Olympic Village Berlijn Elstal

The 1936 Summer Olympics were held in Berlin. The Nazi government turned it into a great propaganda spectacle, intended to put Hitler's empire in a good light. For the approximately four thousand male athletes from fifty different countries, an Olympic village was built in Elstal, a few kilometres west of Berlin. Around four thousand male athletes from fifty different countries were housed here. After the war, the site was part of the Soviet occupation zone. It was used as military barracks and the KGB ran an interrogation center there. After the departure of the last Soviet troops in 1992, the village was abandoned for years. Recently, restoration work has been taking place as part of housing development. Among others, the residence of the American athlete Jesse Owens has been restored to its original state.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Koos Winkelman