Brotfabrik und Lager Militärhandel
THE ABANDONED BAKERY IN GERMANY
The ‘Brotfabrik und Lager Militärhandel’ is an old, deserted military bakery located in the German state of Brandenburg. Constructed in 1936 for the German army, it was subsequently seized by the Red Army following the Second World War. The site was abandoned in 1994, shortly after Germany’s reunification.
The initial formation of German tank units took place in this military city in 1933. Consequently, numerous barracks, apartments, restaurants, and hotels were constructed in the subsequent years. Additionally, in 1937, this army bakery was established as the ‘Heeresbäckerei und Heeresverpflegungsamt’.
As the Second World War drew to a close, on 20 April 1945, Soviet forces assumed control of the military zone with minimal resistance. The historic army bakery, dating back to the 1930s, remained operational. Concurrently, the facility was rechristened as ‘Brotfabrik und Lager Militärhandel’.
Almost 80 thousand Soviet citizens lived in this military town. There were kindergartens, schools, hospitals, shops and, since the early 1970s, even a separate platform for daily direct train connections to Moscow. Later, after the reunification of East and West Germany, the Soviets instantly left the country. The city was left abandoned, so eventually also the bakery closed its doors in 1994. I visited the ‘Brotfabrik und Lager Militärhandel’ in 2020.
