Beelitz Heilstätten Hospital, Germany. Abandoned Places #19

Beelitz-Heilstätten Hospital, Germany Abandoned Places #19
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Between 1898 and 1930, the Beelitz-Heilstätten complex served as a tuberculosis sanatorium. It also housed mustard gas and machine gun victims during World War I, including a young soldier named Adolf Hitler. The hospital later went on to be a major treatment center for Nazi soldiers during World War II, and it was used as a Soviet military hospital from 1945 until the fall of the Berlin Wall. Today, a few wards are used as a neurological rehabilitation center, although the majority of the complex is abandoned. The surgery and psychiatric wards have both been left to decay and give way to nature now looks Horror Story: Asylum.
Ironically, these experiences and his successful treatment would set the stage for the hospital to once again be used as a field hospital, treating wounded Nazi’s during WWII. Occupied by the Russians in 1945, it served as a Soviet military hospital for the next 50 years until 1995, long after the fall of the Berlin wall. The hospital treated everyone from Communist party members to the disgraced head of the East German government who was sent there after being forced out in 1990.
Today, while a few small sections of the enormous hospital are used for neurological rehabilitation and Parkinson’s research, the majority of the complex, including the surgery ward, the psychiatric ward, and a rifle range, have all been abandoned and left to decay back into the surrounding forest. In 2002 it was used as a set for the Roman Polanski film ‘The Pianist’.
As none of the complex was guarded until 2015, it was a popular place for urban exploration, drinking teenagers, and people looking to give themselves a good scare. In 2015 the ruins were outfitted with a canopy pathway, which allows to view the ruins on every level without need to enter them. Now it’s less an adventure and more of an tourist attraction. But it hasn’t lost the charm and is now fully accessible for walking-impaired persons.