Today, we’re bringing you deep into the Eastern German uplands near the place where we once grew up.
At the end of winter, we spent two days in the Ore Mountains to search for abandonments.
As guerrilla preservationists of such buildings we try to document the stories hidden behind forgotten walls.
In the first episode of our two-part series we lead you through a range of places rich in variety.
From a perfectly preserved time capsule to a dangerously unstable structure reclaimed by nature.
This time, however, we focus on a true hidden gem.
Turn on English subtitles for the best experience and join us on day two of our latest adventure.
Oh boy.
Why do we always end up in situations like this?
I don’t really trust this structure…
On a cold Sunday morning we were climbing over a rusted, old bridge,
hoping it wouldn’t collapse under our feet.
Okay, somehow we managed to reach the other side in one piece but only seconds after,
a part of the grid we were just walking on fall down in the rapid stream!
Holy shit!
And there the grid was gone. – Yes, a grid just fell down.
Huh? – One of the grids just broke off.
Without wasting a thought on how much luck we just had,
we were purposefully heading to our main destination for today.
And this wasn’t even the biggest danger that day.
Because actually there was a hurricane moving in our direction
but at this point, we didn’t know that this will be a race against time.
So, in summary: Just a regular day for the BWT crew.
And yet, our day was starting so peacefully.
We had no clue where we were.
Already after dusk we were pitching our tent next to some field road.
Sure, we wanted to leave as soon as possible before the owner of the land showed up and caused trouble.
Which would be his right because we were trespassing again.
But food had priority.
We needed an energizing breakfast in order to be well-prepared for today’s explorations.
We were throwing all of our leftover food in a pot and it was actually delicious!
This is the life!
…of a homeless person.
From the Eastern part of the Ore Mountains we wanted to head to the West end.
Although not that much people live here, as you could already see in our recent episode,
the whole region is still of historical significance.
Despite the name of the Central German Uplands referring to the enormous ore deposits,
nowadays the Ore Mountains are also known for another important raw material.
After World War Two the Soviet Union was mining enormous amounts of uranium here.
Only because of that, their atomic bomb project could be realized.
However, today’s episode isn’t about ore, uranium or nukes, but about paper.
And we just arrived at our destination.
It’s the relic of a place rich in tradition which has shaped the whole region.
In the 19th century, many factories were locating at the river in this valley.
Benefiting from the direct position at a railroad line to a bigger city, a paper mill was emerging here around 1880.
For more than 100 years the factory lasted.
Only in 2013, the company was finally abandoned after years of financial problems.
But the factory halls as you can see them here weren’t used for an even longer period of time.
The old plant was shut down and a more modern one was constructed right next door.
However, what’s actually more interesting for us isn’t the factory itself but the treasure hidden behind it.
But it wasn’t that easy to get there.
We’re glad that we had insider information from a companioned explorer who has been here before.
We have to be a bit careful around here.
On the property, there are workers even though it's Sunday.
We parked over here and now we have to move through the ruin of the factory to get to the location.
We have to find a way to pass the fences.
This magnificent villa from the time when the factory was constructed,
was the starting point for our infiltration.
During the last years of the plant especially paper for food packaging
and printing as well as specialty papers of all kinds were made here.
After the company wasn't profitable any more, it was bought up.
But the business couldn't be saved in that way either and so it was declared insolvent.
Today, some parts of the property are leased.
That's why we had to be careful, because we didn't want to get seen while exploring.
For this very reason, we took the sneaky but very adventurous way over the bridge
you already saw in the beginning of the episode.
That's how the building we wanted to explore looks from the outside.
But to get in, we had to enter round the back through the densely overgrown inner courtyard.
At this point, we were glad that it was still winter and therefor the vegetation was rather moderately.
At first, it looked like the place would be locked tight.
But as you should know by now, there always is a way in somewhere.
So, welcome to Strawberry School!
And now try to guess, why the place is called that.
It bears repeating: That's how we love our abandonments!
Left behind items from a bygone era,
plaster is crumbling off the walls and moss as well as mildew are spreading extensively.
It's remarkable that nature hasn't creeped in yet!
As you can see, it is trying.
Really!
But it's waiting patiently behind closed doors for an opportunity.
In the end nature always finds a way.
To be honest, it was impossible for us to find any information about this place.
Everything, we claim now, is based on speculation.
Due to the proximity to the plant we are presuming that this is the former company school of the paper mill.
It was a huge facility in the past and so, they were training their junior staff here for certain.
The structure was constructed sometime after the founding of the German Democratic Republic in 1949
and closed down for unknown reasons when Germany was reunited again.
Our first thought in such a case always is that there probably wasn't any demand anymore.
Maybe it wasn't possible to pay for the education due to the financial problems we already mentioned.
This is a small building with only a few classrooms.
So, only a little number of apprentices could be taught here.
