Aircraft Carriers of the West Coast

Among the countless interesting places and sights the States of the West Coast have to offer, even aircraft carriers need to be mentioned. There are three ‘capital sites’ that will surely appeal to war veterans, pilots, seamen, historians, technicians, children and everybody with an interest for ‘CVs’ – an acronym for ‘carrier vessels’. Two are super-museums in California, where the USS Hornet and USS Midway are permanently preserved and open to the public, and a third is the Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, which is an active installation of the US Navy in the premises of the Naval Base Kitsap, where maintenance work is carried out on the current CV-fleet, and where part of the reserve fleet – including most notably some aircraft carriers – is moored.

Here you can find some photos of these sites from visits of mine in 2012 and 2014.

USS Hornet (CV-12) – Alameda, CA

This ship is an Essex-class carrier commissioned in late 1943. Since then, she saw extensive action throughout WWII in the Pacific theatre, being involved in frontline operations leading to the defeat of Japan. As a matter of fact, aircraft from this ship totalled a number of downed aircraft ranking second in the general list of aircraft carriers of the world, behind USS Essex – which enjoyed a full year of service more than Hornet during the war with Japan.

The original appearance of the ship was much different from today’s, first and foremost due to the straight-deck construction of the Essex-class – just like all other carriers until the Fifties. For Hornet the current shape of the deck is the result of SCB-125 modification in 1956, introducing an angled landing deck. This feature, which came along with other major changes to the overall structure also resulting in a significant weight increase, allowed independent take-off and landing operations. Differently from other ships of the class, Hornet wasn’t upgraded in the late-fifties with steam-powered catapults, retaining hydraulically powered ones instead, thus being incapable of launching heavier aircraft like the Phantom, Intruder, Vigilante, or even the Hawkeye. It was then assigned to a support role as an ASW carrier, equipped with Tracker aircraft and helicopters for anti-submarine missions.

In the late Sixties Hornet was involved in the race to the Moon, serving as a rescue platform for the first moonwalkers returning from the succesful Apollo 11 mission, and subsequently in the same role for the astronauts of Apollo 12.

Similarly to all other Essex-class vessels – with the exception of the venerable USS Lexington, operated as a training ship until late 1991! – it saw limited action in the Vietnam War, when much larger and more suited carriers had become available for war operations, and it was retired in the early Seventies.

During your visit you are basically free to move all around the many well-preserved areas under the flight deck.

There you can see the striking proportions of this relatively ‘small’ carrier. The mechanism of the central elevator can be seen to the bow of the ship. An impressive table with the number of targets hit recalls the primary role this ship had in WWII.

On the main aircraft storage level there are some preserved aircraft, not all from the history of this unit. Among the many interesting features in this area, a replica of the helicopter which took the astronauts of Apollo 11 on board. This very helicopter was used in Ron Howard’s movie ‘Apollo 13’ starring Tom Hanks. Also the mobile quarantine facility for the astronauts can be found here. Neil Armstrong’s very footsteps from the helicopter to the quarantine facility are marked with white paint.

Moving back to the stern of the ship it is possible to visit a very interesting technical area for aircraft maintenance and servicing, as well as for mission preparation. It reminds the primary role of aircraft carriers as a frontline-deployed, moving airbases, with everything that is necessary for operating the aircraft onboard on a regular basis for offensive missions. A hatch leading to the compartments on the lower levels has been left open, and this allows to appreciate the actual size of the ship, really huge, with multiple storage levels for aircraft spare parts and ordnance.

Also very interesting are the big fireproof sliding doors for cutting the aircraft storage deck into compartments in the event of fire – possibly due to some ordnance piercing the deck of the ship, as well as to accidental causes.

Further interesting sights in the self-guided part of the visit include the operational briefing room, some service rooms, dormitories and a large area for the anchor moving mechanisms.

A second part of the tour is guided. You move around is small groups and you access the flight deck and the ‘island’, the command and control center of all operations – deck management, flight mission control, and ship control & navigation. The guides are very knowledgeable and enthusiastic veterans, able to tell you detailed explanations of what you see as well as anecdotes from the history of the ship.

The Presidential Seal has been placed where president Nixon was standing to oversee the recovery of the moonwalkers from Apollo 11.

This part of the visit will be extremely interesting for more technically minded subjects – you will see original wind signals for landing aircraft, an original LORAN navigation device for sea navigation, the normal and emergency arresting systems, the Fresnel optical landing aid system, and tons of other extremely interesting items which were actually used in real operations.

From the stern of the ship and the flight deck it is possible to take fantastic pictures of downtown SFO.

Extra Feature – Treasure Island Pan Am Terminal

A little ‘extra’ you can find on your way if you are travelling from San Francisco via the SFO-Oakland Bay Bridge to the site fo the USS Hornet is Treasure Island. This artificial island was taken out of the water at the end of the Thirties for the Golden Gate International Exhibition in 1939. Coincidentally, Pan Am, which had recently inaugurated its trans-Pacific ‘Clipper’ air service with the huge Boeing 314 seaplane, built a facility on the island, with a passenger terminal and service hangars for maintenance. Operation of the Clipper were moved here for good, and the aircraft took off and alighted on water between Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island, the smaller natural island to the south – the cove is today called Clipper Cove. Later on the service was relocated to Alameda as the island was taken over by the military.

Unlike most of the buildings dating from the exhibition, wiped out soon after it, the terminal survived and it is a proportionate, nice example of the airport building style of the late Thirties.

Also the foundations of some of the original passenger pier, as well as concrete slides for seaplane operations on the shore of Clipper Bay, can be seen still today. The Pan Am terminal building was used to simulate the terminal at Berlin Tempelhof in Steven Spielberg’s movie ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’.

Treasure Island is also a good place for taking pictures of downtown SFO, as well as the most famous items on the bay – Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Getting There

The ship is permanently anchored by one of the piers close to the former Alameda NAS, on the southern side of the island of Alameda. It can be reached very conveniently and quickly from downtown San Francisco via the Oakland bridge (I-80), and from Oakland, Berkeley, San Leandro and all districts on the eastern side of the bay. Full explanation and info on their website. Treasure Island is located roughly mid-way along the Oakland Bridge. Visiting the Pan Am terminal is a quick detour from the interstate. Large parking nearby both sites.

USS Midway (CV-41) – San Diego, CA

This is the first and the only remaining of the three Midway-class ‘super carriers’ – which included USS Franklin D. Roosevelt and USS Coral Sea. The origin of the class dates back to WWII, when it was decided that larger, armored, metal decks were to replace the vulnerable wooden decks of the Essex-class carriers. USS Midway was commissioned in September 1945, immediately after VJ-Day, with a straight deck, albeit steel-made. The steel construction was considered a relevant asset for jet aircraft operations, and all three carriers were kept in active service following the progressive transition to the new type of aircraft propulsion, with only minor modifications needed to the flight deck.

USS Midway was involved in the early stages of US missile experimentation, with the first tests of sea launched V-2 rocket clones, originating from the German design, and Regulus I air-breathing cruise missile.

