Constructed by the Nazis, this former military area near Berlin is a ghost town today. Back then, this was a restricted zone, and soldiers made sure no civilian came near the place. And today? Still a restricted zone. But at least you will not get shot anymore if you try to enter the area. Planned by the Kaiser, greatly extended by the Nazis and mostly used by the Red Army this military area was home to soldiers from three different empires. When the last units moved out 25 years ago, they left behind deserted buildings everywhere. Although the Soviet army was taking everything with them, there are still traces that remind you of the everyday life behind the Iron Curtain. Join this exploration to see what is left of what used to be the biggest military training area in the country. If you want to contribute to our videos and support the project, please consider pledging on Patreon. It is the year 1945. World War Two is causing devastation in every part of the globe. At this point, roughly 50 million people have died because of it - unfortunately, most of them civilians. But at least in Europe war seems to be ending soon. In the Battle of Berlin, German forces surrender and Soviets occupy what would become East Germany during the Partition of Germany later that year. The Red Army is taking over the military compounds of the Nazis. For more than 40 years, Soviet soldiers have been on high alert and always ready to strike the West. But then the Cold War ended and finally troops could return home. With the growing exodus several massive ghost towns emerged in Eastern Germany. Today, we explore one of them. Due to utmost secrecy during the time of Soviet occupation, Germans did not know what happened inside these places. These camps were self-sufficient, so the Red Army did not need to get in contact with the locals. Mostly, this was strictly forbidden anyways. So when they left, people finally had the chance to enter these formerly restricted areas. But the Soviets made sure to take everything with them that had value and what could have revealed too much information. In most cases all they left behind were empty buildings. But even here you can find interesting details. In this episode, we venture into the remains of their former army base in and around a city called Jüterbog - only a one hour drive south of Berlin. Next to this former military hospital hidden in the woods there is also a major ghost town. This is where we were heading for the video: The ruins of a military academy. Its history dates back to the German Empire and World War One. But when the last occupants left nobody seemed to be interested in the buildings anymore. So, nature is claiming the premises today. It is a wide-open area. But you can only enter with permission. We got busted here two times. Security really does not want any strollers on the property. And you just need to look around to guess why. The whole compound is ragged! The buildings has been falling apart for almost 30 years now. If you want to access the property you need to sign a waiver. Enter at your own risk. From up here you can have a good look at our prime target. The main building of the academy. Already one hundred years ago this area was used for military purposes. In 1916, hangars for airships were built around here. But when the German Empire lost the Great War the victorious powers forced the Treaty of Versailles on the young German republic. Cession of territory and disarmament was part of that treaty. The airship hangers here needed to be dismantled. But with the Nazi’s seizure of power military restraint was ending. Many Germans hated the Treaty of Versailles and quietly troops were armed. In 1933, Nazis started to use these premises and constructed a variety of building complexes. With its strictly symmetrical design this facility appears particularly imposing. Next to nearby barracks, a military training area, and an airbase this was part of a new and massive military compound. The ensemble with a parade ground in the middle of it gets dominated by the semi-circular main building. Let us get there to take a closer look. You can clearly see that this comes from a Nazi architect. Huge pillars and great structures are supposed to be intimidating. People seem tiny in contrast to this colossus. On the inside, austere architecture continues. You can find a massive staircase and long corridors. Hitler's Germany built this whole military base in preparation for aerial warfare. The centerpiece used to be this pilot school. Since the Treaty of Versailles did not allow an air force it was disguised as a civilian institution. In October 1933 there were already 1,500 students. Only one year later this was the biggest military training area of the Reich - though nobody knew about it officially. The lecture hall is completely dark nowadays. Only the light of flashlights can reveal its dimensions. Our photographer friend and crew member Tobi shot many pictures of the ruins in and around Jüterbog. He is not only exploring post-soviet countries but also many other parts of Europe. For an extensive collection of his urbex photography pay him a visit on Instagram. Please take a look at our video description to find the link. Today this place is a bit like a maze. When Nazi Germany was defeated and the Red Army moved in, they were changing a lot. Endless hallways were turned into smaller chambers. Soviet Russia was now using the academy to teach its own troops. This is the last Red Army soldier here. All the other ones were withdrawn in 1994. With steely determination and backup already moving in the message is clear: No one gets passed mother Russia. The artist did not skimp on pathos. However, this mural is in a remarkable good condition. From the other ones there is barely anything left to see. This is another piece in relatively good preservation. It shows the horrors of concentration camps - one of the biggest crimes in history. Another interesting part of this facility is a bit outlying: The old gym. After the German reunification the former Soviet troops were not tolerated anymore on German grounds. Locals were not frightened no longer. Instead they started to protest in 1990. For example here in Jüterbog they were demonstrating against fly-over noises. Russian warplanes were still in daily use. A few years later after stripping nearly everything the last troops were leaving and gave the premises back to civil authorities. These buildings are falling apart since then. But more and more parts of the old military compound are getting a new use. Although people find new purposes for more and more of Jüterbog's former military structures, this historical academy crumbles but remains a silent witness of a period mankind should never forget. And this place is not an isolated case. Today, you will find abandoned buildings everywhere around here. Explorers of ruins could spend days or maybe even weeks in this area and would always discover something new. And if people do not benefit from these buildings any more nature always will. And yet it should be us who spread here to learn from the past. Otherwise, it all will wither on the vine. We need to rediscover places like this and their stories, so that this dark part of history will not repeat itself ever again. The footage from this episode was shot quite some time ago. We could not do much of traveling so far in 2020 because of the COVID-19 situation. That is why we currently have to focus on our backlog. However, at the moment when this video goes live on YouTube, we will be out exploring again. After months of sitting around at home, we are heading to Italy for a big road trip. You will see the series very soon on our channel. But if you want to have live updates right now follow us on Instagram where we post daily stories from the newest adventure. We also have other exciting news. You can probably guess that our videos are a hell of work. And you have no idea what actually happens behind the scenes of our productions. To show you the process we put together a video where we go through every step of the production of this very urbex episode - starting from planning the exploration of the former military area all the way to the upload of the final episode. This video just went live exclusively on Patreon. It is an additional reward for everything in the "Take a look behind the scenes!" tier or higher. Do not worry, our main content will remain for free of course. But we are always looking for ways to thank the people who are giving money to support this project. Thanks a million, guys. Next time on Broken Window Theory: Our next video will be episode number 150. And it also will be our 100,000 subscribers special! For that, we will do some revisits. We will go to places we explored years ago to see how they look today and compare our footage from back then to the new one. While some buildings are aging very slowly, you will not recognize some of the other ones anymore. Join us to celebrate 100k subscribers together as well as four and a half years of BWT urbex videos on YouTube! As just mentioned, you can get exclusive rewards for pledging on Patreon. If you do not want to, that is cool as well. You will always get our YouTube videos for free. But if you want to know how much effort it is to produce an episode like this one, switch over to Patreon now to watch the Behind the scenes video. Stay safe and keep exploring!
