Visiting Berlin - what should I go and see?

[Peter R.]

It looks likely that I'll be in Berlin for 3-4 days in the first week of January.

Obviously I'll check the 'Third Reich In Ruins' website, but I'd also love to hear from people here what they'd recommend as worthwhile WW2 related places to visit in Berlin.

I'll also be visiting Salzburg to see a friend there but he thinks the main places of interest in Berchtesgaden will probably be closed in the middle of winter

I'lll also be in South Limburg in Holland for a while visiting relatives there, and was thinking of a trip to the Ardennes to see the museum there and whatever else is linked/left over from winter '44/45 there... is that ambitious to do in one day during the current winter - I understand it's been snowing like mad over there, and living in Australia, I have no experience of driving in snow

[Robin Lumsden]

The flak tower at Humboldtshain is worth a look, as is the air raid bunker (near Potsdammerplats) which is now a chamber of horrors. Also the Olympic Stadium is nice. You can still see the Wannsee Conference building, and of course all the stuff in the city centre - Brandenburg Gate, Tiergarten, old Air Ministry, SSHQ, etc. etc. where the last battle took place, although many bits have been rebuilt. The Luftwaffe Museum is at Gatow airfield. The antique market under the arches at Friedrichstarsse Bahnhof has a lot of military bits and bobs.

[Maurice]

Peter,

Going from Limburg to the Ardennes isn't such a distance. Depending were you are going, 2-4 hours. Snow is not much an issue, the highways is off course kept snow free. Only heavy snowfall will get you driving slowly. If you are in Europe from such a distance, I would certainly take the opportunity to see as much as possible.That is off course, if other obligations don't have priority....

Have fun,

Maurice

[Peter R.]

Thank you both. I didn't realize there's still flak towers left. I'll make an effort to see the Wannsee building too. The antique market sounds good, we'll see if this forum has sharpened my skills enough to not come home with a fake EKII or similar.

Thankfully the girl is going shopping and happy to leave me to do a '30-45' history tour of Berlin. Hooray!

The Ardennes is somewhere I've always wanted to go back to. I grew up in Limburg in Holland and remember repeatedly driving by what as a child I thought was a relic Panther at a village in the Ardennes (but probably is the Tiger) on the annual drive to Spain, always wanted to stop and explore more but when you're a 12 year old and your parents want to keep driving to the sun... there's no time for a kid's WW2 history fixation. However, nowadays

I'd also like to catchup with one of the Belgian forum members here who I won't name but that would be a rare chance to see an exceptional collection of original items. However as pointed out there's approx.1000 things I'd like to see and do in Europe but only a few days to do them in, and my relatives will disown me if they find they're being jilted in favour of old battelfields and visiting fellow enthusiasts... tough choices to make.

[Maurice]

http://www.ww2sites.com/?action=jump&page=begrandmenil

Peter,

Quite a chance, from Limburg to Australia! My wife wants to go there, but I think it is too hot..I rather live in Germany.
You might find the Panther on above site, if it's the same?

Cheers,

Maurice

[Peter R.]

Hello Maurice, thanks for the reference - the site above didn't load for some reason, but a google search quickly brought up the Panther in Houffalize - and I'm pretty sure that's the one I used to see in the 70's. The village location also makes more sense to be on the way south from Holland to Spain than the Tiger's location.

Happy to see I probably wasn't that far off to mistake a Tiger for a Panther after all, I used to spend hours with WW2 books showing the armor etc of the era, so even as a kid I really should have known the difference.