James Anderson-Pole

Travel recommendations

Australia

• Cockatoo Island, NSW
• National Pass, NSW

Czech Republic

• Museum of Communism
• Petřín funicular
• Petřín Lookout Tower

Germany

• Berlin Nordbahnhof: Train station with exhibition on Berlin's ghost stations.
• Berlin TV Tower
• East Side Gallery Berin

Malaysia

• Batu Caves
• Museum Telekom

Netherlands

• 3 October Festival
• Dutch Resistance Museum

New Caledonia

• Amedee Island: Recommend booking with MaryD.

New Zealand

• Mount Kaukau, Wellington

Samoa

• To-Sua Ocean Trench

Singapore

• Battlebox: 1942 Malaya Command Headquarters
• Changi Chapel and Museum: World War Two Prisoner of War camp.
• Former Ford Factory: Here the British surrendered to the Japanese in 1942. There is an exhibition on World War 2.
• Rail Corridor: I recommend the Central Section if you are short on time.
• Reflections at Bukit Chandu: Historical World War 2 site.

Thailand

• Thai Labour Museum

United Kingdom

• Bletchley Park

United States

• Newseum: Was an excellent musuem but sadly closed at the end of 2019.

Travel Plans

Germany

Baden-Württemberg — 7 days

• Heidelberg — 2 days
  • Accommodation ibis Heidelberg Hauptbahnhof
  • High Priority Technik Museum Sinsheim (day trip)
  • High Priority Technik Museum Speyer (day trip)
• Stuttgart — 3 days
  • Accommodation ibis Stuttgart Centrum
  • High Priority Birkenkopf
  • High Priority Memorial at Hotel Silber
  • High Priority Palais Thermal: historic thermal bath with spa-palace architecture (day trip)
  • High Priority Straßenbahnmuseum Stuttgart
  • High Priority SWR Fernsehturm Stuttgart
  • TODO: check the StuttCard for discounts on attractions and public transport.
• Baden-Baden — 2 days
  • Accommodation TRIBE Baden-Baden
  • High Priority Caracalla Therme: modern thermal spa day with indoor/outdoor pools and sauna areas.
  • High Priority Friedrichsbad: Roman-Irish bath house and historic thermal spa experience.
  • TODO: check the Baden-Baden Guest Card for discounts and free public transport.

Bavaria — 8 days

• Berchtesgaden — 1 day
  • Accommodation Hotel Mercure Salzburg City
  • High Priority Dokumentation Obersalzberg
  • High Priority Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle's Nest)
• Munich — 5 days
  • Accommodation ibis München City
  • High Priority Deutsches Museum (Munich)
  • High Priority KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau (day trip)
  • High Priority Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism
  • High Priority Neuschwanstein Castle (day trip)
  • High Priority Therme Erding: world's largest thermal spa complex (day trip)
  • High Priority Zugspitze (day trip)
  • TODO: check the CityTourCard Munich for free public transport and discounts on attractions.
• Nuremberg — 2 days
  • Accommodation ibis Nürnberg Hauptbahnhof
  • High Priority DB Museum Nuremberg
  • High Priority Memorium Nuremberg Trials
  • High Priority Museum für Kommunikation (Nuremberg)
  • High Priority Reichsparteitagsgelände (Nazi Party Rally Grounds): former Nazi Party rally complex, including the Documentation Center in the Congress Hall's north wing and the Zeppelin Field parade grounds.
  • TODO: check the Nürnberg Card for free entry to museums and public transport.

