The western Havelland region is far away from vibrant urban centres and major transport routes. Since the 19th century, Rathenow was a centre of the optical industry. This is why, in GDR times, most eyewear came from this city located on the River Havel.

When entering the centre of Müncheberg through the Berlin Gate, complete with a historic city wall and gate tower, one would expect to see a medieval city centre. However, apart from a few historical structures, you’ll find a remarkably large number of prefabricated buildings in this small town in the district of Märkisch-Oderland.

In mid-April 1945, the Red Army launched its final offensive: the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation (“Battle of Berlin”), with the goal of not only taking the German capital but also ending the war in Europe.

The Bassinplatz (basin square) is the largest square in the city centre of Potsdam. From the eastern end of the square, a flower-bordered path leads directly to the Soviet War Memorial.

A third large Soviet memorial in Berlin can be found in the borough of Pankow in the northern part of the city.

On 5 June 1945 the supreme commanders of the Western powers met for the first time with their colleague from the Soviet Union. In Berlin-Wendenschloss they signed the Berlin Declaration, proclaiming the unconditional surrender of Germany and the assumption of supreme authority by the four victorious powers.

The Berliner Unterwelten Association informs the public about Berlin history from an unusual perspective. Before and during the Second World War hundreds of bunkers and air raid shelters were built in the city. In the post-war years most of these installations were destroyed. But traces of the air raid shelters can still be found in Berlin.

The Soviet War Memorial in Treptow Park is the largest war memorial in Berlin and indeed in Germany today. The imposing figure on top of the mausoleum depicts a soldier carrying a rescued German child. The memorial honours the approximately 80.000 Soviet soldiers killed during the conquest of Berlin.

The Soviet Memorial Tiergarten in the centre of Berlin commemorates the more than 80.000 Soviet soldiers who fell during the Battle of Berlin in the last weeks of the Second World War in Germany. Even though the Tiergarten memorial is located in the former British sector of Berlin, Soviet honor guards were sent every day to perform honorary guard duty. This tradition was maintained even during the harshest Cold War periods.

The Seelow Heights Memorial Site and Museum has transformed a former battlefield into an internationally recognized place of remembrance, commemorating and documenting the Battle of the Seelow Heights in April 1945. It also shows how the biggest battle fought on German soil during the Second World War was incorporated into East German historiography.

The Reichstag was built between 1884 and 1894. It served as the seat of parliament in the German Empire and the Weimar Republic. During the Second World War the building was heavily damaged. Since 1994 it has been rebuilt and renovated. Nowadays, the Reichstag functions as the seat of the German federal parliament.

A memorial plaque placed at a site in the Wendenschloss quarter of Berlin on Niebergall Street recalls a historic event. Here stood a villa called the Waldgaststätte (forest inn) where on 5 June 1945 the commanders-in-chief of the four victorious powers signed the Berlin Declaration referring to future dealings with occupied Germany.

Early May 1945 Schulenburgring 2 was a focal point of world history. In this building Soviet General Vasily Chuikov housed his headquarters. German General Helmuth Weidling, the commander of the Berlin garrison, signed the surrender order on the ground floor of the building.

The Clay Headquarters compound was built for the German Air Force before the Second World War. The U.S. Military Government took control of the complex in 1945 to accommodate the offices of the military governor General Lucius Clay, who helped rebuilding Berlin and orchestrated the famous Airlift operations during the Soviet blockade of the city (1948-1949).

The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin-Charlottenburg was damaged in air raids in November 1943 and completely destroyed in April 1945. The ruined tower was preserved as an anti-war memorial. The modern church was consecrated on 17 December 1961.

The Halbe Forest Cemetery is one of the largest wartime cemeteries in Germany. More than 40.000 people died in this area during the last days of April 1945. Today, the Halbe Forest Cemetery is the resting place of some 24.000 victims of the Battle of the Halbe Pocket, including soldiers, civilians and Soviet forced labourers.

The German-Russian Museum is located at the site of the unconditional surrender of Germany on 8 May 1945 in Berlin-Karlshorst, marking the end of the Second World War in Europe. Today it is a place where two former wartime enemies jointly recall some of their common, albeit very violent history.

The Friedrichstraße Railway Bunker was built to protect railway passengers. The bunker had room for 1.500 people. After the war the Soviet forces used it as a prison. At present it is devoted to contemporary art. The bunker can be visited by guided tours only.

