Vladimir Illyich Lenin remains at his post in the "Forbidden City”—or at least back when Wünsdorf was the Red Army’s largest Soviet military camp outside the Soviet Union Once, trains departed daily to the real Moscow from this extraordinary 60,000-acre site silently remembering when hordes of Russian soldiers nested here in anticipation of any dissent from the German population or to quell any Western forces’ incursion Or remembering the voices of times past when the Nazis occupied it before them or when the Prussian military barracked here outside of which the weather-beaten Lenin keeps watch The Soviets did not build the officer’s house (with the exception of the bizarre Space Age nightclub clawing to the back of the house) when the Prussians established a shooting range here it had expanded enormously to become the largest military base in Europe the Army Sports School was established here and remained in use until 1943 While all other nations competing in the 1936 Olympics trained at the Olympic village in Elstal the German team honed their skills at The Officer's House as they were rooming with the Third Panzer Division As of July 2024 the place is fenced and guarded but you can book a guided tour through one of the operators (see photo) This robust fence in front of a historic Georgetown home is likely made from hundreds of recycled Revolutionary War firearms A tribute to the Polish insurgents who fought in the failed attempt to end their city's Nazi occupation This massive stone and steel monument remembers a century-old battle that cost thousands of lives and nearly destroyed the city This impressive mansion in Vinegar Hill has some mysterious details in its architecture Abandoned Soviet base once stocked with short and medium range missiles pointed at western Europe A lost World War II military camp and post-war suburb swallowed by the woods These dilapidated planes are now a canvas for graffiti artists This curious Tudor-era castle was once home to Napoleon's greatest adversary Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Organizer: Museum Europäischer Kulturen (Museum of European Cultures)Dates: 27 June 2014 - 28 June 2015 There is no war without heightened emotions: love of one's country hatred of the enemy and compassion for the victims These wartime emotions will be explored in associative conceptual spaces in which original artifacts from the First and Second World Wars will be juxtaposed with artworks from present-day artists These artifacts and artworks will enter into dialogue with one another and thus into a relationship of tension: In the "Fear" space an armored breastplate from 1915 is encountered alongside a current photography series on sharpshooters by artist Simon Menner The patriotic nailing of the almost 13m-high Hindenburg sculpture in front of Berlin's Victory Column stands next to pacifist counter-positions Postal correspondence between two lovers at the trenches and the "home front" provides a glimpse into the changing emotions and real lives of soldiers The exhibition ends with personal grief juxtaposed with the adoration of heroes new possibilities are opened up for reflection on war They show what role emotions play in war and what kind of decisions an individual can make.Phonographed Sounds - Photographed Moments Sound and image documents from WWI German prison camps Organizer: Museum Europäischer Kulturen (Museum of European Cultures) and the Ethnologisches Museum (Ethnological Museum)Dates: 10 October 2014 - 06 April 2015 The Royal Prussian Phonographic Commission was founded in 1915 with the goal of documenting the language and music of foreign soldiers interned in German prison camps Among the holdings of the Berlin Phonogram Archive in the Ethnologisches Museum the wax cylinder collection "Phonographische Kommission (Phonographic Commission)" with some 1000 cylinders remains the most extensive of the historical collections The sound documents consist exclusively of music recordings Photographs from the holdings of the Museum Europäischer Kulturen from the Wüns-dorf and Zossen prison camps near Berlin complete the sound recording collection These prisoners received special treatment from the Germans who wanted to "re-educate" them to serve in the German ranks the photographs taken by Otto Stiehl for the camp commandant's office were also used for propaganda.  Headquarters to the Nazis and then the Soviets the East German military camp of Wünsdorf was once home to 75,000 Soviet men Now ‘Little Moscow’ has been abandoned – but one man keeps the memories alive Rusty keys jangle as Jürgen Naumann searches for the right one. He has 15 on one bunch, 25 on another. The last caretaker of the Red Army’s former headquarters in Germany he has access to all the buildings in what was once known as the Forbidden City – and remains a restricted area 23 years after the last Russian troops left for good “You get to know the keys over the years,” Naumann says But it still takes a while to locate the right one and the door creaks open to reveal a dimly lit hall with marble tiles Naumann’s footsteps echo across the empty space as he switches on the electricity illuminating two panoramas: one showing Soviet Moscow two huge photos