The terrain was a chaos with wrecks of vehicles and all kinds of Russian leftovers. Hardly any maintenance had been done in past decades. From 1994 onwards the site was cleaned up and most of the furnishings were removed from the buildings....
In 2000, the land was sold to a subsidiary of the DKB bank. In the meantime, the buildings increasingly decayed and fell victim to vandalism, such as arson on the roof of the swimming pool and metal gutters and railings in other buildings being stolen.
Fortunately, the bank took care of the site, carried out necessary maintenance and made it accessible to visitors during guided tours.
Then we can see some current images of the facilities o the Olympic Village, with vestiges such as the relief mural of marching German soldiers, on a wall of the Hindemburghaus.....
Three Wehrmacht soldiers pose for Walther von Ruckdeschel in 1936
During the Soviet occupation it was covered with plaster and when it was removed, the relief appeared intact
But the best way to preserve monuments is to give it a function. The site of the Olympic village is therefore perfect for redevelopment not too far from expensive Berlin and in a natural environment.
And that's what happened. In July 2017 a major project began to breathe new life into the place. The goal was to renovate the Speisehaus der Nationen into 115 apartments.
Later, another 350 homes were built on the site of the athletes' houses demolished by the Russians.
Some current images of the process of progressive transformation of the place.
In this last image we can see the large rehabilitated building, abandoned Soviet housing blocks in the background and some of the athletes' original homes on the left.
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