Kaserne
Krampnitz was the Wehrmacht's cavalry school and it was built in the 1930s
during the time when Germany was under the rule of the dictator Adolph
Hitler and his Nazi party. After the fall of Berlin in 1945 the occupying
Russian forces used the site as an army barracks until they pulled out in
the nineties after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
We saw Red Dave's
amazing site report in
Derelict Places and decided
that we had to go take a look for ourselves after our exploration
of Beelitz-Heilstätten.
It was only a short train ride to Potsdam itself from our base in Berlin,
then we jumped on a bus for twenty minutes or so. The bus stop we got off
at was literally right outside the walls of the site, and a convenient
section of the wall is missing just a few yards to one side of the bus
shelter. After walking through the undergrowth for twenty or so meters we
came to a dwarf wall beyond which was the back of the so called "Kasino",
which was actually the Officers' Mess. A convenient open window gave us
easy access.
Clearly security is not
overly high on the agenda at Kaserne Krampnitz - we did see a white van,
presumably security, bimbling about the site, and at one point a large
lorry drove down from the north to the gate at the south end where it
stopped and off loaded some building materials. We almost walked into some
workers who were hidden from view by tress, but we heard them just in time
to double back without being seen. But beyond that we were completely
undisturbed for the duration of our exploration and we found access to all
of the buildings was relatively easy - indeed in the case of two of the
most attractive buildings there is literally nothing to bar entry.
The
site has been used quite recently by the film industry as a location during the making of
both "Enemy At The Gates"
and Quentin Tarrantino's "Inglourious
Basterds", a promo
poster from which is shown
BELOW RIGHT.
There is a hall way at the top of a flight of stairs where there is an outstanding "Adler"
mosaic ceiling, but we were quite unable to find this beautiful, if slightly
sinister swastika carrying eagle on our first visit. Wishing hopefully
that the premise of "better luck next time" would hold true we tried to
find the Adler building again a few weeks later, and with a good pointer
from an urb-ex colleague Donald, we went straight to it! There is some question as to the
Adler's
authenticity as all symbols of the Nazi party were banned in Germany after
the war, and the mystery only deepens if you also consider the fact that
the Russian occupiers were highly unlikely to have left a symbol of their
much despised former enemy completely untouched, beautiful or otherwise.
In the Kasino there were two classic Nazi era swastika carrying eagles
carved into the stone walls by a huge fireplace, but they have been
chipped away leaving only a ghostly outline to show what they once were.
One theory then is that the Adler ceiling mosaic was constructed for one
of the films. This adds up if you consider that the numerous barrack
blocks are classically Soviet in design compared to the theatre and the
Kasino, both of which are clearly Germanic. At first sight it appears that the
Adler building is just another cheerless grey brick built Soviet edifice,
that is until you spot the ornately decorated balcony overlooking the
entrance from the road running from Potsdam past Kaserne Krampnitz. The
interior of the building immediately confirms the origin of the builders
too - it is ornately decorated with extensive sandstone door lintels,
parquet floors and a significant amount of architectural aesthetics - no
stark, cold, cheap and nasty concrete here.
We had a beautiful, hot
day for our October visit with most unseasonably sunny weather.
Unfortunately though the light provoked numerous flares and "orbs" to
appear on many of our pictures - perhaps Derek Pakhora, the (im)famous
Pakistani medium, and full time fraud, was on site that day along with his
host of ghostly friends, creating all those orbs for us *smirks... Please
excuse the occasional picture with orbs, or those where I have tried to
"repair" the particularly offensive orbs in Paintshop. Hopefully the
editing won't detract too much from your enjoyment of the photographs.
We
climbed in through the Kasino window and stood still for an age, totally
amazed by our surroundings. Although the building has been empty for
almost twenty years it is still in a really good condition, and the
quality and style of decoration is quite something to behold. All
the walls are panelled out in wood and the ceilings are ornate. But the
ceiling in one room is simply jaw dropping - you will see what we mean in
the photos shortly! The first floor of this building felt very
strange under foot - I suspect woodworm or dry rot has drastically
weakened the joists leaving them springy and weak - so we didn't do much upstairs, proceeding instead to
the roof space before leaving. A further factor for moving on early was
our concern over the amount of noise we were making - the ground floor is
covered in wooden tiles which look at first glance exactly like marble.
How odd then when you tread on them and they creak deafeningly with every
footstep! The Japanese used to construct special floors which could not be
walked on without making a noise - a sort of burglar alarm Shogun style -
and in the Kasino, the warping of the floor tiles, presumably by damp, has
produced a similar alarm, one which we were most anxious not to "set
off"!!!
After visiting the
Kasino we wandered around looking unsuccessfully for the Adler building
until in the end, thoroughly frustrated, we gave up. Had we been able to
get right round to the front of the building which was the prime suspect
then we would have immediately noticed the ornate balcony and the penny
might have dropped, but on our October visit workmen were down at the
gatehouse end of the site, and as that is only a few yards from the
balcony, clearly we were not going to get any closer to them than we
needed to. Four weeks or so later it was a different matter. Armed this
time with much better information, and with the site apparently empty, we
went straight to the building and soon found a way in through the cellars.
It was only a short time later that we found ourselves standing under the
Adler.
But the mystery of why
this magnificent Nazi era decoration was left untouched when all others
have been erased or destroyed, remains to be solved!
