Schule für Heeresmotorisierung
THE ABANDONED MILITARY SCHOOL IN GERMANY
These buildings were reconverted in 1940 to house the ‘Schule für Heeresmotorisierung’. It was a military technical school. Later it was used by the Soviet army as ‘Schule Nr. 1’ until 1992.
The first buildings were built in Wünsdorf in 1933 for the German tank troops. In 1935, the ‘Panzertruppenschule II’ was opened. This school was the second of two major schools set up by the German Panzerwaffe to train German armor officers to operate tanks. Numerous other barracks, apartments, restaurants, and hotels were built in the years that followed.
The research and development department of the Panzertruppenschule, named ‘Versuchsabteilung für Heeresmotorisierung’ was detached from the school and renamed ‘Schule für Heeresmotorisierung‘. The now independent institute started in February 1940. The school trained repairmen, foremen, and other technical personnel. The Panzertruppenschule now concentrated on the operational-tactical training of officers.
On April 20th in 1945, Soviet troops took over the military area with almost no resistance. The bunkers and barracks had been vacated a few hours earlier. In the 1950s, almost 80 thousand Soviet citizens lived on this military site. The old school buildings were transformed to apartments for officers, soldiers, and their families. One of the buildings was still used as a school and named ‘Schule Nr. 1’.
After 1992 the school fell apart. A renewed use of the former school becomes less likely with every year that goes by. I visited the school during my East Germany road trip in 2020.
