Munich Guided City Tour – 2011 TMMBA International Study Tour
Munich Guided City Tour
After already hearing some great stories by our tour guide Michael, the class was ready to see all the sites he had previously mentioned. We started our tour at the headquarters of the Nazi regime, The Führerbau, and saw the balcony where Hitler used to address the crowd. You can still see the marks in the building from where the swastika used to hang above the balcony. Michael went on to explain that the building is now used as a music school because it was the most neutral thing that they could put in there rather than have the building sit empty. In the past couple of years a memorial path was built inside and outside that shows the path to Dachau, the first concentration camp that was built. This path was built to remember those that were sent to the camp. Another interesting piece of furniture that is housed in this building is the table that Hitler sat at when he signed the Munich pact. I really appreciated the tale that went with this table. The table is sitting at the back of a hallway unused because they don’t know what to do with it. They can’t get rid of it because that would look like they are trying to erase the past but it is not something you can put in a museum because that would be almost like glorifying something that was so horrible, so instead it just sits in this hallway like a piece of trash.
From there we went on to Munich University. Michael told us about this student, Sophie Scholl, a member of the anti-Nazi non-violent student resistance group that used to distribute anti-war leaflets at the university. In February of 1943, Sophie and her brother were found guilty of treason and were sentenced to death. Only a few hours after being sentenced they were both beheaded. As a memorial to these students, they have taken copies of the leaflets and engrained them into the pavement in front of the steps to the university.
After a couple more stops and many more stories, we ended at Marienplatz, the central square in Munich. Many people walked around the Viktualienmarkt, or the outdoor market, to enjoy lunch. We also stopped and enjoyed the Rathaus -Glockenspiel at noon. It has 43 bells and 32 life size figures that move around in a 15 minute show.
