• Stiftung Neue Synagoge Berlin - Centrum Judaicum - Meet the guide in front of the former imperial post office on Oranienburger Straße. Discover the nearby New Synagogue, an extraordinary architectural gem in the heart of Berlin’s historic Jewish quarter. Constructed during the founding of the German Empire, it symbolizes the integration and vibrant Jewish life that thrived during the German Empire and the Weimar Republic.
  Learn about the onset of open physical violence against Jewish Germans five years after the Nazi regime took power. Understand why Germany’s largest synagogue, unlike many others, survived the 1938 pogroms.
  The journey continues by tracing the path of thousands of arrested Jews to Sachsenhausen. The escalation of antisemitic terror reached a new level in 1938, leading to the murder of millions six years later.
  From here, take a train ride north to the town of Oranienburg.
• Oranienburg - From the station, walk to the memorial site, following the same path prisoners were forced to take, and discuss the camp’s visibility and its impact on the local community.
  Oranienburg was strategically positioned: close to Berlin, on a major railway line to the Baltic Sea, and surrounded by industries that both supplied and demanded forced labor. The town had already hosted an early “wild camp” in 1933/34, and the castle was given to the SS as a garrison.
  The mayor actively promoted Oranienburg, and in 1936 it was selected as the site for the model camp of a new generation of concentration camps. Built with forced labor, it emerged as the world focused on the “glorious” Olympic Games nearby in Berlin.
  Learn why the U.S. Air Force conducted a heavy bombing raid on the area just a month before liberation.
• Finanzamt Oranienburg - Stop at today’s tax office, the former headquarters of the Inspectorate of the Concentration Camps, to discuss Sachsenhausen’s central role in the extensive concentration camp system. From this building, the SS managed and administered over 1,000 camps and subcamps across Europe.
  Here, learn about the rise of the “SS state” within the Nazi regime—how the SS gradually sidelined the Brownshirts, how Heinrich Himmler expanded the SS into a “state within a state” with nearly one million members, and how the concentration camp system became a highly organized and profitable tool of exploitation.
• Gedenkstatte und Museum Sachsenhausen - Spend about two hours at the memorial site. The grounds are vast, so some walking is required. There will be an opportunity for a coffee break. Along the way, stop at several locations to discuss the following topics:
  • Overview at the large entrance map
  • Tower A shows the perpetrators’ perspective
  • Pass through the infamous “Arbeit macht frei” gate
  • Enter the roll-call square
  • The dehumanizing “check-in” process
  • Violence dominated daily routines
  • “Shoe-testing” track as a nightmare job
  • Original barracks built like a cowshed
  • Cold, disease, and starvation claimed many lives
  • “Special prisoners” isolated in the Zellenbau
  • Survival strategies against all odds
  • Station Z – mass killing and cremation of tens of thousands
  • Infirmary as a site of medical crimes
  • The White Buses also reached Sachsenhausen
  • The bizarre camp brothel
  • Death marches before liberation
  • How German society confronted this barbarism
  • How humanity can prevent repetition
• Oranienburger Strasse Synagogue - It’s time to return to Berlin. Head to Oranienburg train station and take the train back to the city.

• All fees and/or taxes

• Lunch
• Public transport - you need an ABC ticket. Recommended is a 24 hour option. Sums up max 10 € p.p.
• If you had a very good tour guides love tips

This tour delves into the psychology and experiences of both victims and perpetrators, uncovering clues to a central question. It began with divisive, violent, and stigmatizing language during the Weimar Republic, escalating over twelve years of dictatorship. The camp system initially started when Hitler rose to power, evolving from the concept of “protective custody” to forced labor exploitation, and ultimately to the death camps of the “Final Solution.”

Sachsenhausen operated for nine years. Initially designed for around 6,000 inmates, it eventually housed over 40,000, with more than 50,000 people losing their lives there. In 1936, this model camp was constructed in the forest during the Berlin Olympic Games. Its architecture serves as a stark testament to the SS’s absolute control and the professionalization of terror.

The tour is rich in information, covering multiple storylines that unfolded simultaneously at the camp. All guides possess the official certification of the memorial site.

• Please note: we will do a trainride of 30 km (45 minutes) to the town Oranienburg. You need ABC tickets (not included) from lokal public transport company “BVG”. Best option is often the 24 hour mini group ticket. On the site we will walk about 2-3 km.

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.