I decided to spend my last vacation days at the end of August of 2013 going to places I always thought about going to but never managed to go. The most interesting of all those places was visiting Krampnitz.
Since I moved to Berlin, my desire to explore strange and abandoned places grew, and I thought an old Soviet barracks would be a better place to explore. Inspired by some posts I’ve seen, I had to quit planning and just go.
I spent two days there, taking hundreds of photos and seeing everything we expected to see. I will tell you it all, but first, let me tell you some things about the place.
Krampnitz: Echoes of a Lost City
Krampnitz was built between 1937 and 1939 as a military training center for the German army’s cavalry and motorized troops. The place’s name changed a few times during the Second World War, and in April 1945, the Soviets took over.
They left Krampnitz only in 1994 when they left Germany.
When you walk around Krampnitz, you can see some buildings that were built at that stage, but as they do not have anything special, I don’t think you should waste your time exploring them. After the Russians left Krampnitz, the site was abandoned—left to rot and all those things. The Brandenburg government considered making a tourist center at the site focusing on football, but nothing happened.
And I know that a group of Danish investment banks purchased much of the site, but nothing was done there. It may be that in a few years, all you will see is this post becoming a big amusement park, a resort, or a few apartments and high-end luxury homes. But when I went there, there was nothing like that.
Imagine that we have a decaying old military base right next to one of the largest European cities. What would you do with this site? It seems that the production of apocalyptic films and Second World War movies was a viable solution. That is why films like Enemy At The Gates and Inglorious Basterds were filmed on-site.
Krampnitz is easy to reach, and a bus that leaves from the train station in Potsdam left me and my wife right outside the place. The gates were padlocked, as we expected, but it was easy to find a hole in the wall.
As I imagined, Krampnitz should not be one of the safest places in the world, as I read some online posts warning about the presence of neo-Nazis, junkies, and van security patrolling the site from time to time, and that made me go there is a state of excessive alert. Over time, I just relaxed and enjoyed the exploration.
Our visit to Krampnitz in 2013
On the first day, our tour was not the best. The casino, one of the most photographed and famous buildings in Krampnitz, was well sealed, with wood on almost all doors and windows. We ended up exploring other buildings and going into many barracks.
Something I do not advise anyone since the place is huge and full of mosquitoes and other insects. Most of the buildings were used as military residences. Hence, they are all very similar and offer the same mix of decomposed floors, peeling walls, moldy old newspapers used as liners, broken glass, and other objects on the floor.
On the first day, we discovered where the theater/cinema is, found tanks in garages, saw the training facilities, and saw the gym with its sports court decaying. We wondered what to do the next day.
If you read anything online about Krampnitz, know that there exists a mosaic with a Nazi eagle. According to local legend, it was preserved by the Russians and still is there. Our goal has always been to find this mosaic, but after walking on the first day, we decided to go home and think about where this mosaic could be and how we would see him.
Our second day was much better. I took with me some tools to help remove pieces of wood that kept out the casino and other buildings, and thus, everything was much easier. Entering the casino is easy when you can remove screws and nails and jump out the window.
But the building is large, has a few floors, and several sealed doors that lead nowhere. I believed that the mosaic would be in this building but ended up finding nothing there. At least I can say I visited one of the places where they filmed Inglorious Basterds.
The old theater/cinema was one of the best explored, but as I did not take a good flashlight, I just failed to get underground and see what was there. It was there I got to see some Soviet murals and found a book on Stalinist Russia lost amidst some rubble, and it amused me to think that I was a modern and mediocre sort of Indiana Jones.
After a few hours of exploration, we started getting tired. We were almost giving up on the mosaic when I insisted on exploring one of the first buildings we saw, which proved to be one of the biggest. We entered Krampnitz.
I used my tools to open the door that was sealed with large pieces of wood, and it was there that we found one of the most well-maintained buildings. Well-maintained is not the right term here, but this building seems one of the least spoiled. And it was there that we found that Nazi mosaic we were looking for.
But it seems that we arrived too late and that swastika, the legends say, that survived the Soviet years, was covered with plaster for a person who cares about other ancient symbols and decided to vandalize the place. I don’t like to see things that survived for so long being destroyed, but I can not do much. We arrived too late and missed a view that seemed to have been quite glorious.
I’m unsure if this mosaic is unique since so many war movies were filmed at the site and could easily have been done for these films. But when you look at all the details, you can see that whoever did this knew what he was doing.
In a way, it is possible to believe that this Nazi mosaic survived World War II and the Soviet power after that. I think that the Soviets kept it intact as a souvenir of war, and this makes sense in my head.
So, enjoy the photos here. Visit the site before it becomes a distant memory, and do not destroy what you see there.
Read this before going to Krampnitz
If you want to visit the site, you can read below some of the things that I learned in those two days of exploration:
- Remember that the area is private property, and you may have problems with this case if viewed by security guards patrolling the site.
- Don’t go there wearing shorts. Sturdy and comfortable shoes would be great since the place is large and full of debris.
- Bring a powerful flashlight to explore the basement of some buildings.
- Water and anything you want to eat can be useful to bring since the place is pretty big, and you will be there for quite a while.
- Be careful where you walk and watch where you step since i have seen several leftovers needles from junkies.
- I saw some neo-Nazi graffiti at the site, and perhaps you can see some of them there when you visit Krampnitz. Pay attention.
- Watch out where you step. Some places are poorly kept, and the wood seems to fall apart.
- Do not be one of the idiots who visit the site, break everything, and steal the few things that still exist.
Ghosts of Krampnitz: A Journey Through Time
Krampnitzsee – Potsdam
There are lots of pictures here: Krampnitz – a set on Flickr
