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...

 

 

If you wish to view any of the photographs in a

larger size then click the picture of your choice.

 

 

 

The "Kasino" - the former Wermacht Army Officers' Mess...

The front door of the Kasino - classic Germanic architecture on a grand scale...

 

 

 

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!

 

 

 

Magnificent wood panelling...

 

 

The amazing ceiling decoration in the kasino...

Seen from a different perspective...

 

I only wish I'd had a wide angle lens to get it all in...

 

The chandelier from the mosaic ceiling...

 

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...

 

 

 

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!

 

The roof space...

 

A massive ventilation fan....

 

 

 

Roof topping over the Kasino!

Soviet decoration on a barrack block entrance...

 

Austerity in action...

 

Washing facilities care of the Soviet Union armies!

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

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...

 

 

The kitchen entrance...

Veg prep or storage or the like...

 

The kitchens proper...

 

The entrance to the theatre...

 

Peeping through the door at the stage...

 

 

 

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...

 

Beyond the theatre hall another room leads to a flight of stairs up to the projection booth and the balcony...

 

 

 

The route up to the first floor...

The Land Of Crumbly again!

 

Ornate ceilings again - this is a German building...

 

The projection booth...

 

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!

 

Not a soul in sight, unlike 4 weeks before when workmen appeared from somewhere up this road and effectively barred our way...

 

 

 

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...

 

Up from the cellars...

 

Compare this corridor with the austere Soviet barrack block corridor in an earlier photograph...

 

We are behind the main entrance here...

 

Evidence of the building having been used much more recently...

 

A tin of boot polish...

 

The huge map on this office wall is of the USSR...

 

 

 

Standing on the ornate balcony now...

A padded door???

 

Parquet floors are very much the norm in this building. Sadly they are almost all blowing with the damp...

 

We found evidence here of a vagrant in occupation!

 

Welcome to the Harry Ramp Hilton!!!

 

 

 

 

First sight of the main stairway leading to the Adler landing...

 

Worthy of a close up?

 

Looking suitably smug 'cos we know where we are!!!

 

As you climb the ornate stairs the Adler appears...

 

It is orientated away from the staircase...

 

Looking back down the beauty of the staircase is apparent...

 

Sadly tasteless graf spoils much of the building...

 

The Adler in all it's glory...

 

Although there is some discolouration it is still almost pristine...

 

Time to feel suitably chuffed again!

 

A close up study from directly beneath the mosaic...

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