Lenin can’t have imagined he’d be spending his 150th birthday alone in a parking lot in West Berlin. But that’s where he is, outside Zapf Umzüge removals.
West Berlin’s Lenin
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Submarine bunker Lager Koralle
Lager Koralle was the forest bunker that controlled Germany’s feared U-boat fleet during World War II, central command for its marauding submarines.
Krampnitz
Krampnitz, former military training school for Nazis, then Russians, where Inglourious Basterds was filmed, now abandoned and awaiting exploration.
Flugzeughallen
Brash airplanes used to roar in and out of Fliegerstation Berlin-Friedrichsfelde’s Flugzeughallen in days after the land had been used for testing airships.
Funkhaus Grünau
Look for the ghosts of Soviet DJs and find raccoons. Expect the unexpected and you’ll find it, just not the unexpected you expected at Funkhaus Grünau.
The Berlin Wall’s escape
It was a “small sensation” to find 80 meters of the original Berlin Wall among a bunch of secretive trees that imagined they could keep it hidden forever.
Fürstenberg’s military traces
Years after he first visited, Lenin’s Soviet comrades brought him back to Germany for what they thought was a long haul. He still lingers in Fürstenberg.
Olympic village
The Olympic Games used to be the toast of the world. Berlin’s Olympics in 1936 were the most captivating games of all, albeit for all the wrong reasons.
Heilstätte Grabowsee
Lurking in the shadows of the forest, Heilstätte Grabowsee creaks and groans through the gloom, sighing with echoes of the past as it sinks into decay.
Flugplatz Rangsdorf
Flugplatz Rangsdorf was the airfield from which Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg flew off with a bomb for Hitler as part of the unsuccessful July 20 plot.
Königin-Elisabeth-Hospital
Königin-Elisabeth-Hospital saw better days, days when it used to care. Don’t bother expecting treatment now unless you need a roof falling on your head.
Karlshorst
The Soviet military had its administration HQ in Karlshorst, near where Generelfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel signed the unconditional surrender of German troops.
Fighting City
The British built “Fighting City” so their soldiers could learn the subtle art of urban combat. It wasn’t abandoned for long before the police took over.
Heilstätten Hohenlychen
Horrific experiments on concentration camp prisoners were carried out at Heilstätten Hohenlychen, formerly a complex of sanatoriums, then military hospital.
Flugplatz Sperenberg and Kummersdorf
Sperenberg was considered the ideal site for Berlin’s long overdue shiny new airport until the powers-that-be opted to build it beside Schönefeld instead.