School History Trips to 3 Top WWII Battlefields

The horrors of the Second World War continue to ricochet across Europe today, in memories and ongoing tensions. For students, school history trips to some of the battlefields of the war are a powerful way to understand the many conflicts. Top destinations include Berlin, Krakow and Normandy.

Berlin

School history trips to Berlin take students to a pivotal city in the war. There, they can see the Second World War through the eyes of the Germans who lived in the city — both Jewish and non-Jewish — and learn about the hardships they faced. The Sachsenhausen Memorial at the camp closest to Berlin, which functioned as the administrative centre for all of the concentration camps, is a place to instigate discussion about what led to such a horrific system. The Jewish Museum will expand students’ understanding of Jewish history in Germany, particularly its length. The museum covers two thousand years of history, with particularly fascinating exhibits on medieval Jewish life, including the story of Glickl bas Judah Leib (1646–1724), a businesswoman in Hamburg.

The expansive collections of the German Historical Museum will provide insights into the material culture of Germany during the Second World War, allowing students to see pieces of the lives of Germans in Berlin. Other highlights in the city include the Wannsee Conference Centre, the Reichstag Buildings and the Topography of Terror.

Krakow

Heading into Eastern Europe on school history trips will expose important realities of the war. Krakow, in Poland, sat at the heart of the Nazi genocide of the Jewish people. Its Jewish citizens suffered in the city before being taken to the nearby concentration camp complex of Auschwitz and Birkenau, where over one million people — Jews, Romani and Sinti, Poles, Soviets and minority groups — were murdered. The camp is a harrowing but important memorial. Students can also visit Schindler’s factory, where some Jewish people were saved, and then wander through the Kazimierz district of Krakow —where Jews and Christians lived together — to better understand the long history of the Jewish people in Krakow.

Normandy

Normandy is where the war famously turned in the Allies’ favour, with the successful beach landings of D-Day on 6 June 1944 leading to the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi occupation. Visiting Normandy on school history trips allows students to explore the strategy behind the landings (and their importance), while standing on the beaches seized by the soldiers on that fateful morning. There are numerous excellent museums that can be included on an itinerary, including the American Military Museum, the Landings Museum, the Caen Memorial Museum, the Pegasus Bridge Museum and the Juno Beach Centre. But the highlight is the Arromanches 360 Cinema, where students can watch immersive film from the time.

Angela Bowden works for STS (School Travel Service), the UK's largest educational travel company, providing tours for secondary schools, primary schools and colleges. STS can provide school history trips along with those encompassing a focus on art/design, foreign languages, geography, science/nature and more, to worldwide destinations.