History Tour to Germany and Poland – Holocaust Studies

Your 24-hour Tour Director will meet you at the airport and remain with your group throughout your Holocaust study tour. Your private coach will be waiting to transfer your group to your hotel in Munich.

Munich is the capital city of Bavaria. It was founded in the 12th century and named for a settlement of Benedictine monks. Munich is now a cosmopolitan city at the forefront of the financial and publishing industries. It’s also had a notable role in the development of music and the arts.

Enjoy an evening meal with your group.

During your Holocaust study tour, you will gain the knowledge and insights of two half-day local guides in Germany.

Your visit to the Dachau Concentration Camp will be one of the most powerful moments of your Holocaust study tour. In 1933, what had once been a quiet little artists' community became a tragic symbol of the Nazi era, the first German concentration camp. Your tour of the camp includes the memorial chapels and two of the rebuilt barracks. The Museum is housed in the large building that once contained the kitchen, laundry, and shower baths.

Enjoy a walking tour of the Altstadt (Old Town) of Munich, beginning at the Karlstor, which was once a gate to the walled city. You’ll then view the Altes Rathaus and Peterskirche before strolling down Neuhauser Street, Munich’s largest shopping street, lined with typical 19th-century buildings.

Enjoy an evening meal with your group.

You will enjoy a guided visit to the Munich Documentation Center. The City of Munich is aware of its special obligation to keep alive the memory of the Nazi era and its crimes, and to inform citizens and visitors about it. After all, it was here in Munich that the rise of the National Socialist movement began after the First World War. Munich was also the scene of the attempted putsch of 1923 and of Hitler's subsequent trial. Here, Hitler found influential patrons who gave him entry to bourgeois circles.

You will explore the Typically Munich exhibition at The Munich Stadtmuseum. Over 400 exhibits trace the trials and tribulations of a city many people count among their favorite places in the world. The exhibits chart how Munich began to forge an identity of its own relatively late in its history, following its 700th anniversary in 1858.

Enjoy an evening meal with your group.

Two of the most important and informative locations during our Holocaust study tour are the Nuremberg Courthouse and the Nuremberg Trials Memorial, which is on the top floor of the Courthouse. The memorial provides insight into the defendants and their crimes, the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials of 1946-49, and the impact of the Nuremberg Trials up to the present.

Today, you’ll receive a guided tour of the Nazi Party Rally Grounds and permanent exhibition. Afterward, your group will participate in a moderated program about the Nazis’ use of propaganda, which was one of the party’s most effective ruling instruments. Using different, elaborately organized media, they continually indoctrinated the population with the same messages. Your group will work out the structure of the National Socialist propaganda machinery and learn how cartoons became an important form of anti-Semitic image propaganda.

Enjoy an evening meal with your group.

Krakow is one of Europe's most beautiful and historic cities, with its elegant Old Town, medieval market square, and vibrant old Jewish Quarter, where cafes and bars sparkle amidst cathedrals and castles, dragons and dungeons—reminders of its more poignant past. *Breakfast and dinner will be provided at our hotel while in the Krakow area.

From historic trading halls dating from the 15th century to lived-in flea bazaars packed with communist trinkets and novelty Soviet hats, Krakow has some top-notch markets for the budding bargain hunter.

Visit the Oskar Schindler factory, an interactive museum on Krakow’s sad history during World War II. The museum tells the story of Schindler and the Jewish prisoners of Plaszow. The Galicia Jewish Museum exists to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and to celebrate the Jewish culture of Polish Galicia, presenting Jewish history from a new perspective. Located in the heart of Kazimierz, Krakow’s Jewish quarter, this is one of Poland’s most visited Jewish museums and cultural centers.

Explore the Kazimierz Jewish Quarter, the main cultural center of Polish Jewry with its unique Oriental atmosphere. Its soul perished during the traumatic events of the Second World War, but many of the buildings, some still with Yiddish inscriptions, survived. Today, the revival of Jewish life and activity in Kazimierz is visible in the numerous restored buildings, fashionable cafes, restaurants, and bars, which are filled with tourists from all over the world seeking to discover the Jewish culture.

Visit the Isaac Synagogue in Krakow, built in the 1640s when it was known as the most beautiful of the city's synagogues. Its interior was once entirely covered by marvelous baroque frescoes, featuring impressive scroll and ivy work as well as the words of the holy Torah. During World War II, the building was looted and desecrated but somehow escaped destruction.