The current shape of USS Midway is the result of subsequent major modifications. Program SCB-110 in the late Fifties added the angled deck to enhance simultaneous launch and recovery operations and flexible flight deck operations. Also the curved ‘hurricane-proof’ bow was added, together with steam-powered catapults.

In 1966 this ship was the only of the three of her class to receive the very expensive SCB-101.66 modification, resulting in a lengthening of the flight deck, the adoption of more powerful steam catapults and a new arrangement of the higher-load elevators. All three ships were on active duty in Vietnam, USS Midway apparently launching the first and last US air attacks of the war.

Even though USS Midway – the largest and best equipped of the three – could not operate the Tomcat, it could take four squadrons of Hornets, thus remaining effective in frontline service well into the Gulf War in the early Nineties, the last major operation in which she was involved before retirement and re-opening as a permanent exhibition – notably among the most popular in San Diego alongside the zoo.

Similarly to the USS Hornet described above, the tour of the Midway starts with a self-guided exploration of the aircraft storage deck and of the air deck. Among the tons of interesting sights here, to the bow you can find under the air deck the steam reservoir for the catapults and the system for moving the anchors.

Further back the main hangar for storing the aircraft is really huge. You can get an impression of the size of the ship by looking at the lower storage levels, where jet engines and air-launched ordnance are still visible.

With respect to the USS Hornet the exhibition is somewhat more ‘lively’, also with some reconstructed scenes, notice-boards, prepared dinner tables and so on. On the cons side, the place can get really crowded.

You can explore the crew areas, with dormitories, kitchens, canteens, medical services – including a fully equipped surgery compartment.

Most interesting is the propulsion system. Midway-class ships, as well as the later Forrestal-class, were all conventionally powered – non nuclear. Oil was supplied to burners, heating water and generating steam. By supplying steam to turbines mechanical power was obtained and transferred to the propeller shafts. This involved monstrous reduction gears. You can see the control room of this very complex system as well as burners, turbines gearboxes and propeller shafts, all explained with technical schemes – this will be extremely interesting for technically minded people. Close by, the similarly important air conditioning and ventilation system – an ancillary system at a first glance, it is absolutely necessary for all computers and electronics.

Other interesting sights are the briefing rooms for both flying and non-flying personnel, the chapel, and the inertial navigation system – buried close to the buoyancy center of the ship to reduce the influence of oscillations.

On the deck there is a collection of aircraft, most of them from the operational history of this unit. Also visible is the Fresnel optical landing aid.

Similarly to the USS Hornet, you can join a guided tour for a visit to the ‘island’. This is much roomier than that of the older Essex-class ship. You are provided clear explanations by very competent guides as you tour the navigation room, flight control and ship control areas.

From the deck you are offered a view of North Island NAS. Until she left for her new home port in Yokosuka, Japan, you could often see here USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), a nuclear powered, Nimitz-class carrier commissioned in the 2003 and home based in San Diego at the time of my visit.

Other Nimitz-class carriers are currently based here.

Getting There

The USS Midway museum is among the best known museums in Southern California, and it’s really hard to miss it due to the prominent place on the waterfront next to downtown San Diego. Large parking on the pier nearby. For planning your visit have a look to their website.

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Naval Base Kitsap – Bremerton, WA

The Naval Base Kitsap with the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard are major installations of the Navy. The Shipyard dates from before WWI, and albeit a small museum on the topic exists close to the ‘civil’ port of Bremerton, clearly the installation is not possible to visit, for it is surrounded by the base. Luckily, the Shipyard is neither much hidden nor far from the street running along the waterfront, and the size of aircraft carriers makes them rather difficult to deceive… This leaves the opportunity to take a look at what is moored here by simply moving around a bit in the hilly area of Bremerton until you find a suitable spot for taking pictures. You can also walk to the waterfront, and find some isolated spots from where you can take some impressive shots without even coming close to violating the perimeter of the base.

Some pictures can be taken from the sea if you are leaving or arriving with a ferry-boat.

The Shipyard is where modifications are carried out on most vessels. Besides running the Shipyard, the Naval Base Kitsap acts as a home port for some ships, including some active aircraft carriers and many submarines. The Shipyard facility has been used for storing vessels in a mothballed condition and for stripping those to be sold for scrap of some lighter hardware. The latter are those placed in the most peripheral area of the base, and the easiest to see.

When I visited in 2012 the base was very busy.

In the pictures you can see two Forrestal-class ships – USS Independence and USS Ranger – and two ‘Improved Forrestal’, Kitty-Hawk-class ships – USS Kitty Hawk and USS Constellation. As of late 2016 Ranger and Constellation have been transferred to Brownsville, TX for scrapping, while Independence is to follow and is awaiting towing for early 2017.

USS Kitty Hawk remains in a mothballed status and there is some interest to preserve it as a museum somewhere, for together with USS John F. Kennedy they remain the only Forrestal-class ships still in a relatively good shape.

The eight Forrestal/Improved Forrestal-class aircraft carriers were the first conceived with an angled deck. They constituted the backbone of the US carrier fleet of the Cold War in the late Fifties, Sixties and early Seventies, when the nuclear powered USS Nimitz was commissioned. Many of them were deeply involved in Vietnam operations. All of them remained active until the Nineties and were involved in operations all over the world, a true icon of the might of the US Navy.

Besides the mothballed or scrapyard-due fleet, you can find in Bremerton some carriers on active duty at the Naval Base Kitsap. At the time of my visit, I could see the Nimitz-class USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) and USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) – the latter is the one undergoing maintenance in the pictures. Kitsap is a huge base of the US Navy, among the largest in the US, and home port for many strategic submarines.

Getting There & Moving Around

The most convenient way to see the mothballed fleet is from Charleston Boulevard, approaching from the west along the waterfront. There is chance of parking in a somewhat deserted area out of the perimeter of the base. When leaving with the ferry from Bremerton port, you are allowed a view of the easternmost part of the base.

STASI Prisons and Headquarters in Berlin and the GDR

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Among the most unequivocal signs of the oppressive communist dictatorship in the former German Democratic Republic – ‘GDR’ or ‘DDR’ in German – are probably the many buildings once operated by the STASI, the German cousin of the well-known Soviet KGB.

Being a state security service by its very name – STASI stands for ‘STAat SIcherheit’, or state security -, this organization was responsible for the capillary control over the behavior of the citizens of the GDR, to the aim of counteracting any threat to the communist rule. It was mainly composed of a para-military staff and of an extensive network of informers – so extensive that actually about 1 out of 180 in Eastern Germany worked for the STASI, while by comparison in the USSR 1 out of 595 worked for the KGB. The main goal of this agency was keeping the statu quo, hence any suspect behavior of East-German citizens, deemed subversive with respect to the communist rule, was reported, investigated and usually suppressed.

