If you in Berlin only to party and have a good time, this site might not be for you. I give it a 'high recommendation', not as a site to seek out like you would the Eiffel Tower or a famous dance club, but because if you are in Berlin and visiting the other historic sites, it will add to your travel experiences.

Also note - the Berlin Wall is directly behind the Topography of Terror.

In the depression of the ‘30s, caused in part by the crippling war reparations imposed on Germany by the victorious allies, the Nazi party was immensely popular with the people, although it never won a majority in the fledgling German parliament. Chancellor Hindenburg only gave totalitarian powers to Hitler following the outcry caused by an arson attack on the Reichstag; apparently the work of a Dutch communist with nothing more than a box of matches and the shirt off his back, although many point the finger of blame at the Nazis themselves. The powers were supposed to be a temporary measure to combat the Communist threat but they would last until 1945 when Soviet tanks rolled in to liberate the city.

The main memorial to these events that you will find in Berlin is the disturbing Topography of Terror exhibition in the excavated remains of the basements of the former Gestapo, SS, and Reich Security Offices on the Prinz Albrecht Terrain at Niederkirchnerstrasse 8, this free, open-air exhibition (open daily 10am to 6 pm) recounts the work of the Nazi terror apparatus from the Gestapo interrogation cells to the administration of the concentration camps through photographs, documents, and personal testimonies. The free 1-hour English language audio guide leads you through the predominantly German-language displays to give you a thorough, if unsettling, understanding of what went on here.

Other Nazi sites to look out for are the site of Albert Speer's austentatious New Reich’s Chancellery on Wilhelmstrasse, and, behind it, the site of Hitler’s bunker where three trees surreptitiously mark where the Soviets discovered the Fuhrer’s burnt body. The location of Goebels’ bunker can be found on Behrenstrasse on a site soon to be covered over by the controversial Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Finally, there are a number of other key locations that survived the Second World War bombing and post-war reconstruction, including the former Air Force Ministry, also on Wilhelmstrasse, and Bebelplatz in frount of the Royal Library on Unter den Linden, where the first Nazi book burnings took place, commemorated by an underground empty library memorial.

On Strasse des 17 Juni stands the Soviet war memorial, built from marble scavenged from the New Reich’s Chancellery and flanked by the first two Red Army tanks to enter the city. It is the final resting place for the 5,000 Soviet troops that died in fighting at the Reichstag, ending the Thousand Year Reich where it began and ushering in a new era of repression. The victims of both regimes are commemorated at the simple but moving Neue Wache on Unter den Linden.

Gestapo, SS & Reich Security Office on Prinz Albert Terrain
Open Air Exhibition

The Prinz Albert Terrain represented the actual government district of the SS and Police State between 1933 & 1945. It was here that the "Final Solution to the Jewish question" or genocide of the Jews and the systematic persecution and murder of other parts of the population was planned.

The Topographie of Terror open-air exhibit presents historical photographic evidence of the area, buildings, people (both persecuted and oppressors) in a setting of the rubble of the actual building. Although most of the captions are in German, there are free multi-lingual pamphlets in available in the trailer that serves as the visitor center. There is also a book you can purchase there that gives direct translations of all the signage in the exhibit, as well as much more explanation and historical information.