Stories
Kino Hubertus' ruined villas
Two houses and a cinema clung to life in Waidmanslust, fighting loneliness with earthly possessions before they too went their inevitable way.
Garbáty Zigarettenfabrik
Garbáty's Zigarettenfabrik was brought to its knees by Nazi persecution. East Germany appropriated the cigarette factory till that ended too.
Cité Foch shopping center
Cité Foch’s closing down sale must have been something else. Everything must go! In the end, even the shopping center, cinema and leisure center had to go.
Antique filling station
Berlin is forever itching to be scratched. Scratch beneath the surface and you'll find hidden gems, like this antique gas station from a bygone era.
Demoted diner
It was the world's slowest fast food restaurant. You’d be waiting a whopping great time for your burger at the abandoned Burger King on Prenzlauer Allee.
Anatomy Institute
The Institute of Anatomy endured a choppy past, with sadistic students conducting fevered experiments on people who were no longer in a position to object.
Kaiser’s supermarket
Shelves are cleared, tills and aisles empty. Even the shelves, tills and aisles are gone. There literally isn’t a sausage of the abandoned Kaiser's left.
Böhmisches Brauhaus
The saddest brewery in the world was right here in Berlin. At one stage, the Böhmisches Brauhaus in Friedrichshain just wanted to be put out of its misery.
Karlshorst
The Soviet military had its administration HQ in Karlshorst, near where Generelfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel signed the unconditional surrender of German troops.
Kinderheim Makarenko
Kinderheim Makarenko was the biggest children's home in the DDR, where some 6,000 East Germans grew up without ever knowing where they came from.
Tacheles, the eviction
Tacheles died on Sept. 4th, 2012. The famous former squat and cultural space will become fancy apartments, shops and a hotel. It's a typical Berlin story.
Süd-Bowling
Süd-Bowling in Steglitz used to be one of Berlin’s favorite bowling alleys, with 16 lanes. The old Kegelbahn was bowled over, abandoned, and replaced by apartments.
Volkspolizeikaserne Blankenburg
In the DDR's final days, Volkspolizei and Stasi officers arrested protestors and brought them to this police barracks in Blankenburg to brutally beat them.
Ballhaus Grünau
Lamentably, it's the end of Grünau’s famous dance halls, the Ballhaus Riviera and Gesellschaftshaus Grünau. The last dance is but a distant fading memory.
Neukölln kids' hospital
The Kinderkrankenhaus is krank and no one’s there to provide the cure. No wonder the little souls of the children left behind are desperate for visitors.
Postamtle Landesamt
Locals were terrorized at the Lichtenberg Landesamt till it moved to Friedrichstraße. Now they can keep annoying the Lichtenbergers with less chance of them calling in.