Teufelsberg: one of the most surprising stops in abandoned Berlin
Teufelsberg is one of the most surprising stops in abandoned Berlin. The city It has an infinity of dilapidated or half-built spaces , victims of its convulsive recent history. This building and the gigantic ping-pong balls that crown it in the Grunewald forest have been waiting for years to be active again. Meanwhile, the hill is high enough and far enough from the center to guarantee good views of the city. Depending on when you visit you can share the experience with graffiti artists, amateur photographers, bicycle and hiking lovers or simple Sunday people , attracted by its tranquility or by that charge of mysterious energy that it gives off.
It is impossible to delve into the unfathomable mind of David Lynch to understand why it became one of his obsessions. Perhaps it is because of its optimal location or because of its recent history. That it has been used by Nazis and American spies only seems to spur on the cryptic director of Inland Empire or Mulholland Drive.
During World War II, when there was no mountain yet, the Wehrtechnische Fakultät, a Nazi military training center, was erected created by Hitler's main architect, Albert Speer. The building was later buried in the rubble with which Teufelsberg was created, a pharaonic job that took two decades to build, carried out mainly by women. After the fall of Nazism, when Berlin was divided into parts, it passed into the hands of the United States and during the Cold War a spy station was built on its top , from where the American secret services centralized their listening. Once the wall fell, the building lost its reason for being and was completely abandoned since 1992, until Lynch noticed it again.
Among the few graphic examples of the filmmaker's interest is the documentary David wants to fly . Director David Sieveking, for many the German answer to Michael Moore, attended a conference given by David Lynch in Berlin. It dealt with the subject of Transcendental Meditation, a technique that, it seems, makes you levitate with pleasure. The documentary maker also accompanied the organization to Teufelsberg, where they intend to build their training center.
In the purest style of Tom Cruise's Scientology, those responsible for the David Lynch Foundation used the purchase of the place as a great advertising claim, which made headlines upon their arrival in the country and generated some controversy. When Lynch learned of the critical intent of David Sieveking's film he tried by all means to prevent it from premiering at the Berlin Film Festival. He used his contacts in the industry to stop his screening at the Berlinale and threatened to take legal action if he or the organization appeared in the final film, although in the end I can't help either. Meanwhile Teufelsberg serves for the entertainment of the people of Berlin and its visitors.
* The image of Teufelsberg that illustrates this article is published on Vic Bergmann's Flickr with a Creative Commons License