People found guilty of acts against the State – i.e. against the communist government – were often sentenced to years of imprisonment. This meant that prisons and camps flourished in the GDR, as people got arrested and at least kept for interrogation just for having received western newspapers or having colored their rooms with posters of American pop singers. How the STASI came to know of similar ‘violations’ was by means of informers, who triggered secret investigations carried out with ‘James Bond gear’, like cameras and microphones hidden in coat buttons and bags. Microphones and cameras were also usually installed in the walls, chandeliers and doors of the houses of suspected subjects.

This huge institution was among the most feared and hated – as well as expensive to run – in the GDR, and soon after the reopening of the border and the demolition of the wall in Berlin in 1989 many of its buildings were occupied by the population. To deny responsibility in the unfair trial, imprisonment and confinement of many citizens, the staff of the STASI began ‘burning’ its archives immediately, but they were so extensive that this rapidly turned out to be impossible. The STASI was disbanded among the first governmental agencies of the GDR in the early months of 1990, even before the two halves of Germany were merged. Finally the archives were made publicly available during the process of the German reunification. Many people came to know they had been carefully observed and spied in every movement during their everyday life.

Today, some of the most prominent buildings once operated by the STASI are open to the public and represent an interesting and worrying memento of this chapter of the history of Germany. The following photographs are from some such sites I visited over the years from 2013 to 2023.

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STASI Headquarters, Berlin-Lichtenberg

The headquarters of the STASI occupied an extensive citadel composed of many big, multi-storey buildings. Like the KGB, the tasks of the STASI weren’t limited to internal state security, but also to border protection – a very serious business in Eastern Germany, as you can see from another page of this site dedicated to the German inner border – and espionage activities abroad. The various directorates occupied their respective buildings in the citadel. The place is in a semi-peripheral district of former East Berlin named Lichtenberg.

The main building hosts a museum of central relevance on the topic, where you can find much data about the history and the impressive size of this agency, as well as spy gear – for instance mimetic microphones for listening to conversations in private houses. The stories of some of the victims of the communist surveillance machine are also reported. Envelope-opening devices and rags for preserving the odor of those arrested for watchdogs are displayed in showcases.

Probably the highlight of the museum is the apartment and office of Erich Mielke, the director of the STASI from 1957 – well before the wall was erected in Berlin – up to the dissolution of the GDR. Many original directional offices have been preserved and nowadays can be visited.

The place is very evocative and retains much of the disturbing ‘GDR atmosphere’, typical to this and other similar installations. The number of visitors is much lower than close to Checkpoint Charlie and the DDR museum near the Berliner Dom, which are mostly cheesy tourist attractions with comparatively little content. On the contrary, in this museum you can still easily perceive the commitment of the GDR goverment towards its own survival, and the proportion of the oppressive apparatus that was created to this aim – here you clearly understand the STASI was a serious business and changed the life of many people.

After visiting the museum in the central building you may have a look around to the exterior of other buildings in the citadel, today mostly unused, abandoned or partially occupied by private businesses – I guess the place still retains for many people a very negative aura.

Getting there and moving around

Today the citadel can be reached very conveniently by car or with the U5 (between the stops Magdalenen Strasse and Frankfurter Allee). The museum is fairly modern and well presented, but as of 2015 when I visited the ticket could be paid only cash and some explanations were in German only. Inside the museum there is no air conditioning, and it can be very hot and uncomfortable in summer. Parking is not a problem in front of the main entrance or nearby. Website here.

STASI Prison and Restricted Area, Berlin-Hohenschönhausen

The second largest quarters of the STASI are located in yet another outer district of former East Berlin. Old photographs of the area clearly show that this part of the town was interdicted to visitors not connected with the business of the STASI – there used to be fences and gates all around, cutting some of the roads entering the district. Besides some directorates and administrative buildings, this citadel hosted a prison and a labor camp. The former was the main STASI prison in East Berlin, and those who were arrested on account of suspect activities against the State were usually carried here, where they had to withstand interrogations.

This place is really grim and appalling. It looks like the staff of the prison had just left. Everything from what you see to the smell of the cells, offices and interrogation rooms is totally evocative of the original GDR atmosphere.

The STASI became the owner of the place in 1951, after the Soviets, who had managed the occupied territory directly after the German capitulation in 1945, left control of many administrative functions following the creation of the GDR. Under the Soviet rule, in the years of Stalin between 1945 and 1951, a labor camp was set up here and the main building of the prison – a former canteen for Nazi staff – opened for business. More than 20’000 people passed through this installation between 1945 and 1951, many of them on their way to deportation to the USSR.

Under the control of the STASI, the camp was dedicated to non-political prisoners, where the prison, enlarged in more instances as the STASI citadel was growing up, was for the ‘enemies of the State’. More than 20’000 people were imprisoned here between 1951 and 1990.

The place can be visited only on guided tours, offered on a regular basis also in English. Following the tour you can see various imprisonment cells. The worst – and really inhumane – from the times of the Soviets are in the basement of the main building, with no windows and no ventilation, where many people were crushed together waiting for interrogation or deportation.

The majority of the cells date from the era of the GDR, and are more modern. As the main business of the prison was that of extorting confessions, the prisoners were progressively brought in a state of psychological prostration. Preventing any form of communication was part of the treatment, so most cells for newly arrested people were for one person only. To isolate those arrested even more, when moving from the cell to the interrogation rooms and back the wardens observed special red and green lights, telling when there was somebody else in the corridors. This way the inmate would not see anybody except for the warden and the officer who interrogated him during all his or her stay in the prison.

Padded cells with straitjackets like in asylums were used in the process of extorting confessions, when the inmates were treated with drugs causing hallucinations and loss of physical control. These can be seen in the basement of one of the buildings.

Also visible are some cells with open top for spending half a hour per day in open air.

An interesting item presented in the exhibition is a minivan that was used for taking people quietly to the prison. The appearance and markings are those of a normal cargo van for transporting goods, whereas the interior is structured with micro-cells for arrested people.

Interrogation rooms are aligned on a corridor, and are extremely essential, featuring a shabby furniture. Greasy traces on the wallpaper and the smell of old fake leather heated by the sun is make the original atmosphere come alive.

A further wing is where a clinic for inmates was located. The clinic was of good level, with much technical instrumentation to manage several regular or emergency situations. The office of the director of this wing is another example of pure East German design. Most notably, the once omnipotent Erich Mielke appears to have been interned here following his arrest after 1989.

A one-of-a-kind exhibit is a railway truck for inmates. Besides the rather uncomfortable compartment design, with small chairs in a very little space, this transport was made really inhumane through the lack of air conditioning, the windows with bars and even a white glass, which deliberately created disorientation. These trains were artificially put on the lowest priority, so as to make traveling a painstaking experience for inmates.

The memorial is not central, so only those really interested in the history of the GDR, and of East Berlin and the STASI usually come here. Nonetheless, it is managed like a good level international museum, with guided tours, facilities for groups and a serious bookshop. Before taking the tour you are offered a movie telling the history of the prison in brief and showing the testimonies of former inmates. All in all a very interesting – and instructive – experience, surely worth a detour from the more touristic districts.

