GES116 - Krampnitz, Germany
Having survived the rigours of the more extreme exploring in Paris, I had boarded a train to Berlin. And from there a car to visit various sites around Berlin, these would be more gentle and relaxing explores than Paris. Krampnitz was most most definitely on the list as a former Nazi base, and then passing into Soviet hands. When the wall came down the base's days were numbered, and in 1992, the Soviet's left, and the base began its slow decay.
I wasn't sure what the implications were regarding access, and so chose to enter via some woods at the back of the site. With the help of a map and my iPhone's GPS, I spotted the first few buildings lurching out of the horizon at me. As it would transpire, most of the base was made up of endless garages for various vehicles, from Tanks to vans to troop carriers and so on. These were the first one's I found while strolling about in the hot sun.
An internal view of one of the garages. Lots of graffiti artists have made use of the walls in these.
German language docking stations in one of the garages, making this section as dating from WWII.
A shower block in one of the buildings, once filled with the whistling and flatulence of lorry and tank drivers.
Boilers for the showers in the above pics.
Larger boilers on the upper floors of the shower block.
External view of one of the many garage sections. Difficult to really capture these buildings, as they are far too wide for my wide angle and at distance you lose detail.
Amongst all the garages and a few buildings that were for admin or showers, I found this building. It appears to be a jail.
Construction wasn't of the highest quality for a prison. Although presumably an armed guard would have added a deterrent for escape.
Remains of a cell in the prison, the prisoners appeared to have access to marker pens.
One of the original entrances into the base, this would have been a gatehouse, checking those entering and leaving the base.
More 'modern' garages nearer the barracks at the front of the base. It really is quite crazy the number of spaces there are for vehicles here.
Barracks for soldiers nearer the main road which passes the site.
Kitchen area in the barrack building above.
Dining hall in the barrack building above.
A mixture of decay and vandalism with an entrance doorway to the stairs.
Upper floor of barracks building above. Each door being a separate room.
Stairwell area in barracks building shown above. I liked the simple exposed structure here. Having had military exposure when younger, I've always found military base buildings somewhat cold and soulless. Krampnitz is no different.
The remains of a soldiers room in a barracks building similar to above.
Loft space of a barracks building. Also a nice spot to kick back and have a long and contemplative toilet visit, although maybe you didn't need to know that!
Washroom in the barracks building shown above.
Where soldiers once dumped, now pipe ninja's can express their bowel art.
Facing the road were larger barrack buildings. Also there were cars parked here and there, as well as some plant vehicles digging away. I avoided them while darting from building to building. They had basements, but no obvious service tunnels to use and avoid being exposed.
Where decades of neglect had left them to collapse in places.
Possible soviet graffiti when they left, rather than when in use. It says 'HAШE ДEЛO ПРАВОЕ ВРАГ БУДЕТ PAЗБИT ПOБEДEA БYДET ЗA HAMИ' which translated comes as something like 'Our ???? right enemy will be defeated, Victory will be ours' ???? may mean 'far' although the second word doesn't translate as far.
A caged area in one of the larger barrack buildings.
Locker room in one of the larger barrack buildings.
One of the few remnants showing the soviet presence here.
One of the ends of the larger barrack buildings.
Beer and violent workers of God. A strange mix.
Tree lined avenue, one would assume these houses were for families and or officers.
More modern soviet blocks at the top of the tree lined avenue above.
Vandalised ceiling in a modern office or teaching building.
Stripped plant room on the edge of the site.
Asbestos clad boilers in the room next to the plant room above.
After an exhausting wander around the huge base in the hot sun, it was time to head out of the base.
Sadly somehow I missed the most interesting building on the base, full of soviet relics. This person did much better, Muppix. Photo below from them, with more on their site.
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