East Berlin: City of Shadows Private Walking Tour

This 3-hour private guided tour explores the surviving monuments of the East German regime including the infamous Berlin Wall and Stasi headquarters. Your private guide will reveal the dialogue between modern Berlin’s built environment and its dark and often hidden history. You’ll hear about life under Communist rule, the East Germans’ growing discontent and their government’s brutal suppression.

A historian will reveal the dialogue between modern Berlin’s built environment and its dark and often hidden history. You’ll hear about life under Communist rule, the East Germans’ growing discontent and their government’s brutal suppression. The tour begins at the Brandenburg Gate where, in June 1987, President Ronald Reagan famously called on Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to, “tear down this wall!” Nearby is the former Soviet Embassy, a grandiose monument built in 1945 amid the rubble of World War II as a bold declaration of Stalin’s ambition to control all of Berlin. We will discuss how the Allies’ post­war division of Germany into four parts led to decades of Cold War tensions.

Friedrichstrasse train station, a key crossing point between East and West Berlin. When families were torn apart by East Germany’s ironfisted immigration laws, they said their sad goodbyes here in the office known as the Palace of Tears.

At Nordbahnhof, we’ll explore how Berlin’s division created “ghost” stations, unused but heavily guarded stops on West Berlin’s subway lines that lay in East German territory.

We visit the grandiose mile-­long housing complex known as Karl Marx Allee and consider how East Germans’ dreams for a Socialist paradise turned into a nightmare of deprivation, suppression and paranoia.

The Berlin Wall memorial allows you to experience the notorious Death Strip and hear stories of East Berliners whose attempts to escape led to their tragic deaths.

East Germany’s secret police, the notorious Stasi, coerced neighbors and family members to spy on each other. At the former Stasi headquarters, you’ll learn how its feared leader Eric Mielke recruited a massive network of spies and created innovative surveillance techniques.

We will visit the center of public life in East Berlin, Alexanderplatz, which was rebuilt in the 1960s with monuments like the futuristic parliament building and the iconic TV Tower. In 1989, this symbol of East German pride was the setting for massive demonstrations that led to the regime’s downfall and brought 40 years of Communist rule to an end.

• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels
• Your tour guides are expert local historians and enthusiastic hosts who love helping travelers discover Berlin.

• 10:00 am
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  3-hour private walking tour of East Berlin in the company of a historian
• 2:00 pm
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  3-hour private walking tour of East Berlin in the company of a historian

• Private walking tour
• Professional art historian guide

• Food and drinks, unless specified
• Hotel pickup and drop-off
• Transportation to/from attractions: You will need to use public transport a few times, since the distances between some key sites would be too far to walk. If you will not have a few days 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. Berlin Transit One Way Tarif AB Ticket 2.8 Euro, Senior Discount 1,70 EUR Berlin Transit Day Ticket for one Person 7 Euro, Senior Discount 4,70 EUR

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Please be advised..

• This Tour is Provided by Insight Cities.
• Tour Timezone & Starts at Europe/Berlin.
• Mobile or paper ticket accepted.
• For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
• This Tour is Rated 5 Stars based on 1 valid reviews on TRIPADVISOR.
• Minimum 1 Travelers is required to book.
• Maximum 10 Travelers is accepted for booking.