Sachsenhausen Memorial: Walking Tour from Berlin｜Germany

In groups of up to 25 people, learn about this unsettling yet important part of history from professional, qualified guides. Take a tour through the memorial and museum of the former concentration camp of Sachsenhausen, located close to Berlin.

Visiting the former Sachsenhausen concentration camp, located just a few kilometers north of Berlin, is a powerful and moving experience. It offers a deep insight into the mechanisms of Nazi dictatorship and the human suffering it caused.

Built in 1936, Sachsenhausen was one of the first camps established by the Nazi regime. It served as a model for the concentration camp system and was initially used to imprison political opponents. Over time, others followed: Sinti and Roma, Jews, prisoners of war, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. More than 40,000 people perished here under horrific conditions.

During the tour, we’ll explain how the camp was deliberately designed by Nazi architects to enforce total subjugation to SS authority. You'll learn how physical space and architecture were used as tools of oppression and control.

After World War II, under Soviet occupation, Sachsenhausen continued to operate as a special camp where thousands of people—including former Nazis, political opponents, and civilians—were detained. Many died of hunger and disease.

Our visit starts in Berlin, from where we’ll travel together by S-Bahn to Oranienburg, the nearest station to the memorial site, about 35 km from the city.

Once at the Sachsenhausen Memorial, your certified French-speaking guide will lead a three-hour walking tour. Through historical research and survivor testimonies, you’ll explore key locations inside the camp:

- Tower A and the roll-call square
- The system of forced labor and punishment
- The prison barracks and medical experimentation rooms
- The former kitchen, now a museum
- Station Z, where the crematoriums and gas chamber once stood

You’ll gain a deeper understanding of Sachsenhausen’s role as a “model SS concentration camp,” its function as a training center for SS guards, and how it served the wider system of exploitation and extermination across Nazi Europe. The tour also sheds light on the role of private industry in this brutal machinery and how camps were portrayed in Nazi propaganda.

Your guide will speak about daily life in the camp, the prisoners’ attempts at resistance, the death marches at the end of the war, and the postwar history of the site.

After the guided tour, we will return to Berlin together. However, you’re welcome to stay longer at the memorial to explore further on your own.