German Road Trip. Oh I forget which part we are at now. Kaserne Krampnitz. Potsdam, September 2020

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).

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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.

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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.

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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

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So I had a little mooch inside some of the houses, some nice treasure to be found.

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Basic rooms throughout

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Kiddies stuff lost to rust

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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.

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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

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Lots of long inviting corridors in some of these buildings

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Loved finding some of the remaining military buildings adorned with both Russian and German insignia and armorials

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And inside, Cold War plans? Not sure why they are nailed to a framework like this, one of life’s mysteries I guess.

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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.



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Dense bushes sounds good, nobody can see you when you're getting in. Lots of stuff in there, did you have any fails on your trip?

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I leave the fails to you ! 😂 😂 😂
Yes I failed to get in the former Iraqi consulate in Berlin, really wanted to do that, managed to get in the grounds but the property was solid. Failed in another Sanatorium, a train marshalling yard, an abandoned railway station and a couple of former Luftwaffe aerodromes.
I also still have about 15 pins that I didn’t get chance to visit. I’d really like to return, but if all things back to normal, next year is already planned, so who knows. Maybe I might get the chance. I think I’ve got another 3-4 from this trip to upload and that’s it, back to granny’s old knicker draw!

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I like grannys knicker drawer, except there's few left around my area. These places are not exactly abundant if you get my meaning.

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Wales is bloody full of them !

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Relic collectors dream destination, what a waste throwing away many old totally reusable solid antiques lying around there.

An adventure to get in and out without being detected I would imagine, so much mixed history all in one place, thanks for taking us on this awesome peek into the past @grindle

@tipu curate

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Thank you, yes the adrenaline was pumping!

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one of the best urbex posts I've seen in a while. A lot of history still intact there. You're right it's a shame a lot of it can't be preserved.

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Cheers matey,
Yes a bit of thinking outside the box and these places could have become living history. But it’s like everywhere else, developers trashing instead of preserving.

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