Haus Der Offiziere The forbidden City Of Wünsdorf:

Haus Der Offiziere in Wünsdorf also known as the Forbidden City or Little Moscow is a vast abandoned military complex an hour away from Berlin.

The late 19th century military strength grew in the area this was aided by the construction of the Prussian military railway. By 1910 barracks and training facilities were appearing throughout the forest. By WWi Wünsdorf became the headquarters of the Reichswehr (the German military).

To make the most of the facilities including an Olympic sized outdoor pool the site was also used as a gymnastic training camp after the war. During the run up to the 1936 Olympics some of the Olympic team trained here.

1945 everything changed at Wünsdorf. First the site was hit by bombs from the USAF mainly homes were hit with a death toll of over 100 people. Just over a month later the invasion of the Soviet army commenced. There wasn't really a fight, the Germans surrendered and handed over the site. The soviets made Wünsdorf the base of operations for the battle of Berlin. Little Moscow went on to become the largest Soviet military camp outside of the Soviet Union.

After WWii the soviets didn't leave they built the Forbidden City and Haus Der Offiziere was born. The locals were not allowed on site to enjoy the luxuries the Soviets had, though some sneaked in to purchase products at a much lower rate. The punishments may not be as harsh as you think for being caught trespassing I believe it was mainly chores such as cooking and cleaning.

The soviets lived in luxury a large amount of theatres and leisure facilities, including a casino and a daily train running to and from Moscow. At its peak there was in excess of 50,000 inhabitants in the Forbidden City.

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.

In 1994 the Soviets left the Forbidden City. Leaving facilities for over 50’000 people to around 3000. The inevitable happened and even with planning projects for the last two years lots of sites were left abandoned. They also left a lot behind. During the clean up operation nearly 30 tonnes of ammunition and 45,000 cubic meters of waste were removed. The Soviets did take one thing home with them. The Assault On Berlin diorama. This was housed in the round central building which they built themselves just for this purpose. It was well known throughout the Soviet Union and is now on display at a museum in Zhukov near Moscow.

I never realised how much to the site there actually was. Had I known I would of persuaded the group to go take a look at the proper abandoned sites here. Hopefully I will return one day to see and document more of this site. The parts I visited are well kept and locked up the only way to see them is by an organised tour.

So it turns out his site is too much for one article so I have broken it down into separate articles for each building. Hopefully I can add to this in the future.

Remember to follow me on the social media below and add your email to the box for notifications of future posts in here.