North Berlin and Oranienburg WWII tour (self-guided tour)

North Berlin and Oranienburg WWII tour: Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum

• Straße der Nationen 22
• opening times: 8.30 -16 closed on Monday
• S1 Oranienburg

The Sachsenhouser memorial was been open inside the former concestration camp buildt on 21 March 1933 by the so called SA in the village centre of Oranienburg. The concentration camp was buildt by Heinrich Himmler in 1936 for about 200.000 prisoners and thousands and thousands of them died for hunger, deseas and forced labour. These people were political opponents, people considered by the Nazis radically inferior, like Sinti and Roma, Jews, or homosexuals. At the beginning the prisoners were all German, then in 1944 the main part of them were Russians and Poles. About 20.000 prisoners were women, and those who were chosen to be forced labourers, worked in bricks or shoes factories.

Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum:at the end of the WWII

The Sachsenhouser memorial was then in 1961 opened to remember what happened here. On 21 April 1945 about 30.000 remaining prisoners were marched-off in the north direction. Many of them died, but the camp was liberated by the Soviel and the Poles on 22 April 1945, and 3.000 people were still inside alive. After the war the Camp was used by the Soviet to imprison many people of the Nazi power apparatus, in very bad conditions, untill spring 1950 when about 7.000 people were released. But about 11.000 prisoners died in the Soviet Camp and many of them were burried in the district called “An der Duene” in three mass graves without names

Self-guided tour of WWII Berlin: Humboltoan tower

• Hochstraße 5
• opening times: Always open

In the middle of a fantastic green park with a large rose garden, in the 1870’s a garden was built to celebrate the 100th birthday of Alexander von Humboldt. It Is possible to see and to visit now the flack towers on the top of a WWII air-shelter. This huge concrete tower was built in the early 1940’s by personal order of Adolf Hitler, to be equipped with anti-aircraft guns. If you are interested to the air-shelter in Berlin have a look even to this one

The Humboltoan tower

This kind of Building had to be used in two different way. The top of the two towers was used to defend Berlin from the Allied air-raids, and the Power park as shelter to protect about 10.000 civilians. It was built by forced laborers, who ever died during the British and Americans attacks

North Berlin WWII tour: Fire Watch Stands

• Adress: S Gesundbrunnen
• Opening times: Always open
• S+U Gesundrunnen

‘Einmann bunkers’ were normally placed near factories, railway yards and other facilities that were important to the war machine. The idea behind them was for the local Luftschutz officer to watch for incendiary bombs or bombs that failed to explode after the personnel in the facility had taken cover in the main bomb shelter, and to shelter in the Fire Watch Stand if necessary.

Self-guided tour of WWII Berlin: Stolpersteine in Berlin

• adress: have a look here
• Opening times: Always open

Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) is a project of the artist Gunter Demnig. The project commemorates people who were persecuted by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945.Stolpersteine are concrete blocks measuring 10x10cm which are laid into the pavement in front of the last voluntarily chosen places of residence of the victims of the Nazis. Their names and fate are engraved into a brass plate on the top of each Stolperstein. These “Stumbling Stones” are now 9.894 in Berlin and you can find the list of them here

North Berlin WWII tour: MAP

North Berlin WWII tour: other WWII tours in Berlin area

East Berlin WWII tour (self-guided tour) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

South Berlin WWII Tour (self-guided tour)⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

West Berlin WWII tour (self-guided tour)⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Central Berlin WWII tour (self-guided tour)⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Soviet WWII memorials in Berlin (self-guided tour)⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Berlin Cold War tour (self-guided tour)