from a world that no longer exists Wünsdorf – located about 25 miles from Berlin – was the high command for Soviet forces in Germany and the biggest Soviet military camp outside the USSR with daily trains going to the Soviet capital Juergen Naumann in the former Soviet theatre at Wünsdorf Photograph: Ciarán FaheyAfter the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 the reunification of Germany and the dissolution of the Soviet Union it was only a matter of time before the Russian soldiers would be called home when the order came for troops and their families to withdraw it still came as a shock to many of its inhabitants who was working at the time as a watchman collecting financial deposits from local businesses the shop boss was sitting in the office crying bitterly ‘What’s wrong?’ She had just received word that she had to go back to Russia the day after the next Soldiers had no idea where they were going Some pooled money and bought buses so their families would have some shelter while helicopter squadrons stripped the insides of their helicopters for the same reason Allied prisoners of war exercising at Wünsdorf in 1915 Photograph: Alamy/Bain News ServiceWhen they departed after the final military parade they left a vast site littered with 98,300 rounds of ammunition Families were in such a hurry they couldn’t take everything The pattern repeated itself throughout East Germany No country outside the USSR had more Soviet troops: an estimated 380,000 soldiers and 180,000 civilians spread across 1,062 urban and rural locations They left behind a legacy of abandoned ruins Grabowsee and elsewhere still await new purpose Most of the buildings in these former quasi-urban camps are off-limits Authorities have bigger fish to fry: a host of East German enterprises went out of business after the wall fell leaving a trail of vacant factory and office buildings across the country’s cities One of two Lenin statues to be found in Wünsdorf The other stands in front of the Soviets’ main headquarters building Photograph: Ciarán FaheyWünsdorf’s military history began long before it became a Soviet garrison town The whole area was militarised after the German Empire was formed in 1871 for Muslim POWs – many of whom were coerced into fighting for Germany Wünsdorf became headquarters for the Wehrmacht The Nazis’ entire second world war campaign was guided from the Zeppelin underground communications bunker at Wünsdorf providing direct contact through telex to the fronts at Stalingrad The Nazis’ buildings were of such strong construction that they proved very difficult to damage – a fact evidently appreciated by the Soviets after the SS had fled After sufficiently damaging the bunker complexes to make them unsuitable for military use according to the Potsdam Agreement The abandoned swimming pool in Wünsdorf Photograph: Ciarán FaheyThey immediately provided a boost to the local economy and relations with the East Germans were good even if locals usually needed special permission to enter what later became known as Die Verbotene Stadt – the Forbidden City “There were also illegal ways in,” says Naumann who remembers how soldiers were bribed by East German consumers to be allowed in to shop at the new miniature city’s stores “There were some things you couldn’t get outside of course you had to be careful to be back out again punctually So if you went in in the morning you had to be out by around 4pm at the latest You’d be held for 24 hours and made to peel potatoes for the troops.” Soviet artwork in Wünsdorf Photograph: Ciarán FaheySoviet soldiers and their families also left the garrison “They could party no problem,” Naumann says When there was ski jumping at New Year’s – the Russian athletes were still good at the time – you had to be careful when you spoke When the Soviets handed the Forbidden City back to the federal government the buildings fell into bureaucratic neglect taking care of an area he estimates to be around 200 hectares His job now is to check for damage caused by heavy rain or unwanted visitors there could be a little more going on at times A stairway in the Haus der Offiziere main building Wünsdorf was a military camp for the German empire Photograph: Ciarán FaheyAfter so many years in their service Naumann has formed a bond with the old buildings He speaks enthusiastically of the architecture dating back to the German empire and the enduring quality of the main building’s wooden roof “I don’t want to say you fall in love with it but I’m the type who has more of a thing for older buildings,” he says and there’s a connection with the architecture.” the abandoned city plays host to video artists wedding photographers or camera buffs with a penchant for abandoned buildings Photographers can make appointments to visit for a small fee “When you get a ‘thank you’ from visitors for looking after the place then you’re also a little bit proud,” Naumann says A monument to a Soviet soldier stands watch through the trees at Wünsdorf. Photograph: Ciarán FaheyHe imagines a small university could provide an ideal use for the buildings, particularly with the old swimming pool beside the main building and the theatre opposite. The government’s regional development