MSG's Jen Ellis Takes Berlin by Storm

MSG's own Tour Operator, Jen Ellis recently travelled to Berlin with Kazakhstan school, Haileybury Almaty for their WWII themed history trip. This was her account of the tour:

There are many things you can say about Berlin… disappointing isn't one of them. A city that's full of history, stories, free speech, and beauty, it captures a country that has been through an incredible journey and has come out telling its tale.

I accompanied Haileybury Almaty – an independent school from Kazakhstan – on their History Study Tour. With a curriculum focus on WWII and the Cold War, there was a wealth of experience and learning to be had around Berlin.

We started with a walking tour which covered a multitude of historical importance: Prussian inspired architecture, memorials for lives lost, a simple line of bricks across the city representing the divide of the Berlin Wall. The group were not divided in the opinion of how incredible the guide was at sharing these stories. Standing in the square where the forgotten library is marked and looking at the windows of the university building where Einstein once stood and watched the Nazi party burn his life's work, it puts into perspective how important stepping outside and walking in the footsteps of history is.

In the city, there are so many wonderful opportunities to learn outside the classroom and bring out the inner historian in everyone. Not only this but hitting the heights of the Berlin TV Tower and watching the sun set at dusk across Berlin from the Reichstag Dome will last in the memories of these intrepid explorers.

My time with the group was short but we were able to squeeze in some bratwurst, pomme frites and even watch Hertha Berlin smash their rivals 5-2 at the Olympiastadion Berlin: what an atmosphere and bucket list moment!

The group will continue their historical journey by following the journey of the millions of Jews that were ostracised and exiled to concentration camps away from Berlin. On an overnight coach the group will reach Krakow, Poland to explore a beautiful city risen from the ashes of a harrowing history.

The students will take in a study tour of the Auschwitz – Birkenau Concentration Camp and see the results of those major decisions made in Berlin by the leaders of the Nazi Party. Leading to the real outcome of the tour – students being able to relate and humanise the statistics thrown at them in a classroom to better themselves. They'll walk where those who are emblazoned across their textbooks once lived and breathed and empathise with those that lost their lives, experiencing the voices of today and see the influences from which it came.