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In January of 2023 I traveled alone to Berlin and Brandenberg to photograph abandoned sites from the Cold War and former East Germany. I’m drawn to the dark and painful past of former East Germany, and the impermanence of the once terrifyingly powerful forces in control, now overtaken by nature and time as it swallows them back up.
Teufelsberg, or “Devil’s Mountain”. An abandoned US spy station built atop the rubble of an old Nazi military training school. Teufelsberg was used by the West for listening in on Soviet/East German communication during the Cold War. Its white canvas is slowly disintegrating into the wind, carrying deep, dark secrets with it.
A statue of Lenin stands guard outside Haus der Offiziere. Fürstenberg was one of many Soviet satellites in former East Germany during the Cold War.
Russian newspapers line the peeling walls inside Haus Der Offiziere. The visible fragments sing praises to the once powerful Soviet Union. One was dated September 26th, 1986. It’s only been around 30 years since Soviet forces occupied Germany. Everything, everything is temporary.
The mansion was abandoned in the early 90’s during the collapse of the GDR, and has since been left untouched, to be slowly dismantled by trespassers and consumed by vines and earth.
Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. I’ve never felt such darkness from a place. Sachsenhausen was a Nazi Concentration Camp from 1936 - 1945, and a Soviet POW camp from 1945 - 1950. An estimated 50,000 people died here during it’s operation. In the bleak, dark, dead of winter, in an indescribable way, death is palpable here. It is by far the most disturbing place I’ve ever been.
Wünsdorf, The Forbidden City. Wünsdorf was the former headquarters of the Soviet forces in East Germany. It was the largest Russian satellite outside of the USSR during the Cold War. I spent three full days shooting die verbotene Stadt and didn’t capture even half of the ruins here. I’ll be back.
Maybach I. 12 inconspicuous above ground buildings were built by the Nazis to house the High Command of the Army during WWII. Underneath these buildings lies a vast network of bunkers. Maybach I and II were mostly obliterated by the Russians who came to occupy the territory during the Cold War.
Zeppelin Bunker. In the Forbidden City of Wünsdorf. Zeppelin was built by the Deutsche Reichspost in the 1930s as a signal intelligence center, and used by the Soviet Forces after WWII.
Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard is a 638 Acre piece of land located on the southern waterfront of San Francisco. Prior to European settlement, it is believed that the Ohlone People inhabited Hunter's Point.
The shipyard was a private, commercial dry dock facility until December 29, 1939, when it was purchased by the Navy to become a WWII Naval Shipyard.
From 1945 until 1974, the Navy used the shipyard as a submarine and ship repair facility. At the peak of operations, 8,000 people were employed at the shipyard.
The shipyard was also home to the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory (NRDL), who oversaw the radiological decontamination of ships exposed to atomic weapons testing. The NRDL also conducted experiments on the effect of radiation on living organisms.
In 1974, the Navy ceased shipyard operations, and the shipyard operated as a commercial ship repair yard from 1976 until it's closure in 1986.
The shipyard is now a Superfund site, requiring extensive cleanup due to it's toxic past. As the cleanup takes place, Hunter's Point Shipyard will be demolished and turned over to the city of San Francisco for redevelopment.
I have set out to document this barren, beautiful piece of history before it is gone.
Steel shop, ship repair shop, cafeteria, and Radiographic testing facility.
Weapons and Ship Part storage. Stored highly radioactive parts from the USS Independence upon its return from nuclear weapons testing at Bikini Atoll.
This gantry crane was used to load the USS Indianapolis with the components of "Little Boy", the first atomic bomb dropped on Japan.
Fences with radiation warning signs surround the gantry crane and dry dock. Radiation levels remain higher in this area as the dry dock was used to decontaminate ships returning from Japan and from atomic bomb testing at Bikini Atoll.
Inside flooded building 411, the former steel shop, ship repair shop, cafeteria and Radiographic testing facility.
Steel shop, ship repair shop, cafeteria, and radiographic testing unit, recycling bin.
Standing alone on the southern shore of the shipyard; Bachelor Enlisted Quarters, E.M. Barracks.
Docked numerous WWII ships and aircraft carriers and was used for the nuclear decontamination of ships from "Operation Crossroads".
WWII industrial storage building, Red Winged Blackbird. Nature has begun to reclaim the industrial landscape. Common fauna include Coyotes, Black Tailed Hare and Canadian Geese.
WWII Supply store house.
One of many rows of wooden crates, Building 405.
Disaster control center. A source device leaking strontium-90 was found in the basement.
Eastern side of Building 411, Building 409, the welder motor generator, and 450 ton Gantry Crane.
Used in WWII to decontaminate aircraft and battleships returning from nuclear warfare in Japan and The Philippines
Long abandoned basketball court, Parcel D-2.
Small crane over the landfill disposal trenches and salvage yard, on highly toxic Parcel E.
Grass reclaims abandoned railroad tracks on highly toxic Parcel E.
Chemical research lab and Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory (NRDL) workshop.
Southern Boundary of Parcel G, lined with warehouses and WWII supply and weapons storehouses.
Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory testing unit, Chemical Techncial Development lab. Signs on the doors warn of Asbestos.
Rusted Stag grazing outside an abandoned WWII Supply Storehouse.
Calm Eastern Waterfront and railroad tracks at sundown, Parcel C.
