Hitler's hospital: The haunting remains of Nazi Germany's Beelitz Sanatorium, where the rusting operating tables have lain untouched since it was abandoned
Rusty beds, vine-covered buildings and empty corridors with walls covered in graffiti and slowly peeling paint are what remains of a gigantic hospital which once treated Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, after it was abandoned in the fall of East Germany.
Beelitz-Heilstätten, a 60-building treatment complex southwest of the German capital, was built in the late 19th century to help rehabilitate the growing number of tuberculosis patients in the expanding city of Berlin.
During the Great War, Beelitz-Heilstätten - or Beelitz Sanatorium - was turned into a military hospital and was where a young Adolf Hitler was treated for a thigh injury acquired during the Battle of the Somme.
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Beelitz-Heilstätten was built between 1898 and 1930 after an initiative by the German National Insurance Institute who found that the closeness to Berlin in combination with the fresh air of the countryside made the location ideal for a sanatorium.
Parts of the complex was turned into a military hospital by the German Imperial Army when World War I broke out and was where Adolf Hitler was sent to recover from his war wounds in late 1916.
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The 60-building complex did not only have treatment facilities but functioned as a little village and had a butcher's, a post office, a restaurant, a bakery and even its own power station which was so powerful snow never settled on Beelitz-Heilstätten’s grounds.
Although the economic crisis following the war saw many wards close, Beelitz-Heilstätten was considered a global frontrunner in tuberculosis treatment.
During the Second World War several buildings were bombed by the Allied Forces and in 1945 it was occupied by Soviet forces and remained a Soviet military hospital even after Germany united in 1990.
Hitler was not the only dictator to recuperate at Beelitz-Heilstätten. In 1990 GDR leader Erich Honecker received treatment for liver cancer and after her was deposed following the fall of East Germany, he used Beelitz-Heilstätten as his starting point in his flight to Russia to escape prosecution.
The Soviet Army withdrew in 1995, after which several attempts were made to privatize Beelitz- Heilstätten, without success.
Sections of the hospital remained open after the military left and were used as a neurological rehabilitation center to help sufferers of Parkinson's disease.
Finally, in 2000, the last operations in Beelitz- Heilstätten were closed and the complex was completely abandoned.
Urban explorers describe the complex as 'easy to enter' and many are baffled by the ease of access and the fact that none are secured and only a few are boarded up.
Its ‘ghost town’ air has appealed to more than just those looking to explore the grounds and Beelitz-Heilstätten has been used as a set for Oscar winner The Pianist and 2008 film Valkyrie starring Tom Cruise.
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