Today, you will experience a guided tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau, one of the most evocative sights of your Holocaust study tour. All over the world, Auschwitz has become a symbol of terror, genocide, and the Holocaust. It was established by Germans in 1940, in the suburbs of Oswiecim, a Polish city that was annexed to the Third Reich by the Nazis. Its name was changed to Auschwitz, which also became the name of Konzentrationslager Auschwitz. The direct reason for the establishment of the camp was the fact that mass arrests of Poles were increasing beyond the capacity of existing "local" prisons. The first transport of Poles reached Auschwitz from Tarnów prison on June 14, 1940.

Visit Wawel Castle, a residency located in central Krakow, Poland. Built at the behest of King Casimir III the Great, it consists of several structures situated around the Italian-style main courtyard. You’ll see the State Rooms, the Lost Wawel Exhibition, and the Cathedral.

Today, you’ll visit the underground treasure of Poland, the Wieliczka Salt Mine. This site has been on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list for 35 years, and deservedly so—salt has been mined there since the 13th century. Your tour will unveil the intriguing changes in industrial practices throughout history as well as stunning artworks, chapels, and statues sculpted in salt.

This evening, you’ll participate in a pierogi cooking class. Learn how to roll, shape, and cut your pierogi. Afterward, you’ll be able to enjoy your delicious creation!

From 1961 to 1989, Berlin existed as two separate cities (East Berlin and West Berlin) whilst the 69-mile-long Berlin Wall was in place. On October 3, 1990, Berlin became a single city once more. Berlin is the national capital, the largest city in Germany, and home to more than 170 museums and galleries. Throughout its now vibrant and fashionable ambiance, there are poignant reminders of World War II and the city's division.

Reflect at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, located near the Brandenburg Gate. This recent and somewhat controversial memorial consists of 2,711 stelae of various heights on a field of 4.7 acres, designed to produce an uneasy and confusing atmosphere. The underground information area presents the names of all known Jewish Holocaust victims.

View the Memorial to the Homosexuals persecuted under Nazism. Gay victims of Nazism were not officially recognized in the immediate aftermath of the Third Reich, because of Paragraph 175, which outlawed homosexuality. In the 1980s, these 'forgotten victims' were finally discussed. In May of 2008, the Memorial, designed by artist duo Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, was opened to the public.

Visit the Bundestag, home to the German parliament. The original Reichstag building was damaged by fire in 1933, as well as air raids and other destruction during World War II, and fell into disuse. After the reunification of Germany in 1990, it was rebuilt and renovated, and the Bundestag, the new German Parliament, convened there for the first time on April 19, 1999. You’ll take an elevator up to the stunning Glass Dome and witness dramatic views both into the building and of Berlin outside.

Spend time at the Brandenburg Gate, a triumphal arch that stood in “no man’s land” between East and West Berlin during the Cold War and became a symbol of a divided Germany.

Enjoy an evening meal with your group.

The Bebelplatz is a public square in the central Mitte district of Berlin. It’s known as the site of one of the infamous Nazi book-burning ceremonies (May 10, 1933) that were held in many German university cities. Today, a memorial by Micha Ullman, consisting of a glass plate set into the cobbles and giving a view of empty bookcases (big enough to hold the 20,000 burned books), commemorates the book burning.

This morning, enjoy a bike tour of Berlin. Some themes to be discussed during the tour include Berlin’s founding, Prussian Berlin, the rise of Hitler, wartime Berlin, and more.

Explore Berlin's Museum Island, a truly outstanding ensemble of five world-renowned museums. Apart from the legendary bust of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti, the most famous and important cultural exhibits on show here include the breathtaking Pergamon Altar and the stunning Ishtar Gate. In 1999, the Museum Island complex was inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage site.

Enjoy an evening meal with your group.

Visit the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Thousands of Jews were sent to Sachsenhausen, where they faced especially brutal treatment. In addition, thousands of Soviet prisoners of war were murdered here in 1941. It’s estimated that more than 200,000 people were imprisoned in the camp between 1936 and 1945 and that more than 50,000 people died here.

Enjoy an evening meal with your group.

Enjoy a guided tour covering the German architectural and sports history of the Olympiastadion Berlin and the Olympiapark Berlin (Subject to events in the park and stadium).

Explore the East Side Gallery, a unique memorial to freedom. Located on the east side of the Berlin Wall, the Gallery consists of about 100 paintings from artists all over the world that express the hope for a better future.

Enjoy an evening meal with your group.

This evening, you’ll make the final entries in your Reflection Journal and share some of the most significant observations and perspectives that have taken shape throughout your thought-provoking Holocaust study tour. We’ll also discuss how these insights may be most relevant for us all as we return home.

Your Holocaust study tour comes to an end as your Tour Director accompanies your group to the airport on your final day.