Berlin Walking Tour: Understanding the Holocaust's Human Machinery
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About the Tour
About the Tour
Berlin was the political center of Nazism, and its streets carry the weight of that history. On this philosophical walking tour, you'll examine how ordinary people, institutions, and ideology made the destruction of humanity possible. You'll also explore what it means to resist, then and now.
The tour starts at the Brandenburg Gate, where you'll reflect on the Prussian mindset of obedience that preceded Nazism. From there, you'll walk past the Reichstag building, where 96 parliamentary members were murdered after the Nazis used the 1933 fire to suspend civil liberties and crush political opposition. Along the way, guided by concepts from Hannah Arendt, you'll examine how totalitarian ideology turns citizens into categories and categories into targets.
You'll pass through the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Peter Eisenman's disorienting field of slabs, and visit the nearby Memorial to the Homosexuals Persecuted Under Nazism. You'll stand above the former Führerbunker, now an unremarkable playground, and walk past Goebbels' former Ministry of Propaganda. The tour ends at the Topography of Terror, built on the former Gestapo and SS headquarters, a site that existed for decades as a racing track before historians and activists literally dug it into public memory.
On this 90-minute tour, you'll have a chance to:
- Read the names of 96 murdered parliamentarians on the fragmented iron memorial outside the Reichstag
- Find the Stolperstein for Martha Liebermann (wife of Germany's foremost Jewish painter), who
fled into death
to avoid deportation - Enter the enclosed space of the Sinti and Roma Memorial and listen to a violin composition by a Romani descendant of survivors
- Hear how Hannah Arendt's concept of the
banality of evil
emerged from Adolf Eichmann's trial in Jerusalem - Discover Georg Elser, a carpenter who nearly assassinated Hitler while most of society adapted
- Learn how Goebbels hijacked the word
Enlightenment
to name the regime's propaganda apparatus
This tour won't give you simple answers. But it will help you make the past present, shedding some light on the challenges we face today.
Tour Producer
Tour Producer
Rafael Kasper
Rafael L. Kasper is a Brazilian researcher, lecturer, and writer whose life and work are defined by political geography and memory. Born in the "south of the south" (Porto Alegre, Brazil), his family history traces a migration arc from the borders of Bessarabia and the rural landscapes of Hunsrück, to South America. In 2017, he completed the circle, relocating to the "north of the north" to live and work in Berlin, where he has spent nearly a decade exploring how public spaces hold and process historical fissures.
Rafael holds a BA in Social Communication, a degree in Creative Writing, and a MA and PhD in Philosophy, with a focus on Political Philosophy and the Modern Philosophy of History (with emphasis on Hegel, Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin), including a research tenure at the Freie Universität Berlin. He has taught Sociology at the Media University (Berlin) and Philosophy at UFRGS, acts as a pedagogical guide at the Jewish Museum Berlin, and is a member of the Verein Hannah-Arendt-Preis für politisches Denken.
As an essayist published in outlets such as Zero Hora and Amarello, his work merges concepts and lived experience, interweaving Hannah Arendt with modern alienation, Prussian history, Walter Benjamin, and punk rock, inviting listeners to read the polis as a philosophical material.
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Preview Location
Preview Location
Location 13
The Holocaust Memorial
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Please stop here at the edge of the memorial.
Do not enter just yet. You may lean or sit on one of the slabs, but please do not stand or jump on them—it is not permitted. I will tell you when it is time to move again.
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This...
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Major Landmarks
Major Landmarks
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Brandenburg Gate
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Reichstag Building
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Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
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Memorial to Europe's Sinti and Roma Murdered Under Nazism
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Topography of Terror
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Aviation Ministery of Berlin
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Platz des Volksaufstandes von 1953
Getting There
Getting There
Route Overview
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Start locationUnter den Linden, 10117 Berlin, Germany
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Total distance3km
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Final locationNiederkirchnerstraße 8, 10963 Berlin, Germany
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Distance back to start location1km
Directions to Starting Point
Head to the Brandenburg Gate at the end of Unter den Linden avenue.
Whether you arrive on foot, by taxi, or via the Brandenburger Tor U-Bahn/S-Bahn station, make your way to the wide central pedestrian median facing the Gate, near the entrance to the subway station.
Look around you to confirm your surroundings:
To your left: You will see the Hotel Adlon across the street.
To your right: You will see a Starbucks and the French Embassy.
In front of you: Pariser Platz opens up.
Behind you: the long avenue of Unter den Linden, leading to Alexanderplatz and the TV Tower.
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Tips
Tips
Places to stop along the way
Food and Drinks
At the beginning: Café Liebermann (inside the Akademie der Künste).
Along the way:
Teras Döner Kebab (Wilhelmstraße 45)
The Bike Café (Wilhelmstraße 91)
HIT Supermarkt (Anton-Wilhelm-Amo-Straße 69)
At the end: Cafeteria inside the Topography of Terror.
Toilets
Inside the Akademie der Künste (beginning)
Inside the Topography of Terror (end)
Best time of day
To visit the Topography of Terror at the end of the tour, plan to finish your walk between 10 AM and 8 PM (hours may vary on major holidays). All other stops along the route are open and accessible at any time.
Precautions
You will visit sites of painful memory. Please walk through these spaces mindfully.
The tour is outdoors. Bring an umbrella if it rains.
Watch out for bike lanes when crossing streets.
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