Germany Favorite Tips by chris.hh

History and World War II

Favorite thing: This link list comes from a forum tip asking for locations dealing with World War II.

If you are interested in WWII and its backgrounds, you will find many places in Germany.

General info:
For background information also for young people this site might be good:
learning-from-history.de/search/node/world%20war%20II?nocache=1

Here you find a long link list dealing with monuments, museums, etc. all over Germany
www.ns-gedenkstaetten.de/gedenkstaetten-bundesweit/berlin.html

Berlin:
www.holocaust-denkmal-berlin.de/index.php?id=home&L=1
www.dhm.de/ENGLISH/
www.topographie.de/en/topography-of-terror/nc/1/

Munich
www.ns-dokumentationszentrum-muenchen.de/centre?set_language=en

Nuremberg (1 hour from Munich) with the Dokuzentrum and a castle:
www.nuernberg.de/internet/portal/kultur/ctz_10502.html

Amsterdam in the Netherlands with the Anne Frank Museum. This might also be suitable for a kid to get an idea of what war means besides battles.
www.annefrank.org/en

Concentration camps:
Not too far from Berlin:
www.buchenwald.de/english/
www.buchenwald.de/index_cten.html
Close to Munich
www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/index-e.html
Close to Hamburg
bergen-belsen.stiftung-ng.de/en/home.html

Films:
Also it is a very contemporate theme, as the film "The Wave" reveals.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wave_%282008_film%29

Also Sophie Scholl and Die Weisse Rose might be interesting for some research, :
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Scholl_%E2%80%93_The_Final_Days
www.sophieschollmovie.com

The film Life is beautiful deals with a small boy growing up in a concentration camp.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_Is_Beautiful

Another film is Schindler's Ark
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schindler%27s_Ark

German Shedule - Small Selection...

Favorite thing: Concerning the question - what to do in Germany my tip would be Berlin (maybe trip to Dresden or Leipzig) for East Germany, Hamburg for North Germany, Cologne and Dusseldorf for West and Munich for South Germany all the cities with lots of History.

Berlin
If you need nature you could do trips to Spreewald:
www.spreewald.de (for forest)
or www.mecklenburg-lakes.com (for lakes).
trips to Dresden and/or Leipzig, close to Dresden is the mountain area Elbsandsteingebirge.
First info here: www.elbsandsteingebirge.de

Cologne and Dusseldorf close together
For nature you can check the Eiffel, hilly area:
www.eifel.de/go/home-english.html
Xanten an old Roman place might be worth a daytrip:
www.xanten.de/en
Fürther you can reach Trier, one of the oldest cities in Germany, from there:
www.trier-info.de/english/index

Hamburg with its big Harbor (see my tips and some images)
Lubeck is close by, you can do day trips to the coastline
hwww.ostsee.de/baltic-sea-germany
as well as the North Sea
www.nordseetourismus.de/en/index
Sylt an island should be to be reached by train from Hamburg directly:
www.sylt.de
The city of Bremen is not too far (one hour by train)

Munich
from here you can do trips to
mountains:
www.muenchen.de/freizeit/berge-uebersicht.html
Lakes:
www.muenchen.de/freizeit/seen-uebersicht/seen-umland.html
Casles and churches:
www.muenchen.de/sehenswuerdigkeiten/schloesser-umland-uebersicht.html
Chiemsee
www.chiemsee-alpenland.de
to the Alps
www.bavarian-alps.travel/en/index

... and many more.

German history

Favorite thing: This is just generated from a forum replay - I did not edit yet...

If you are interested in German, European, cold war history you definately should visit Berlin, as there are many site concerning this theme. Just in case this is not on your plan yet. Also in Leipzig, Dresden (former GDR cities) would be worth a visit.

If you want to get some info on WW II you also might consider to visit Nuremberg which was the imperial town, or a concentration camp like for example Buchenwald (close to Weimar and Leipzig) or Dachau (close to Munich). Weimar is also is known for Goethe and Schiller, and the Bauhaus university (for litarture and architecture history interests).

