Without a buyer, Joseph Goebbels’ former villa could be demolished

What to do with the former villa of Joseph Goebbels in Wandlitz, north of Berlin? This is the question being asked by the German capital, which owns it. No one has the means to rehabilitate this site, which houses several buildings.

The German capital is having a hard time finding a use for the luxurious former estate of Joseph Goebbels, built in an enchanting setting near a lake in the late 1930s. The city has even offered to sell the building to Hitler’s propaganda minister for a symbolic euro. But so far without success.

Hidden in the forest, the property covers nearly 17 hectares. U-shaped, the building houses several lounges, a dozen bedrooms, and a private cinema room. “An ultra-modern villa, where the floors are made of marbledescribes Thomas Drachenberg, the regional curator, “For the 30s, it was very luxurious.”

After moving there in 1936, this is where Goebbels worked. “far from the hell of the bombs falling on Berlin”, and that he “wrote his famous speech at the Palais des Sports, which preceded the terrible steamroller of the Second World War,” Thomas Drachenberg also lists.

Over time, the complex, which has been unoccupied for 24 years, is deteriorating and the complete rehabilitation of the site could reach 350 million euros. Even if “the structure is good” and “the roofs have been redone”, thanks to an investment of four and a half million euros, “the windows, the doors, all that has aged”, laments Hansi, the property’s caretaker. “We also need to redo the electricity. If we had started earlier, we would have saved a lot of money.”

“We can’t pay forever. We need money elsewhere, because we are way behind on the renovations of the police and fire stations.”

Joanna Steinke, spokesperson for the real estate company

to franceinfo

To maintain the complex, the city of Berlin, which owns it, spends 300,000 euros each year. An increasingly difficult sum to raise, especially since the municipality has other priorities, explains Joanna Steinke, the spokeswoman for the real estate company responsible for managing the site. “There is guarding, pruning, repairs when windows or doors are broken, and this sum of course increases as the condition of the buildings deteriorates.”

“If we erase them, maybe in two generations no one will know what happened here with Nazism and the GDR. This site has historical value, it is unique.”

Oliver Borche, mayor of Wandlitz

to franceinfo

The city has tried to sell the buildings, but the 350 million euros needed to rehabilitate them has dissuaded potential buyers. Without a buyer, the complex, although listed as a historic monument, could be razed. A prospect that the mayor of the town, Oliver Borche, is opposed to. For him, “We must preserve the traces of History for posterity and make them visible.”

“If we erase them, maybe in two generations no one will know what happened here with Nazism and the GDR. This site has historical value, it is unique.” The mayor still has hope of giving the site a second life. Among the avenues considered, the reconversion of the complex into housing, a museum or a university center.