Munich, Germany - the Third Reich Walk Tour
Hear of the Nazi Rise to Power on a Walking Tour of Hitler's Munich
Mar 12, 2009
There is not much ready evidence of Nazi Germany in a city where the wearing or display of a swastika is now a criminal offence and where giving a Nazi salute could land the perpetrator in jail. For that reason, the Third Reich Tour, one of several offerings of the Munich Walk Tours company is a must for the history buff interested in Adolph Hitler and the Third Reich.
How to Join the Munich Third Reich Tour
Bookings aren’t necessary. Tours run daily except Christmas Day and New Years Day. The intending participant simply turns up at the meeting point – under the clock tower of the Neues Rathaus (new town hall) – at 10 a.m. (10:30 from Nov 1 to Feb 28). The guide for the day collects the required 10 Euro and the tour commences.
How Much Walking in the Hitler’s Munich Tour?
The morning tour (Hitler’s Munich) takes 2 ½ hours at a normal walking pace – although some might rate it a brisk walk. There are usually a few stragglers who catch up at the frequent key sites where the guide continues the lecture and divulges the secrets of the past. There is, however, only one place – the Hofbrauhaus - where walkers are encouraged to sit and rest a while. There are stairs to climb in some buildings. Thus, participants need a reasonable level of fitness and mobility.
The Extended Third Reich Tour costs an additional 9 Euros and continues where the morning tour leaves off. The afternoon commence with lunch together (at the participant’s own expense) at one of Adolph Hitler’s favourite haunts, the little-changed Schelling Salon. Participants will find it an eerie experience to sit at one of the tables regularly used by Hitler. The tour takes in several additional interesting sites, and concludes around 5:30 p.m. It seems a long day, but, as Munich streets are flat, it is not particularly tiring or uncomfortable.
The Hitler Munich Walk Itinerary
Chris Hick, one of several guides who conduct the English language version of the tour, says that, while a basic itinerary is set down, each guide has personal favourite places to show visitors, and so individualize the tours with their own specific interests and anecdotes. Chris, for example, offers some historical gossip over lunch in a segment he calls “Hitler and Women”. Each tour is peppered with lively anecdotes that bring history to life.
The Basis of the Third Reich Tour
Munich has the unenviable distinction of being the birthplace of the Nazi movement. The tour details the conditions in Munich, and Germany in general, which made the country ripe for the rise of a radical nationalistic group. Each stopping place on the circuit serves as a milestone in a roughly chronological account of Hitler’s politicization and rise to power.
Highlights of the Third Reich Tour
Below is a sampling of the delights of the tour. It is not an exhaustive list.
- The small square that a youthful Hitler chose as a painting subject. Participants can compare it with a photo of Hitler’s finished painting.
- The upstairs dining hall at the famous Hofbrauhaus where Hitler made his first major speech at a mass meeting.
- Odeonsplatz, the square where police confronted and dispersed the Nazis when they sought to seize power in what has become known as the Beer Hall Putsch. 16 of Hitler’s followers were killed, Hitler wounded and later jailed, and the movement apparently squashed. Chris Hicks clarified that one of ther 16 was actually an innocent bystander who heard the ruckus and stepped out of a shop doorway.
- The Feldherrnhalle wall which became a shrine to these Beerhall putsch ‘martyrs’ when Hitler eventually gained power. Walkers will also see Viscardigasse, which became known as Dodger’s Alley , as it was the route many Munich residents took to avoid walking past the shrine where they were obliged by law to give the Nazi salute to honour the ‘martyrs’.
- Nazi Party offices in Briennerstrasse, plus Hitler’s Munich headquarters and office in the building that is now the Staatliche Hochschule fuer Musik. (State University for Music)
- The small square containing a memorial to the victims of the Nazi regime.
Participants will come away from the tour with a fresh understanding of the sort of man Hitler was, and the combination of manipulative skill and sheer good luck that allowed him to rise from a malnourished would-be artist in Vienna to one of the most powerful dictators the world has known.
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