Potsdam

Communist History

Explore the small but extremely historical city of Potsdam, which together with Berlin was the Prussian center of power. Learn about the connections of Soviet history in 3.5 hours and enjoy the highlights of the city. Learn about the enormous importance of Potsdam to the Soviets and hear interesting facts about the Allied victorious conference in 1945. See one of the most important intelligence sites of the Soviets in East Germany and visit the world-famous Glienicke Bridge, Bridge of Spies, used for agent exchange. Start at Potsdam Central Station and walk to the Old Market. The city center of Potsdam was destroyed in World War II. You will learn more about the reconstruction of the city in socialist East Germany and current reconstructional projects. Then head for the city´s Soviet War cemetery, the final resting place for hundreds of Red Army soldiers. Then take the bus and go to Cecilienhof Palace, the venue for the Potsdam Conference in summer 1945. After visiting the former KGB district you eventually go to the Bridge of Spies. The bridge once was the border between the East and the West, hence the iron bridge was part of the Iron Curtain.

Discover the different facets of the small but historically important city of Potsdam. The city is not only a Prussian residence and Garrison Town, but is also one of the birthplaces of European cinema and gained great importance in the 20th century. Explore the city and learn about its past on board of a modern Soviet vintage minibus. Departing from Potsdam Central Station or your hotel, head towards the famous film studio Babelsberg. Visit the historic site of the Potsdam Conference, Cecilienhof Palace. Next door at Hiroshima-Nagasaki Square, visit the former villas of the historic figures Truman, Churchill, and Stalin. Then, head to the world-famous Glienicke Bridge, aka Bridge of Spies, which was used for agent exchange and features in the Hollywood movie of the same name. Continue the tour and pass by the former Soviet KGB district, for decades a "forbidden city" in the center of Potsdam. Then, stroll along the Russian colony of Alexandrowka before heading to the UNESCO World Heritage Site Park Sanssouci, the favorite residence of the Prussian King Frederick the Great. Visit the stunning New Palace, a symbol for the rise of Prussia to a European power. Find out about the significance of the palace in regards to World War I. Next, stop at the “Rechenzentrum” Potsdam, a cultural center in a GDR building with a 70-meter-long mosaic depicting motifs of the space race. Right next to it is the controversial construction site of the Garrison Church. Your final stop will be at the Old Market, the historic center of the city. Marvel at the fascinating architecture of the St. Nicholas Church, the City Palace, the Old Town Hall, and the Barberini Palace before returning to the meeting point where your tour ends.

In the summer of 1945, the Cecilienhof Palace and the surrounding "Neuer Garten" park were closed to the public for the Potsdam Conference. The most powerful heads of state in the world came to Potsdam: Joseph Stalin, Harry S. Truman and Winston Churchill. The conference was an end to World War II, but also the starting point of the Cold War. For almost five decades, the Soviet military town No. 7, a “forbidden city”, was located next to the New Garden park. It was one of the most important intelligence sites of the Soviets during the Cold War. Here were, among other things, the German headquarters of the military counterintelligence of the KGB and a remand prison. On the tour you will learn more about the work and life in this forbidden city. Finally, head to the Glienicke Bridge that became world famous as the "Bridge of Spies" where the 2015 Hollywood film of the same name was shot. During the Cold War, agents were exchanged between East and West because the bridge was the border between the GDR and the American sector in West Berlin.

Discover over 50 years of Soviet history in the small but historically important city of Postdam. Travel in a modern Soviet vintage minibus. Departing from Potsdam Central Station, head for Bassinplatz Square. Here, discover the Soviet War Cemetery, the final resting place of hundreds of fallen Soviet soldiers. Then head to the historic site of the Potsdam Conference, Cecilienhof Palace. Next door, visit one of the most important Soviet intelligence sites in East Germany and a detention center. Next, head to the world-famous Glienicke Bridge, aka Bridge of Spies, which was used for agent exchange and features in the Hollywood movie of the same name. Your final stop will be the Rechenzentrum Potsdam. Here, admire a huge socialist mosaic which depicts scenes of the notorious Cold War Space Race, before getting dropped off back at the main station.