Stunning Forgotten Places in Berlin & Around the World

The Berlin photographer Dietmar Eckell has set himself the task to discover abandoned places all around the world. Places that might be long forgotten but each of them has a unique story to tell. In his photo book “Restwert” he showcases these lost places and stories that we could rarely discover on our own. Cuba, Vietnam, Ukraine, very remote travel locations were on his list for 2017. But, he has also spent some time in his hometown Berlin, to capture a few more of it’s forgotten sites.

Eckell’s drone flew high this year, all around the outskirts of the city and discovered old airports, abandoned hospitals and lonely castles in decay somewhere in the woods. You might recognize the abandoned spy station on Teufelsberg or the Beelitz Sanatorium, practically two of Berlin’s biggest abandoned sights. The other images depict lesser known locations still keeping secrets and mysterious stories about Nazis, the Red Army and yes, even Beate Uhse. Beyond the German border Eckell takes us far away to old Cuban prisons or airplane wrecks in the Bahamas.

After the success of his exhibition and photo book “Restwert” I+II, the third edition of Dietmar Eckell’s work with his latest discoveries in 2017 will be shown at Gallery ErsterErster in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg from the 29th of September to the 8th of October, 2017. Below you can see some teaser images of his latest work.

Chapel of the lung clinic Grabowsee, burned down 10 years ago.

Abandoned army research institution “Heeresversuchsanstalt” Kummersdorf: From 1932-1936 Werner v. Braun developed the first missiles here which were misused as V1 ann V2 missiles later on.

Castle Dammsmühle,  even Napoleon has resided here, later it belonged to Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler and after the second world war it fell into the hands of the Red Army. The castle was used as a hunting lodge for higher GDR comrades until 1989. It was abandoned 10 years ago.

Airport Rangsdorf. This is where Claus Lord of Stauffenberg took off, planning to  assassinate Adolf Hitler and where Beate Uhse learned how to fly an airplane. After the war women weren’t allowed to fly anymore. So, she started building her erotic empire.

Sanatorium Beelitz

Diorama Wünsdorf (three-dimensional full-sized model), the German headquarters of the Red Army until 1994. A 36x4m image of “the Battle of Berlin” was right in the middle of the windowless army building. The picture was removed when the Red Army abandoned the location.

Spystation on Teufelsberg in Grunewald

Airplane wreck in shallow water in the Bahamas close to Norman’s Cay. These smaller planes “Cessnas” were used by the Medellin Kartell (known through shows like Narcos) to smuggle drugs to the US. They bribed the Bahamian government and flew in with big “Curtiss” airplanes from Colombia loaded with up to 5 tons of cocaine. The smugglers reloaded the drugs into smaller planes on their “own” island to make transport into the United States easier.

Prison in Cuba, built in 1926 for 2000 prisoners. Fidel Castro  was imprisoned here in the 1950’s as a politcal enemy, after the revolution it was used as such for his opponents.

Old bumber cars in abandoned Chernobyl

Get all updates on Dietmar Eckell’s work on his facebook page.

Diesen Artikel auf deutsch lesen.

<a href="https://www.iheartberlin.de/author/andy/" target="_self">Andy</a>

Andy

Author