Berlin

1. World War Two
   • Allied Museum
   • Berlin Story Bunker — Hitler: How could it happen?
   • High Priority House of the Wannsee Conference
   • Museum Berlin-Karlshorst
   • High Priority Soviet War Memorial
   • High Priority Topography of Terror
2. Cold War / GDR
   • asisi Panorama — The Wall
   • Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial
   • Berlin Underworlds Association
   • Berlin Wall Bike Trail
   • Checkpoint Charlie
   • High Priority DDR Museum
   • Tempelhof Field
   • Karl-Marx-Allee
   • Mauermuseum — Haus am Checkpoint Charlie
   • High Priority Museum for Communication
   • Museum in der Kulturbrauerei
   • High Priority Palace of Tears
   • High Priority Stasi Museum
   • Teufelsberg
   • The Wall Museum: multimedia exhibition on Cold War and Berlin Wall history at the East Side Gallery.
3. Queer / LGBT history
   • Eldorado memorial plaque: marks the former queer nightclub and Nazi persecution site
   • Magnus-Hirschfeld-Ufer: queer cultural promenade along the Landwehr Canal
   • Nollendorfplatz / Motzstraße: historic heart of Berlin’s gay district
   • Schwules Museum
4. Technology / science
   • Computerspielemuseum
   • Futurium
   • Deutsches Technikmuseum: includes the Deutsche Telekom Science Center Spectrum interactive exhibit; also check out the Bahnpark railway museum section
5. General / urban experience
   • Reichstag
   • Vabali Spa
   • Timeride
   • Deutscher Dom: free Bundestag exhibition on German parliamentary history.
   • TODO: check the Berlin Welcome Card for free public transport and 170+ discounts on attractions.

Brandenburg — 5 days

• Brandenburg an der Havel — 1 day trip from Berlin
  • Brandenburg-Görden Prison Memorial: former prison memorial covering Nazi and post-war political repression
  • Memorial to the Victims of Euthanasia Murders: documentation site on the Nazi "euthanasia" killings at Brandenburg an der Havel
• Eisenhuettenstadt — 1 day trip from Berlin
  • Museum of Utopia and Everyday Life
• Oranienburg — 1 day trip from Berlin
  • Memorial and Museum Sachsenhausen: major former concentration camp memorial site
• Potsdam — 2 day trips from Berlin
  • High Priority Cecilienhof Country House: site of the 1945 Potsdam Conference
  • Glienicke Bridge: Cold War prisoner-exchange bridge between Berlin and Potsdam
  • Leistikowstrasse Potsdam Memorial: former Soviet/KGB remand prison in the early Cold War period
  • Lindenstrasse Memorial: former prison and courthouse memorial documenting political persecution under Nazi, Soviet, and GDR rule

Bremen — 2 days

• Bremen — 1 day
  • Denkort Bunker Valentin (Bunker Valentin Memorial Site)
  • Universum Bremen
• Bremerhaven — 1 day trip from Bremen
  • U-Boot Wilhelm Bauer (Submarine Wilhelm Bauer)

Hamburg — 2 days

• Accommodation ibis Hamburg Alster Centrum
• Miniatur Wunderland
• Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial
• St Nikolai Memorial

Hesse — 2 days

• Frankfurt — 2 days
  • Accommodation ibis Frankfurt Centrum
  • High Priority Gedenkstätte Hadamar (Hadamar Memorial): former Aktion T4 euthanasia killing centre, with preserved gas chamber and crematorium (day trip)
  • High Priority Historischer Ort Adlerwerke (Historical Site Adlerwerke): memorial to the Katzbach concentration camp, a subcamp of Natzweiler-Struthof.
  • High Priority Museum für Kommunikation Frankfurt (Museum for Communication Frankfurt)

Lower Saxony — 3 days

• Bad Bevensen — 1 day
  • Jod-Sole-Therme (Iodine Brine Thermal Spa)
• Bergen-Belsen — 1 day trip from Celle
  • Gedenkstätte Bergen-Belsen (Bergen-Belsen Memorial)
• Harz — 1 day trip
  • Brockenbahn (Brocken Railway)
  • Nationalpark-Besucherzentrum Brockenhaus (National Park Visitor Centre Brockenhaus)