The curriculum covered subjects like the function of different machines
but also, chemistry and the substances which were used in the course of production.
And last but not least it was all about paper.
And you can find plenty of that still today.
In these cupboards, for example, we were discovering a variety of work drawings.
On closer inspection it turned out that they were all showing the paper factory next door.
This board indicates, that pupils had to compete here in different teaching subjects in the past.
Those contests were quite common in the GDR.
With the friendly strife between the labor of the country,
the communist state tried to compensate the inefficiency of the state-controlled economy.
Which didn't work out in the end by the way.
After spending some time here and looking around closely, we accidentally spotted a group of people approaching.
They were coming the same way as we did, which was the bridge.
I think they don't know how they're supposed to get down there.
As it turned out it was photographers again!
Lately, we were running across quite a lot of people in abandoned sites.
As it seems, urban exploration has become a popular hobby now.
For exploring and shooting such structures, there are different strategies.
While we have a rather traditional understanding and mostly leave the places exactly as we find them,
we apparently just met a group of explorers with a more extreme attitude.
Did you put the strawberries out of the room?
Nope, they were already lying around. - No, they're supposed to be in that room.
They already were in the hallway when we came in. - I believe you.
Those are carried around all the time at the moment.
Are you putting them back? - Yes, I place them back in the room.
How often are you here? For us, it's the first time.
For us as well. But we know pictures from three months ago.
The guy who showed us the photos told us that the strawberries are carried around.
For our images we want to leave the scenery with the strawberries as it was.
Wow, this guy was really rearranging things.
We were kinda surprised, to be honest.
The photographers wanted the place exactly the way they have seen it on recent pictures.
And on those the strawberries were located differently.
If you're an explorer yourself: What do you think about that?
Are you arranging such places for good shots or do you leave everything the way you find it?
Please explain your approach in the comments, because it's really interesting to us!
However, since the place was rearranged now, we had to document the new situation as well, of course.
So, here you go.
There isn’t enough space for two groups of photographers in the small building for sure.
That's why we left the school to look around the property a bit longer.
Directly adjacent we had found big tanks.
This is the former waste water treatment plant of the paper mill.
But we're not talking about the ruin over there.
No, this belonged to the more modern facility that was shut down only a few years ago.
However, these tanks were built when the vocational school had been abandoned long since.
Because the sewage works is from 2005.
And if you want to know how these tanks are working, just listen to Till's explanation now.
He actually studied this stuff.
Listen, my friend.
That thing down there is the scraper.
That is scraping everything?
That's going around and pushes the sludge into the soakaway.
It works like a funnel.
The sludge gets separated and pumped back into the clarifier.
Because that's live bacteria which cleans the shit.
As you can see, it had started to rain pretty badly.
The hurricane we were mentioning earlier, was coming closer fast.
Meanwhile, we had received the disaster warning on our smartphones.
But there was still one main attraction on the property we absolutely wanted to see.
And since we had a little bit of time left, we also took a brief look into the service rooms of the waste water purification plant.
It's so clean that it's in stark contrast to the old school next door.
Okay, one last stop before we finish our exploration.
The former arts and leisure center on the premises we didn't want to miss.
Inside here something was awaiting us which we usually wouldn't expect to find in a building like this.
Did you ever see a boat inside an abandoned building?
Not yet. Now I did.
Do you remember when we've said that parts of the property are leased?
Apparently, the building is still used as a storage area.
There is no other reason why there would be so much materials and especially a modern boat waiting in here.
This building was constructed in 1950 and was meant to keep the workers entertained.
Even movies were shown here in the past.
We're sorry that we weren't really able to find out much about the site.
Neither about the arts and leisure center nor about the school you're able to find any information online.
Only about the old factory you can get a handful of data.
For instance, during our research we just learned that it’s supposed to be turned into an area for playing airsoft.
But we would like to hear your theories!
What can you infer from the footage we have shown you and from the things we have told?
For example, what's the deal with all the big strawberries you saw earlier?
Or do you even have valid info about the premises?
One way or another, let us know for sure in the comments!
We originally planned to explore more places in the Ore Mountains that day.
But due to the hurricane we had to abort early.
After all, we needed to get back home on that day.
But the region has much more hidden gems to offer which we would like to document and show you.
What do you think?
Should we come back for another adventure?
This time it's up to you because you should be able to co-create the channel as well.
We look forward to hearing from you in the comments!
Next time on Broken Window Theory:
After several years of trespassing we ultimately ended up where we belong:
In a prison!
Well, in an abandoned one of course.
The history of this sinister place in the heart of Germany dates back all the way to the Middle Ages.
Before the huge building complex was used as prison, it was actually a moated castle.
For almost 150 years forced workers, war prisoners
and prisoners of conscience among others were incarcerated here.
Today the premises rich in tradition is vacant and falling apart bit by bit.
In our next episode we try to document the whole story and find out why there’s no rescue in sight.
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