What is now the village of Keszyca Lesna started life as a German barracks complex for the use the Wehrmacht with construction starting in 1929 with the grand opening in 1936 attended by Adolf Hitler.
Over the course of the WW2 the barracks was home to an array of different regiments including the Free Indian Army and the Belgian Walloon Legion, using the surrounding woodland for training.
Once the war had ended a garrison of the Polish army was stationed here until 1956 when and agreement was made between the Polish Peoples Republic and the USSR to hand the base over for the use of the Soviets.
The Soviet forces stationed here consisted of a communications unit of the Northern Group of Soviet Forces. The Russians organized a comprehensive garrison, opening a primary school, shops, an officers' club and cinema, a community center, laundries, baths, and apartments for the officer cadre. Basic medical care was provided by the garrison infirmary.
In 1993 the Russian's left the garrison and it began to be re-settled by local civilians, the Barracks buildings where converted to houses and apartments and the barracks was renamed as the village of Keszyca Lesna.
The village is a strange mix of inhabited apartment blocks and houses surrounded by the shells of barracks buildings that haven't been re-used. The most interesting of these is the Garrison Cinema and officers club which while stripped is quite intact and has some nice features.
Exploring this place was strange, there's only 600 or so residents in a complex designed for thousands of soldiers so it has a ghost town kind of feel. When we first arrived in the village the first thing we noticed was this statue of a soviet communications soldier reaching for a reel of cable. When the Russians left Poland many of these statues where destroyed but the residents here decided to keep this one and it's maintained by the local fire station.
The cinema/officers club.
The Foyer.
The auditorium and projector room.
The officers club.
Thanks for looking.
Over the course of the WW2 the barracks was home to an array of different regiments including the Free Indian Army and the Belgian Walloon Legion, using the surrounding woodland for training.
Once the war had ended a garrison of the Polish army was stationed here until 1956 when and agreement was made between the Polish Peoples Republic and the USSR to hand the base over for the use of the Soviets.
The Soviet forces stationed here consisted of a communications unit of the Northern Group of Soviet Forces. The Russians organized a comprehensive garrison, opening a primary school, shops, an officers' club and cinema, a community center, laundries, baths, and apartments for the officer cadre. Basic medical care was provided by the garrison infirmary.
In 1993 the Russian's left the garrison and it began to be re-settled by local civilians, the Barracks buildings where converted to houses and apartments and the barracks was renamed as the village of Keszyca Lesna.
The village is a strange mix of inhabited apartment blocks and houses surrounded by the shells of barracks buildings that haven't been re-used. The most interesting of these is the Garrison Cinema and officers club which while stripped is quite intact and has some nice features.
Exploring this place was strange, there's only 600 or so residents in a complex designed for thousands of soldiers so it has a ghost town kind of feel. When we first arrived in the village the first thing we noticed was this statue of a soviet communications soldier reaching for a reel of cable. When the Russians left Poland many of these statues where destroyed but the residents here decided to keep this one and it's maintained by the local fire station.
The cinema/officers club.
The Foyer.
The auditorium and projector room.
The officers club.
Thanks for looking.
