A Russian army base in former East Germany
In former East Germany there are still some old army bases ...
In this case it concerns the abandoned army camp "Heeresversuchsanstalt Hillersleben", which was built in 1935. Entire villages were demolished to build this 30 km long and 12 km wide area. It was primarily used to test new weapons. (The Dora guns were tested here for example) It is located just outside Hillersleben in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. By the way, the border with former West Germany is only a few dozen kilometers away….
You do understand how big it is if a complete hospital, a theater, riding school, swimming pool and, for example, cinema fit into it. Wow!
In the old barracks blocks you can still find many traces of the old past. For example, it also had its own newspaper and they also had its own radio station. You could still find those newspapers all over the place...
After World War II, the Russian army took over the base (Gruppe der Sowjetischen Streitkräfte in Deutschland (GSSD) and it was converted into one of the largest and top secret military training grounds outside the Soviet Union. About 20 to 30,000 Soviet soldiers from the 47th Panzer Division's others were stationed here.
Hillersleben was nicknamed "Little Moscow" and what did happen behind the walls was mostly a secret.
It is more than clear that it must have been an enormous basis. The cinema, riding school, swimming pool, you name it, everything was still there for years ... until nature slowly gained ground after the Russians left. And today… only the photos remain….
After the departure of the Russians, who left between 1990 and 1994, the (west German) Bundeswehr took over the training site, but the army city itself was abandoned. The Truppenübungsplatz Altmark is still in use, but the buildings have now almost all disappeared.
The East German army has therefore never been here. It has been a Nazi German area first, then Russian and then “unified Germany” with the training grounds that are still in use today.
It was sold in 2010 and unfortunately, it was demolished around 2013. Quite a shame considering the history it has (the creepy man with that strange mustache has also been here), but well…. What do you do with it right? Unfortunately you cannot save everything.
English 
Dutch
Daar had ik ook wel even rond willen lopen.
Helaas, alles ligt inmiddels tegen de vlakte. Er heeft trouwens nog jaren een rus in de ruïnes ” gewoond” die niet terug wilde naar Rusland nadat de troepen zijn weggaan….