Uncover Hamburg's Darkest Chapter
Step into a difficult but necessary part of Hamburg's past. This rigorously factual audio walk traces the years of Nazi dictatorship and the 1943 firestorm that devastated the city. You will deeply understand the sensitive history of persecution, deportation, and the dismantling of democracy. Grasp these events exactly where they happened, allowing you to reflect and learn at your own pace.
No human person for guiding tourguide this is self-guided audio tour. You use your own smartphone to navigate and listen. No app download is required just click the access link in your ticket to begin instantly. This route explores the free public sights, so no entrance tickets are needed or included.
What's included
Audio and Writing in different Languages
Audio Guide App
Headphones
What to expect
10m
An elegant arcade of pale stone that was once the most feared address in northern Germany, the headquarters of the Hamburg Gestapo. Today a small memorial site preserves the memory of those interrogated and tortured behind its walls.
10m
Hamburg's grand civic square in front of the ornate City Hall, a public stage the Nazis renamed Adolf-Hitler-Platz and draped in swastika banners for Hitler's balcony speeches. Spared the worst of the 1943 firestorm, it quietly took back its old name, and its democracy, only after the war.
10m
A soaring neo-Gothic spire rising from the shattered shell of a bombed church, kept as a ruin so that Hamburg can never forget the firestorm of 1943.
Trostbrucke
10m
Hamburg's oldest named bridge arches quietly over the Nikolaifleet, stitching together the medieval old and new towns. Beside it once stood the town hall where a free Hanseatic city governed itself for more than five hundred years.
10m
Hamburg's oldest surviving parish church lifts its copper spire 132 meters over the old town, and its bronze lion head door handle has been polished by hands since 1342. In July 1943 the church came through the firestorm nearly unscathed while the streets around it burned.
Hauptkirche St. Jacobi
10m
A medieval pilgrims' church that survived the Great Fire of 1842 only to be gutted by bombs in June 1944, while its famous Arp Schnitger organ escaped because the pipes had been carried to safety in time.
Chilehaus
10m
A soaring wedge of dark clinker brick whose eastern corner rises like the sharp prow of a great ship. Behind its celebrated silhouette lie quieter and harder stories from the years when Hamburg lived under dictatorship.
10m
A magnificent brick office building in Hamburg's Kontorhaus district that hid one of the darkest business addresses of the Nazi era. Behind its beautiful expressionist facade sat the firm that supplied the Zyklon B used to murder millions.
10m
A quiet memorial in HafenCity's Lohsepark marking the site of the former Hannoverscher Bahnhof, from where more than 8,000 Jews, Sinti and Roma were deported between 1940 and 1945. A lowered path called the Fuge traces the old railway tracks toward the remains of Platform 2.
Meeting and pickup
Meeting point
Please note: There is no human person (tourguide) to meet you here. Simply open the link provided in your ticket on your smartphone to start the audio guide and navigation entirely on your own.
End point
Additional information
Service animals allowed
Public transportation options are available nearby
Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Cancellation policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
