Echoes of War: A National Socialism and Cologne WWII Tour

Here we'll begin our tour. Meeting your guide in the center of one of Cologne's most important squares within view of the Cologne Townhall where the Nazi flags flew, our tour is introduced and the beginnings of the rise of National Socialism is discussed.

In a square dedicated to Cologne's most joyous time of year, Karneval, learn how Nazism crept its way into the every day life of Germans and began to shift the minds and identity of the city. Here, learn the first steps taken towards war laid far before Hitler stood on the steps of the Reichstag.

At the first of several monuments to the victims of the Holocaust, we'll discuss the societal impacts on the vunerable communities in our city while the Blitzkreig began to take its first violent steps. How did the city of Cologne adjust for the approaching war as Allies began to move away from their sleepy policy of appeasement.

With our first real views of Cologne's Cathedral, we'll follow the route taken by the populations of the city that not many returned from, shipped from the city to concentration camps. With a view of one of our Holocaust memorials and the bridges that were destroyed as the Nazis fled across the Rhein, we'll discuss the bombs that began to fall on Cologne as the Allied Forces began to mount. How did the population react to an impact directly on their hometown?

Next to the most important buidling in our History, we'll discuss the Cathedrals importance throughout the war for both sides of the conflict. Hear the tales of the largest bombing in history at that point and the impact of the Dom as the city rebuilt.

In the shadow of what used to be the courthouse, learn how the violent ideology of the Nazi party accelerated even as they lost ground across their attempted empire and the Allied forces neared Cologne. As the Battle of Cologne neared, hear of the political prisoners who resisted and paid the price.

Across from the court house, follow the footsteps of the prisoners as they entered the political prison of the Gestapo where their journeys ultimately and cruelly ended.

Also, the Allies enter the streets of Cologne. Were they welcomed as liberators as the Nazis fled to the rightside of the river?

At a monument to a Sainted Martyr murdered in the chambers at Auschwitz, we'll end our tour. After hearing the stories of Edith Stein and similar heroes of the war, we'll discuss the changes that followed in Cologne after the National Socialist Regime of the Third Reich breathed its final breaths. Learn what bloomed from the ruins of Cologne to create a city far from its brown-colored past as we summarize our tour and say our goodbyes with recommendations on how to continue learning about Cologne as well as explore the other aspects of our town.