The Allied Museum tells a unique story: from the German defeat in the Second World War to the division of West and East Berlin between the three Western powers and the Soviet Union. Berlin became the most important scene of the struggle that is known as the Cold War.

Tempelhof Airport’s main building is a protected historical landmark and a symbol of the eventful history of Berlin itself. It is an expression of Nazi ideology and served as a weapons production site using forced labour during the Second World War. The Berlin Airlift in 1948/49 made Tempelhof Airport a symbol of freedom. Nowadays it is part of the Tempelhofer Freiheit. The former airfield is currently developed into an urban park landscape.

The army of the Soviet Union conquered Berlin in April/May 1945. Two months later the Western Allied troops also entered the city. On 4 July 1945, the American Independence Day, U.S. troops officially took charge of their occupation sector in southwest Berlin. In September 1994, after almost 50 years, the Allied troops withdrew from Berlin.

With the unconditional surrender of the German Armed Forces on 8 May 1945, the Second World War ended in Europe. The surrender took place in Berlin’s Karlshorst district, where the Soviet forces had set up their main headquarters after the fall of Berlin.

After the Soviet troops had occupied the Reichstag on 1 May 1945, German defeat was imminent. On 2 May, Soviet intelligence received a radio message from the German 56th Armored Corps requesting an armistice. Later that morning, corps commander General Helmuth Weidling signed the order of surrender, which was then conveyed to all soldiers of the Berlin garrison.

In the summer of 1945, world history was written in Potsdam, just outside Berlin. The three government leaders of the victorious powers met in person to discuss the new order in Europe and Germany. The results of the conference were contained in the Potsdam Agreement.

On 22 April 1945, German troops withdrawing from the Seelow Heights, situated about 70 km east from Berlin, were encircled by the Soviet army in the Spreewald area near the village of Halbe. Instead of surrendering, the German forces tried, unsuccessfully, to break out westward. A staggering 40.000 lives were lost.

On 16 April 1945, the Soviet forces started to encircle Berlin in a pincer movement. Five days later first Soviet units entered Berlin from the east and fought their way to the city center. On 2 May, two days after Adolf Hitler committed suicide, all remaining German forces in Berlin were ordered to surrender.

On 26 April 1945, Berlin Tempelhof Airport came under the control of Soviet combat troops led by General Vasily Chuikov. With ready for take-off aircraft parked in underground hangars, Tempelhof provided the last escape route for the Nazi leadership and was therefore a priority in Chuikov’s attack plans.

On 5 June 1945 the supreme commanders of the Western powers met for the first time with their colleague from the Soviet Union. In Berlin-Wendenschloss they signed the Berlin Declaration, proclaiming the unconditional surrender of Germany and the assumption of supreme authority by the four victorious powers.

Regular air raids on Berlin by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) started in 1944, with almost daily bombardments in February and March 1945. The bombing on 3 February 1945 focused on the government district and was designed to break the will of the Berlin people. This strategy failed until the end of April when the Soviet army conquered the city.

On 16 April 1945, Soviet troops attacked the German line of defense near the town of Seelow, situated 70 km east from Berlin. Because Soviet Marshal Zhukov had underestimated how high the Seelow Heights really were, his commanders were forced to find detours. Chaotic fighting ensued in the Oder Marsh and the Seelow Heights.

The Ravensbrück Concentration Camp was the largest concentration camp for women on German soil. Between 1939 and 1945 around 132,000 women and children, 20,000 men and 1,000 adolescent girls and young women were imprisoned there. Ravensbrück Memorial presents the camp’s history in various exhibitions and commemorates the fate of the former prisoners.

The Sachsenhausen concentration camp was built in the summer of 1936 in Oranienburg, in the region of Brandenburg, Germany. Between 1936 and 1945, more than 200,000 people were imprisoned there. The Memorial and Museum Sachsenhausen, which was opened in 1961, comprises different permanent exhibitions. The remnants of buildings and other relics of the camp can be seen.

The Jewish Museum in Berlin opened its doors in 2001 and serves as a reflection centre on Jewish history and culture. Changing temporary exhibitions depict a broad range of themes, ranging from cultural history to contemporary art installations. The new permanent exhibition, which is currently being remodelled, is expected to open in 2019.

The Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin tells the story of 2,000 years of German history. The permanent exhibition comprises around 7,000 historical exponents providing information on people, ideas, events and historical developments in Germany. The main floor area is devoted to the Weimar Republic, the Nazi regime, the post-war period and the history of the two German states from 1949 to the reunification in 1990.

The German Resistance Memorial Center is located in Berlin at the historic site of the attempted coup of July 20, 1944 against Hitler. The museum includes different exhibitions highlighting specific topics about the resistance in Germany. The permanent exhibition ‘Resistance against National Socialism’ was opened in July 2014 to document the social breadth and ideological diversity of the resistance against dictatorship.

The building of the House of the Wannsee Conference in Berlin was used as a SS guest house during the Second World War. It currently houses a memorial whose permanent exhibition, ‘The Wannsee Conference and the Genocide of European Jews’, provides information on the history of the persecution of Jews.

The Commonwealth war cemetery in Berlin contains 3,595 graves from the Second World War, 397 of them unidentified. The majority of the persons buried there were airmen lost in the air raids over Berlin and the towns in eastern Germany.

The Topography of Terror in Berlin stands on the site of the main organs of Nazi terror between 1933 and 1945, including the Gestapo, the SS leadership, the security services of the SS and the main office of the ‘Reichssicherheitshauptamt’. The main permanent exhibition presents these institutions and the crimes they organised. A second exhibition examines Berlin’s role as the capital of the Third Reich.

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe or Holocaust Memorial, in Berlin honours the Jewish victims of the Holocaust during the Second World War. The memorial was designed by architect Peter Eisenman and engineer Buro Happold. It was inaugurated on 10 May 2005, sixty years after the end of the war.

The Nazi Forced Labour Documentation Centre in Schöneweide opened in 2006. It is the last well-preserved former Nazi forced labour camp. ‘Barack 13’, one of the first buildings of the camp, is open to the public for guided tours. The centre contains two permanent exhibitions documenting the fate of forced labourers during the Second World War.

On May the 20th 1941, ANZAC, Greek and British forces stood side by side with the heroic population of Crete in the defense of their Southern Mediterranean Island against the elite of Hitler’s war machine. The ensuing battle is etched

Guided by top experts in WWII history and the Museum’s exclusive guides in Normandy, you’ll hear the personal stories and walk in the footsteps of the Citizen Soldiers who fought for the freedom we enjoy today.

This itinerary takes you to a number of German military cemeteries, museums and other remembrance places throughout Europe that capture the German experience of World War II.

This itinerary follows in the footsteps of the Dutch Prinses Irene Brigade, which was formed from Dutch men who fled to England after the collapse of the Netherlands in May 1940.

To follow in the footsteps of Canadian troops during WWII, you will depart from the UK where Canadians gathered with other Allied troops to take part in a series of trainings to prepare for D-Day.

The route of British troops at the end of the Second World War started in July 1943 with the invasion of Sicily and mainland Italy. Then they trained in the United Kingdom for the D-Day landings and the invasion of Normandy, together with other allied troops.

The European theatre of WWII opened with the German invasion of Poland in 1939, followed by the Soviet invasion. Throughout the war, Poles provided significant contributions to the Allied effort, fighting on land, sea and air. Large number of Polish troops managed to escape, first to France, then to the United Kingdom, where they formed the 1st Armoured Division and the 1st Parachute Brigade.

The Belgian 1st Infantry Brigade was formed in early 1943 in England by the Belgian Prime Minister in exile. It reunited the various Belgian units dispersed within the British Army: survivors from 1940, volunteers from the colonies and Legionnaires from North Africa. In command of the Brigade was Jean-Baptiste Piron, a veteran of World War I and officer in the Belgian army in 1940.

The Commando Kieffer owes its name to a banker born in Haiti who, at the age of 40, decided to join the military. Philippe Kieffer was commander of the sole French unit present in Normandy on 6 June 1944.

During WWII, General Harry Crerar commanded the First Canadian Army. In Normandy, the First Army was involved in Operation Totalize, Operation Tractable, the Battle of the Falaise Pocket, and the final clearing of the Channel Coast.

American General James M. Gavin was the youngest major general in the U.S. Army in World War II. He was also the only general to make four combat airborne jumps during the war.

