Last week, 22 Year 13 History students had the opportunity to visit Berlin for a residential trip looking at the Cold War.

During their trip, they visited the dome of the Reichstag (the German Parliament building), the Museum of the DDR (German Democratic Republic), saw an exhibition on counterfactual history at the German Historical Museum. They also toured a Stasi prison which used to hold political prisoners and took part in a six-hour walking tour of Berlin which took in Checkpoint Charlie and the Berlin Wall memorial.

Many students said that it was fantastic to be able to put their learning from recent topics covered in A-level history into the real world context. Sadia said, “I enjoyed the tour, especially when learning about the Berlin wall and the DDR museum as is provided an insight into how East Germans typically lived/reacted to the communist regime rather than only the geopolitics.”

Yasmin enjoyed seeing the Reichstag at night, and Charlie said the experience of seeing the conditions in which political prisoners were held was “interesting, but very chilling”.

All students also enjoyed the chance to wander around the city for some souvenir shopping, and trying staples of German cuisine including doner kebab and currywurst!