Places
Flugplatz Schönwalde
Germany’s Luftwaffe used Flugplatz Schönwalde for the war. The Soviets took over afterward and left their traces after abandoning the airfield in 1992.
Delphi silent film theater
The 1920s Delphi silent film theater was reborn as the Moka Efti club in the Babylon Berlin television series, then it was silent once more.
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.
Spreepark!
The rollercoaster story of East Germany’s only full-time fun park, later called Spreepark, abandoned and left to rot with its dinosaurs in 2001.
Flugplatz Brand
Flugplatz Brand was strategically important for the Soviet Air Force. Thankfully its battalions of flying fighters remained on ice for the duration of the Cold War.
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.
Sporthotel Hohenschönhausen
The Sporthotel und Kongresszentrum des Sportforums Hohenschönhausen is in a sorry state, beyond salvation, thrashed and abused. Not even drugs can help.
Hohenschönhausen refugee homes
Hohenschönhausen’s refugee homes, formerly living quarters for “guest workers” who helped build the DDR, don’t welcome anyone anymore.
Haus der Statistik
Haus der Statistik looms over Berlin’s Alexanderplatz with STOP WARS across its bow in big red letters. The DDR’s former statistics HQ is right to be angry.
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.
Stasi Hotel
East Germany checked out right before the Stasi could check in. Their hotel was never completed. Now it’s just a great hulking ruin between the trees.
Spreepark 2022
Spreepark is but a shell of what it once was. The city’s plans to refurbish the old fun park involve removing anything that might be fun.
Jüterbog
Jüterbog and its military camps played host to soldiers’ charades, men playing with guns, for around 130 years before the last ones left in 1994.
SS Bakery
The SS Bakery only went bust when the Nazis did. They forced prisoners from nearby Sachsenhausen to make bread to keep other concentration camps going.