SOCIALIST MOSAICS, WWII MEMORIALS AND LOST SOVIET CITIES

BERLIN – POTSDAM – BEELITZ – JÜTERBOG  

ITINERARY

This Berlin-Brandenburg tours are offered in collaboration with the tour-operator Soviet Tours.

DAY 1/2 - Soviet Berlin

• In the morning you will meet your tour guide in the lobby of the designated hotel in East Berlin (exact hotel address and meeting time will be communicated well in advance per email; private airport pickup and shuttle service available for a small additional fee).

• Introductory briefing about the region and the route.

• Two-Day East Berlin Tour: Karl-Marx Avenue, (former) Lenin Square, Stasi headquarter in Lichtenberg, Gedenkstätte der Sozialisten, Volkspark Friedrichshain, Thälmann-Monument and a vast plethora of Socialist architectures, modernist mosaics, Soviet memorials and other communist monuments scattered around the former capital of the German Democratic Republic.

• Being this a Soviet Tours journey, we will keep safe distance from overrated (and overcrowded) touristy spots like the Checkpoint Charlie and the East Side Gallery: these places show the history of the now defunct GDR through a stereotyped and one-sided narrative and shall be avoided like the bubonic plague.

• Our gallivanting around East Berlin will instead include a de rigueur visit to the Soviet-German Museum in Karlshorst, located in the very villa where the capitulation of the Third Reich was signed by Wilhelm Keitel in 1945, and a compulsory pilgrimage to the glorious Soviet War Memorial in Treptow.

• Meals and overnights in East Berlin.

DAY 3 - Potsdam and Altes Lager

• After breakfast we will drive to Potsdam on board of our bukhanka, the legendary and immortal Soviet minibus that epitomises the essence of the USSR: resilient, tough, harsh and tender at the same time.

• At the Glienicker Brücke, aka the Bridge of Spies, we will cross the former border between West Berlin and the GDR: it was here that secret agents were exchanged between the KGB and the CIA during the Cold War.

• Once we reach the “Soviet” end of the bridge, we’ll find ourselves into GDR territory and head straight for Potsdam, one of the most important Soviet garrisons in the German Democratic Republic with numerous historical sights and restricted areas: for almost five decades, a KGB headquarters was located directly next to today's UNESCO World Heritage Site Cecilienhof - Neuer Garten and it was that in the summer of 1945 Stalin, Truman and Churchill met to shape the future of post-war Europe.

• Afterwards we will visit Potsdam’s city centre with its unique mix of Prussian façades and GDR architecture and then pay our respects at one of the most impressive Soviet war cemeteries in the country near Beelitz.

• In the late afternoon we’ll then arrive in Altes Lager, an extensive military town-cum-airfield, which was taken over by the Soviet Army after the end of the war and now hosts an über-interesting museum, a cultural centre and hostelry for Soviet Wanderers like us.

• Dinner and overnight in Altes Lager.

DAY 4 - Jüterbog

• After breakfast we will continue on to Jüterbog passing miles and miles abandoned military installations: the secretive capital of the pastoral region of Fläming was literally surrounded by Soviet bases during the Cold War.

• Weather permitting, we take a short hike on a former military training area, which has now been reconquered by the surrounding nature: with a little luck we'll even find wolf tracks… just to be clear: we mean the mammals, not the Nazi Werwolves, which were also present in the area at the end of WWII.

• Around lunch time we’ll then show up in Wünsdorf, a former Soviet military town, where one of the last still standing Lenin statues in the country welcomes the rare visitors.

• En route to Wünsdorf we’ll stop in Baruth to visit yet another majestic Soviet War Memorial, a huge obelisk flanked by two T-34 tanks.

• Once in Wünsdorf, in front of the awe-inspiring Lenin Statue, we will enjoy a Soviet picnic and then extensively explore the area: Wünsdorf was the seat of the High Command of the Soviet Army in the GDR and at the same time the largest Soviet city outside the Soviet Union!

• Late afternoon transfer back to Berlin, final grand Soviet dinner and night out on the town together:

• Overnight in Berlin.

DAY 5 - Flight back home or transfer to further destinations  

• After enjoying a last German breakfast together we'll take care of your transfer to the airport/train station of choice.

• For those flying out: transfer to Berlin International Airport for your flight back home.

• For those wishing to take the train reach further destinations: transfer to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof.

• End of the tour.