WWII to the Cold War: The Ultimate Berlin War Guide

For better or worse, Berlin will forever be considered one of the most fascinating cities in Europe. Beneath the modern glass buildings, restored streets, and underground clubs lies the story of a city torn between ideologies and fundamental forces that shaped some of the darkest periods in human history. This is not a city that shies away from its failures. Rather, it displays them with the gravity, respect and dignity they deserve. Across Berlin, memorials, museums, preserved buildings, and fragments of the Berlin Wall remind visitors of the events that transformed not only the city, but the world.

Few cities can tell the story of the 20th century quite like Berlin. Within a relatively small area, you can trace the rise and fall of Nazi Germany, the destruction of the Second World War, the division of the city between the Allied powers and the decades-long confrontation between East and West.

This route brings those chapters together, taking you through some of Berlin’s most significant historical sites in chronological order, from the horrors of WWII to the tension of the Cold War and ultimately the fall of the Berlin Wall.

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Day 1: Central Berlin

An entire day can easily be spent exploring the historic centre of Berlin alone. This route will take you from the heart of the Third Reich to the final days of a divided Berlin.

From the grand avenues where Nazi rallies once took place to the imposing remains of the Berlin Wall, this route brings together some of the most significant historical sites in the city.

Start: Reichstag → Soviet Memorial Tiergarten → Brandenburg Gate → Soviet Memorial Tiergarten → Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe → Führerbunker → Former Reich Chancellery site → Ministry of Aviation → Topography of Terror → Anhalter Bahnhof → Checkpoint Charlie

Reichstag

Not many structures in this city outlasted the war, while others were fought for inch by inch. Of all Berlin’s surviving wartime symbols, the Reichstag is undoubtedly the most iconic of all.

It witnessed both the rise and fall of Nazi Germany. In February 1933, the building was severely damaged during the controversial Reichstag fire, an event that Hitler exploited to suspend civil liberties and eliminate his political opponents. Although the building wasn’t critical to the Nazi regime, it remained a powerful symbol of the German state at the time.

At the culmination of the Battle of Berlin in April and May 1945, Soviet troops fought fierce battles in and around the building itself as they closed in on the heart of the capital, culminating in the famous raising of the Soviet flag above its roof. Former players of Call of Duty: World at War will remember this scene all too well!

Today, visitors can climb the Reichstag’s glass dome and look out across the city. Yet it will never be able to fully shake off its scars of war. Traces remain inside, including Soviet graffiti left on the walls.

Soviet War Memorial (Tiergarten)

Just a few hundred metres from the Reichstag stands a memorial to commemorate the Soviet soldiers who fought and died in the Battle of Berlin, many of whom fought on these very grounds.

The Soviet War Memorial in Tiergarten was built almost immediately following the war in 1945 to commemorate the roughly 80,000 Soviet soldiers who died in the battle. Thousands of Red Army soldiers were laid to rest on these very grounds behind the monument. Interestingly, during the division of Berlin, the memorial remained under Soviet protection even though it was located in West Berlin.

The memorial features two imposing T-34 tanks and artillery pieces that took part in the final assault on the German capital. Visitors can walk among the columns of inscriptions while reflecting on the enormous human cost of the battle that ended the Third Reich.

Brandenburg Gate

While the Brandenburg Gate was not originally built as a war memorial, its history has become deeply intertwined with conflict. From Napoleon’s triumphal entry into Berlin in 1806 to the devastation of the Second World War and the division of Berlin during the Cold War, this gate has been at its centre. As such, the Brandenburg Gate has become a powerful symbol of the city’s turbulent history.

The structure predates the major conflicts of the 20th century, having been built between 1788 and 1791 on the orders of King Frederick William II of Prussia. Its striking design was originally inspired by the Propylaea, the gateway to the Acropolis in Athens.

For much of the Cold War, the Brandenburg Gate stood in the Soviet sector of a divided Berlin. During that time, it also became one of the most recognisable symbols of Germany’s division. Following the fall of the Wall in 1989, it was transformed into a symbol of German reunification and European unity. Today, it remains one of Berlin’s most photographed sights, surrounded by some of the city’s most significant historic landmarks.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

A few streets over is the understated yet extraordinarily powerful Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The unsettling display consists of 2,711 concrete slabs arranged in a grid across the heart of Berlin, built to commemorate the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust

Walking deeper into the memorial, the ground gradually sinks, and the slabs rise higher, creating an unsettling sense of isolation and disorientation amongst the narrow mazes.

Beneath the memorial lies an underground exhibition documenting the stories of individual victims and entire families whose lives were extinguished.

Führerbunker

What first appears to be an unremarkable car park is all that remains of the Führerbunker – the notorious final headquarters of Adolf Hitler.

