CHESTER pupils travelled to Germany over half-term to learn about the country’s rich history.
History and Politics A-level students from The King’s School, in Wrexham Road, spent five days in Berlin.
They were guided by Colonel Piers Storie-Pugh OBE in his ninth year of trips with King’s and Major Mike Cartwright, who commanded the Berlin Signal Squadron for two years during the Cold War.
After visiting the Story of Berlin Museum, the party went to see the “Hitler and the Germans” exhibition at the German Historical Museum.
A flavour of eighteenth and nineteenth century German history was sampled in Potsdam, an oasis of calm away from the city.
Stark reminders of Berlin’s pivotal role in twentieth century events were brought home to everyone on the trip as they toured Third Reich sites.
The pupils saw Sachsenhausen concentration camp and the quite staggering Soviet memorial to troops killed in the Battle of Berlin at Treptower Park. The group also visited Normannenstrasse, the former Headquarters of the Stasi and Hohenschönhausen, the former prison used by the Stasi until 1989.
Group Captain Andrews, the Air and Naval Attaché who hosted the group at the British Embassy, was full of praise for the quality of questions he faced.
Colonel Pugh wrote that “this group of students was the most impressive of all the groups” he had met over the last nine years.