WWII Multi-Centre Tours: Berlin, Prague & Krakow

The following sample itineraries are typical of the types of tours taken. Your tour can be tailor-made to meet your exact requirements.

Sample Itinerary - 8 DAYS TO BERLIN & PRAGUE BATTLEFIELDS BY EXPRESS COACH

• Day 1 — Depart UK by coach. Overnight travel to Berlin.
• Day 2 — Arrive Berlin in the early afternoon. Due to drivers regulations your coach is not available. Using public transport (cost not included) afternoon visit to the Topography of Terror exhibition and the Jewish Museum. Evening meal (first meal included).
• Day 3 — With your coach, morning visit to the Wannsee Conference Memorial House. Afternoon guided tour of Berlin by coach (included in cost) with a visit to the Gedenkstatte Deustche Widerstand and the Brandenburg Gate, before an early evening visit to The Reichstag.
• Day 4 — Depart after breakfast and transfer to Prague with a short stop at Dresden en route. Dresden has been virtually rebuilt following its destruction during allied bombing in WWII. See the Zwinger gallery, the Hofkirche, the Opera and the Frauenkirche. Continue on to Prague for your evening dinner.
• Day 5 — Full day city sightseeing in Prague. Our tour includes a full day guide on this day who will accompany your group for a walking tour of the city. Visit the Castle District with its renaissance castle, St. Vitus Cathedral and Golden Lane with its small coloured houses. Cross Charles Bridge famous for its 31 statues - see the Old Town Square surrounded by many fine buildings. The Jewish quarter in the Old Town dates from the 10th Century. Continue on to Wenceslas Square situated in the New Town.
• Day 6 — We suggest a visit to Terezin and Lidice. The museum at Terezin is a memorial to those who died in the holocaust. Terezin was once a Jewish ghetto and transit camp to the concentration camps. Visit the museum and Peace Gardens at Lidice which are memorials to the people of this village who were murdered and sent to concentration camps as a revenge attack by the Nazi's for the murder of one of their officials.
• Day 7 — Breakfast (last meal included). At leisure for sightseeing on foot or by using public transport (cost not included). Due to drivers regulations your coach will not be available. Depart in the late afternoon Overnight travel to the U.K.
• Day 8 — Arrive in the U.K.

Sample Itinerary - 7 DAYS TO BERLIN, KRAKOW & PRAGUE BATTLEFIELDS BY AIR

• Day 1 — London to Berlin by Air. Transfer to your accommodation included in the tour price. There may be time for some city sightseeing subject to flight times, using public transport.
• Day 2 — Morning visit to the Wannsee Conference Memorial House. Afternoon tour of Berlin by coach, including a visit to the Gedenkstatte Deustche Widerstand and the Brandenburg Gate, before an early evening visit to The Reichstag.
• Day 3 — Depart after breakfast and transfer to Krakow. Arrive for your evening dinner and overnight accommodation.
• Day 4 — Morning visit to Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps. Your group will be accompanied by a local guide (included in your tour cost). See the museum of Martyrdom and the 15 minute film taken by the Soviets just after the 1945 liberation. Contrast the relatively small camp with the larger camp of Birkenau with its machinery of mass destruction. Return to Krakow for a guided walking tour of the city. See the Jewish quarter, the magnificent medieval market square dominated by the 16th Century Cloth Hall. St.Mary's Church with its medieval altarpiece, the Jewish quarter, the university district and Wawel Castle on Wawel Hill.
• Day 5 — Depart after breakfast and transfer to Prague. There will be a short stop at Olomouc, the ancient capital of Moravia. Arrive in Prague for evening dinner and overnight accommodation.
• Day 6 — Full day city tour of Prague. Our tour includes a full day guide who will accompany your group for a walking tour of the city. Visit the Jewish quarter in the Old Town dating from the 10th Century, the Castle District with its renaissance castle and Golden Lane with its small coloured houses. Cross Charles Bridge famous for its 31 statues - see the Old Town Square surrounded by many fine buildings. Continue on to Wenceslas Square situated in the New Town.
• Day 7 — Depart after breakfast for a morning visit to Terezin. The museum at Terezin is a memorial to those who died in the holocaust. Terezin was once a Jewish ghetto and transit camp to the concentration camps. Transfer to the airport for your return flight to the U.K.

