Educational WW2 trip in Europe- itinerary ideas?

[Computadora]

My dc is studying gcse history, including a chunk on WW2. We’ve discussed a trip to various places in Europe to help this, but are unsure where to focus on.

at the moment we have Poland (mainly for the Auschwitz- type events), Berlin and Nuremberg. Also possibly Amsterdam for the Anne Frank museum, Jewish history museum etc.

we’re less interested in the battlefields.

any advice on where else we should include please?

Haven't been myself but heard good things about this museum in Gdansk https://muzeum1939.pl/

These were also good with similar age children
Thiepval Museum, France
https://www.oorlogsmuseum.nl/nl/ in holland

Berlin is a great city for WW2 history (as well as later cold war history also).

Normandy beaches depending on itinerary if you are driving.

Thanks all. I think we’re going to fly/go by train which might limit us slightly.

The WW2 museum in Gdansk is excellent, if travelling around Poland then Schindler's Factory Tour and then walk to Schindler's Passage in Krakow along with the Eagle Pharmacy which is opposite the Ghetto Heros square. Warsaw has the excellent POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.

It's super easy travelling by train. We flew into Krakow, took the train to Gdansk and on the way back to Krakow stopped off in Warsaw for a few days.

I'd add in Oradour sur Glane if you could fit it in.

Berlin

Berlin is great. Their museums totally embrace their dreadful history and present it in a factual way that acknowledges the wrong they did. It also has some great museums about the aftermath of WW2 and the cold war.. Anne Franks house is such a tourist attraction it is meaningless now. I think to go to Auschwitz and other death camps is very disrespectful as a tourist. You know what happened there . You didn't need to gawk over it.

Many of the best museums are in Normandy. They are so wide ranging in every aspect of the landings and everything that led up to that. If you really want your DC to understand the war go there.. See the German fortifications. See where the gliders landed to take Pegasus bridge. Look at how they scaled Point du Hoc.

Don't dismiss the war cemeteries. My DS was 17 when we went there. He was always a kid with a great interest in history. A young man with a great deal of compassion. He was born and grew up on France so was used to war memorials and commemorations. But when we went to the cemetery in Bayeux he cried. Most of the graves there have an inscription from the family. One was for an 18 year old that said "he tried his best". . That really made him understand the horror of it. The last post at sundown in a war cemetery even today brings it home.

But it depends what you want from the trip. A visit to the tourist sites or a real understanding of the war.

Normandy is the other main place, the beaches themselves are beautiful and the museums are great, the American cemetery is vast, stark and moving, the British one at bayeaux is so pretty in comparison with roses - people bring crosses with them and place them on graves from their home town, reading messages on them brings tears to your eyes - we found the 5 commemorated on our church war memorial when I took my dc then 8&10.

The WWW2 and Cold War museum in Caen in France is exceptional. Maybe not for this trip if you are focusing on Poland etc, but definitely consider the Normandy beaches and Caen for another trip in the future

I don't think you can do all in one go. Either do Berlin and Krakow for Auschwitz or Normandy.

Nürnberg is interesting but I am not sure if it is worth the extra trip. You can take a direct train from Berlin but it's a 3 hour journey.

Could you split it in two trips and do Normandy extra during a half-term? Would you be able to drive, ferry/tunnel?

I’d stick to just Berlin but stay for longer. And Normandy if you can do a second trip but that’s harder with no car.
Imperial war museum holocaust gallery in London v good.
And The World at War on DVD?

Agree with this- also the Uprising Museum in Warsaw is worthwhile. In all 3 cities, a walking tour can also provide perspective.

The underground hospital in Guernsey is really moving and tells the story really well. Probably a separate trip but I would really recommend it. ..

The Norman beaches are definitely worth a visit too, they are very much part of the story of world war two and the point the tide started to turn

I have always assumed that tourists go to the concentration camps to keep alive what happened in them and ensure it never happens again. It’s something we have not done but there are museums which explain what happened. In Berlin for example.

Does our Imperial war museum have a decent section on ww2? That would be my starting point. Then I’d look at Normandy or Berlin. Not both on the same trip. Ann Frank house really moved my dd when she went. Same age at the time. However the Berlin museums are better overall.

Which aspects of WW2 does his syllabus cover- the rise of the Third Reich, the war itself- or both?

Agree with all of this. The Churchill War Rooms in London would be a great start. Bletchley Park (code breakers) is also fantastic.

This also. If it's like DD's Hitler's Rise to Power than things like the War rooms or Bletchley Park are ok but they don't fit the syllabus. DD found them interesting in a wider sense but Berlin was definitley better.

I would then even say that Normandy is second to Berlin.

This doesn't mean that they aren't a good idea to visit, I was actually disappointed with the school's WWII teaching, plenty of topics weren't really raised at all, it sounded all like the battles were just in Europe and the US just joined.

Have you been to the IWM at Duxford? That's a fantastic place to visit, you could easily spend a day there. We lived a few miles away so went often.

It's an astonishing place, and you can actually feel the history.

I went on two history trips to Europe with school, at GCSE and A Level. Trying to remember where we went - definitely Berlin, Nuremburg, Munich (Munich Putsch etc). And Auschwitz. But we also went to Czech Republic, we went to Terezin concentration camp, and the Jewish Ghetto in Prague. I'll see what else I remember.

There are few places with the sheer breadth of historical sites, excellent museums, many of them free (and a concentration camp- Sachsenhausen), and a sense of being Where it All Happened to compare with Berlin, I'd say. (And also for fun stuff when you need a break!)

We did a walking tour in Munich about the rise of Hitler that was really interesting. Made the subsequent days interesting as you could join places and events together

Madurodam in The Hague has a good section on Maduro and the Dutch resistance.

Dunkirk has loads of displays and large photo boards to show you now and then that are v effective and thought provoking.

The shoes by the river in Budapest were very arresting

It sort of depends, also whether general war based or holocaust based. I have done quite a few with my kids - similar reasons. Anne Frank's house is hard work (and I recognise the irony here !!) because it is tourist mobbed continually/ school visits etc. Krakow or Katowice for Auschwitz, entrance is free of charge if you book ahead, and you can travel by train to Oswiecim (and you can walk to the camps, but it is a fair walk and it has several sites) Aucshwitz (and Dachau nr Munich) are hard to visit emotionally. The Jewish Synagogue in Prague is, for me at least, the hardest to visit. Also Schindler's factory in Krakow, good and slightly less bleak as it tells stories of survival. From a WW1 POV The last post at Meningate in Ypres is very moving (every night), as is Tyne Cot which is not far away. The beaches are good to go to, but hard to get to if you don't have a car. Also some stuff in UK (war rooms, stuff at Imperial War Museum in London and Bletchley Park). Warsaw and Gdansk also good for some things. HTH x

Thank you all.
it sounds like two trips would be sensible. I’m thinking we focus on Poland/germany initially.

The school focus is on the rise to power which led to WW2, but I think the holocaust is integral to any learning.