After visiting the prison, you may have a look around to the other buildings in this citadel. You can find a map in a cheap but interesting booklet they sell in the bookshop (‘The prohibited district’, by Erler and Knabe).

Getting there and moving around

The correct address of the prison building is Genslerstraße 66, Berlin. You can reach it easily by car. The neighborhood is primarily residential and not central, so parking won’t be a problem. If you have not a car, you can arrive conveniently with the tram line M5 from the most central districts. The correct stop is Werneuchener Strasse, and from there it’s about 0.4 miles to the gate of the prison. Website here.

STASI Prison Lindenstrasse, Potsdam

Behind an elegant façade like many others you can find in central Potsdam there is a prison comparable in size to the ‘main’ prison in Berlin Hohenschönhausen described above, and mostly unknown to the general public crowding this small and beautiful historical town.

This building was used as a prison by the Kaiser, the Nazis, the Soviets and finally the GDR. It was renovated and modified in many stages during its long history, and during WWII under the Nazi rule, some sections of the courthouse in central Berlin were transferred here, when the original buildings of the Nazi courthouse got damaged as a result of Allied air raids.

Differently from Hohenschönhausen, the prison in Potsdam is not part of a ‘citadel’, even though the KGB headquarters in the GDR were not far – actually they can be found close to Schloss Cecilienhof, Potsdam, now partly converted to luxury apartments and villas.

Another difference with respect to Hohenschönhausen is the style of the building, which dates back to older times. This is reflected in the plan and in many details of the construction, which at least from the exterior is very elegant.

Inside you can find Soviet cells in the basement – also here the most inhumane – and other cells packed along narrow corridors on several floors. In the inner courtyard there is a central block of open top cells for ‘recreation’, and traces of the original cameras and surveillance systems.

Something you may appreciate is the fact that you can visit the place on your own. Paneling with data or telling the stories of former inmates are totally in German, but you are given a leaflet with explanations and a map of the place at the entrance. Also a few original interrogation rooms have been preserved and can be seen.

The entry price is very reduced, so visiting is of course a must for the committed tourist, and interesting also for the general public. The place is ‘mimetic’ and not much advertised, so you won’t find the usual flocks of visitors, unlike the royal estates in Potsdam… Much recommended.

Getting there and moving around

The precise address is Lindenstrasse 54, Potsdam. It is in central Potsdam, so you may park at your convenience for visiting the district and have a stop there if you like. Similarly, if you are coming with the public transport system just go to the central district and walk to the place. Website here.

STASI Pre-Trial Prison, Rostock

Similarly to the prison in Potsdam, the anonymity of the façade of this building in central Rostock, placed to the back of a section of the courthouse still working today, is really deceiving. A prison capable of hosting more than 100 inmates can be reached today via a small door leading mainly to the offices of the faculty of the local university. Once inside the building you will notice a worrying fence on the side of the stairs going to the first floor, where you can get access to the prison.

Besides the many cells, it is possible to find a very interesting exhibition on the history of the GDR and of the STASI, with much data and stories from the time. Also many artifacts can be found, like spy gear, rags for preserving the odor of inmates for watchdogs to make capture easier, state bonds used to pay informers, and more.

The main function of the prison was that of keeping those arrested for interrogation until they were sentenced. More than 4000 people spent some time in this prison, mainly for ideological crimes, in the years of the GDR.

The place can be visited for free with an audio guide also in English. Some parts, including the open-top cells outside and the rigor cells in the basement can be visited only in a guided tour – as far as I understood, these are offered in German only.

On the top floor you can see an interesting exhibition on people who escaped or tried to flee the GDR by sea.

Getting there and moving around

Centrally located in Rostock – a lively city on the coast of the Baltic Sea – at a walking distance from Rosengarten. If you are moving by car, you can park on Hermannstrasse, and reach the door to the back of the courthouse block (opposite a small market). The door is heavy, so press it hard, it may be open even if it looks closed. Website here.

STASI Maximum Security Prison ‘Bautzen II’, Bautzen

Originally designed as a pre-trial and short-term court jail by the local government, the prison of Bautzen II was erected under the Kaiser to the back of the courthouse in the homonym town in the southeastern corner of Saxony, today very close to the border with both Poland and the Czech Republic. A larger penitentiary, named Bautzen I and originally conceived as a juvenile jail, was built around the same time in town.

With the advent of the Nazi dictatorship, both facilities began to be exploited for the prosecution of political dissidents, or to isolate elements of ‘inferior races’. Violence, intimidation and extorted confessions began to be the rule. Both branches of the prison of Bautzen fell under Stalin’s control at the end of WWII, and this corresponded to an exceptional increase in the number of inmates, which included a substantial share of former Nazi staff and opponents of the Soviet regime.

After the creation of the GDR, the facilities in Bautzen went on working as primary centers for the confinement of political prisoners, together making for possibly the largest detention center in the country. The smaller jail of Bautzen II, with slightly more than 200 single cells, was turned into a maximum security prison intended for the most dangerous ‘subversive elements’ of the whole state. While Bautzen I is still an active state prison of todays Federal Germany, Bautzen II has been opened to the public as a memorial.

The dreary access from outside is through three gates, and this adds to the perception of the place as really ‘no hope’.

Similarly to the prison in Potsdam (see above), Bautzen II can be toured on a self-guided basis, without a group. Most parts of the prison are opened, and several cells can be accessed.

Some of the cells retain the original furniture, even shabbier than the usual communist standard. The metal staircase in the middle of the prison building allows to better appreciate the size.

Besides rigor cells with additional bars and an incredibly small walkable area, some groups of cells are separated from others, with armored doors splitting the corridors in contiguous isolated sections. This was possibly a special feature of this maximum security prison. You can experience an unreal silence when sitting in a cell closing both the doors of the corridor and of the cell.

There are also some ‘common areas’ for inmates to work and stay, and an external courtyard divided in sectors, to allow inmates to spend some time open air, but without the chance to meet or see each other.

Getting there and moving around

The prison of Bautzen II is open as a national monument, a website with full information about visiting is here. I noticed that there are descriptions in German only throughout the prison, so you would better go prepared at least on the history of the place – starting for instance from the website – to get the most from your visit. The location is Waigangstrasse 8a, which is behind the courthouse of Bautzen, 0.8 miles to the east of the historical town center, conveniently reachable walking from the railway station and also by car. The area around the courthouse is mainly residential and parking can be found easily. Bautzen I is still today an active regular detention facility and cannot be visited.

A vital center of the Sorbs, an etnic group of Saxony and Brandenburg recognized by the German Federal Government, the town of Bautzen is nice to visit and rich of historical content. It is about 45 miles east of Dresden, and bolsters a picturesque, perfectly refurbished town center with medieval to baroque architectural elements.

