Stories
Banana Bunker
A former air-raid shelter built by forced laborers became the Banana Bunker during DDR days. Now it’s an exclusive art gallery – still monkey business.
Zambia Embassy
Berlin’s “lion on the loose” has holed up at the abandoned Zambian embassy. She’s seeking asylum from the CDU. AB got an exclusive interview.
Blackland Rock & Metal Bar
The appropriately named Blackland Rock & Metal Bar has joined Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Lemmy in the otherworld after going up in flames.
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.
Iraqi embassy
They must have just left the Iraqi Embassy to the DDR with no notice. “We’re leaving. Pack your bags and get out!” The party at Saddam's house was over.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.