Taking full advantage of the February half term, 29
pupils, along with Mr Liam Morgan, Mr Nick Brown and Mrs Sarah Fulton-Urry,
jetted off to Berlin for three days. Having studied Nazi Germany and the Cold
War in History lessons, the Department felt keenly that students should receive
a balanced and nuanced view of Germany, rather than solely through the lens of
the disastrous period of Nazi rule.
The group had a fantastic guide in Michael, a colourful
gentleman who had lived in Berlin 10 years, working on television documentaries
and newspaper articles. The hotel the group stayed in was called The Humbolt, named after a famous
German scientist, and this gave the guide an opportunity to explain how Germany
had won many Nobel prizes, outstripping the UK and America. Starting the trip
learning about the Cold War through local delicacies gave the Shiplake team a fantastic
excuse to sample them. The humble sausage, today called a ‘currywurst’, can
allegedly trace its origins back to the war, where the British would smother
them in Worcestershire sauce, whilst the Americans stuck to ketchup, and the
Russians insisted on no sausage skins- a tradition still withstanding today.
This was followed with a tour of the main sites, to
learn how Hitler destroyed a democracy and established a dictatorship. Stopping
outside the Reichstag Building, the guide explained how it was burnt down in
1933, allowing Hitler to blame the communists. The group then headed for the
Brandenburg Gate, as Michael explained how a series of wars in the 1800s lead
to the unification of Germany under Prussian rule. Next on the list was
Checkpoint Charlie, perhaps the most iconic image of the Cold War. This is
where, literally, East met West and bared down upon each other. The Russian
border was heavily guarded, to stop people escaping to the west. In an act of
propaganda the American border patrol was preserved, a simple hut with perhaps
2 or 3 soldiers there. Knowing that people would not want to leave the West,
they enjoyed reminding the world of this. Kennedy, on his visit to Berlin,
claimed that ‘although democracy might not be perfect at least we don’t
have to build a wall to keep our citizens in’. Next on the list was a photography
exhibition, entitled Topography of Terrors. Based on the site of the Gestapo HQ,
located at the centre of the Nazi Government, the exhibition proved a chilling
experience.
The second day of the trip continued the tour of sites:
a tour of Hitler’s Bunker, which is now ‘the most interesting car park in the
world’ as Germany chose not to celebrate the site, was followed by a trip to a
Jewish Holocaust Memorial - a conceptual piece of art at the heart of Berlin,
consisting of hundreds of granite pillars. This was followed by a wholly
different experience; a traditional ‘beer hall’ to experience Bavarian culture
and hospitality! Due to their age, the pupils only spectated, of course.
The last day consisted of a trip to Sachenhausen; a
concentration camp to the North of Berlin. The boys learnt of the individual
suffering of the camp inmates, including an 84 year old Music professor, forced
to stand, bare-footed, in the snow for 27 hours. Mr Morgan said of the
experiences that ‘we were all very sobered and moved.' He added: 'The boys enjoyed a
valuable and interesting trip and left highly appreciative of such a visit.'