This itinerary crosses Normandy, France; Flanders, Belgium; the Netherlands; and Germany, taking you to some of the most significant milestones in Maczek’s journey during the war.

The 2nd French Armoured Division landed in Normandy on 1 August 1944 and took part in the liberation of Paris before pursuing the German army towards the Alsace region.

During this week-long itinerary you will visit sites that recall Montgomery’s involvements in the different fronts and battles fought at the end of the war.

This tour takes you to the different locations General Patton crossed between July 1943, starting with the Sicily landings and ending with the liberation of the Czech Republic in May 1945.

Alsace houses a large number of historical places commemorating its rich history during the Second World War. The British, the French, the Americans first liberated the northern part of the region in November 1944.

This 3 days tour will make you relive, together with your private guide and driver, the story of the Second World War in Sicily and Italy.

In September 1944, a United Nations force under Canadian Command, took up a battle against a determined enemy, that wanted to prevent the use of the harbour of Antwerp at all cost. Learn about victory, bravery, misery and tragedy. Hear about the generals and the common city and farmer boy soldiers. Many found a lasting resting place at the local Bergen op Zoom War Cemetery.

Get to know the history of this fascinating region in the Czech Republic, where World War II ended after the liberation by the US Army. We will go through various locations where history took place, and visit memorable places related with these events.

Individuele fiets-trektocht van Normandie naar Nederland over de ‘Voie de la Liberté’.

This tour gives travelers the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of the men of the 4th Battalion Dorset Regiment during Operation Market Garden.

Experience the Gothic line history guided by an “English soldier”, you will have the chance to trace back the events happened during the fighting to freedom Italy. Discovering the places where General Alexander, Sir Winston Churchill and other main characters wrote the 2nd World War history.

Tour for ten whole days on an exciting itinerary around the region of Kent which played a crucial role during WWII. You will find a compelling mix of daring missions and surprises (what was Dumbo doing on Romney Marsh?), tales of ingenuity and heroic human spirit.

Experience WWII history in the German capital and follow the footsteps of the Red Army during the final Battle of Berlin.

Visit the town sites that played a major role during the German occupation and at the moment of the liberation of Lucca by the Allies, and the fortifications of the Gothic Line at Borgo a Mozzano that defined the destinies of Lucca and its area.

Our guided walks allow travellers to discover the Gustav Line, a German defensive fortification system from Ortona to Cassino. Starting from the Battle of Ortona, our visitors will be invited to discover the River Sangro Crossing, the Battle of Orsogna and the Battle of Pizzoferrato.

A trip which will allow your students to discover the daily life in Berlin and Krakow during the Second World War and in particular the Holocaust.

There are few names that stand for the horror of the Nazi reign over Europe quite like that of Auschwitz. This is a special tour not to be missed as we tell an incredible story about a time and place – and more than one nation.

Gdańsk: the city where everything began: the Second World War and fall of the Berlin Wall. The daily life during the war in Eastern Europe will be explained as well how the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain related to the creation of the Union Solidarnosc.

Visit today’s Poland and pay tribute to the heroes and victims of this country’s experience during WWII. For the population of Poland, the end of the Second World War was not necessarily a liberation.

In October 1944 Aachen was the first big German city liberated by the American forces. The ‘Battle of the Hürtgen Forest’ stopped the Allied advance for several months.

Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany, played a central part in the decision process of the Holocaust and its implementation. During the Wannsee Conference, the deportation and mass murder was decided and thousands of people were deported to the two main camps near Berlin.

This guided visit to historic Berlin will introduce visitors to the incredible story of Berlin in the Twentieth Century.

The tour starts in Berlin where one of the last battles of the Second World War in Europe took place, then proceeds to Poland, where the first battle of WWII started in Gdansk in 1939.

The tour will move from Aachen to Schengen, crossing the border many times during the tour. The world wars will be the main topic of the tour.

During this tour we will follow the trails of the soldiers who executed Operation Market Garden and faced many difficulties during the freezing Battle of the Bulge.

This program will explore the Battle of Market Garden and why the defeat was inevitable. These historic places immortalise forever our duty to remember.

Visit Groesbeek National Liberation Museum 1944-1945 and walk along the places where violent fights took place in September 1944 during Operation Market Garden.

Visit the many sites and museums memorialising the sacrifices made and the historic events which took place in Luxembourg.

