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.

COSTA DI SOGLIO [IT]

Exploration #142. Costa di Soglio is, or perhaps we could say was, one of the many uninhabited crest villages in the Ligurian valleys. Its history is not known in detail, but the village dates back to the early 18th century, reaching a population of about 130 families at the end of the 19th century and the status of an independent municipality.

The village develops along a main street, very steeply sloping along the ridge, which is bordered on both sides by buildings, some of which have stone arches giving access to small internal courtyards. Many stone slab seats in the walls of the houses, which were probably used to rest during the steep climb or to have a chat after work with a glass of wine. Its inhabitants were mainly farmers, who only owned a small piece of land and a few head of cattle as a source of livelihood. Life up there could not have been easy, windy summer days alternating with cold winters, when walking up the steep slopes could be very dangerous.

Slowly, starting in the 1950s, depopulation began: some families moved to the larger village below closer to the sea in search of work or simply more comfort; others sought their fortune in the Americas.
Many houses are now reduced to piles of stones, while others are surprising that they were left like that the night before, as if the inhabitants had to return home after working in the fields. The silence, the tranquillity and the wonderful view make this exploration very beautiful, it almost feels like going back in time when the village was still inhabited.

A recovery project was launched in July 2019: some of the owners have already expressed their willingness to donate their property to the municipality, others to redevelop it so that this ancient hamlet can be brought back to life.

SKRUNDA-1 [LV]

Exploration #71 Skrunda-1. Skrunda-1 is a special ghost town: during the period of activity it was a closed city and Soviet military base in Latvia. Skrunda-1 housed almost 5000 military, technicians and scientists (with related families) on duty at a radar station called in NATO slang “Hen House” (name deriving from the fact that it resembled a large chicken coop). It was one of the six radars built at the beginning of the Cold War in the peripheral areas of the then Soviet Union, capable of monitoring possible ballistic missile launches to Russia. The city was built in 1963 and had around 75 buildings spread over an area of more than 100 acres. The city was self-sufficient and inside there were schools, residences, a small hotel, a prison, places for leisure and bunkers.

The Russians left Latvia in 1994 but Skrunda-1 remained operational for a few more years. The city was finally emptied of all its valuable material and then abandoned by the Russians in 1998. The Latvians demolished the radar towers on the occasion of the exit of the Soviets, but the rest of the city was left abandoned in the middle of the forest.

In my urbex adventures I explored several ghost towns, but Skrunda-1 was a different experience. First of all, the vastness: we are not talking about a village but a real town with main roads and secondary avenues. Then the buildings: multi-storey apartment buildings, all the same in classic Soviet style that follow one after the other. Walking in these avenues was like experiencing the post-apocalyptic film scene. Inside, everything was devastated, but some small memories of the inhabitants remain, the ones that most impressed me, some small posters of some Russian teenagers who spent their childhood in Skrunda-1.

This exploration dates back to 2014. From 2016 it became an almost official tourist attraction and local authorities asked for an entrance ticket. Since 2018, however, the city has been under army control and is used for training and therefore unfortunately it can no longer be visited.