Maybe this site helps you for some more detailed info on German history and its places:
www.germanplaces.com/germany/history.html

World WarII - Sites and Links

Favorite thing: Germans are not proud of is their history especially in WWII. I started a collection of links and some important cities or locations that might be worth a visit if you are interested in this part of history. Somehow our history still influences us to a certain degree. I kind of felt guilty even as a young person whos father even was born after WWII. We learned a lot in school almost through all subjects of the activities of our ancestors - in history, politics, German, religion and so on. It took a long while until I could say that I feel good to be German. My granddad was in war as a soldier and after he turned 80 he started to talk about his experiences. Before we had the soccer games in 2006 you almost never saw a German flag (what people from the US might no believe...) but now since we are crazy for soccer - Germans dare to show their flags, too. But mainly in connection with sports. Almost no one would fly a flag in his garden at the National Holiday...

Berlin
Deutsches Historisches Museum
www.dhm.de
Unter den Linden 2, 10117 Berlin

Exhibition in Berlin and good online info (in German and English)
Open-Air Exhibition, Niederkirchnerstraße 8, 10963 Berlin
www.topographie.de/en/index.htm

The Jewish Museum in Berlin by Daniel Libeskind (for those who are interested in architecture, too)
www.jmberlin.de/site/DE/05-Rund-ums-Haus/03b-Fotodownload/Aussenansichten-Libeskind-Bau/aussenansichten-libeskind-bau.php

Memorial for Holocaust Victims in Berlin, architecture by Peter Eisenman:
www.holocaust-denkmal-berlin.de/index.php?id=38

Fondest memory: - Headline does not fit at all -

Munich
concentration camp Dachau (in English)
www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/index-e.html

Nuremberg (Nürnberg in German), known as Nuremberg Rally (Nürnberger Reichsparteitag)
www.museen.nuernberg.de/dokuzentrum/index.html
The Yale Law School offers this site with English info on the Nuremberg Trials
avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/imt.asp

A Jewish museum in Fürth which is a city close to Nuremberg that had a high Jewish population before WWII
www.juedisches-museum.org

Leipzig, Weimar, Erfurt,
Concentration camp Buchenwald - one of the biggest camps on German territory. It is little more than one hour by train from Leipzig; about 3,5 hrs from Berlin
www.buchenwald.de/media_en/index.html

Dresden
Here I just give a link to Wiki for further info on the bombing that destrayed the whole centre of Dresden which was known as such a beautiful city.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II
Some infos on important buildings in Dresden
www.semperoper.de
www.frauenkirche-dresden.de/startseite+M5d637b1e38d.html
www.schloesser-dresden.de/index.php?&lang=en

Hannover and Hamburg
Concentration camp Bergen-Belsen
This is the place where also Anne Frank was imprisoned.
www.bergenbelsen.de/en

Not in Germany but Netherlands is not that far...
Amsterdam
Here you can visit the place where Anne Frank's family lived hidden.
www.annefrank.org/content.asp?pid=1&lid=3&setlanguage=2

Online information
This is a governmental site for political education, lots of info - just in German however.
www.bpb.de/themen/XNLHOF,0,Nationalsozialismus_und_Zweiter_Weltkrieg.html

Sequences of speeches and documents (in German and English)
www.holocaust-history.org/

About WWII and the Holocaust (in German)
www.shoa.de

And last but not least a website "Net against Nazis" of the Amadeu Antonio Stiftung (in German)
www.netz-gegen-nazis.de

Stops between Prag and North of Germany

Favorite thing: Dresden - www.dresden.de/dmg/en/index.php

Sächsische Schweiz, close to Dresden - www.saechsische-schweiz.de

Leipzig - has big fairs - www.leipzig.de/int/en/tourist/stadtspaz/fotorund/

Dessau - for those interested in architecture - this is the Bauhaus
www.bauhaus-dessau.de
www.dessau.de/amt41/kulttour/en/home/index.html

Wittenberg - the Luther city
www.wittenberg.de/staticsite/staticsite.php?menuid=661&topmenu=661

Potsdam
Castle Sanssouci Potsdam - www.sanssouci-sightseeing.de

Berlin
I am not the professional here - so look up for many VT tips... But of course a great city!

