Exploring the Rotten Side of Germany

After the end of World War II, a site near a small village in the forests of Brandenburg became important within the Western forces of the Soviet Union.

From 1952, a barracks town was constructed within the woods, that eventually was capable of housing 15.000 people, including military personnel and their families. The garrison was a newly built - planned, constructed and paid for by the East German government. It was self-contained and off-limits to non-essential personnel, and it contained shops, offices, a theater, a gym, schools and medical facilities. During the Cold War, it was the third largest Soviet base inside East Germany...(more)

This abandoned underground command post was part of the East German anti-aicraft defense strategy during the Cold War. In the early 1960s, an anti-aircraft regiment was founded that was tasked with the protection of the East German airspace in the Northern region, including the naval bases and the larger cities of the area from airstrikes and border violation.

Towards the middle of the 1960s, this bunker was put into operation as the command post for the newly founded anti-aircraft regiment.

The bunker has an effective area of more than 200 square meters and was initially staffed with 30 personnel. At the time...(more)

Only a few meters down the road from the first location, we found our second abandoned farmhouse of the day. As we arrived, the rain really started getting heavy, so we parked the cars by the road near the driveway and hurried towards the old farm. The first building we reached was the barn. The door was open, and it was dry in there, so in we went.

We started taking photos of the barn, and after that, we waited for the rain to stop. Since it was our first tour together with Dan from Urbex Inn, we had a bunch of stuff to talk about, stories to tell and plan the remiander of the tour, so the time....(more)