Trespassing Into History

This abandoned children's home was built in 1910 by a lawyer from Hamburg as a spacious guest house. The estate was idyllically situated in the forest on a plot of around 4 hectares with several buildings. It was initially a private rest home that served wealthier guests as a summer retreat.

In 1927, the Workers' Welfare Association (AWO) took over the institution. The organization developed the grounds into a boarding school for girls. The aim was to provide young women from socially disadvantaged families with schooling and domestic training. ...(more)

At the end, only 43 residents were living in the retirement home, and when they finally left at the end of September 2010, the remaining 28 employees lost their jobs.

Since then, the retirement home stands abandoned, snug between a residential area, a small forest and a picturesque paddock.

The history of the institution is quickly recounted.

It had been built in 1957 and was expanded in 1962.

In 2010, it was decided that the advancing architectural and technical requirements for a retirement home could not be met anymore without a significant financial investment. An investment that the owner couldn't afford; so new homes were found for the residents... (more)

After we had finished our second visit to the former mineral oil works, we had actually planned to go straight back to the Husky camp. So we got in the car and drove along the lonely paths that used to connect the individual areas of the huge plant. Today, they no longer cut through a huge industrial area, but only mostly empty, steppe-like wasteland. Shortly before we left the site in the direction of the main road, we saw a group of trees and bushes on the right-hand side, behind which there was apparently another building that we hadn't even planned to see. Of course, we immediately stopped to take a closer look.....(more)