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In January of 2023 I traveled alone to Berlin and Brandenberg to photograph abandoned sites from the Cold War and former East Germany. I’m drawn to the dark and painful past of former East Germany, and the impermanence of the once terrifyingly powerful forces in control, now overtaken by nature and time as it swallows them back up.
In January of 2023 I traveled alone to Berlin and Brandenberg to photograph abandoned sites from the Cold War and former East Germany. I’m drawn to the dark and painful past of former East Germany, and the impermanence of the once terrifyingly powerful forces in control, now overtaken by nature and time as it swallows them back up.
Berlin New Years
Teufelsberg Spy Station
Teufelsberg, or “Devil’s Mountain”. An abandoned US spy station built atop the rubble of an old Nazi military training school. Teufelsberg was used by the West for listening in on Soviet/East German communication during the Cold War. Its white canvas is slowly disintegrating into the wind, carrying deep, dark secrets with it.
Fürstenberg/Havel - Haus der Offiziere
A statue of Lenin stands guard outside Haus der Offiziere. Fürstenberg was one of many Soviet satellites in former East Germany during the Cold War.
Russian newspapers line the peeling walls inside Haus Der Offiziere. The visible fragments sing praises to the once powerful Soviet Union. One was dated September 26th, 1986. It’s only been around 30 years since Soviet forces occupied Germany. Everything, everything is temporary.
The mansion was abandoned in the early 90’s during the collapse of the GDR, and has since been left untouched, to be slowly dismantled by trespassers and consumed by vines and earth.
Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp
Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. I’ve never felt such darkness from a place. Sachsenhausen was a Nazi Concentration Camp from 1936 - 1945, and a Soviet POW camp from 1945 - 1950. An estimated 50,000 people died here during it’s operation. In the bleak, dark, dead of winter, in an indescribable way, death is palpable here. It is by far the most disturbing place I’ve ever been.
Wünsdorf
Wünsdorf, The Forbidden City. Wünsdorf was the former headquarters of the Soviet forces in East Germany. It was the largest Russian satellite outside of the USSR during the Cold War. I spent three full days shooting die verbotene Stadt and didn’t capture even half of the ruins here. I’ll be back.
Maybach and Zeppelin Bunkers
Maybach I. 12 inconspicuous above ground buildings were built by the Nazis to house the High Command of the Army during WWII. Underneath these buildings lies a vast network of bunkers. Maybach I and II were mostly obliterated by the Russians who came to occupy the territory during the Cold War.
Zeppelin Bunker. In the Forbidden City of Wünsdorf. Zeppelin was built by the Deutsche Reichspost in the 1930s as a signal intelligence center, and used by the Soviet Forces after WWII.
