Where to go in Europe for WW2 history stuff

[PogChamps]

Recently got interested (again) in WW2 and wondering what specific cities and areas within countries would be good for really good WW2 history learning.

I was in Budapest this summer and enjoyed it. I've done Paris already. I want to do Vienna, Prague but then there's so much of Germany to see.

Maybe belgium? x

Normandy is great for this. We loved it. You can squeeze in all the D-Day beaches but also Bayeux (although think Tapestry is closing for a couple of years).

Definitely Belgium - Ypres & and he war graves are so poignant.
Northern coast of France, follow the story.
Also Germany.

Done Brussels and Bruges already!

Germany... Stay around the Munich area and you can visit Dachau concentration camp and the eagle's nest

There are also a few museums in Munich about WWII

Have you done Normandy? It’s incredible. I would be basing myself in one of the towns and booking up talks/ walking tours etc.

That’s WWI not WW2 as OP asked?!

Munich does walking tours covering historic points of interest relating to Hitler and the Nazis. Dachau is also a short train ride away. It goes without saying but the Germans are very conscious of the past atrocities so all discussions should be approached with sensitivity. Bounding up and enthusing about WW2 would not go down well.

Just been to Paris in France

The Normandy Beaches, particularly Arromanches, and then some of the graveyards. I found the contrast between the acres of American white crosses, and then discreet German plaques incredibly poignant.

There are lots of little spots of history dotted around that area. Pegasus Bridge, is worth a visit. A lot of the towns still bear some marks of ww2 even when it’s not a tourist attraction.

On a grander scale is the peace museum at Caan

Normandy for the beaches and the small towns which were liberated and the war graves.
Nuremberg for the parade grounds and holocaust museum...and the bewilderment of how the pleasant people around you are a couple of generations on from the nazi days.
One of the concentration camps.
And Belgium for the first world war stuff...because it's part of the history of the second.

Thank you all!

Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.

You have to book your date and time slot.

Another recommendation for the Normandy beaches.

Also the Channel Islands, they were occupied during WW2 and there are still gun turrets and the Germany army hospitals to visit in both Guernsey and Jersey.

Normandy beaches. Fantastic amount of information there, very poignant and quite horrific really. And if you need a break from the WW2 stuff because it is intense, you can go to Bayeux for the tapestry or Mont St Michel. And the food in Normandy is amazing. I’ve stayed in Honfleur, St Malo and Valognes, depending on which end you want to come at it all from. Certainly enough for a week’s holiday.

Berlin

Jersey is very interesting.

Normandy including the beaches, Bayeux and Pegasus Bridge which has a very moving museum about the glider crews. Nearer Calais are some of the V2 Rocket complexes. Berlin and Munich if you are interested in the German perspective. Amsterdam for Anne Frank’s house.

The WW2 museum in Bayeux was unexpectedly very interesting, but I think they're lending the Bayeux tapestry to the UK for a little while (not sure from when or for how long) so worth being aware of that if that would have been an important different attraction while you were there.

Krakow

I'd third++ comments about Normandy.

The whole campaign to breakout of the Normandy beachead post D-Day took almost three months, hence the number of battlefield sites and walks/tours available, plus multiple museums.

There's a lot of WW2 history associated with Paris but the operation to take it was relatively small scale.

Failing that I'd agree maybe the Ardennes.

Some good museums in Normandy if you’re interested in the D-Day landings.

The Tapestry is going to be at the British Museum next year.

Munich/Austria - we visited Eagles Nest and Dachau as part of one trip (also did the castles of King Ludwig).

Not going to repeat all the excellent suggestions here, so I’ll add Keroman submarine base in Lorient (Britanny).

I second Berlin. Headquarters of the ss has been turned into a museum, checkpoint Charlie, hitlers bunker and odd course the wall. It's just a great city all around.

Oradour sur Glane
Normandy (enough there for several weeks)
Unlike the Great War, there’s signs of WWII everywhere in France. I’m remote and central but still see memorials/plaques/graves everywhere