STASI Headquarters, Dresden

The STASI headquarters and prison in Dresden have been developed starting 1945, originally as a prison for the Soviet NKVD (later KGB), on the premises of a former factory not far from the river Elbe and the historical district of the town – which would lay destroyed for decades following air raids in WWII. Similar to the prison in Lindenstrasse, Potsdam (see above), the underground floor of the former factory building was turned into a prison, with provision for a number of very basic cells typical to Stalin’s era, aligned on a narrow corridor.

Until the facility was handed over to the newly-formed GDR in 1952, the Soviets interned here mostly German citizens accused of cooperation with the defunct Nazi regime, as well as subversive elements, unfriendly with the Soviet controlling forces. As usual within a dictatorship, indictment was largely arbitrary and sentences extremely harsh – following arrest, most people were deported to forced labor camps of the Gulag system in the USSR, some were brought to Moscow to be hanged, and many were sent to provisional camps established in the ‘Soviet occupation zone’, later to become the territory of the GDR.

In this part of the exhibition it is possible to step in most of the cells, very small and essential.

A room is dedicated to the Gulag system, whereas another is a memorial for those taken to the Dresden prison and who reportedly did not survive the ordeal of the Soviet detention system, or where sentenced to death on the base of political reasons.

Also visible are some service rooms, like the bathrooms and rooms for the guards.

Along the corridor an emergency cable could be pressed by the guards at any time when in distress, triggering an alarm. From this part of the prison it was possible to access a inner courtyard.

Concurrently with the handing-over to the STASI, the facility was expanded, with offices and a modern multi-storey prison building.

Access for those arrested was via an inconspicuous wooden gate. An apparently innocent cargo van was employed for arrests. It can be checked out and it reveals provision for several segregated micro-cells inside. Once disembarked from the van, some prisoners may have had to wait for the prison check-in process inside mini-cells. Temperature in this area used to be – and still is – terribly hot in the summer.

Once inside, prisoners had to undress and undergo an accurate inspection in the check-in room. They were photographed for records in a special room, where they sat on a chair which was moved by the camera operator to obtain portraits at specific angles. Then prisoners were assigned dresses and slippers for their stay.

This prison acted as a remand (i.e. pre-trial) prison, with 44 cells on 4 levels.

Cells were for one, two or three people. Single cells were not customary from the 1970s on, except for rigor cells.

An example of the latter can be seen, with a small chair bolted to the ground and no windows. A special cell was that for writing letters, something that was possible only at prescribed intervals (e.g. once per week) and in this special room – obviously, all communications were checked and censored by the STASI. This cell features a small table, a chair, and a lavatory.

An uncommonly ‘comfortable’ cell was employed for foreign prisoners, who included those who had tried to help GDR citizens in their escape attempt, and who for some reason had got caught by the STASI. These cells had a window allowing a view of the sky – not possible through the special windows of regular cells – and a larger iron bed, instead of a narrow wooden berth.

Separated boxes in a walled courtyard outside were employed for letting the prisoners spend some minutes per day in the open air.

Walking the prison building you may notice that most of it is still original, including the purely-GDR linoleum floor, and the alarm system. The heavy curtains make the building dark and oppressing. The temperature in the summer is also very hot. The building is very silent, much resembling the original asylum-like feeling.

A routine operation in a remand prison was interrogation of the prisoners. Prisoners were insistently interrogated by STASI staff before formalizing an indictment. For the purpose, they were taken to the top floor of the building, along a few flights of stairs, up to the the interrogation rooms. Interestingly, the door giving access to this ‘bureaucratic’ part of the facility still bear seals (now reopened), put in the days of the revolution following the demolition of the wall in Berlin in 1989. The offices of the STASI, with material and archives, were sealed for criminal investigation.

Today, in this area a few original relics from the STASI operations can be found, like photographic film, nominal folders, stamps, keys, etc.

One interrogation room is still visible, whereas many others have been converted and are today employed for thematic workshops by the organization running the memorial.

As of 2023, the memorial is undergoing restoration, with the reopening of a larger part of the offices planned soon. Momentarily, it is possible to see the original grand auditorium of the STASI, a full-scale theater, with a typical GDR decor and even an original audiovisual apparatus. It is hard to imagine what kind of people could attend some symposium in an elegant room like this, just 50 ft away from prisoners confined in cells, non-criminals confined mostly only because suspected of having some arbitrarily-defined ‘subversive ideas’.

The quarters of the old NKVD prison are linked to the more modern prison building by a long underground corridor.

Getting there and moving around

The former STASI headquarter in Dresden is run as a memorial by a very active society, supported by various preservation bodies and associations. A professional website with much information, including a leaflet with a description of your visit in English, can be found here. A visit may easily take 1.5-2 hours for an interested subject. Many parts of the facility are accurately preserved and make for a very evocative memento. Furthermore, permanent and temporary exhibitions add to the experience and documentary value.

Visiting is possible on a self-guided basis, with explanatory booklets in many languages including English lent for the duration of your visit.

The memorial is located northeast of the historical district of Dresden, right on the northern bank of the river Elbe. The exact address is Bautzner Straße 112a, 01099 Dresden. However, access by car to the inside parking is possible only at these coordinates, (51.06688926262786, 13.782718227181237). Since access is from a major road where a U-turn is impossible, and the entrance to the parking is somewhat ahead of the official address, it is worth employing these coordinates for your nav, otherwise you might be missing the entrance to the parking, being forced to a pretty long tour of ‘one ways’ and ‘no turns’ before you get back to your intended destination.

Memorial ‘In der Runden Ecke’ – STASI Headquarters, Leipzig

Similar to its cousin in Berlin-Lichtenberg, the former headquarters of the STASI in Leipzig has been opened as a memorial. In this case, the building was not made on purpose, but converted from a pre-existing one. A decorated, elegant palace in the city center was chosen for the local brain of the repressive apparatus. The building features an angled facade, since the name ‘on the round corner’ – ‘in der Runden Ecke’ in German.

The entrance hall to the former headquarters has retained much of its original appearance.

The main part of the exhibition is immediately reached through the original reception office, which has been left willingly untouched since the pre-1989 era – including now dead CC-cameras, and two elaborated majolica murals with emblems of the STASI and some decorations.

The exhibition takes the ground floor of a wing of the building, i.e. only a small part of the original site. The office of a clerk has been mothballed preserving at most its original, shabby appearance, with a portrait of Honecker.

In an adjacent room, many rigs for covert mail and communication interception and inspection activities are displayed. These range from steam-pumping envelope openers, to fake postal stamps from Federal Germany, or even from abroad (to send false communications), and even fancier machines for reproducing signatures, looking inside parcels, etc. – every design betraying a really paranoid attention to details, and a true waste of exceptional engineering abilities.

A complete cell and photo studio – for mugshots – from the now demolished STASI prison in Leipzig has been spared for this exhibition, not much dissimilar from others on this web page (see above).

More artifacts on display include audio and image gathering stuff, ranging from micro cameras and recorders, to exceptionally compact, high-precision zoom lenses. Archived rags with the smell of repression victims in case of escape – for dogs – are another specimen from the STASI crazy inventory.

