Ride & Guide in Sachsenhausen
Duration: 5 hrs. total, 3 hrs inside
Meeting point: hotel or train station
Start: at 12.15 p.m. (entry  1 p.m.)
End: hotel or downtown

Historical background:

Sachsenhausen concentration camp was built in the summer of 1936. It was located only 35 kms. north of Berlin, the capital of the Third Reich. Till 1945 more than 200,000 people from around 40 nations were imprisoned in Sachsenhausen. About 140,000 prisoners were registered. Initially, they were political opponents of the Nazi regime. Then came Jews, homosexuals, "gypsies", socalled "asocials" and Jehovah's Witnesses. With the beginning of the Second World War in 1939, an increasing number of people from european countries, occupied by the Wehrmacht, were interned in Sachsenhausen. Tens of thousands died as a result of starvation, diseases, abuse and torture under forced labor. In an extermination campaign in autumn 1941, more than 10,000 prisoners of war of the Soviet Union were systematically murdered one by one with gun shots in the neck.

SS guards were trained here and transferred to other concentration camps throughout Germany and later also in death camps in occupied Europe. Since 1938, the central administration of all concentration camps, the Inspectorate of the Concentration Camps (IKL) and the leaders of the SS Totenkopfverbände (skull or death's head units) were located in Sachsenhausen.

Historical background:
Sachsenhausen concentration camp was established in summer of 1936. It was was located 35 kms. north of Berlin,
the capital of the Third Reich. Till 1945 more than 200,000 people from around 40 nations were imprisoned in Sachsenhausen. About 140,000 prisoners were registered. Initially, they were political opponents of the Nazi regime. Then came Jews, homosexuals, "gypsies", so called "asocials" and Jehovah's Witnesses. With the beginning of the Second World War in 1939, an increasing number of people from european countries, occupied by the Wehrmacht, were interned in Sachsenhausen. Under forced labour, tens of thousands died as a result of starvation, diseases,
abuse and torture. In an extermination campaign in autumn 1941, more than 10,000 prisoners of war of the Soviet
Union were systematically murdered one by one with gun shots in the neck .
SS guards were trained here and transferred to other concentration camps throughout Germany and later also in
death camps in Europe. Since 1938 the central administration of all concentration camps, the Inspectorate of the Concentration Camps (IKL) and the leaders of the SS-Totenkopfverbände (skull or death's head units) were located
in Sachsenhausen.