The home of the Red Army's 90th Guards Tank Division. Bernau. April 22

Half a dozen miles or so north of Berlin is the town of Bernau, the location chosen in 1939 by the nazis for the construction of Der Heeresbekleidungsamt, basically the main production storage and distribution centre for uniforms and associated equipment.

Upon completion 1300 persons were employed at the complex, which covered just under 17 acres and comprised a main hub of 8 x two storey buildings; that is until 1945, when the Russians arrived.

The main offices, Der Hauptamtthe, location for this little mooch, were taken over and became the home of the 90th Guards Tank Division.

On parade,1985

Source

It looked too easy

It was too easy

A silly little man sitting playing on his phone in the hut was not too pleased about being dragged from his screen, (no doubt watching some weird and wonderful German granny porn) as I casually sauntered in.

I understood the words "Nein", "verbotten" and "politzei"

I wonder if he understood the words "jobsworth" "tosser" and "swivel"

Plan B

The place was massive, dickhead can't be in two places at once, so a walk around the perimeter was required.

It was a long but satisfying walk.

Time to throw caution to the wind, the chances of jobsworth finding me on site was I reckoned negligible. Over the wall we go! Urbex 1 Security 0

The place was massive, half a dozen or so huge buildings still standing, though I did note that there had been some recent demolition work at the far end of the plot. Gentrification is upon us.

The Soviets, during their time here expanded the site infrastructure , building garages and the such like for the maintenance of their weapons of war.

I walked the length of the these empty corridors, fortunately the buildings were only a couple of storeys high. So enjoy the architecture, enjoy the treasure I came across.......

......the best of which will be blogged in a series of uploads into the amazing and constantly growing C/StreetArt community

https://peakd.com/c/hive-184784

A few little tasters will be dropped in along the way. A bit of an Amuse Bouche if you will.

I really would like to think/hope that this was a true original Soviet mural.

So from here on in the next couple of hours of tramping through history are a bit random and disorganised, so many buildings with nothing really to tell me what their former use was.

Windows

OH! HELLO!!! what the fuck is he doing here, do I abort? Do I hide? Do I bail out and run like the wind?

Fuck that!

Google translate was not very helpful but the messages relate in some way to weapons and ammunition, theft, punishment, school and children.

Stuff stuck on walls

SIGNS OF MILITARY VALOUR

The needy.

From my recent travels I think this alphabet is from the former Republic of Georgia and Armenia

I guess in times gone by it became the norm in the colder parts of East Europe to add an additional layer beneath the wallpaper to increase insulation

Though the lonely single conscript from 1000's of miles away probably had ideas other than keeping warm

AND TELL YOUR CHILDREN AGAIN YOU DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT!

Playing with Light

Stairs, go up and they go down

Roof spaces

I guess this is where most of the conscripts were barracked

Leaving their mark in history

30 years the longevity of a packet of Russian fags.

Couldn't quite believe my eyes, a full sized sports court up in the roof,

The Soviets left in the early 90's and the 15 buildings were handed over to the State, "Ah Danke for that, what are we to do with these? and so the buildings remained empty until 2017 when an ambitious plan was drawn up to redevelop the site to bring housing, shops, schools and leisure facilities to the area.

Work started and all the "non historical listed buildings", (basically everything built by the Russians) was torn down. The project is due to be completed by 2031.

Meanwhile it has become the playground for trespassers and artists, alike. There was so much fantastic street art in the buildings, hidden from the public, never to be seen.

I shall as I said be running a series of uploads in the C/StreetArt community (https://peakd.com/c/hive-184784) run by @heroldius and @digi-me

In the meantime here are some quaint toilet facilities

All done here time to go, couldn't be arsed dodging security, and taking an extended detour round the perimiter, besides there were a couple more snaps I wanted.

Urbex 2 Security 0. back of the net.