Cold War Berlin
Quick Overview
Description
Time
10 am
Duration
3 hours
Meeting Point
Reichstagufer 17, 10117 Berlin
Prices
Adult
aged 18 to 64
€19.90
Senior/Student/Youth
aged 65 and over/7 to 17
€17.90
WelcomeCard
€17.90
Children
aged 6 and under
free
Required Transport Ticket
AB single trip ticket required
Highlights
- See the open-air Berlin Wall Memorial and the former “death strip”.
- Stand above the site of two of the most successful escape tunnels to be dug under the Wall.
- Travel through underground stations dubbed “ghost stations” in the Cold War era, and discover what ordinary life was like in a city that was divided for almost 50 years.
- Learn about the Tränenpalast, a border crossing point known as the “Palace of Tears” for the countless emotional farewells it witnessed during the Cold War.
- Visit the Admiralspalast, where the East German SED political party was formed.
- Hear about the East German secret police and their methods of surveillance and torture.
- Go to the Chapel of Reconciliation and discover why its predecessor was blown up in 1985.
- Find out how numerous factors converged to precipitate the fall of the Wall in 1989.
Starting Point
Meet your guide on the square next to the Tränenpalast (Palace of Tears), Reichstagufer 17, 10117 Berlin.
Description
By the end of WWII, Berlin, the capital of defeated Nazi Germany, lay in ruins. Yet it was to become the epicentre of the Cold War, a pivotal city in the struggle between two superpowers to control war-torn Europe. Your specialist guide will take you to one of the longest remaining stretches of the Berlin Wall and share with you the intriguing history behind its construction and how it went up overnight, as well as tragic stories of the impact on Berliners, who woke up the next morning to a divided city.
This top-ranking tour begins with stories of separation at the Tränenpalast departure terminal, today a compelling museum documenting the effects of the border on ordinary people living behind the Iron Curtain. As you ride through Berlin’s former “ghost stations”, your expert guide will explain how the underground transport system provided one possible means of escape from the GDR.
You will be able to get a sense of what it was like to live “behind the Wall” in the Eastern Bloc’s most heavily policed state. Hear of the methods of East Germany’s secret police (the “Stasi”) and the systems, devices and manpower deployed to keep the population under surveillance for 40 years and how they were aided in their efforts to outwit the CIA and MI6 by their comrades and counterparts in the KGB.
The tour makes an essential and extended stop at the Berlin Wall Memorial at Bernauer Straße, where you will be able to see a preserved section of the original wall and the last remaining stretch of the death strip. This is the site of Tunnels 29 and 57, by means of which 29 and 57 determined individuals pulled off daring escapes to West Berlin in the 1960s.
You will hear the extraordinary story of how the Monday Demonstrations culminated in the major East Berlin hub of Alexanderplatz, where in late 1989 half a million citizens peacefully demonstrated for political reform, thereby sounding the death knell for the German Democratic Republic. Your guide will explain exactly what led to the Wall tumbling down on the night of 9 November 1989, setting Berlin on the path to reunification.
Finishing Point
The tour finishes in the area of Bernauer Straße.
Insider Route
This itinerary is intended to give you a general idea of our route on this tour. You can expect to see and hear stories about all of these sites, as well as many more! Please be aware that the route is subject to change on any given day, should unforeseen circumstances arise.
- Meeting point – on the square next to the Tränenpalast (Palace of Tears), Reichstagufer 17
- Admiralspalast – old cabaret theatre where the East German political party, the SED, was formed in 1946
- Tränenpalast (Palace of Tears) – a former border crossing point between East and West Berlin
- Friedrichstraße train station – travel through the “ghost stations” of the old divided Berlin.
- Nordbahnhof S-Bahn station, where a number of border guards fled to West Berlin
- The Berlin Wall Memorial – outdoor exhibition space extending 1.4km along the border strip on Bernauer Straße
- Remnants of the former “death strip” and its fortifications
- The Window of Remembrance – a poignant memorial honouring all 130 victims of the Wall
- Original East German watchguard tower
- Chapel of Reconciliation, built on the site of the church demolished by the East German authorities in 1985
- Site of Tunnels 57 and 29 – the most successful escape tunnels built under the Berlin Wall
- Conrad Schumann mural – the iconic image of this escaping border guard mid-leap over the barbed wire
Insider Reviews
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