by the Nazi regime.
The plan for the last day was to visit the Berlin Wall Memorial, which gave us a deeper understanding of the logistics of the wall, including all the security techniques, and allowed us to see the location of the escape tunnels that were used to attempt to flee East Berlin.
All in all, it was a very educational and eye-opening trip to the struggles people went through in the war period in Germany. A massive thank you to Mrs Skelton for organising the trip, and to Miss Reeves, Mr Saputo and Mrs Searle for looking after us and making sure no one got lost!
Keira in 10C had this to say about the trip:
“I really enjoyed the Berlin trip! We went to so many interesting land marks, including the Reichstag Building, Berlin Wall, TV Tower and the Brandenburg Gate, as well as the lesser known Stasi Prison and Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. My favourite activities were the guided tours of the city, where guides showed us places of significance that we may have overlooked if they hadn’t been pointed out, such as the Nazi Bunker which is now buried, or Socialist street art from the 50s. Overall it was an awesome trip and I would love to have the opportunity to go again!”
