Putney Historians take on Berlin (Bella van de Grampel, PHS)

The true excitement began when the intrepid Putney historians were let loose in Alexanderplatz, located right in the centre of Berlin, for lunch; a range of adventurous cuisines were thus encountered: Burger King, Five Guys, McDonald’s – you name it and it was there. Once the luggage had been deposited in the youth hostel, where one historian Dhanya Stevens exclaimed “why are there so many Germans in Berlin?!” (in response to the large number of German students also residing there), we embarked on a tour of the Berlin Wall given by our animated tour guide who remained with us for the entirety of the trip, Trevor. Built in 1961 and taken down in 1989, the Wall was an extremely divisive and prominent part of Berlin’s history, having divided the city into the Soviet East and the Allied West for the Cold War period of 20 years. For many Year 11s on the trip, we found this to be useful revision for our imminent GCSE, but it also began to incite a burning interest in Berlin’s rich history in particular.

The group of 30 then divided in two to explore the Berliner Unterwelten (tunnels which acted as, ultimately unused, atomic shelters during WWII). With the help of Joep, our expert Dutch guide who hailed all the from Amsterdam to share his knowledge of German history, we came to understand how the German government intended to deal with the modern threat of nuclear war. He constantly reminded us with dry sarcasm that despite the many flaws of the bunkers, such as the fact that all 23 in the city could only save 1% of the city’s population, “the theory was pretty sound and we should always have hope.” At least they were never necessary, due to the theory of Mutually Assured Destruction intrinsic to nuclear warfare, which meant that “not much money needed to be invested into civil defence away.” The first day drew to a close with a much needed rendezvous at the shops to grab food before heading back to the hostel for dinner, having walked 19,000 steps on significantly fewer hours of sleep.
 

It was a harrowing yet important start to the second day as we drove 40 mins North of Berlin to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where we gained a much deeper insight into the atrocities that occurred there; as well as the fact that when the power transferred from the Germans to the Soviets in 1945, it was actually kept in use. Initially, 60,000 Nazis and their sympathisers were incarcerated by the Soviets there, before they then expanded to other political dissidents and opponents to the communist regime. Trevor, using his wealth of knowledge which extended as far as our esoteric questions could go, taught that this camp was primarily a labour camp for men, partially used to make the Jewish prisoners test equipment such as boots made by companies who worked alongside the Nazi regime, such as Hugo Boss. Many were shocked by this news, but overall found this to be a poignant reminder of how the war is such a recent past. Many well known opponents to Hitler were also kept here, under slightly better conditions than the other inmates, such the Christian priests and resistance members Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Niemöller, whose widely referenced poem “First they came…” was recited.
 

A more uplifting note was delivered through the words of Andreas, our guide at the Allied museum who imparted with us the story of the Candy Bomber, an American Air Force officer who dropped sweets and chocolates using little parachutes to the children of Berlin during the Berlin Airlift of 1948-49. This heartwarming story earned a chorus of “aw” from the crowd as it showed the soul in the middle of a war with so much pain, and how it allowed the children of America and Germany to become pen pals and connect. Thus, the propensity of youth to overcome perceived differences enforced by their elders was demonstrated; clearly this was a sentiment which resonated with the group. The avid historians then moved on to visit the grand dome of the Reichstag and the site of the infamous Wannsee conference. The latter possessed a gorgeous library and gardens, however, the weather decided to turn on us so whilst some found that it did evoke pathetic fallacy “rather similar to our English Literature novel Rebecca”, we decided to run back in regardless and continue to accrue historical knowledge.

Day 3 involved a fitting three main focuses: the Brandenburg gate, the Holocaust memorial and Checkpoint Charlie. The former was unfortunately made largely inaccessible due to the visiting King Charles’ motorcade, from which some expected him to emerge to greet his young citizens, but to no avail. Having moved on, we encountered The Memorial to the Murdered Jews, built by architect Peter Eisenmann in 2005. This was designed in order to provoke thought and discussion without one clear message about the Holocaust and, in true Putney fashion, many different ideas were shared. Imi Whelan described how, upon first look, it seems as if the blocks are all similar heights, but they quickly differentiate and become “overwhelming”. The lack of names or inscription also created a feeling of anonymity, emphasising the large scale nature of the genocide. Finally, the head of our History department Mrs Gough commented that it got colder as you ventured further in, changing the mood to become more somber and chilling. Finally, we arrived at Checkpoint Charlie, the final stop on our comprehensive whistle stop tour of our now undoubtedly favourite city. Until this point, there had been an ongoing hunt for a quintessentially touristic “I heart Berlin” t-shirt, to no avail. However, success was finally in sight as Mrs Brown, yet another member of our fantastic history department, discovered a shop which led to more than 6 of the group purchasing a t-shirt. The joy generated as a consequence was fortunately enough to combat the critical stares of some of the local Berliners.

There were many highlights of this trip, but a few stood out as particularly important. The predominant triumph is that Trevor announced that Putney High was “the best group he has taken to Berlin”, which was a massive win for all. He was much beloved by all the Putney Historians and his help navigating the city was crucial to the success of the trip. Moreover, this trip was a time of great international cooperation, as a grand game of pool took place between us and an Italian school. Through the translation skills of one y10, which provoked fantastic “inter-year cooperation” according to Mrs Gough, we were able to successfully… lose. However, as always there was room to compare this event to something historical, and in the case of Mr Pattie he likened this camaraderie between Putney year groups to the Berlin Wall coming down, and the East and West Germans working together in reconciliation. Overall, Emily Cochrane summed it up on behalf of us all when she said “although some parts may have been solemn, Berlin became the city of love for many people in this group. Whether that be the buildings, the history, or the people, Berlin has become a destination I would love to revisit.” Plus, at least we “managed to leave Berlin without having to tunnel our way out” (Mr Pattie).