276/365: Kaserne Elstal

276/365: Kaserne Elstal, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

October 3rd

Part two of my ghostly weekend trip to Berlin. Just outside the city, in the odd town of Elstal, there is a semi-abandoned Olympic Village, but this is not it. This is a building in an abandoned Russian Army complex, also in Elstal. The Soviets were stationed there, once. And that's really all I know.

275/365: Ghosts in Beelitz

275/365: Ghosts in Beelitz, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

October 2nd

I have a friend in Berlin who has a predicament; she is very fond of abandoned places, and yet can find no one among her circle of acquaintances with the same appreciation for them. Fortunately, Berlin and Łódź are only a train ride away, and what are weekends for?

She took me to Beelitz, a foresty place, with a sprawling sanatorium among the trees. Beelitz Heilstätten was a tuberculosis hospital built in 1898. During WWI it was converted into a general military hospital, then later in 1945 the Soviets took over it and held it well after the Reunification.

Parts of the hospital are still in use.

But when the Soviets withdrew, most of the sixty buildings that make up the complex were abandoned and are still empty today.

Incidentally, it was Reunification Day on the day we visited Beelitz.

I want to go back again. We did not have the pluck to break into the larger buildings, the operating theatre in particular, and there are photos to be taken there.

123/365: A failed relationship

123/365: A failed relationship, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

May 3rd

They tried, but it just didn't work.

122/365: I wanna dance with somebody

122/365: I wanna dance with somebody, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

May 2nd

There is a place in Berlin called the Mauerpark, a bit of green on what used to be the Death Strip just by the infamous Wall. There is a flea market there today, and music, and song, and waffles and beer. There are performers, picnics, swings, a stadium, and just by what is left of the Wall, a little stone amphitheatre which is host, every Sunday, to the Bear Pit Karaoke.

As my German friend linlen aptly put it, spending an afternoon in the park was like walking into a perfect Nokia commercial. An impromptu gathering of people of all races, ages and backgrounds dancing and singing together, with a crowd of hundreds to cheer them on no matter the quality of their performance. Magical.

121/365: The Radomes

121/365: The Radomes, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

May 1st

And we're in Berlin! Courtesy of wonderful people who work with me I got to see the abandoned NSA listening station on top of the Teufelsberg. This impressive elevation (called the Devil's Hill) is nothing but a mound of 12 million cubic meters of WW2 rubble piled on the carcass of an abandoned Nazi military college, overgrown with forest, and the cherry on the top is the spy station which the Americans used to eavesdrop on the Russians East of the Wall. It has been abandoned since the end of the Cold War and has suffered much decay.

You're not supposed to go there, but the three fence perimeter can't really stop the curious, and the payback in adrenaline is immense. You just need to be very careful not to injure yourself on any of the damaged construction, slide off a ladder, get lost in the creepy basement or fall into the open elevator shaft at the top of the main radome tower. Keeping all that in mind it is well worth the climb as the echo in the main dome is so strong, even your own breath is reiterated.

An unbelievable place.

More photos in the Flickr Set.