Heeresbekleidungsamt
Nazi Army Clothing Agency/Soviet Military Camp
I wasn’t really banking on doing any exploring in Berlin but my fascination with the Chernobyl disaster has evolved into something of a fascination for all things Cold War. Euro exploring seems to get a something of a bad rep, relatively speaking, but if you like nosing round abandoned places you don’t lose that feeling just because you’re on European soil. So when I realised there was a huge Soviet military camp buried in the woods of Bernau I had a feeling it would be right up my Straße…
Its history is even more intriguing in that its roots are planted firmly in Nazi Germany, offering the opportunity to see what was left – if anything - of two failed twentieth century regimes in one fell swoop.
It’s 1938 and the German army was striding out under the misguided optimism of the Third Reich. They wanted to look smart, and looking smart and disciplined can cover a multitude of sins: you don’t have to look much further than the over-promoted management figures of today to see that and wonder how they get away with it unquestioned... Neville Chamberlain was convinced, returning from his meeting with Hitler waving the famous ‘piece of paper’ and proclaiming “peace for our time”. Of course, his piece of paper wasn’t worth, well, the paper it was written on, and within a year the world was at war.
I digress – there’s not a lot of history on the Heeresbekleidungsamt for me to write about other than the fact that this huge set of interconnecting buildings was built in 1938 in the forests of Bernau and served to make, clean and repair Nazi uniforms. There were two complexes, this one serving as the administration site for the operation and a separate one on the other side of town to do the work – and over 1300 people worked here at the time.
Aside from the buildings there’s little to show for the Nazi era. In 1945 after just twelve years the Third Reich was finally broken by the Allies and Germany emasculated and segmented. Then the Soviets rolled into town…
If history was lacking on the Nazi era at the site, information on its use by the Red Army is at best patchy and at worst downright contradictory, but the gist of it is that they took over the sites and used them as military camps. It went through various incarnations in the half century that followed, the end of which saw Germany reunified and set to emerge as the major world power it is today. The Soviets left, and like many other buildings in the former states of the CCCP, it lies abandoned and almost forgotten as the world moves on around it.
The site is enormous – something you only get a glimpse of as you walk nonchalantly through the car park of the local Lidl and head in. Four hours of welcome respite from the European heatwave later and I think I’d seen most of it…
The Soviets liked plastering their newspapers to the walls - something heavily evident in every room of the smaller buildings on the edge of the site. There were also huge maps of Europe in many of the offices.
Although largely stripped there were bits and pieces left over from the day the Red Army marched out of town for the last time…
Hacking through the trees revealed a huge set of interconnected buildings, the Red Star still clinging on from the top of the main entrance. Closer inspection revealed it to be made of cheap wood, not made to last…
The raised walkways that connected the buildings were in a pretty precarious state as well, with bricked-up windows falling onto the ground below…
Inside there were more Red Army relics and peeling CCCP murals. Sadly I haven’t been able to get any translations done this time. If you can shed any light, feel free to comment…
The roof spaces seemed to be set up with basketball courts…
… while the main tower contained the water tanks at the top. As well as a curious piece of street art that seems to resemble the current Russian premier…
It wasn’t the only art that had been painted in the years of abandonment – for a while each room seemed to offer up a new gallery:
Showers:
Strong room:
Soviet infographics. Looks like something education related:
Again, I’m not sure what this is but I’d be interested to hear from anyone that knows…
Parting shot:
Something a bit different anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.
Thanks for looking
Nazi Army Clothing Agency/Soviet Military Camp
I wasn’t really banking on doing any exploring in Berlin but my fascination with the Chernobyl disaster has evolved into something of a fascination for all things Cold War. Euro exploring seems to get a something of a bad rep, relatively speaking, but if you like nosing round abandoned places you don’t lose that feeling just because you’re on European soil. So when I realised there was a huge Soviet military camp buried in the woods of Bernau I had a feeling it would be right up my Straße…
Its history is even more intriguing in that its roots are planted firmly in Nazi Germany, offering the opportunity to see what was left – if anything - of two failed twentieth century regimes in one fell swoop.
It’s 1938 and the German army was striding out under the misguided optimism of the Third Reich. They wanted to look smart, and looking smart and disciplined can cover a multitude of sins: you don’t have to look much further than the over-promoted management figures of today to see that and wonder how they get away with it unquestioned... Neville Chamberlain was convinced, returning from his meeting with Hitler waving the famous ‘piece of paper’ and proclaiming “peace for our time”. Of course, his piece of paper wasn’t worth, well, the paper it was written on, and within a year the world was at war.
I digress – there’s not a lot of history on the Heeresbekleidungsamt for me to write about other than the fact that this huge set of interconnecting buildings was built in 1938 in the forests of Bernau and served to make, clean and repair Nazi uniforms. There were two complexes, this one serving as the administration site for the operation and a separate one on the other side of town to do the work – and over 1300 people worked here at the time.
Aside from the buildings there’s little to show for the Nazi era. In 1945 after just twelve years the Third Reich was finally broken by the Allies and Germany emasculated and segmented. Then the Soviets rolled into town…
If history was lacking on the Nazi era at the site, information on its use by the Red Army is at best patchy and at worst downright contradictory, but the gist of it is that they took over the sites and used them as military camps. It went through various incarnations in the half century that followed, the end of which saw Germany reunified and set to emerge as the major world power it is today. The Soviets left, and like many other buildings in the former states of the CCCP, it lies abandoned and almost forgotten as the world moves on around it.
The site is enormous – something you only get a glimpse of as you walk nonchalantly through the car park of the local Lidl and head in. Four hours of welcome respite from the European heatwave later and I think I’d seen most of it…
The Soviets liked plastering their newspapers to the walls - something heavily evident in every room of the smaller buildings on the edge of the site. There were also huge maps of Europe in many of the offices.
Although largely stripped there were bits and pieces left over from the day the Red Army marched out of town for the last time…
Hacking through the trees revealed a huge set of interconnected buildings, the Red Star still clinging on from the top of the main entrance. Closer inspection revealed it to be made of cheap wood, not made to last…
The raised walkways that connected the buildings were in a pretty precarious state as well, with bricked-up windows falling onto the ground below…
Inside there were more Red Army relics and peeling CCCP murals. Sadly I haven’t been able to get any translations done this time. If you can shed any light, feel free to comment…
The roof spaces seemed to be set up with basketball courts…
… while the main tower contained the water tanks at the top. As well as a curious piece of street art that seems to resemble the current Russian premier…
It wasn’t the only art that had been painted in the years of abandonment – for a while each room seemed to offer up a new gallery:
Showers:
Strong room:
Soviet infographics. Looks like something education related:
Again, I’m not sure what this is but I’d be interested to hear from anyone that knows…
Parting shot:
Something a bit different anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.
Thanks for looking
