Berlin Outer Districts

Most Berliners think of the town of Wannsee, on a lake of the same name, as the beach. Wannsee has one of Europe’s longest inland stretches of beach along the Havel-Uferpromenade, and the roads behind the beaches are crowded with vacation villas. To reach the locally beloved baths, Strandbad Wannsee, take S1 or S7 to Nikolassee, cross the bridge in front of the main exit, continue through the park, and follow the signs down the road. Getting to the beach along the Uferpromenade is more complicated: walk along Am Großen Wannsee to Haveleck. Alternatrively, take bus #218 from the Wannsee station to Pfaueninsel, backtrack to Pfaueninsel-Chaussee, and ride it to Uferpromenade, which will appear on your right. On summer weekends, a special bus shuttles bathers from the train station. The beach fills up absurdly early with German families on weekends; be prepared to battle the crowds for choice spots. (Wannseebad 5. Open from May to mid-July M-F 10am-7pm and Sa-Su 8am-8pm, from mid-July to Aug. M-F 9am-8pm and Sa-Su 8am-9pm, Sept.-Apr. M-Su 10am-7pm. €4, students €2.50; after 5:30pm €2/2.)

 Pfaueninsel (Peacock Island).  The banks of Pfaueninsel (the second largest island in Berlin) served as the perfect setting for Friedrich Wilhelm II’s “ruined” castle, where he and his mistress could romp for hours. Far more impressive than this underwhelming fortification, however, are the perfectly manicured orchards and trails that open up to lake vistas. A flock of the island’s namesake fowl roams about the gardens. (Take bus #218 from the Wannsee S-Bahn station to Pfaueninsel and wait for the ferry. Ferry runs daily May-Aug. 8am-9pm, Mar.-Apr. and Sept.-Oct. 9am-6pm, Nov.-Feb. 10am-4pm. Ferry €2, students €1. Castle open Apr.-Oct. Tu-Su 10am-5pm. Ticket office closed 1-1:30pm. Castle by tour only, every 30min. Last tour 4:30pm. €3, students €2.50.)

Haus Der Wannsee-Konferenz. This area attained international notoriety after the the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942. Leading officials of the SS completed the details for the implementation of the “Final Solution”—the deportation and murder of Europe’s Jewish population—in the Wannsee Villa, formerly a Gestapo intelligence center. In January 1992, the 50th anniversary of the Nazi death-pact, the villa reopened as a museum with permanent Holocaust exhibits (mostly in German) and a documentary film series. (Am Großen Wannsee 56-58. Take bus #114 from the S-Bahn station to Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz. ☎030 805 0010; www.ghwk.de. Exhibition and garden open daily 10am-6pm. Last entry 5:45pm. Library open M-F 10am-6pm. Free. Free guided tours in German and English.)

Max Liebermann Villa. The former summer home of Jewish painter Max Liebermann displays the artist’s pastels, etchings, and paintings along with special exhibitions in his lovely villa, into which the artist retreated after persecution by the Nazis. The garden out back was reconstructed according to designs by Liebermann himself. (Colomierstr. 3, at the corner of Am Großen Wannsee. S1 to Wannsee. ☎030 80 58 59 00. Open Apr.-Sept. M, W, and F-Su 10am-6pm, Th 10am-8pm; Oct.-Mar. M and W-Su 11am-5pm. €6, students €4.)

Glienicker Brücke. At the southwestern corner of the district, this unspectacular bridge with spectacular history crosses the Havel River into Potsdam and the former DDR. Closed to traffic during the Cold War, it was the spot where East and West once exchanged captured spies. The most famous incident involved the trade of American U-2 pilot Gary Powers, shot down over Russia, and Yale student Frederic Pryor for Soviet spy Vilyam Genrikovich Abel. (Bus #316 from the S-Bahn station Wannsee to Glienicker Brücke-Potsdam. )

Treptow

Sowjetisches Ehrenmal. The Soviet War Memorial, a promenade built with marble taken from Hitler’s Chancellery, is moving if only for its awesome scale. The Soviets dedicated the site in 1948 to honor the millions of Red Army soldiers who fell in what Russians call the “Great Patriotic War.” The colossal bronze figure at the head of the promenade symbolically crushes Nazism underfoot (yes, that’s a swastika—it’s legal because it’s partially obscured). The memorial doubles as a massive graveyard, with the bodies of 5000 unidentified Soviet soldiers buried underfoot. (S4, S6, S8, S9, or S85 to Treptower Park. Turn left on Puschkinallee and follow the signs; it’s about 900m down.)