As Soviet forces encircled Berlin in April 1945, Hitler and his few remaining loyalists retreated into the underground complex. This is where they spent the final weeks of the war in Europe, before a few of the inhabitants would ultimately take their own lives, including Goebbels and Hitler himself.

The Soviet authorities later demolished much of the structure, while the modern-day German government deliberately chose not to turn the site into a shrine. The site where history’s most notorious villain would meet his end would become nothing more than a monotonous car park.

Former Reich Chancellery Site

This is another site where nothing remains of the original structure. The New Reich Chancellery was once one of the grandest buildings in Nazi Germany. It was a deliberate design to showcase Hitler’s and the Nazi regime’s power.

The enormous complex was completed in 1939, becoming the centre of political decision-making during the war. The Führerbunker lay beneath the gardens, while the surrounding streets formed the administrative heart of the Third Reich.

Almost nothing of the building survives today. Soviet troops heavily damaged the chancellery during the Battle of Berlin, and much of the stone was later dismantled and reused elsewhere in East Berlin. It has now been replaced with ordinary apartment blocks and parking spaces, making it difficult to imagine that this was once the nerve centre of Nazi Germany.

Ministry of Aviation (Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus)

This is one of the few buildings that have remained remarkably intact following the devastation of the Battle of Berlin. Completed in 1936, the Reich Ministry of Aviation served as the headquarters of Hermann Göring and the Luftwaffe. From this imposing stone complex, Germany’s air force directed its operations, from the Spanish Civil War to the skies of Europe during the Second World War.

While the Nazi insignias are long gone, the building itself is still in use, as it houses Germany’s Ministry of Finance. Standing in front of it offers a glimpse into the monumental style that the Nazis used to project their authority.

Topography of Terror

Lurking in the shadows of the former Ministry of Aviation are the few remaining traces of the Gestapo and the SS headquarters. The site, now referred to as the Topography of Terror, is where some of the Nazi regime’s worst crimes were organised.

Between 1933 and 1945, these buildings housed the secret police and the agencies responsible for political repression, deportations and the persecution and murder of Europe’s Jews. Thousands of prisoners were interrogated and tortured in the cellars beneath the complex.

Today, visitors can explore a free exhibition filled with photographs, documents and personal accounts on how Nazi terror functioned. Outside, excavated foundations reveal the remains of the original buildings, while a surviving section of the Berlin Wall runs alongside the museum.

Anhalter Bahnhof

Before the war, Anhalter Bahnhof was one of Berlin’s largest and busiest railway stations, connecting the German capital with destinations across Europe. During the Nazi era, the station played a pivotal role in transporting soldiers and military supplies and, tragically, the deportation of Jewish citizens to concentration camps throughout Europe.

Allied bombing raids devastated the station, leaving much of the building in ruins by the end of the war. Today, only a section of the station’s grand façade remains standing, rising above an open space in southern Berlin. It’s one of the clearest visual examples of how heavily Berlin suffered during the conflict.

Checkpoint Charlie

Outside of the Berlin Wall itself, Checkpoint Charlie has become the most tangible reminder of the Cold War in Berlin.

Germany’s defeat in the Second World War led to the occupation and division of Berlin between the Allied powers, eventually resulting in the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961. Checkpoint Charlie became the most famous crossing point between East and West Berlin, which symbolised the tensions between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies.

Today, visitors will find replicas of the original guard post. Alongside it are museums dedicated to the site with information on the history of a divided Berlin. Even stranger, today the site is surrounded by a dedicated souvenir store and several fast food chains, almost in defiance of communism itself.

East Side Gallery

If you follow the route to this point, you’ll actually pass a few segments of the wall along the way, including at the Topography of Terror. However, the Berlin Wall is best experienced in all its graffitied glory at the East Side Gallery

Berlin’s most famous open-air attraction showcases a 1.3-kilometre surviving stretch of the wall. These days, the oppressive concrete surfaces have been transformed into an enormous outdoor art gallery with over 100 murals created by artists from around the world shortly after the Wall fell in 1989.

The artworks range from colourful abstract designs to powerful political statements, reflecting the optimism and sense of freedom surrounding the end of the Cold War. Among the most recognisable murals is Dmitri Vrubel’s Fraternal Kiss, depicting Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German leader Erich Honecker sharing a kiss.

Day 2: Outer Berlin

The second day will take you beyond central Berlin to explore some of the less visited sites connected to the wars of the 20th Century. The route focuses on pivotal settings and imposing landmarks, aspects which played a role from the deportation of Berlin’s Jewish population and the Nazi war machine to the defence and destruction of the city during the final stages of the conflict.

This route finishes with the Soviet perspective on the war, providing a fitting conclusion to the war tour of Berlin.

