Photograph the Teufelsberg Domes

The listening station is now probably the most well-known of Berlin’s formerly secret sites. 

Teufelsberg is known as the Cold War as an American listening station but its history goes back to the early 20th century where this area was covered in swamps and mud, but that all changed when the Nazis came to power. Nazi's work began on the development of a university faculty for military technology, but it was never completed and destroyed in the war. After the war, trucks brought rubble from the rest of the devastated city to the site near Heerstraße and it soon piled up to become the highest point in West Berlin. The dumping stopped in 1972, trees were planted to make the man-made hill more attractive, and a ski slope was built complete with a ski lift.

Eventually, the field station was used by the American forces until the end of the Cold War in 1989. After the end of the Cold War, the complex was used for air traffic control until 1999 when the city government sold it.

Today, tours are available where you can view the remains of the complex with its five large radar domes.

Editorial credit: hanohiki / Shutterstock.com

Editorial credit: Shanti Hesse / Shutterstock.com