first trip berlin - what tours?

[3002steve]

any advice for a first timer in Berlin?

keen to see as much TR stuff as i can , would be grateful for any help

also any shops dealing in historical items ?

[Gran Sasso]

I recommend a tour with those guys

https://www.berliner-unterwelten.de/en.html

Also visit one of the many fleamarkets, there is always some militaria offered.

[Seigfried]

any advice for a first timer in Berlin?

keen to see as much TR stuff as i can , would be grateful for any help

also any shops dealing in historical items ?

When I went in 1991 I took 'The Last Battle' by Cornelius Ryan (read before you go). In the front is a wartime map of Berlin, which at the time was not that different from my current map. Anyway, there are many incidents in the book which are marked on the wartime map, so you can get a good appreciation of what happened at a particular bridge, junction etc (there are bullet holes everywhere if you look carefully, or certainly used to be!) during the last days of the Reich.

Visit San Souci (Frederick the Great) and the Garrison Church at Potsdam, Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate at night is a must to get the flavour of a torchlit parade, FlakTurm - you will love it! I also went to Voss Strasse and the area above the Fuhrerbunker although this has now been built on.

[Volksgrenadier 44]

Hello matey,

I did the Third Reich walking tour,absolutly fantastic and dirt cheap too if i remember correctly,i think i got a kebab or something included in a Turkish place!

Enjoy!

Ross

[KLMKsunbunny]

Flak tower is usually top of my list of recommendations, and it is only open during the summer months. You will end up seeing the Soviet war memorial / cemetery at the Tiergarten no doubt, but the one at Treptower park is impressive, and also contains two monumental Soviet red flags built from marble taken from the Reichschancellary. In my experience many of the bullet holes are gradually being erased, but they are still visible at the victory column. I have been to Berlin a few times, never bothered with a walking tour though, as this book is invaluable:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Past-Finder.../dp/3861533634