Fodor's Travel Talk Forums

Fodor's Travel Talk Forums (https://www.fodors.com/community/)
-   Europe (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/)
-   -   Holocaust tours (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/holocaust-tours-978779/)

kelli_conley3 May 22nd, 2013 11:08 AM

Holocaust tours
 
Im trying to plan a trip to Europe and i would really like to spend a couple of days in Germany and go to some of the holocaust sites, but everything ive looked up is a tour set up through a travel website and its a not just a day thing. I don't want to spend the whole vacation doing this. I just want to visit Germany and spend a day or half a day looking at the sites. any suggestions?

Woyzeck May 22nd, 2013 11:21 AM

Where will you be in Germany? What kind of sites do you want to see?

There are a few concentration camps near some of the major cities that you can visit. Obviously you know you can't cover all of Germany in a "day or half a day," but you could spend 3 or 4 hours in Dachau, for instance, if you are in the Munich area or Buchenwald, for example, near Weimar. I'm not sure what you mean by "some of the sites" if you are only devoting a day or less to it.

Woyzeck May 22nd, 2013 11:31 AM

As day trips from Berlin, you could visit the Sachsenhausen concentration camp (35 km from Berlin) and/or Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz (where the Nazis planned the Holocaust). Each of these would probably take up the better part of the day.

In Berlin, you might be interested in the Jewish Museum (which deals with the history of the Jewish community in Berlin and Germany), the Holocaust Memorial, or the New Synagogue. I've never been, but there is also the Ravensbrück concentration camp in Brandenburg, about 2.5 miles from Berlin.

Woyzeck May 22nd, 2013 11:34 AM

***Ravensbrück is 2.5 HOURS from Berlin, not miles, sorry

amer_can May 22nd, 2013 11:41 AM

If you get to Paris on this trip (or another one) there is a memorial to deportees behind Notre Dame..a very compact, significant and moving momento of the atrocity of population cleansing. We stumbled on it, one day, and were very impressed..no charge, no clamor just awe and wonder.
Didn't go to Buchenwald as I wasn't ready to do this but did go to Aushwitz (sp?) and was overwhelmed. A real eyeopener for those who weren't directly involved!!

Woyzeck May 22nd, 2013 11:47 AM

I have been to Dachau and Buchenwald (twice) and have had a similar experience to amer_can, overwhelmed and deflated. Considering the historical interest of these locations, it is easy to underestimate their intense emotional impact when you are actually at the site. My rule of thumb has been to visit during the afternoon and plan a quiet evening afterwards. The one time I went in the morning, I found it difficult to carry through with, much less enjoy, other more routine travel plans for the rest of the day.


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 05:12 AM.