East Berlin: City of Shadows 3 hours Private Tour with a friendly historian

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Place: Berlin

Validity: Flexible

Language: English

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Guided Tour

Private Tour

Smaller Group Size

Subject expert guide

Private group

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Start at Brandenburg Gate where President Reagan called on the Soviet Union to, “Tear down this wall!” while taking in the bombastic architecture of the former Soviet Embassy nearby.
Pass through a key crossing point at the Friedrichstrasse train station where families being torn apart made their farewells in the office known as the Palace of Tears.
Contemplate how Berlin’s division created “ghost” stations at Nordbahnhof and resulted in tragic deaths at the Berlin Wall Memorial.
Discover the mile-long housing complex known as Karl Marx Allee, where the dream of a socialist paradise became a nightmare of deprivation, suppression, and paranoia.
At the former Stasi Headquarters, learn how East Germany’s secret police recruited and organized a massive network of civilian spies.
Visit Alexanderplatz with its array of communist-era hotels, department stores and offices, iconic TV Tower, and the setting for the demonstrations that brought the Communist regime to an end.

What to expect

Travel back in time and across borders on this 3-hour tour of East Germany's Berlin. Your tour will start at the Brandenburg Gate, where President Ronald Reagan once demanded Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall!” You'll also have a chance to look at the nearby former Soviet Embassy. The magnificent building was built after World War II as a testament to Stalin's desire to control all of Berlin. This plus the Allies' postwar division of Germany contributed to the tension of the Cold War. East Germany created tough immigration laws which split up families. The tour moves on to the Friedrichstrasse train station where families said goodbye in an office known as the Palace of Tears. You'll also visit Northward, a “ghost” station along one of West Berlin's subway lines in East German territory. Despite being unused, it was always heavily guarded. Along the way you'll visit the Berlin Wall memorial and hear about the terrible Death Strip, where many people tried to escape East Germany, often with dreadful results.

Your tour also includes a visit to Karl Marx Allee, the mile-long housing complex which stands as a symbol of East Germany's terrible rule and paranoia. The secret police, known as the Stasi, encouraged neighbors and family to spy on each other, promoting a lifestyle filled with spies, persecution, and fear.

The tour ends at Alexanderplatz. In the 1960s the area was rebuilt with futuristic-style buildings and stood as a symbol of East German pride. However, in 1989 it become the center for mass demonstrations which contributed to end of the the Communist rule.

What’s included

3-hour tour of East Berlin

Historian tour guide

What’s not included

Metro fare: You will need to use public transport a few times since the distances between some key sites are too far to walk. If you do not have a multi-day visitor’s transit pass to Berlin already, we suggest that you purchase the day metro pass. If you cannot purchase it in advance, your guide will help you purchase it at the first metro station on the tour.