Meal Arrangements

• Half Board (By Coach):
  First Meal - Evening meal on Day 2.
  Final Meal - Breakfast on the day 7.
• Half Board (By Air):
  First Meal - Evening meal on Day 1.
  Final Meal - Breakfast on the last day (Meal order may vary according to flight times).

General Notes

• The order of your tour may be changed subject to hotel availability and operating conditions.

Free Back-Up Material

• STS Guide to the relevant Centres to be visited and a map.

Excursion Selection

Berlin
The Reichstag - The scene of the infamous fire in 1933, exploited by the Nazis to suspend freedom of speech and ban almost all the opposition press. Now the home of the German parliament.
Wannsee Conference Memorial House - The exhibition documents the history and consequences of the 1942 Wansee Conference which planned the extermination of the Jews (minimum 6 months advance booking required). Students must be over 14 years of age.
Third Reich Buildings - In what was former East Berlin, visit Goebbel's Propaganda Ministry and Goering's Air Ministry, both of which are still standing. Also visit the sites of the SS and Gestapo headquarters, the latter now occupied by the Topography of Terror exhibition which explains about the Nazi organisation.
Jewish Museum - An imposing, zinc clad structure, designed to create a sense of disorientation, claustrophobia and panic, to convey the horrors of persecution. The museum traces the history of Jews in Germany.
Holocaust Memorial - This huge monument was built in recognition of the six million Jews killed by the Nazis.
Memorial of Plotzensee - 100 people were hanged here following the unsuccessful attempt to bring down the Nazi regime.
Olympia-Stadion - Built for the 1936 Olympic Games, as a propaganda exercise to prove the supremacy of the Aryan race.
Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp - Used to train SS guards, most elements of the camp still exist, including the barracks and pathology laboratory. 31km north of Berlin, a minimum of 6 months advance booking required.
The Brandenburg Gate - The symbolic gate straddling the East & West Berlin sectors, following the city's division after the war.
Gedenkstätte Deutsche Widerstand - Memorial to German Resistance on the site where the five conspirators of a failed coup against Hitler were executed.

Krakow
Jewish Quarter - Also known as Kazimierz, this was the Jewish ghetto during WWII. Over 50,000 Jews from Krakow and the surrounding area were confined to 320 buildings centred around the Plac Zgody (Peace Square). A fragment of the original six foot wall remains and many of the synagogues that were destroyed have since been restored.
Plaszow - Originally designed to be a forced labour camp but in 1941 it was extended and developed into a concentration camp with the first Jews deported there in December 1942. More than 150,000 civilians were held prisoner in Plaszow.
Auschwitz and Birkenau - Visit the WWII concentration camps and the Museum of Martydom, about 60km west of Krakow. Visitors cannot help being moved by a 15 minute film taken by the Soviets just after the 1945 liberation. Contrast the relatively small scale camp of Auschwitz with the enormous Birkenau concentration camp. Children under 13 are not admitted to any part of the camp. Groups must pay for a local guide.

Prague
Jewish Quarter - Also known as Josefov, this is the smallest area of Prague, situated in the Old Town where the Jews settled in the 10th Century. This area is the birthplace of Franz Kafka. The Jewish Cemetery is one of the most outstanding sites, with more than 12,000 tombstones and a memorial to the Jews who perished at the hands of the Nazis.
The Jewish Museum Collections - Collections of metal works, textiles, paintings, rare prints and manuscripts.
Pinkas Synagogue - Dedicated to the Moravian and Bohemian victims of the Holocaust, with their names inscribed on the walls of the main nave.
The Military Historical Institute - Includes the Army Museum, the Aviation Museum and the Military Technical Museum.
Terezin Ghetto - A tragic symbol of WWII, being a prison and transit camp for Jews sent to concentration camps. A museum has been set up in memory of the many thousands who perished here in appaling conditions.
Lidice - On the 10th June 1942, the small farming community of Lidice, 19km from Prague, was razed to the ground by Nazis in revenge for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, a top Nazi official. All the men in the village were shot and the women and children dragged off to concentration camps. There is a museum and peace gardens in their memory.

What's Included

Our multi-centre tours by Coach include transportation for excursions as detailed and guides as specifically stated in the tour descriptions. We can quote for guides for half or full day excursions. Entrance fees are not included but, price information is available on request.