Start: Platform 17 → Wannsee House → Tempelhof Airport → Humboldthain Flak Tower → Karlshorst Museum → Treptower Soviet Memorial

Platform 17, Grunewald Station

Hidden away in a quiet corner of western Berlin, Platform 17 is one of the city’s most powerful Holocaust memorials. Between 1941 and 1945, thousands of Berlin’s Jewish residents were deported from this railway platform to ghettos and camps across Nazi-occupied Europe, including Auschwitz.

The former platform has since become a memorial with long steel slabs that record the dates, destinations and number of people transported on each train. Its solitude away from the centre of Berlin forces visitors to reflect on the scale of what happened here.

Wannsee House

The elegant villa hides one of the darkest memories in human history. It was here, beside the peaceful waters of Lake Wannsee, where the Wannsee Conference took place on 20 January 1942. This notorious meeting is when senior Nazi officials coordinated the practical organisation of the “Final Solution”.

Today, Wannsee House operates as a memorial and educational centre, with exhibitions explaining both the conference and the wider Nazi persecution of Jewish people. Visitors can see the rooms where officials planned genocide while learning about the individuals affected by these decisions.

Tempelhof Airport

One of the most significant surviving examples of monumental Nazi architecture, Tempelhof Airport was designed as a symbol of German engineering and power. Its enormous curved terminal building was intended to become one of the largest buildings in the world and represented the ambitions of Hitler’s regime.

During the Second World War, the German military and aircraft industry used Tempelhof, including to produce aircraft parts. After the war, it became one of the most important locations of the Berlin Airlift (1948–49), when Allied aircraft supplied West Berlin during the Soviet blockade.

Today, the terminal has been left abandoned, though it can be explored through guided tours. The former airfield has since been turned into a huge public park where visitors can still appreciate the scale of this extraordinary site.

Humboldthain Flak Tower

Hidden among the shrubbery of Humboldthain Park are the remains of one of Berlin’s enormous Flak Towers. The Nazis built these concrete fortresses to protect the city from Allied bombing raids. These towers once housed powerful anti-aircraft guns, searchlights and underground shelters capable of protecting thousands of civilians during air attacks. The mighty strength of the structures ensured they were among the few structures to survive the war.

During the Battle of Berlin, the Humboldthain Flak Tower served as a defensive position as Soviet forces approached the city. After the war, parts of the tower were destroyed and intentionally covered with earth and rubble. Doing so created a hill that still exists today, but large sections of the concrete structure remain visible.

Guided tours let visitors enter the surviving sections, explore the enormous walls, and understand the scale of these wartime fortifications. From the top, visitors can also enjoy one of Berlin’s best views.

German-Russian Museum Karlshorst

This humble museum occupies a significant building connected to the end of Germany’s role in the Second World War. On the night of 8-9 May 1945, this is where German military representatives signed the unconditional surrender, officially ending Nazi Germany’s war in Europe.

The building had once been used as an officers’ mess for the German army before the formal surrender. Inside the museum, visitors can explore exhibitions covering the Eastern Front and the Battle of Berlin. One of the most significant displays is the original surrender room, preserved as it appeared in 1945.

Treptower Park Soviet Memorial

The Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park is one of the largest and most impressive Soviet memorials outside the former Soviet Union. Opened in 1949, the site commemorates the Soviet soldiers who died during the Battle of Berlin. The centrepiece is a monumental statue of a Soviet soldier holding a child, symbolising the liberation of Berlin and the defeat of Nazi Germany.

Along the vast avenue, numerous reliefs depict scenes from the war and include quotations from Stalin himself. More than 5,000 Soviet soldiers are buried here, making it both a military cemetery and a place of remembrance.

Day 3 (optional day trip)

While not strictly in Berlin, Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp is one of the most important historical sites connected to Nazi Germany and a crucial addition to any itinerary.

Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp

Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp was established in 1936 by the SS as a model concentration camp. It was designed to represent the Nazi vision of a highly organised system of imprisonment, forced labour and terror. Even the triangular layout of the camp was deliberately designed around Nazi ideology, which placed the SS watchtower, known as Tower A, at the centre of control.

Unlike extermination camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau, Sachsenhausen was primarily a concentration camp used for political prisoners, forced labour and SS training. Despite that, mass murders were still also known to take place there. More than 200,000 people from across Europe were imprisoned here between 1936 and 1945, including political opponents, resistance fighters, Jewish prisoners, Soviet prisoners of war and members of persecuted groups.

Today, visitors can walk through the preserved camp grounds, the surviving barracks, watchtowers, prisoner cells, execution facilities and the infamous “Station Z” area where thousands of prisoners were murdered.

Thank You for Reading! Check Out These Other Helpful Links!

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