A room is devoted to the STASI huge paper archive, and to the silly, titanic effort to destroy the evidence of years of illegal spying activity as quick as possible, following the re-opening of the border. The solidified slime obtained from paper fragments is on display. Some very evocative pictures show the immense Leipzig archive and its conspicuous remains after the destruction attempt.

Two more rooms tell about the immediate post-WWII history in Leipzig, with pictures from 1945 with Nazi officials who committed suicide, as well as from the first stage of Allied occupation and Soviet administration – before the GDR was founded.

An interesting collection of artifacts concerning the Soviet-GDR friendship and alliance is really evocative of a luckily bygone era.

Finally, the corridor is full of interesting pictures, telling about the disinformation role of the STASI, border patrolling, and many other businesses this overpowered criminal organization was in charge of.

The building is today also seat for an agency managing the old STASI archive for historical purposes. Furthermore, the first floor and the elegant stairs leading to the top can be toured, with some display cases showing attractive Soviet-era artifacts.

The first floor in particular must have been an official meeting/reception area, or a director’s office. Part of the original furniture is still there, including a mural with the head of Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the Soviet Ceka back in Lenin’s time, and an inspirational figure for all fanatics of ‘state security’ in the communist world – an activity which was a synonym for violent prosecution of free will.

Getting there and moving around

The memorial is on the border of the pedestrian area in Leipzig city center. It is modestly publicized, but thanks to its accessibility, it might be easily included in a standard visit to historical Leipzig, and it is significantly populated by tourists. Entrance is free of charge, and its professional website is here. Despite the small size, for an interested subject visiting might take 2 hours or more. Free pictures are allowed, and an audio guide in English allows to get much from the visit even for people not speaking German.

STASI Bunker, Machern

The bunker in Machern is an underground facility built for the STASI in 1968-72 as an emergency headquarter, for keeping the chain of command and coordinate operations in case of a potential crisis. It represents a specimen of the level of commitment of the GDR government with respect to the preservation of control, and a witness of the huge budget made available to this particular ministry, inextricably linked to the government itself and pivotal in the survival of the oppressive GDR communist regime over its entire life span.

The crisis in Prague in 1968 possibly triggered the build up of a similar underground network by the STASI, which customarily operated in secrecy. The very existence of the bunker, located some 30 minutes driving from central Leipzig, was unknown to most. The inconspicuous visible part of the facility was deceived in one of the lots in a district of free-time homes for employees of a public company. It was discovered only following the 1989 revolution and the abolition of the STASI.

Compared to underground military installations, either of the NVA or the Red Army, the bunker is rather compact. However, it had provisions for about 100 staff in case of crisis, with a moderate ability to resist military-level attacks, including facing a nuclear war scenario.

The visit starts by accessing the grounds, where an unassuming little country villa of the GDR can be found, which acts as a check-in point, and as a ticket office.

Soon you may notice the presence of unusual gear on the premises. These include houses and training gear for dogs, cables for allowing leashed watchdogs along a pre-assigned watch pattern, a concrete sentry box, fire extinguishing gear, piles of fuel barrels, a deck for repairing vehicles, and a rather big grey hangar.

The latter hides the blast-proof double entrance to the underground bunker. Before stepping in however, it is possible to check out an impressive amount of spare parts aligned on shelves, with literally tons of interesting military-grade material – most of them clearly marked as Soviet manufacture. Many mystery boxes with writing in Russian can be seen. Rolls of barbed wire, metal nets, camo blankets, and other material for sealing and deception can be seen together with more technical material, including technical instrumentation.

A small collection of memorabilia from the STASI years is shown on site, as well as a permanent exhibition with technical schemes and organization details.

Access to the underground bunker is via a horizontal armored door and through a long flight of stairs. An airlock with two tight doors was installed for making the place blast-proof and seal it in case of nuclear attack.

Dosimeters and showers for decontamination can be found close to the entrances – there are two of them, both inside the same hangar.

The bunker was mainly intended as an intelligence center for crisis management. The flow information was guaranteed by a number of communication systems and facilities. Manned stations can still be seen in a number.

Beside communication facilities, the bunker features sleeping quarters for the STASI staff, a kitchen/canteen area, and a few offices and private quarters for the decision-makers – senior STASI officers. These offices offer a reasonable level of comfort, typical to the the bunkers from the era (see for instance Kossa and the Polish headquarters near Wolin, but a similar level of comfort could be encountered also on the western side of the Iron Curtain, like here in Britain).

The bunker is built mainly around a square corridor, with an array of long and narrow rooms, each dedicated to a specific function.

Soviet material can be found everywhere, including air filters and heaters.

Different from the previous sites bound to the grim and disturbing history of the STASI and of the communist-led repression in the GDR, this bunker offers an interesting perspective into the para-military domestic activity of this former backbone of the single-party government of that country.

Getting there and moving around

The STASI bunker-museum in Machern is a branch of the STASI memorial in Leipzig (see above).  An updated web page on this bunker can be found in the German version of the website of the Leipzig memorial (here), with updated information on the planned dates for a visit. The bunker is regularly open only on a few dates over the year, which are published in advance.

The visit allows to access the grounds, where explanatory panels are available in German, as well as the storage hangar and bunker. In the hangar, visitors are offered a short introductory video (in German). Afterwards, it is possible to visit the hangar and the bunker on a self-guided basis. Reservation is not required, but access is regulated on site by gathering visitors to form small groups, who are admitted to the bunker one by one to avoid overcrowding. Time in the bunker is more than enough to check-out the items on display, taking all the pictures. In all, a visit to this installation may take about 1 hour once on site.

Please note that they accept only cash for the ticket.

The location is in the countryside, about 10 miles northeast of Leipzig along the road B6. It is easy to reach only with a car or similar. There is a large parking there (51.376119908957726, 12.633996194227596), also serving the nature recreation area around. The entrance to the bunker can be reached from the parking with a .5 miles walk along a local road here (51.37857212168658, 12.644452664748663). No parking is possible on that road. Please note that the position corresponding to the bunker marked on Google Maps is largely inaccurate.

The bunker is located very close to the former Soviet base of Brandis/Waldpolenz (see here).

KGB Prison and Headquarters, Potsdam

This memorial is strictly speaking an outlier in this chapter, since it was never a STASI facility. Since their arrival in late April 1945, the Soviets installed a major intelligence and counter-intelligence center in Potsdam. An entire district was severed from the rest of this fashionable imperial town – which had fallen in the hands of the Soviets and later in the GDR. Its perimeter was fenced, the area provided with a guarded gate, and interdicted to everybody except authorized Soviet staff.

In it there were residential buildings, as well as central offices of the secret intelligence and security services of the Soviet Union in the heart of the GDR, and immediately on the border with West Berlin.

Today this exclusive residential area has been returned to its original function, except for a memorial, which has been prepared in the former prison originally built by the Soviets in a pre-existing, relatively little and unassuming building.

