(2022) As I look back to this post of 10 years ago, a lot has changed in Beelitz and also my experience of the place, during the years, has changed accordingly. At the time I moved to Berlin, a trip to Beelitz was a must, of the people I know from that time, all of us we were there several times. It was an adventure, it was not so far, the buildings were abandoned and you can check them freely; it was also a bit mysterious and occult with a lot of stories about ghosts and rituals.
I have visited the places several times during the years, so for convenience, I decided to devide it in several episodes, as it will not fit in just one page.
Beelitz is not in Berlin, but for everyone here is part of something that belong to Berlin and its atmosphere and its history. It has become famous for the abandonwere and the urban explorations in the ghost cities and now it's half closed and really bad damaged by vandalism.
Beelitz was a sanatorium, built between the end of the 19th century and the 1930, with 60 buildings, divided by the train rails to separate the tuberculosis from the others.
In the First and Second World War Beelitz served as a hospital and sanatorium for sick and wounded soldiers at the front (also Adolf Hitler was here).
After the end of World War II, in which the treatment centers were partly damaged, the site was taken over by the Red Army in 1945. The sanatorium served until 1994 as the largest military hospital for the Soviet Army outside of the Soviet Union. In Dicember 1990 Erich Honecker was cured here before leaving for Chile.
Parts of Roman Polanski's The Pianist and Valkyrie starring Tom Cruise were filmed here.
Beelitz is not in Berlin, but for everyone here is part of something that belong to Berlin and its atmosphere and its history. It has become famous for the abandonwere and the urban explorations in the ghost cities and now it's half closed and really bad damaged by vandalism.
Beelitz was a sanatorium, built between the end of the 19th century and the 1930, with 60 buildings, divided by the train rails to separate the tuberculosis from the others.
In the First and Second World War Beelitz served as a hospital and sanatorium for sick and wounded soldiers at the front (also Adolf Hitler was here).
After the end of World War II, in which the treatment centers were partly damaged, the site was taken over by the Red Army in 1945. The sanatorium served until 1994 as the largest military hospital for the Soviet Army outside of the Soviet Union. In Dicember 1990 Erich Honecker was cured here before leaving for Chile.
Parts of Roman Polanski's The Pianist and Valkyrie starring Tom Cruise were filmed here.
