Discover Berlin, Potsdam, and Dresden
Explore the rich history and vibrant culture of Berlin, the architectural magnificence and natural beauty of Potsdam. and the baroque spendlor of Dresden through my unique tours. As a German-American historian and local expert with three decades of experience, I offer insights beyond what typical tours include. . Learn what sets my tours apart and makes them unforgettable experiences .
Berlin
Third Reich Walking Tour: My most popular tour. How did Adolf Hitler and the Nazis come to power? How did their authoritarian system of propaganda, repression and terror work? How did anti-Semitism, the cornerstone of Nazi ideology, lead to the Holocaust? Why did Germany fail to defeat the Soviet Union, and how did that failure bring about the destruction of Berlin and Germany? And did Hitler really escape the Bunker? Most importanty, what warnings does the history ofNazi Germany hold for our own time, when once again liberal democracy is under threat from a rising tide of authoritarianism, racism, and fascism? These are the questions we discuss on this tour. Sites include the Wilhelmstraße (former government quarter), the remaining part of the Nazi Propaganda Ministry, the Memorial to Georg Elser (the first of many would-be assassins of Adolf Hitler), the former site of the Führerbunker, the memorials to the Jewish, homosexual, and Sinti & Roma victims of the Nazis, the Brandenburg Gate, the Soviet War Memorial in the Tiergarten, and the Reichstag Building. Duration: 2.5 hours. Cost: 200 Euros.
A Stroll through Prussian Berlin: For many, the Prussian state remains known for its militarism, but Prussia was also a kingdom that promoted relgious tolerance, education and culture. Nowhere else can you experience Prussia's magnificent cultural heritage than in central Berlin. Learn why Prussia strove to elevate the knowledge and taste of its population, why it pursued progressive policies of immigration and religious tolerance, how the Nazis broke with this legacy, and how the Prussian heritage is remembered in Berlin today. Sites include: Museum Island, the Boulevard Unter den Linden, the New Guard Station, the Humboldt University, the State Opera House, St. Hedwig's Cathedral, the former Royal Library and the State Library, the former Opera Square (site of the Nazi book burning), the Gendarmes's Market with the French and the German "Cathedrals," and the Concert House, and the Brandenburg Gate. Duration: 2.5 hours. Cost: 200 Euros.
Queer Berlin. Many remain unaware that Berlin was the center of the first gay rights movement. Long before the 1969 Stonewall Riot in New York City, gay activists in Berlin were demanding an end to discrimination and queer people in Berlin enjoyed a level of freedom and acceptance unthninkable in most other cities. But it all came to an end with the Nazis, and it took several decades afterwards for queer people in East and West Berlin to reassert their dignity and achieve their civil rights. Now they find themselves under threat once more with a new rising tide of intolerance. Sites include: Memorial to Magnus Hirschfeld (pioneer gay rights activist) and his Institute of Sexual Science, Memorial to the Homosexual Victims in the Tiergarten, the Nollendorf Platz Memorial (the first memorial for gay victims of the Nazis in Germany), the "Rainbow Quarter" in the district of Schöneberg, the center of gay life in the 1920's and early 1930's (still offering many queer bars, clubs, shops, and social services), the former site of the legendary trans-club "El Dorado" (theme of the Netflix documentaryof the same name) and the neighborhood where the British author Christopher Isherwood lived. (His book "Goodbye to Berlin" chronicled how gay life flourished in Berlin before being destroyed by the Nazis, and later inspired the musical "Cabaret." ) Duration: 2.5 hours. Price: 250 Euros.
Full-day Berlin Tour. This tour offers an overview of the highlights in former east and west Berlin, along with tips for further exploration on your own. suggestions for museum visits, going out in the evening, and cultural events. The specific sites visited depend on your own interests and wishes. Duration: 6 hours. Cost: 400 Euros.
World War Two for Hard-Core HIstory Fans: What did Nazi Germany hope to achieve by beginning the Second World War in Europe? How did the German military achieve its stunning victories, and how did it suffer its devastating defeats? Was the German Wehrmacht really a superior military force? What were the strengths and weaknesses of the Allied forces and the Red Army and how did they bring about the final defeat of Nazi Germany? Moreover, how did the course of the war determine the post-war territorial and political settlement, and how does the Second World War impact us today? Sites include: The Sovet War Memorials in Tiergarten Park and Treptower Park, the former Air Transportation Ministry (Luftwaffe Headquarters), Bendler Block (center of military resistance to Hitler ("Valkyrie"), former site of Hitler's Bunker, German-Russian Museum Karlshorst (site of Nazi Germany's final surrender). Duration: 8 hours (lunch and coffee breaks included). Cost: 400 Euros. A shortened version of this tour without the Soviet Memorial in Treptower Park and the German-Russian Museum in Karlshorst is also possible: Duration: 2.5 hours. Cost: 250 Euros.
Bus Tours.
Highlights of Historic Berlin: Brandenburg Gate (photo-stop), the boulevard Unter den Linden, Museum Island (photo-stop), Gendarmes' Makret, Alexanderplatz, Karl-Marx-Avenue, East Side Gallery (longest remaining part of the Berlin Wall with photo-stop), Checkpoint Charlie (photo-stop). Potsdamer Platz, Victory Column, Reichstag and government quarter, and much more! Duration: 3 hours. Price: 250 Euros.
Berlin in Depth: Brandenburg Gate (photo-stop), the boulevard Unter den Linden, Museum Island (photo-stop), Alexxanderplatz, Karl-Marx-Avenue, East Side Gallery (longest remaining part of the Berlin Wall with photo-stop), Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park (photo-stop), Checkpoint Charlie (photo-stop). Potsdamer Platz, Victory Column, Reichstag and government quarter, KDW department store, Emperor Wilhelm Memorial Church, Charlottenburg Palace , Olympic Stadium, and much more! Duration: 6 hours (includiing one-hour lunch break). Price: 400 Euros.