The Soviet secret services employed the prison from 1945 to the early 1950s as a remand prison for former Nazi collaborators, but also for German citizens considered dangerous or unreliable for the Soviet system. They were typically sentenced to years of forced labors and deported to the Gulag systems. When the STASI was created and took over the surveillance of GDR citizens, this prison was employed primarily for Soviet citizens considered as dissidents, including military staff. It is estimated that the Soviet population in the GDR totalled half million people in the late 1980s, therefore surveillance was not an easy task for the Soviets, requiring a dedicate apparatus with its own facilities.

The citadel and the prison in it went on operating until 1994, among the latest facilities to be relinquished by the then-Russian government.

The largely arbitrary indictment and sentencing of German citizens interned in this prison by the inhumane bureaucratic Soviet government of the years of Stalin indeed made many victims. Therefore, this place is primarily a memorial.

The shabbiness of the entire construction, typical to Soviet KGB prisons (see for instance here) is really striking. The visits starts on the first floor, where a number of cells can be seen. A rigor cell can be recognized by the lack of any light or ventilation. The ground was typically flooded with cold water, and the walls are covered in rough plaster, so that the prisoner could not sit on the ground nor lean against the wall.

On the top floor, former interrogation rooms today host a very interesting exhibition, with rich and detailed information in multiple languages including Russian and English. They cover the activity of Soviet secret services in the ‘Soviet occupation zone’, and later in the GDR and the Soviet enclaves in it. The brutal treatment reserved to many Germans, typically in the immediate post-WWII years under Stalin’s rule, is witnessed through striking documents, accounts and photographs. Among those sentenced to death were even schoolboys who did not want to learn Russian.

A focus is put on the structure of the law system of the communist dictatorship in the USSR, as well as on the mechanism of interrogations – including accounts of Soviet defectors.

Original memorabilia from the place include coats, special armbands for the staff authorized to enter the citadel, as well as original documents from the various ages of operation of the place.

In the basement are group cells intended for many people on their way to deportation. Graffiti from inmates can still be seen in the plaster.

A rigor cell which did not allow standing is also part of the exhibition.

A memorial to the victims of Soviet hardship has been installed on a side wall, whereas a modern visitor center completes the exhibition.

A thematic walk in the former Soviet citadel highlights through explanatory panels the original function of some of these buildings. Now returned to their original imperial splendor, they carry unsuspected grim memories of the communist era. Among the most notable features is the relic of a former small monument. Looking carefully, some of the houses still bear numbers on the facade according to the Soviet-style numbering of town blocks.

Getting there and moving around

The memorial is called Gedenk‑ und Begegnungsstätte Leistikowstraße Potsdam, and its professionally-run website is here. The address is Leistikowstraße 1 – 14469 Potsdam. Many parking opportunities on site. Reaching is easy also with public transport from Berlin. The prison is very close to the Cecilienhof palace.

The visit is on a self-guided basis, with much information available through the website, including options for smartphone-guided tour to the prison and to the former citadel. The permanent exhibition (in many languages) is rich and interesting, a detailed visit to the prison and exhibition may take up to 1 hour 15 minutes. A walk in the former Soviet citadel, today very enjoyable, may add 30-40 minutes for the more committed visitor.

Peenemünde Army Research Facility

Peenemünde is broadly known for having hosted the first ever large-scale research center and test ground for military rockets, missiles, flying bombs and innovative ordnance and weaponry in the world. The small town of Peenemünde is located on the island of Usedom, a nice, almost flat island on the shore of the Baltic sea, on the border between today’s Germany and Poland – ‘Peene’ is a river having its mouth (‘münde’ in German, from which the name of the place) where Usedom island is.

History – in brief

The Peenemünde site was a creäture of the administration of the Nazi regime in the late Thirties. It grew rapidly to a considerable size especially for the time. The site included an electric power plant, later used after the closure of the research center for supplying energy to the East German power grid, an airport, later converted into an air base and operated by the Air Force of East Germany, a sea port, a series of technical facilities for testing and producing all that was needed to assemble rockets, their systems and engines, as well as for preparing propellants.

There were also several launch pads for missiles and flying bombs, and last but not least, scattered over a broad area, housing for thousands of people, which included high-ranking technicians and people from academia – there was also an advanced wind tunnel -, military/SS personnel, as well as factory workers, including many prisoners of the regime.

The site was so large that a dedicated local railway was built and operated to allow people commuting, modeled on the urban railway of Berlin. The railway network was the third in size in Germany, following Berlin and Hamburg.

This enormous installation was directed by Wehrner von Braun, later to become a technical leader in the US research efforts in the field of rocketry, and a central character in the race for space opposite the Soviets.

Peenemünde was never an operative launch site – it was far too distant from potential targets in Britain for the limited range of flying weapons of those days – but due to its primary relevance as a testing and production site of the v1 flying bombs and later of the v2 missiles, the site became a designated target of very intense bombing raids.

The Peenemünde complex was severely hit in a series of air attacks launched by the Allied British and US air forces in the summer of 1943. After that, production was moved in forced labor camps in central Germany – Mittelbau/Dora being probably the most in-famous – whereas only research and testing was still conducted in Peenemünde, with plans to move progressively more and more equipment to other destinations scattered over the territory of the Third Reich, for which construction was started in the last years of WWII.

The Soviets captured what remained of the complex in Peenemünde at the very end of WWII in May 1945. By common agreement, the Allied put an end to rocket research in Germany, the Soviets materially blowing up every technical building still standing in the area, with the exception of the power plant, the airport and a few others. Parts of the machinery in the powerplant as well as almost all railway tracks were reportedly transferred to the Soviet Union.

Since then, the air base of the East German Air Force has been developed in more instances, adding aircraft shelters, a tower and other technical buildings that are still standing – the airport is today open to general aviation. The power plant was updated over the years by the Communist regime, becoming one of the most polluting plants in Germany, whereas the former launch pads and the area once occupied by technical buildings were rapidly reclaimed by nature.

The following photos were taken during a visit to the site in April 2016.

Sights

Museum

After 1989 and the German reunification, the power plant was soon closed, and a museum (Historical Technical Museum, website here) on the history of the Peenemünde site, recognized worldwide as the cradle of modern rocketry, was opened in it.

Among the few buildings of the Nazi era still standing today, the building of the ticket and book shop of this museum used to be a bunker for governing the power plant also in case of an air raid.

There are three main exhibitions in the museum. The open air exhibition, on the ground of the power plant, is composed of an original v1 launching ramp moved here from France, with a v1 flying bomb assembled from original pieces, a reconstructed v2 rocket, and a local train from the original local railway system.

In the photos it is possible to see the launch system of the v1, which was pushed to its take-off speed by a piston moving in a pipe underneath the bomb, in the body of the ramp. Mostly similar to modern acceleration systems on aircraft carriers, except for the piston was moved as an effect of a chemical reaction involving hydrogen peroxide, and not water steam as it’s most typical for aircraft carriers.

