The site was used by the German army since 1937 when the cavalry school moved from Hannover, under the name Heeres Reit- und Fahrschule und Kavallerieschule Krampnitz (English: Army Riding and Driving School and Cavalry School).
The Russians took control of the area, when the Germans abandoned it April 26, 1945.
The 35th Guards Motor Rifle Division was then stationed there until its abandonment in 1992
In July 2013, the city of Potsdam officially decided to make it an urban development area. A lot of the buildings are being demolished, at the time of the visit mechanical crushers were busy tearing down structures.
Right on a very busy main road, finding somewhere to climb over was proving a tad tedious.
A small gap in the fence had been created amongst the dense bushes, where there is a will there is a way.
A complex of over 75 buildings should have been available, but once on site it was sad to see that a lot had been flattened and the work was ongoing, another day of dodging the builder.
Quite often finding myself in the long grass keeping out of a sight of a white van that seemed to be just idling time driving continually around site.
At times it was surreal walking down an overgrown suburban road, lined with what I guess were quarters for the officers and their families.
Whereas the cannon fodder were housed in barracks
So I had a little mooch inside some of the houses, some nice treasure to be found.
Basic rooms throughout
Kiddies stuff lost to rust
Over to the business end of the complex, the barracks and communal areas of the camp. A bit more down to earth for the boys.
Found it strange to find an Icelandic newspaper, and let’s be honest when you have Alf and the Hoff on your team, others run for cover
Lots of long inviting corridors in some of these buildings
Loved finding some of the remaining military buildings adorned with both Russian and German insignia and armorials
And inside, Cold War plans? Not sure why they are nailed to a framework like this, one of life’s mysteries I guess.
So that was it, such a shame the builders are in flattening a lot of these buildings. Let’s hope some of them can be preserved and renovated as the area is being now subject to typical planning and building of homes on a massive scale. Come here next year probably nowt left.
