HAUS DER OFFIZIERE [DE]
Exploration #206 Haus Der Offiziere. Haus Der Offiziere, also known as the Forbidden City or Little Moscow, is a big abandoned military complex located in Wünsdorf, a small town not far from Berlin. The town was the headquarters of the Soviet forces in communist East Germany and was the largest military base in Europe. From 1994 it is abandoned.
The history of this place begins in 1910 when a military training camp and the Prussian military railway were built. The complex “Haus Der Offiziere” was built in 1914 as a military sports school. During first world war Wünsdorf became the headquarters of the Reichswehr, the German military. After the war the site was also used as a gymnastic training camp to take advantage of its facilities and during the race to 1936 Olympic games some of the Olympic team trained here.
Everything changed drastically in 1945 when the town was occupied by the Soviet army and the Germans surrendered without fighting. The soviets transformed Wünsdorf into a closed town which become the largest Soviet military camp outside of the Soviet Union. A daily delivery via a direct rail link from Moscow allowed the town to isolate itself from the surrounding areas, having its own shops, bakery, and hospital. In preparation for the construction of the Berlin wall Commander-in-Chief Marshall Ivan Konew organised the Soviet armoured protection for the project from here. The Haus Der Offiziere was certainly the best most elegant of town with leisure facilities such as a theatre and swimming pool and the locals were not allowed on site to enjoy the luxuries the Soviets had. A giant statue of Lenin stands was also erected in front of the central building.
Wünsdorf changed again in 1994 when the Soviets left the area and its population dropped from about 60.000 to 6.000 people. Many former Soviet buildings were left abandoned and are still up for sale.
Haus Der Offiziere was also abandoned but luckily it was preserved and today is guarded, waiting for future development projects. The statue of Lenin is still in its original position and it is one the few statue still surviving outside Russia.
If you like this exploration you can also have a look to others abandoned military sites in Germany: the CCCP pilot school, the abandoned soviet hospital.