North Rhine-Westphalia — 4 days

• Bonn — 1 day trip from Cologne
  • Deutsches Museum (Bonn)
  • High Priority Haus der Geschichte (Bonn)
• Cologne — 1 day
  • Accommodation ibis Köln Hauptbahnhof
  • High Priority NS-Documentation Centre (Cologne)
  • TODO: check the KölnCard for free public transport and discounts on attractions.
• Kalkar — 1 day trip from Cologne
  • Wunderland Kalkar
• Wuppertal — 1 day trip from Cologne
  • Schwebodrom: multimedia exhibition
  • Wuppertal Suspension Railway

Rhineland-Palatinate — 7 days

• Ahr Valley — 1 day trip from Koblenz
  • Ahr-Thermen: thermal spa in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, ideal for a half-day wellness stop.
  • Government Bunker Documentation Site: Cold War continuity-of-government bunker museum
• Koblenz — 1 day
  • Accommodation Mercure Hotel Koblenz
  • DB Museum Koblenz: railway museum branch focused on historic rolling stock
  • Rhine Valley Scenic rail/boat journey: train Koblenz to Bingen (sit on the left side for the best river views), then boat Bingen to St Goar through the UNESCO World Heritage Upper Middle Rhine Valley, then train back to Koblenz.
• Luxembourg City (separate country) — 2 days
  • Accommodation ibis Styles Luxembourg Centre Gare
  • Luxembourg City
  • Luxembourg City History Museum: city-focused museum on urban development, fortifications, and modern historical context.
  • Musée Dräi Eechelen (Fort Thüngen): museum and fortification site covering military history and strategic context.
  • Luxembourg City memorial walk: Nazi occupation, resistance networks, deportation/persecution, liberation, and post-war remembrance.
  • TODO: check the LuxembourgPass for free entry to 70+ attractions and free public transport nationwide.
• South Luxembourg (separate country) — 1 day trip from Luxembourg City
  • Luxembourg Science Center: interactive science center in Differdange
  • National Resistance Museum: museum on resistance, occupation, and human rights in Luxembourg
• Remagen — 1 day trip from Koblenz
  • Peace Museum Bridge at Remagen: museum on the 1945 Ludendorff Bridge battle and its aftermath
• Trier — 1 day trip from Luxembourg City
  • High Priority Karl Marx House Museum: birthplace museum on Karl Marx's life, work, and legacy

Saxony — 5 days

• Bautzen — 1 day trip from Leipzig
  • Bautzen Memorial: former prison memorial and museum-style site
• Chemnitz — 1 day trip from Leipzig
  • Karl Marx Monument
  • Museum of Industrial Culture: industrial history and socialist-era context
• Dresden — 1 day trip from Leipzig
  • Kulturpalast
  • Soviet War Memorial: memorial to Soviet soldiers who died in the Battle of Dresden in 1945
  • Zeitgeschichtliches Forum
• Leipzig — 1 day
  • Accommodation ibis Styles Leipzig City for a practical stay near Leipzig Hbf.
  • Runde Ecke: Memorial Museum
  • Stasi Bunker Museum: former Cold War bunker and museum-style site
  • TODO: check the Leipzig Card for free public transport and discounts on attractions.
• Torgau — 1 day trip from Leipzig
  • Memorial Site Torgau: former prison and memorial site

Saxony-Anhalt

TODO: review whether to merge this section with Saxony or keep it as a separate state section.

See Lower Saxony for Brockenhaus and Brockenbahn.

• Halle-Neustadt
  • TODO: work out whether to stay there or make this a day trip from elsewhere.

Schleswig-Holstein — 1 day

• Kiel — 1 day
  • Flandernbunker (Flanders Bunker)
  • U-Boot-Museum U 995 (U-Boat Museum U 995)

Thuringia

• Erfurt
  • Gedenkstätte Andreasstraße: former Stasi remand prison where over 5,500 GDR citizens were held for political reasons; site of the first occupation of a Stasi district office during the 1989 Peaceful Revolution.

Contact details

• Email: james@pole.net.nz