Potsdam
Sanssouci and the Old Town (half-day tour): Take the train to Potsdam, where we meet to begin the tour (upon request, I can also meet you in Berlin). Walk through the Brandenburg Suburb of Potsdam with its striking art-niveau architecture, to Sanssouci, northern Germany's most beautiful and palace park, once the summer home of Prussia's best-known king, Frederick the Great. Among the hightlights you will see there: the Chinese House, the New Orangery, the New Palace, the Picture Gallery, the Belvedere, and much more! You can enjoy the world-famous view of Sanssouci palace from the Great Fountain, admire the manicured gardens of the Vineyard Terraces, and pay your respects to Frederick the Great at his grave, where you will learn why he had himself buried among his beloved miniature greyhounds, and why his admirers honor him to this day by laying potatos down at his final resting place. Afterwards, you stroll through the park into through Potsdam's perfectly preserved 18th century old town with the Dutch Quarter. Duration: 3 hours. Cost: 250 Euros. (Note: an interior visit of Sanssouci or one of the other palaces is also possible upon request.).
Sanssouci, the Old Town, and Cecilienhof, site of the Potsdam Conference (full-day tour): Take the train to Potsdam, where we will meet to begin the tour (upon request, I can also meet you in Berlin). Stroll through Sanssouci park, see the palace from the outside (interior audio-guided tour possible on request) as well as the grave of Frederick the Great. Enjoy a lunch break in the charmiung baroque old town of Potsdam, and then take a bus to the New Garden to see Cecilienhof Palace, site of the Potsdam Conference (the palace musuem is closed for renovations until Novemeber 2027, but the palace, including the main rooms used for the conference, can still be viewed from the outside), Weather permitting, enjoy a tasty beer and a bratwurst in the "Meierei," the former royal dairy, now a brewery with Potsdam's most beautiful beer garden, before taking a bus directly back to the Potsdam Main Station to return to Berlin. Duration: 6 hours. Cost: 400 Euros.
The Babelsberg Villa Colony (half-day tour): Many know that the US-president Harry Truman, the British prime ministers Winston Churchill and Clement Attlee, as well as the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin met at Cecilienhof Palace for the Potsdam Conference. Less well known is where they stayed while they were there: the Babelsberg Villa Colony on the Griebnitzsee (lake). Here stand the grand summer homes of many investors, bankers, and industrialists who made their fortunes during the "Founding Era" of the Second German Empire (1870's). They were soon joined by prominent government officials, military officers, scientists and artists, many of whom decided to live in the colony year round. Reknowed architects of their time designed villas for the colony, including Alfred Grenander, Hermann Muthesius, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe . After the nearby Babelsberg film studio opened in 1917, a few film stars bought homes here. The Golden Age of the Colony ended with the Nazis. Perhaps half of the residents were Jews, all of whom were driven into exile or murdered. Many villas then became the homes of high-ranking Nazis, but also of members of the military resistance. At the end of the Second World War, the colony was evacuated to make room for the delegations attending the Potsdam Conference. The division of Germany, which was confirmed at the conference, transformed the colony into a kind of ghost town. Located in East Germany, the colony was now separated from neighboring Berlin by the Berlin Wall, with only those considered "reliable elements" allowed to live there. New challenges have arisen with German reunification, especially regarding property questions, but the colony has once again become an exclusive residential areas, home to celebrities, and a place of great historic significance, natural beauty and architectural grandeur. Duration:2.5 hours, Cost: 250 Euros.
Hiddden Gems in Potsdam: Alexandrowka, Pentacost Hill, and the New Garden: Okay, you've already seen Sanssouci and a bit of the Old Town. But have you seen the Russian Colony, Potsdam's living memorial to the Russian-Prussian military alliance against Napoleon? Did you know that Potsdam has the oldest Orthodox Church in western Europe? Have you enjoyed the breath-taking views from the Belvedere on Pentacost Hill? Have you seen the Marble Palace on the Heiliger See lake? Most important of all, have you visited the Meierei, once the royal dairy and now a brewery and beer garden, offering great views, good food, and uniquely flavored craft beer? Take this tour and experience it all! Duration: 2.5 hours. Cost: 250 Euros.
Science Park Albert Einstein. For over 140 years, scientists have been conducting research and experiments on top of Potsdam's "Telegraph Mountain," where in 1832 Station 4 of Prussia's optical telegraph line was built. After 1879, what would become world-famous research and experimental facilities were built on the mountain, including the first-ever Astrophysical Observatory, the Small and the Large Refractors, the first Geodesic Institute, and the Meterological Institute. The most famous facility there is the "Einstein Tower" from 1922, a solar observatory built to confirm Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity and an icon of expressionist architecture. The science park was where Albert Michelson confirmed the constancy of the speed of light, which won him a Nobel Prize and helped clear the path for Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity; where Johannes Hartmann discovered interstellar material, and where geodesic researchers discovered that the earth is not round --not flat either -- but rather potato-shaped (thus referred to by experts as the Potsdamer Kartoffel, the "Potsdam Potato"). Today, the Science Park is best known for it's research on the causes and consequences of climate change. Come for the science history, but also for the architecture, the nature, and the views! Duration: 2.5 hours. Cost: 250 Euros.
Lectures
Book me for lectures for your group, whether they're students or regular travellers. I offer talks not only on Berlin, Potsdam and Dresden, but also on Prussian, German, and European history in general, including political, military, and cultural history. I also lecture on contemporary issues such as current politics, the Remembrance Culture, and city planning, past and present. You can also book me for online lectures. Duration: 1-2 hours. Price: 200 Euros per lecture.
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