The second and third exhibitions are hosted in the building of the power plant – itself a significant example of industrial architecture from the days of the Nazi regime – and describe the history of the army research center and of the powerplant. The first of these two is the ‘central piece’ of the complex, no visit of Peenemünde is complete without a look at this exhibition.

In the photographs it is possible to see some of the artifacts in the exhibition about rocketry in Peenemünde. It is possible to appreciate the advanced technologies tested here already in those early years, including high pressure mixing of liquid propellants, graphite deflectors for thrust vectoring, inertial navigation systems, turbopumps for pumping the propellant into the combustion chamber at the correct rate. There are also original signs from the area.

Scaled mockups of all items tested in Peenemünde, much more numerous than the v1 and v2, add to the show, together with models of the former launch pads. Especially launch pad ‘VII’, used for the v2 rocket, was so well designed that it was adopted also in the US after the war as a blueprint for their own designs.

A visit to the complex of the power plant may easily take 2 h 30 min for an interested subject.

Former test grounds and launch pads

The launch pads were placed closer to the airport, very close to the northeastern shore of the island, to the north of the village of Peenemünde. Today, this broad ‘ghost area’ is partly fenced, surely not accessible with private vehicles, possibly accessible by foot. It is a kind of natural preserve, with much wildlife around.

The best way to explore this area, without getting lost in the trees and with a chance to spot what is still in place, is going with a society offering guided tours of the site, named ‘Historische Rundfahrt Peenemünde’ (website here). As of 2016 there are tours offered in German three times a day on a regular basis, but it is possible to arrange tours in English upon request at your preferred time – this was my only option as I don’t know much German. In my case, it turned out I was the only visitor on that tour, so I had the guide – a gentleman speaking a very good English, and with an incredible knowledge of many technical matters – all for me for the duration of the whole 3 h 15 min tour. You move mostly with a minivan, so apart from the bumpy road the visit is very comfortable.

The tour starts by the airport of Peenemünde, and you are soon driven into the site. With the help of a digital map, the guide will show where you are standing with respect to the buildings and installations that were originally there. You can see from the photos that Soviets took their job very seriously, so that very little remains of the original structures. You can recognize the original plan of the site mainly by the asphalted roads still in place today – albeit covered in dust.

The most prominent sight in the complex is surely launch pad ‘VII’, once used for the v2. It is possible to spot the containment banks all around the launch site. The concrete flame deflector is still in place, filled with rainwater. The walls of the deflector were water-cooled to resist the extreme heat of the rocket exhaust at takeoff. The water pump occupied a part of the lateral banks, together with measuring equipment and a sheltered observation deck. Still standing is a water nozzle used by firefighters in the – likely – event of fires due to malfunctions in the launching process.

A stone celebrates the launching of the first v2 missile from this site.

The rocket used to be moved to the launching position – above the flame deflector – with a special trolley. Multiple silos were placed around a common track made of concrete, built outside the perimeter of the containment banks. The trolley, loaded on a sliding platform, could move along the concrete track. The missile was collected from the assembly silo, the platform moved along the concrete track to reach the head of a short metal railway track where the trolley could be pushed to reach the flame deflector, in the middle of the containment banks – see the photo of the model above. Like the flame deflector, the concrete guide is still standing today, filled with rain water.

Other interesting sights of the visit are the experimental launch ramps of the v1, placed to the northernmost part of the island, right behind the beach. A first experimental ramp (type 1) was totally made of concrete, and was clearly not adopted for operational use, being too difficult to build and manage. Other two ramps, not so different from one another, were the first examples of types 2 and 3.

Type 3 was adopted operationally and deployed to the coasts of France and Belgium. Inert concrete warheads used in test flights can be seen in the photos, left from the age of testing.

You can see here that all ramps pointed directly to the Baltic sea. Telemetry towers were installed on the neighbor islands of Oie and Ruegen for tracking the experimental flights and taking measurements. Two such towers that are still standing today can be spotted from here in the distance, you can see them in the photos.

Before leaving, having shown a great interest for the topic of aeronautics, I was given the opportunity to tour an incredible exhibition of weapons, systems and artifacts from the area they are putting together in a small farm surviving from the days of WWII – where rabbits were bred for feeding the staff and for making fur for airmen. As of May 2016 this was not yet open to the public.

Among the artifacts you can see in the pictures from this exhibition, TV-guided bombs, experimental solid propellant rockets, a piloted v1 and tons of other incredible items. This shows once more that many technologies later become widespread had been tested here much before they started to be massively used. Also preserved are some parts of aircraft downed during the raids of 1943.

Maybe after finishing with the tour it is interesting to have a brief look to the airport, where the control tower possibly from the Nazi era and some aircraft shelters are still standing. The place can’t be walked freely for it’s still an active GA airport, but part of the former base is being used as a testing track for sport cars and can be approached safely.

My tour lasted more than 3 hours, but at the time of booking my English tour I was offered also shorter options.

K-24 Juliett-class Soviet submarine
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This submarine is moored in the port of Peenemünde, a five minutes walk from the entrance to the power plant. This is reportedly the only Juliett class submarine existing today, so visiting is an absolute ‘must-do’ for the committed tourist (website here).

Furthermore, the condition of this unit is still very good, making for an interesting and unusual visit – a unusal fact is that all is written in Cyrillic alphabet, with many ‘CCCP’ factory signs on the labels of the gauges and of the technical stuff. Juliett submarines were designed in the Fifties and operated till the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early Nineties, with a capability for launching cruise missiles with tactical nuclear warheads directed to target ships or coastal targets, from a distance of some hundred miles. They were conventionally powered with large diesel electric-units.

Having been designed after WWII, they are much roomier than German U-Boots from the Nazi era, hence the visit is ok also for claustrophobic people. You can see two launch tubes in a deployed position to the back of the ship.

Visiting may take between five minutes and 1 hour depending on the level of your interest.

Note

A visit of these three items at a reasonable pace but without running may easily fill a day schedule. I know there is much to explore and see on your own in the area of the former complex, but I could only dedicate one day to this site during my trip. I would recommend doing at least the same for an interested person.

In any case, the island with its Baltic shores and light is nice and relaxing, so I would recommend planning a day for Usedom also in case you are not interested only in military history.

Getting there and moving around

The island of Usedom is much larger than the area of the former research complex, which once occupied the northernmost extremity. The island can be approached by car with two bridges in Anklam and Wolgast from mainland Germany, or from Poland. It is very easy to get there by car.

Once in the village of Peenemünde, it’s easy to spot the massive building of the power plant. K-24 can be reached with a five minutes walk from the entrance of the power plant. The place is very popular, so there is a large parking just besides these two attractions.

The pick-up point for the guided tour of the former research center is by the small airport, which is located north of the village, a 1.5 miles drive from Peenemünde. Free parking besides the small office building.

I couldn’t imagine a more convenient way than having a car for moving around, but the island is reportedly very crowded in summer. A train can be used to reach some of the villages on Usedom, so you may consider also this alternative.