Stories
Teufelsberg Tale
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.
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.
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.
Hohenschönhausen refugee homes
Hohenschönhausen's refugee homes, formerly living quarters for "guest workers" who helped build the DDR, don't welcome anyone anymore.
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.
Flugplatz Oranienburg
Flugplatz Oranienburg served in the summer of 1944 as a test center for the legendary Horten Ho IX, the world’s first “stealth” bomber.
Güterbahnhof Pankow
Former railroad yard in Pankow with two train turntables that used to handle up to 1,800 freight cars a day. Now it handles none. But that's progress.
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.
Zombie hospital
There’s a zombie hospital in Weißensee. It used to be for kids but they were all eaten, their brains gorged upon by the zombies that took their place.
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.
Die Wiesenburg
Time overlooked the Wiesenburg while Berlin’s ruins were cleared or rebuilt after the war. The former homeless shelter in Wedding was left fend for itself.
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.