Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
nine tours at different locations around Berlin, but their core tours, as listed below,
are in the vicinity of the Gesundbrunnen. hose covered here are in
English
; tours in
German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch and Danish are listed on the website.
Tour 1: Dark Worlds
Mon 11am & 1pm, Thurs-Sun 11am (March-Nov also Wed 11am); 90min • €10
he tour of the main Gesundbrunnen bunker,
Tour 1:
Dark Worlds
, explores a large,
well-preserved World War II bunker, one of hundreds of public bunkers that were used
towards the end of the war by Berliners waiting out the Allied bombing raids. It was
here also where many women committed suicide rather than be raped by advancing
Russians. As a valuable part of the U-Bahn network the Gesundbrunnen bunker was
one of the few spared from destruction during Germany's demilitarization, and today
its rooms and passages contain countless artefacts from the time. Among them are
various items cleverly crafted from military waste immediately after the war: helmets
became pots, gas masks became oil lamps and tyres were used to sole shoes. Equally
interesting are the finds from the Nazi bunker beneath the Reichskanzlei (see p.40),
including paintings by SS artists and an Enigma machine. Other remnants unearthed
from around town and displayed here come from the Battle of Berlin and include the
contents of the pockets of two Volksturm recruits - a fifteen-year-old and a 69-year-old
- killed in the fray. hese items all come from modern-day excavations of Berlin, and
weapons and bombs are still regularly found by building crews, sometimes with deadly
consequences - as one display shows.
4
Tour 2: From the Flak Towers to Mountains of Debris
April-Oct Thurs-Sun 3pm; 90min • €10
Tour 2: From the Flak Towers to Mountains of Debris
goes into the park opposite the
Gesundbrunnen station to explore two of the seven levels of the
Humboldthain
anti-
aircraft gun tower that proved too beefy for the Soviets to destroy. It is cold down there,
even in summer, and you won't be welcome in flip-flops or sandals for safety reasons.
Tour 3: Subways, Bunkers & Cold War
March-Nov Tues 11am & 1pm, Wed 1pm, Thurs-Sun 1pm; Dec-Feb Thurs-Sun 1pm; 90min • €10
Tour 3: Subways, Bunkers & Cold War
investigates another World War II bunker, but also
goes into Cold War-era tunnels and bunkers, including refuges that were equipped for
West Berliners in case of a nuclear strike, and underground labyrinths that were
blocked to prevent East Germans escaping to the West.
Tour M - Breaching the Berlin Wall
April-Oct Mon-Wed 3pm • 2hr • €13
Tour M - Breaching the Berlin Wall
explores tunnels dug under the Berlin Wall by
would-be escapees and relates stories of success - three hundred people managed to
escape the GDR in this way - and failures.
