DOZENS of year 11 students at Woodbridge High school took a trip back in time when they visited Berlin as part of their history studies.

The 35 students and staff at the Woodford Green school’s history department went to the German capital as part of their GCSE course on the Nazis and the Cold War.

The trip included visits to landmarks such as Treptow Memorial Park, the remains of the Berlin Wall, the Allied Airlift Museum and the site of the infamous crossing point between east and west Berlin popularly known as ‘checkpoint charlie’.

Students also visited Stasi Prison in east Berlin, which housed thousands of political prisoners during the Cold War.

Staff at the school, which is on St Barnabas Road, said the youngsters were particularly moved by a visit to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp on the outskirts of the city.

The camp was one of the first Nazi camps to be built.

An estimated 200,000 people were imprisoned there between its construction in 1936 and its liberation in 1945, and many were killed or died as a result of the horrific conditions.

Talvinder Bhullar, head of history at the school, said: “The students were moved by the personal stories and sheer scale of death at the concentration camp.

“I think it is of huge benefit that students are able to see the history that they study and this trip certainly allowed them to reflect on the impact left by the Nazi regime.”