Oranienburg And Sachsenhausen

Kz Sachsenhausen. The small town of Oranienburg, just north of Berlin, was home to the Nazi concentration camp Sachsenhausen, where more than 100,000 Jews, Communists, intellectuals, gypsies, and homosexuals were killed between 1936 and 1945. The Gedenkstätte Sachsenhausen, a memorial preserving the remains of the camp and recalling those imprisoned in it, was opened by the DDR in 1961. The blunt gray buildings, barbed-wire fencing, and vast, bleak spaces express the camp’s brutality and despair. Some buildings have been preserved in their original forms. Sets of cramped barracks remain, along with the cell block where particularly “dangerous” prisoners were kept in solitary confinement and tortured daily, and the pathology department where Nazis performed medical experiments on inmates both dead and alive. Only the foundations of Station Z, where prisoners were methodically exterminated, remain. A stone monolith commemorating the camp’s victims stands sentinel over the wind-swept grounds and several small museums. Barracks 38 and 39, the special “Jewish-only” barracks torched by neo-Nazis in 1992 and since reconstructed, feature displays on daily life in the camp. The prison contains a museum housed in five original cells of the one remaining wing of the cell block. The museum buildings and industrial yard contain broader exhibits on the history of Sachsenhausen, both as a concentration camp and a memorial site. DDR-era political slant is still apparent in the main museum building, which features Socialist Realist stained-glass windows memorializing “German Anti-Fascist Martyrs.” (Str. der Nationen 22. S1 (dir.: Oranienburg) to the end (40min.). Then either use the infrequent bus service on lines #804 and 821 to Gedenkstätte or take a 20min. walk from the station. Follow the signs from Stralsundstr., turn right on Bernauer Str., left on Str. der Einheit, and right on Str. der Nationen. ☎03301 20 00; www.gedenkstaette-sachsenhausen.de. Open daily Mar. 15-Oct. 14 8:30am-6pm; Oct. 15-Mar. 14 8:30am-4:30pm. Last entry 30min. before closing. Archive and library open Tu-F 9am-4:30pm. Open air exhibition “Murder and Mass Murder in Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp” and site of commemoration “Station Z” open daily. Exhibition “System of Terror” in the T-Building open M-F 8am-6pm, Sa-Su noon-4pm. Free. Audio tour €3.)

Schlo SS Oranienburg. Friedrich Wilhelm I converted his hunting lodge into a Dutch-influenced orange and white palace, which later served as a barracks for the East German army. Today, the Schloßmuseum showcases room after room of art from the Dutch masters and a beautiful gold étagère holding intricately painted china. The corresponding Kreismuseum features exhibits on local history. (☎03301 53 74 37; www.spsg.de. Schloßmuseum accessible by guided tour only. Open Apr.-Oct. Sa-Su 10am-5pm and Tu-F 10am-5pm, Nov.-May Sa-Su 10am-4pm. Kreismuseum open Apr.-Oct. Tu-Su 10am-6pm, Nov.-Mar. Sa-Su 10am-5pm; last entry 30min. before closing.)

Spandau

Zitadelle. Rising starkly from the water, this Renaissance citadel is accessible only by a single stone bridge and was considered impregnable in the 16th and 17th centuries. During WWII, the Nazis used the fort as a chemical weapons lab, and in 1945 the Allies employed it as a prison to hold war criminals before the Nuremberg Trials. Nowadays, the citadel is an overgrown, weedy ghost of its former self, filled with old field-cannons, statues, a medieval history museum, and a variety of art galleries. The thickly fortified Juliusturm (Julius Tower), dating from 1200, is the unofficial symbol of Spandau. (Am Juliusturm. Take U7 to Zitadelle and follow the signs. ☎030 354 9440. Open daily 10am-5pm. Last entry 30min. before closing. Guided tours May-Oct. Sa-Su at noon, 2, and 4pm; Mar.- Apr. and Nov. at noon and 2pm. Museum and tower €4.50, students €2.50. Audio tour €2.)

Steglitz

Botanischer Garten. The Botanischer Garten is one of the most comprehensive botanical gardens in the world, featuring everything from orderly English gardens and Japanese koi ponds to vast greenhouses, which stay lush even in winter. (Königin-Luise-Str. 6-8. S1 to Botanischer Garten. Follow the signs from the S-Bahn station; entrance on Unter den Eichen. ☎030 83 85 01 00; www.bgbm.org. Open daily May-July 9am-9pm, Aug. and Apr. 9am-8pm, Oct. and Mar. 9am-6pm, Nov.-Jan. 9am-4pm, Feb. 9am-5pm. Last entry 30min. before closing. €5, students €2.50; 2hr. before closing €2/1. Museum open daily 10am-6pm. Library open M-F 9am-6pm.)