Report - Beelitz Heilstätten Germany March 2013

[Wevsky]

Visited with Urban Ginger,SpaceInvader and met up with Humpa and his cousin..and a few random German bods while there

This trip was supposed to be a day or so longer and we had a full on list to get thru.
That all went tits up after a car crash bad enough to write off two cars.The insurance company mugged us off and although saying they would get the car moved it was down to the breakdown cover people to get us home..
The breakdown cover said it was the other way round and when we tried to get back to insurance company the automated message informed UG that business was closed till Monday morning ,so we where stranded..Thankfully Humpa and co. came back and got us to the hotel which we had booked for that night and after getting quoted 800 for train tickets for us to get to Calais or a hire car for 600 euros we where getting rather stressed as we didn't have a huge amount of money..UG' family to the rescue and easy jet tickets where paid for in the uk and we had our way home and could get some sleep before we had to leave.Big thanks to silver rainbow for the lift back from the airport..
So all in all bloody stressful few days after a ten hour drive to Germany..The upside was a visit to Amsterdam to check out the tulips and the women in the little rooms with big windows where very friendly


History from wicki

Beelitz-Heilstätten, a district of the town, is home to a large hospital complex of

about 60 buildings including a cogeneration plant erected from 1898 on according to

plans of architect Heino Schmieden. Originally designed as a sanatorium by the

Berlin workers' health insurance corporation, the complex from the beginning of

World War I on was a military hospital of the Imperial German Army. During October

and November 1916, Adolf Hitler recuperated at Beelitz-Heilstätten after being

wounded in the leg at the Battle of the Somme. In 1945, Beelitz-Heilstätten was

occupied by Soviet forces, and the complex remained a Soviet military hospital

until 1995, well after the German reunification. In December 1990 Erich Honecker

was admitted to Beelitz-Heilstätten after being forced to resign as the head of the

East German government.

Following the Soviet withdrawal, attempts were made to privatize the complex, but

they were not entirely successful. Some sections of the hospital remain in

operation as a neurological rehabilitation center and as a center for research and

care for victims of Parkinsons disease. The remainder of the complex, including the

surgery, the psychiatric ward, and a rifle range, was abandoned in 2000. As of

2007, none of the abandoned hospital buildings or the surrounding area were

secured, giving the area the feel of a ghost town. This has made Beelitz-

Heilstätten a destination for curious visitors and a film set for movies like The

Pianist from 2002, the Rammstein music video Mein Herz brennt and Valkyrie from

2008.

On with some pics

Couple of shots from the hotel roof to finish..and thank you for bearing with me i know its a bit pic heavy

Sad to say this is the only report but thew trip did end with a Bang!