Lew McDaniel of West Virginia worked as a linguist at Teufelsberg, Field Station Berlin, from 1968-71. He tells Abandoned Berlin of life at the spy station.
Teufelsberg Tale
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Kino Hubertus’ ruined villas in Waidmannslust
Two houses and a cinema clung to life in Waidmanslust, fighting loneliness with earthly possessions before they too went their inevitable way.
Tempelhof
West Berlin’s lifeline during the Soviet Blockade, Tempelhof Airport has since become the city’s biggest park. Berliners will fight to keep it that way.
Bierpinsel
Perhaps the weirdest of Berlin’s buildings, abandoned or not, is the hideously attractive Bierpinsel in Steglitz. It sticks out like a walrus in a tutu.
Teufelsberg
The abandoned NSA Field Station from the frontline of the Cold War, used to spy on Soviet-controlled East Germany on the other side of the Berlin Wall.
Kladow Casino
The Kladow casino enjoyed its heyday in the 1950s. Now it’s just a shell languishing near the shore of the Havel. But some people are gambling on it opening again one day.
Blub
Blub was a swimming and leisure center with pools, slides and crazy stuff that was very popular before the rats noticed it too. Then it was a blubbering mess.
Siemensbahn
No trains have trundled the Siemensbahn railway line since 1980, not since it was abandoned due to a strike, dwindling passengers and an upstart U-Bahn.
Liesenbrücken
The Liesenbrücken, fine industrial iron bridges built by the Prussian state railway operator, have been abandoned for almost 70 years.
Hygiene Institute
The Hygiene Institute is a brutalist architectural marvel. Its twisted forms allude to the work carried out inside the research facility.
Tegel Airport
Tegel Airport (TXL), was formerly Germany’s fourth busiest airport with more than 24 million passengers in 2019. Abandoned Nov. 8, 2020.
Schöneberg Gasometer
The Schöneberg Gasometer looms 78 meters over the Röte Insel neighborhood, daring intrepid explorers to hike seven levels of steep spindly steps to the top.
Mouse Bunker
The “mouse bunker” animal-testing facility squats beside the Teltow Canal like a monstrous brutalist toad-tank, long blue turrets pointing every direction.
Strandbad Tegel
The abandoned status of Strandbad Tegel looks secure. Campaigners are trying so hard to reopen it that you can be sure it won’t be opening anytime soon.
West Berlin’s Lenin
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.