This program will allow your students to relive the events of World War II in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg by visiting sites and museums that bear witness to this chapter of the country’s history.

This program will explore Hitler’s last big push to push back the Allied forces in the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge.

The tour examines the greatest pitched battle ever fought by the Americans: the Battle of the Bulge.

Travel in time in the Paris of the Second World War, from the occupation time to the liberation of the city in 1944.

This tour will take you from Paris to the gates of Normandy.

By the evening of 6 June 1944, the Allied forces had established a foothold on all five landing beaches. There was still a long way to go, but the day’s operations, which took the German command by surprise, were successful.

Italy and its natural and cultural richness can also be discovered through the sites and museums memorialising the Italian Campaign and the liberation of Italy: from Sicily via Montecassino to Rome.

For the population of Poland, the end of the Second World War was not necessarily a liberation. The arrival of the Soviet Army meant first defeat and then effectively a new occupation. For many Poles the political consequences of the war lasted until 1989, when Poland became an independent and democratic state again.

The bombing campaign of Warsaw by the German Luftwaffe during the Invasion of Poland started on 1 September 1939 and resulted in gruelling years of terror, occupation, resistance and tragedy. Visit Poland and pay tribute to the heroes and victims of this city’s events during WWII.

The Battle of the Scheldt occupies a prominent place in the collective memory of the local Zeeland population and beyond. It played a key role in the liberation of the Netherlands and the end of the Second World War.

WWII cost the lives of many civilians in Limburg, and a large number of towns and villages were destroyed by bombings and artillery battles. Various cemeteries, too, bear witness to this dark chapter in Limburg’s history.

To ensure the success of Operation Market Garden, the Allied forces had to capture the bridge in Arnhem. However, the light-armed airborne forces stood no chance against two SS Panzer divisions that happened to be in the area.

During the autumn and winter of 1944-45, the longest battle of the Second World War on German soil took place in the Hürtgen Forest. With this battle, the war precipitated by the Nazi regime returned to Germany. The battle caused numerous casualties on both sides.

The Battle of Berlin was one of the last battles of the Second World War in Europe. The war that had been called for in Berlin finally returned to the city. Many soldiers and civilians died in widespread house-to-house fighting. On 21 April, the first Soviet units finally entered Berlin.

Today, visitors can explore the beautiful landscape of Luxembourg and visit the places where historical events are memorialised, such as General McAuliffe Monument, dedicated to the memory of General Anthony McAuliffe, Division Artillery Commander and Acting Division Commander of the 101st US Airborne.

The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive campaign launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium, France, and Luxembourg on the Western Front toward the end of WWII.

The liberation of Paris was not a priority for the Allies, but an uprising of the population against the Germans on 19 August made it necessary.

London played an important role in nearly every aspect of the Second World War. The city was host to several governments in exile and was an important centre for the planning of the Allied war efforts.

This tour gives travellers the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of the American and Allied Forces and follow the path of the First and Second World Wars.

On 6 June 6 1944, Normandy was the theatre of the outcome of the Second World War. Come discover the Second Word War’s story by following the tracks of the soldiers during the landings on Utah, Sword, Omaha, Juno and

This tour tells the story of Canada’s involvement in two of the iconic operations of WWII – the Dieppe raid (1942) and the Normandy campaign that began on D-Day (1944).

This journey helps you discover the main sites of the Second World War in London as well as Dover as an entry point of the tour in the United Kingdom.

This tour will look at operations of the Anglo-Canadian armies of 21st Army Group initially in trying to fix the German forces in the eastern bridgehead in order to support American breakout operations further west.

In May 1945 the US Third Army Division, led by General Patton, entered into Pilsen to liberate the Czech people from six years of German occupation.

Rome was captured by the Allies after the fierce battles of Monte Cassino and Anzio were fought. Today different museums document the history of the city and highlight important events such as the resistance movement and the liberation in June 1944.

Explore the fascinating war in the skies known as the Battle of Britain. After the fall of France in 1940 and their own discouraging defeat in Belgium and France, the United Kingdom regrouped, dug in and took to the air

Full day excursion with a private driver and guide to discover the history of the city of Catania, in Sicily, Italy.

Immerse yourself in the history of the largest Czech city liberated by the US Army during World War II. Tour the places and memorial sites of the US liberation.