The numerous Soviet built barrack blocks really are the most cheerless concrete
monstrosities imaginable and once you've seen one you have pretty much
seen them all. You will get some idea of just how many of these blocks
there are at Krampnitz from this occupation period photograph -
SHOWN ABOVE LEFT.
The difference now though is that the undergrowth has almost completely swallowed the
buildings up and the consequential impression is of great, grey concrete
toads squatting in dense woodland! The only exception to barrack block
boredom was finding the dining halls and kitchen complex, but beyond that
it was very much a constant case of same old, same old. Up at the north east
corner of the site we wandered across a large parade square, past the
horrendous graffiti tagged saluting post, and in to the theatre. This
building stands out like a sore thumb because of it's Germanic
architecture. The theatre hall itself has a small stage and would probably
have seated 2 or 3 hundred people at most. It clearly doubled as a cinema
too because
at the back of the hall there is a balcony reached from the first floor,
and in the back of the balcony wall there are projection slits. On the
other side of the wall there is a raised platform in a hall way upon which
the projectors were sited to shoot through the holes at a screen which was
dropped over the front of the stage from the proscenium arch. Sadly the
projectors and the screen are long since gone but hopefully you will agree
that it still made for some interesting photographs. We hope too that you
will enjoy the Adler building pictures now that we have finally managed to
take some!
Below
is a selection of the photographs we
took in and around Kaserne Krampnitz...
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If
you wish to view any of the photographs in a
larger size then click the picture of your choice.
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The "Kasino"
- the former Wermacht Army Officers' Mess... |
The front door of the Kasino - classic
Germanic architecture on a grand scale...
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Brilliant, warm
sunshine in mid October, not perhaps what you might expect! |
Once inside the Kasino it's practically
impossible to be stealthy because all the wooden floor tiles have swollen
so much they creak appallingly!
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Magnificent wood
panelling... |
The amazing ceiling
decoration in the kasino... |
Seen from a different perspective...
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I only wish I'd had a wide angle lens
to get it all in...
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The chandelier from the mosaic
ceiling...
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Moving on through more magnificent wood panelled
rooms... |
Quite why this stained glass window is
on the floor we couldn't see... |
Creepy creepy, creaky creaky! |
The room where there had been Nazi eagles
carved in the wall... |
Crudely obliterated with chisels
leaving only the ghost of the adler...
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Moving on, we got quite a surprise
in the next room... |
Soviet murals - doubtless with
a theme of prosperity through hard work if I know anything about the
Russkis! |
Tacky as they are they still have a
certain something... |
Up to the first floor where we found
some rather bouncy floors. We didn't stay up there long!
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The roof space...
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A massive ventilation fan....
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Roof topping over the Kasino! |
Soviet decoration on a barrack block entrance...
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Austerity in action...
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Washing facilities care of the Soviet
Union armies!
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And I thought it was only
Arabs and the French army that went for squatting plates! |
Does this look like a prison cell?
Perhaps this was the Provost Marshal's HQ.
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Is that ceiling an
attempt at minimalist architectural art? It's certainly an
example of crap taste! |
More squatting plates in
slightly more convivial surroundings. Just think, you could have a crap
and a chat at the same time! |
Tile art on a stair well...
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The kitchen entrance... |
Veg prep or storage or the like...
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The kitchens proper...
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The
entrance to the theatre...
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Peeping through the door at the stage...
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I bet they didn't
stage "The Diary Of Anne Frank" here very often... |
The performer's
perspective - looking at the
balcony across the hall from up on the stage... |
Pretty stained glass, now sadly broken. And yet
despite some damage there has not been much vandalism here...
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Beyond the theatre hall another room
leads to a flight of stairs up to the projection booth and the
balcony...
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The route up to the first floor... |
The Land Of Crumbly again!
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Ornate ceilings again - this is a
German building...
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The projection booth...
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Four projectors? |
The best seats in the house - the stage
viewed from the balcony... |
November now and we're back again in search of
an Adler!
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Not a soul in sight, unlike 4 weeks before when
workmen appeared from somewhere up this road and effectively barred our
way...
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The ornate balcony on this
otherwise drab building hints at who built it originally... |
Although most of the gold embellishment is worn
off it is still far more ornate than any of the Soviet decoration seen on
the site...
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Up from the cellars...
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Compare this corridor with the austere Soviet
barrack block corridor in an earlier photograph...
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We are behind the main entrance here...
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Evidence of the building having been used much
more recently...
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A tin of boot polish...
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The huge map on this office wall is of the
USSR...
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Standing on the ornate balcony now... |
A padded door???
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Parquet floors are very much the norm in this
building. Sadly they are almost all blowing with the damp...
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We found
evidence here of a vagrant in occupation!
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Welcome to the Harry Ramp Hilton!!!
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First sight of the main stairway leading to
the Adler landing...
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Worthy of a close up?
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Looking suitably smug 'cos we know where we
are!!!
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As you climb the ornate stairs the Adler
appears...
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It is orientated away from the staircase...
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Looking back down the beauty of the staircase is
apparent...
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Sadly tasteless graf spoils much of the
building...
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The Adler in all it's glory...
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Although there is some discolouration it is still
almost pristine...
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Time to feel suitably chuffed again!
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A close up study from directly beneath the
mosaic... |
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