This article is more than 1 year old

Berlin takes down ‘for sale’ sign over top Nazi’s love nest

For poor old Goebbels, no offers at all…

Berlin may be filling up with techie startups and desperate refugees, but one corner of the history-drenched German capital is failing to attract any new comers.

The city’s real estate arm has been forced to give up on efforts to sell a “sprawling lakeside villa” that was once a “lovenest” for Hitler’s propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, the local reports. As head of the Nazi’s film production operation, he reputedly ran a lively casting couch operation there.

This isn’t the first time the city has failed to offload the site, due to a combination of fear that it could fall into the wrong hands and become some sort of shrine to the Nazi regime, and the fact that it is, bizarrely, a listed building in its own right.

By contrast, the local reports, Hitler’s own love pad, the Eagle’s Nest in Bavaria, has a restaurant, cafe and book shop.

The site’s allure probably isn’t helped by the fact it also hosts a former training centre for the old East German Communist Party’s youth wing.

The city is now, apparently, looking to lease the site instead. Apparently, it makes a particularly eerie period film set.

Berlin has boomed since the wall came down, and is currently emerging as a tech startup hotspot - being comparatively cheaper than the likes of London. At the same time, like many German cities, it is filling up with refugees and migrants which it is scrambling to house.

Executive director of Berlin's property arm, Birgit Moehring, said: "What would really appeal to us would be if someone arrived with an intelligent concept to use this place which is so steeped in history."

Alternatively, she said, the most sensible option might be to just raze it to the ground. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like