Mecklenburger Seenplatte (lake area) - around 1000 lakes, one of the nicest lake areas in Europe - www.mecklenburgische-seenplatte.de

Hamburg - several tips on my Hamburg pages

Nordsee - www.nordseetourismus.de

Ostsee - www.ostsee-schleswig-holstein.de/index_e.html

Kiel - well known because of the big sailing event in summer - www.kiel-tourist.de/index.php?clang=en&active_id=1

Websites - Germany, politics, history, tourism...

Favorite thing: Of course, just besides of VT you'll find some information on Germany on these websites:

www.magazine-deutschland.de/en
An online magazine on Germany, available in different languages. To get an insight what is up.

www.deutschland.de/home.php?lang=2&
Official website of the Federal Republic of Germany.

www.germany-tourism.de
Official tourism website of Germany by the government and the tourist board - of course you mainly find general information in here. But good for an insight and a survey if you are not that much familiar with my country.

www.germanplaces.com
These are very touristic ideas of course but good for a first insight about some locations you might have heard of. Good for starting reseach and getting some images and ideas.

www.welt-atlas.de/datenbank/karte.php?kartenid=0-9001
Here you'll find pretty a detailed map of Germany that also includes smaller towns.

www.bpb.de
For those who know German and are interested in politics, history, society, etc. This site is the official website for political education. You also can get some free brochures and booklets, DVDs, etc.

www.spiegel.de/international
This is one of the most renowned weekly political magazines in Germany. It also has some news and the latest news in English. So if you want to get to know what's up in politics, etc. have a look here.

www.tatsachen-ueber-deutschland.de/en
This also is very a good official website on Germany. Main emphasis government, politics, history, economics, etc. You also can download a booklet as pdf version.

www.deutschegeschichten.tv/indexplus.asp
For those who know some German - collection of some historic facts.

www.chronikderwende.de/_/english/index_jsp.html
This link deals with the reunion. Also in English.

www.goethe.de/enindex.htm
Website of the Goethe Institute that has language schools all over the world. They also offer some info on general questions on Germany.

Learning German

Favorite thing: Goethe Institute is the most famous school for learning German. They have schools all over the world, and besides of learning German they also try to give insight into German culture.

Here the link to their website with lots of information on Germany and the German language.
www.goethe.de/enindex.htm

Where to go in Germany...?

Favorite thing: This is an answer on that general questíon on where to go in Germany:

I always give Hamburg as a tip to all the travellers from abroad. Not just because I love to live here, also because it is a great cultural city.
If you are into culture, history you definately should have Berlin on your plan. If you want to get a little insight into Germany and the history even more because it it the place where East and West met. Great museums, huge city, lots of culture, music, clubs, art, history...

Maybe you want to see Dresden and/or Leipzig - which are very nice citys in the Eastern part of Germany.

Hamburg is far in the North in Germany with a huge harbour, and also one of the cultural metrolols of Germany. Maybe you like to have a look on my site for getting an idea. Not too many images but some. If you get it on you plan I can help you out with many tips.
I rather like the Northern part of Germany, although many tourist prefer the South. I guess because it rather fits to the German image (which does not need to be true at all;-)

The North Sea Coast is great with some really cozy islands, but maybe little too boring for your kids? I love them though (Spiekerooge, Wangerooge, Borkum, Helgoland - some of them without any cars).

In the Northern part you might visit Copenhagen in Denmark where I was recently which I liked very much. There was a good train connection from Hamburg (Train goes onto the ferry). I loved that city.

Also Amsterdam in the Netherlands is great. Lots of channels, that's why it is called "Venice of the North". What I love of Amsterdam and Copenhagen is that they are very open-minded in many regards. Amsterdam you'll reach by Cologne perfectly. Also a cool German city with a huge cathedral.

Car or not? Train is not really a cheap option although very a good service. Driving car can be very boring and time filling on German autobahns. Really a concentrating thing. But still to manage. In big cities you won't need a car cause public transport is much more comfortable.

If you have questions - just ask.

Newspapers | Magazines in Germany

Favorite thing: … for general information and what’s up in Germany and in Hamburg – of course mostly in German.

The most common papers in Germany:
www.faz.net/s/homepage.html
www.welt.de
www.sueddeutsche.de
www.taz.de
www.spiegel.de
www.stern.de

Hamburg:
www.abendblatt.de
www.mopo.de