company is looking for suitable investors to bring the remaining buildings back to life. In the meantime, Wünsdorf also receives visits from former soldiers or guests retracing their old steps. One woman who had performed as a child in a theatre for the Soviet soldiers came back years later to find the old stage where she danced. Another man told Naumann that he’d worked in the communications bunker for the Nazis, where he had struck up a relationship after exchanging messages with a German woman in Stalingrad at the other end. Read more“They always communicated through telex at night when there was nothing going on He said he tried to find her after the war but he couldn’t find her anymore He sent the last telex to Berlin: that the Russians were there now.” including one former commander who brought her daughter “A few of them told me that a Russian soldier is compelled once in his lifetime to go back to where they once served and fought Many soldiers go back to Afghanistan to visit and see something where they once served,” Naumann recalls a Russian bear of a man – he broke out in tears.” “There were soldiers running around here with sabres once Follow Guardian Cities on Twitter and Facebook to join the discussion, and explore our archive here The violence of the final weeks of World War II on Europe's Eastern Front was matched only by its chaos as the exhausted and outnumbered Germans withered under attacks from well-equipped and highly motivated Soviet troops with Soviet forces quickly enveloping Nazi units that then made shambolic retreats and launched desperate breakout attempts Soviet forces arrived at vacated German positions so quickly that the Russians found opportunities to taunt their reeling enemies The Soviet race to Berlin began on April 15 from positions east of the city staff officers at the German army and armed forces joint headquarters at Zossen were girding themselves for capture after Hitler denied a request for them to relocate away from the Soviet advance But Soviet tanks ran out of gas south of the headquarters and the delay allowed Hitler's staff to reconsider ordering the headquarters to move to Potsdam The officers at Zossen got the order just in time "It was not the mass of papers blowing about inside the low zigzag-painted concrete buildings which surprised [the Soviets] but the resident caretaker's guided tour," according to Beevor took the Soviet troops down among the two headquarters' maze of bunkers "Its chief wonder was the telephone exchange which had linked the two supreme headquarters with Wehrmacht units," Beevor writes The caller was evidently a senior German officer asking what was happening," Beevor writes "'Ivan is here,' the soldier replied in Russian Soviets troops found other ways to taunt the Germans using their own phone lines as Russian armies advanced to the outskirts of Berlin which didn't have proper signaling equipment were increasingly in the dark about troop movements In order to supply Hitler with up-to-date information "They rang civilian apartments around the periphery of the city whose numbers they found in the Berlin directory," Beevor writes they asked if they had seen any sign of advancing troops usually with a string of exuberant swearwords Berliners started calling their city the "Reich's funeral pyre," and Soviet troops were calling them to rub their looming victory in to their nearly vanquished enemy "Red Army soldiers decided to use the telephone network but for amusement rather than information," Beevor writes they would often stop to ring numbers in Berlin at random they would announce their presence in unmistakable Russian tones." The calls "surprised the Berliners immensely," wrote a Soviet political officer the battle for Berlin and the fighting that preceded it left widespread destruction and death This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page KRDO NewsChannel 13 is committed to providing a forum for civil and constructive conversation Please keep your comments respectful and relevant. You can review our Community Guidelines by clicking here If you would like to share a story idea, please submit it here Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Community Guidelines | KRDO Jobs | FCC Applications | KRDO FCC Public File | KRDO FCC Applications | Do Not Sell My Personal Information | Contest Rules There's a military base in eastern Germany that's been abandoned for 25 years.  serving as the Nazis' military command center during World War II But Soviet occupation of the base would end following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union the last troops had left the Forbidden City.  save for occasional tours of the decaying landmark As a photographer with a focus on abandoned buildings and a passion for history, I traveled to Wünsdorf to see the Forbidden City for myself. Here's what the military base looks like today. Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. Writing highlights the observations of Indian soldiers in England including their experiences of Tube travel the cleanliness of butcher's shops and of how the police command huge respect I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice New letters from some of India’s Muslims soldiers who fought in the First World War have been discovered by an academic at Birmingham City University. The personal letters date to 1915 and reveal how Indian soldiers compared their experiences of England to their home nation. Approximately 885,000 Muslims were recruited by the Allies, the majority of whom would have never visited Europe before. One of the soldiers, named as A Ali, talks of his first experience of the London Underground and department stores. “We visited a shop where 2000 men and women were working and everything can be bought. There is no need of asking as the price is written on everything,” Mr Ali wrote. “Then we went in the train that goes under the earth, it was for us a strange and wonderful experience – they call it the underground train.” Mr Ali also reserved special praise for the police and the respect they demand. “If one policeman raises his hand every single person in that direction rich and poor alike, stands still where he is as long as his hand is raised.” Another letter, written by Abdul Said, compared butcher’s shops in Britain to those in India. “Every shop in this country is so arranged that one is delighted to look at them. Whether you buy much or little it is properly wrapped up, and if you tell the shop man to send it to your house you have only to give him your address and he delivers it,” Mr Said wrote in 1915. “The butcher’s shops in Hindustan are very dirty, but here they are so clean and tidy that there is absolutely no smell.” Dr Islam Issa, a lecturer in English Literature, discovered the letters and said they show the personal narrative of the war. “When I decided to look at soldiers’ letters, I expected a very bleak outlook on the war. Of course, sometimes, that’s exactly what I found. But quite often, the letters were about individual experiences and very normal, human things,” said Dr Issa. “These anecdotes certainly helped shape my narrative for the Stories of Sacrifice exhibition. While there’s an important narrative about the war as a whole, the personal and human narrative was probably more striking. “Whatever your ideology or stance, you end up realising that these Muslim soldiers were individual humans and as a result, they were making sacrifices at that individual, human level," he added. Dr Issa has been researching individual stories from the War for an exhibition commissioned by and held at the British Muslim Heritage Centre in Manchester, called Stories of Sacrifice. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. Play Duration: 22 minutes 32 seconds22m Brought to you by In the latter stages of the First World War, two Aboriginal men find themselves in a German prisoner-of-war camp. Described variously as a propaganda exercise or a jihad experiment, the Halbmondlager at Wunsdorf-Zossen near Berlin was a prison camp like no other. A wooden mosque was built for the Muslim inmates of the 'Half-Moon Camp', which included captured soldiers from the colonial armies of Britain, France and Russia. Ngadjon man Douglas Grant and Roland Carter from Raukkan were among the detainees at Wunsdorf-Zossen who fed the insatiable German appetite for anthropology and cataloguing racial difference. Private Roland Carter and Private Douglas Grant photographed by Otto Stiehl at Wunsdorf, circa 1918.(bpk / Museum Europäischer Kulturen, SMB / Otto Stiehl) Published: 26 Apr 2025Sat 26 Apr 2025 at 8:00am Published: 19 Apr 2025Sat 19 Apr 2025 at 8:00am Published: 12 Apr 2025Sat 12 Apr 2025 at 8:00am Download the ABC listen app to hear more of your favourite podcasts Die Linie RE8 ist noch bis zum Fahrplanwechsel Ende 2025 zweigeteilt Im nördlichen Teil verbindet die Linie den Flughafen BER mit Wismar – mit Fahrt durch Hauptstadt über die Berliner Stadtbahn Unterwegs werden dabei unter anderem Nauen Von Berlin aus sind die Ostsee sowie die Landeshauptstadt Mecklenburg-Vorpommerns direkt erreichbar.  Im südlichen Teil fährt die Linie vom Berliner Hbf durch den Nord-Süd-Tunnel nach Elsterwerda und Finsterwalde (Niederlausitz) Unterwegs werden dabei unter anderem die Stationen Blankenfelde (Teltow-Fläming) Die Züge fahren von hier über Doberlug-Kirchhain nach Elsterwerda oder zur Hauptverkehrszeit auch im Wechsel in Richtung Finsterwalde (Niederlausitz) Im nördlichen Teil fährt die Linie zwischen dem Flughafen BER und Wittenberge stündlich Der Abschnitt zwischen Wittenberge und Wismar wird alle zwei Stunden bedient.  Im südlichen Teil fährt die Linie wochentags zu den Hauptverkehrszeiten stündlich zwischen Berlin und Luckau-Uckro Die beiden Äste nach Finsterwalde und Elsterwerda werden dann jeweils zweistündlich angebunden Zu den restlichen Zeiten und am Wochenende gilt der Stundentakt zwischen Berlin und Baruth (Mark) Elsterwerda wird wie gewohnt im Zweistundentakt angebunden die Fahrten nach Finsterwalde (Niederlausitz) verkehren am Wochenende nicht Diese Linie wird ab 02.08.2025 bis 30.04.2026 von der Generalsanierung Hamburger Bahn betroffen sein und es wird hier zu Änderungen kommen – Informationen dazu gibt es auf einer Sonderseite Fahrplan RE8 Nord Fahrplan RE8 Süd Baustellen und Störungen Wie steht diese Linie im Ranking aller Linien dar? 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