Translated material
Life after spies
Investors are taking over the former KGB headquarters in Berlin
A new residential complex will appear in the near future in the Berlin microdistrict of Karlshorst on the territory of a former Soviet military town, popularly and, understandably, for the purpose of secrecy called the “105th Regiment.” In fact, here, in a concrete-fenced complex of buildings on Zwieselerstrasse, the KGB's European headquarters was located in the post-war decades. From here, together with “friends” (as Soviet intelligence officers also secretly called their colleagues from the East German state security), “special operations” were planned and carried out in the western direction.The NKVD Border Regiment number 105 was stationed on Zwieselerstrasse in the last days of the Second World War. Soldiers of this regiment provided security for the ceremony of signing the act of unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945, which took place in the casino of the former military engineering school of the Nazi Wehrmacht
The Surrender Museum turned out to be one of the few buildings on Zwieselerstrasse that remained outside the closed zone, guarded with the latest technology of the time. In 1994, simultaneously with the withdrawal of Soviet troops from East Germany, Soviet intelligence officers also left their homes in Karlshorst. The remaining ownerless 46 thousand square meters. m of abandoned territory with seven buildings, which are under state protection as architectural monuments, became federal property. The deserted former military town was a sad sight: broken windows, broken doors, mountains of garbage. Inside the buildings, everything that could be torn from the walls, ceiling and floor was missing. Although the new owner, the federal center, took some urgent measures to save these objects, it was clear that only a serious investor could return them to full life.
One was found 15 years later. A group of investors with the unexpected name “Pension Care Project” for this type of activity has bought former Soviet real estate from the state and is preparing to turn it into a modern residential complex. About 300 apartments will be equipped in existing buildings in which services and departments of the “representation” were located - this is how the security officers themselves called their Berlin institution in common use. KGB relics can still be found there to this day. The soundproofed rooms have been preserved in their original form; a previously secret telephone cable runs somewhere. Next to the former teletype room there is a compact stove, apparently intended for burning secrets printed on paper. Strangely, in one of the halls of the basement, a massive billiard table covered with green cloth of impressive size has been preserved, behind which, presumably, the officers whiled away their rare moments of rest.
Several new terraced houses will also be built in Karlshorst (in the picture) - a total of 40 two-level apartments. “Construction work will begin this year and will be completed by 2012. To date, we have already sold several dozen apartments,” Jörg Bomfalk, one of the managers of the Dezakon company, told Vremya Novostey. The firm and its partners in the consortium of investors - Nordland from Hannover and Wirtschaftskontor Mitteldeutschland from Magdeburg - have already had to take on similar work. In Magdeburg, East Germany, they converted an old Prussian fortress into a modern housing complex. All 400 apartments equipped in this architectural monument, as Mr. Bomfalk said, have already been sold out.
Investors have no doubt about the success of their new project. There will be apartments here for every taste and different wallets. An apartment with an area of 43 sq. m. is intended for single residents. m. The area of five-room apartments will be slightly more than 100 sq. m. m. The buyer will have to count 2080 euros for each square meter in the former European headquarters of the KGB - by Berlin standards this is higher than the average price for private housing, which is set at 1971 euros. But the new inhabitants of Karlshorst will be able to be proud that they live in one of the collapsed secret bastions of the Cold War.