English-speaking guide for Erfurt area

I will be in Erfurt in the fall, but will not be using a guide. A little poking around found this person who is listed as doing tours in English...

https://www.guideadvisor.com/guide/petra-bischoff-private-tour-erfurt-thuringia-germany/

...who is listed on the German National Tourist Guide Association...

https://www.bvgd.org/en/bundesland/thuringia/

...and whose website (in German) indicates that she does tours throughout Thuringia

https://www.bischoff-kultur.de/

I don't know what she does for a driver. Germany's tourism industry is structured where guides generally are not licensed to drive and do not have insurance for passengers if driving. If you can't drive, a driver often has to be hired in addition to the guide.

Hi Dave - thank you for that. Petra is also the guide recommended in the Rick Steves guidebook. Somehow I didn't connect that she also offers services outside of Erfurt itself. I'll get in touch with her!

Thanks also for the heads up about needing a separate driver. I was unaware of that. I had tentatively rented a car in case I decided to just head out beyond Erfurt for a day. Perhaps I'll need the car, even with a guide.

I must also thank you, btw, as I think you may have made the comment in another thread about Oktoberfest in Erfurt - which I had previously been oblivious too because my interest in Erfurt was for other things. I never imagined myself at an Oktoberfest, but now I'm excited that I'll be there for a few days of it!

Hi, CW. Glad to be of help. The purpose of my trip in October is for history (30th anniversary of the BIG Leipzig Monday Demonstration on 9 Oct 1989). I decided to hit Erfurt while in the area and was pretty excited to learn that it had a large Oktoberfest. It will be fun just to wander around the event, watching Germans be Germans while eating a little food and drinking a little drink.

A site I plan to hit in Erfurt that is missing from many guides: the Erinnerungsort Topf & Söhne. It is a museum in the building that housed JA Topf & Sons, the company that built the crematoria ovens for Auschwitz. The museum explores how a company and its engineers knowingly built an item that was part of the mass extermination apparatus. Displays are supposed to be in German and in English.

A general platform to find guides is https://www.getyourguide.com.

Thanks MarkK for taking the time to respond! I had checked GetYourGuide and did not find anyone local to Erfurt for my purpose.

Dave, thank you for that info about Erinnerungsort Topf & Söhne! It sounds like just the sort of place I'd like to visit on this trip, which will also include Terezin and Nazi sights in Nuremberg. I will go read about the museum now. I agree that being in Erfurt during Oktoberfest will be fun. I think I'm glad to be attending in the smaller town of Erfurt!

Along similar lines, I'm reading "IBM and the Holocaust" in which author Edwin Black makes the case "that IBM facilitated the identification and roundup of millions of Jews during the 12 years of the Third Reich." It is chilling.

I have heard about the IBM book but have not read it. I need to add it to my Amazon wish list.

No guide info, but I was just in the Erfurt area in May 2019. Check out Nordhausen (Mittlebau/Dora) where the V1/V2 rockets were built underground and the concentration camp at Buchenwald if that's of interest. Good informational museum there. The town of Weimar just west of Erfurt is interesting.

Wish I had know about the crematorium oven company museum. I knew of the company but didn't know there was a museum. Their ovens can also be seen at Nordhausen and Buchenwald. creepy stuff.

Stevpla, thank you so much for those recommendations! Your ideas fit perfectly with the theme of some of the cities I'm visiting on this trip. I'll research those today.

And I'll be in Erfurt during Oktoberfest, so that should keep things interesting as well!

Thanks to all of you!!

I had a packed travel day yesterday. Rented a car for the day and did a bit of family stuff then visited Buchenwald (where it fittingly poured down rain), drove through Weimar and stopped at Schloss Belvedere. Then enjoyed "watching the Germans be Germans" 😁🍺😁 at Oktoberfest. Even tried to join in on some singing. Not knowing the words didn't really seem problematic 😁😁

Today I went to Topf & Sons. It is overpowering. We ask "why?" The exhibit answers "how?"

Dave, have you already been there?

Allow 90 - 120 minutes if you like reading the exhibits in detail. Very thorough English descriptions.

It's an easy walk from town and the Hbf. The walking directions on the website are excellent. I would suggest one addition. On your return, instead of walking around the park that sits across the road from the Hbf, walk through it. On the upper level in the center, directly uphill from the road into the Hbf, there is a lovely garden and pond with a fountain and benches. It's a great place to relax and reflect on "why?" before diving back into town.

Thank you all again!!

Thanks for the update! I haven't gone to Erfurt yet. I will leave in a little over a week for my trip.