A VILLA on the shore of Lake Bogensee in a forest north of Berlin hides a terrible dark past.
The abandoned Villa Bogensee in the town of Wandlitz once owned by infamous Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels serves a terrible reminder to Germany’s Nazi past.
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Closed to the public, the villa has since become a macabre attraction for day trippers and urban explorers, who pick their way through the overgrown grounds and look through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
The deserted property features chandeliers, a private cinema room, day room windows and a bunker in the backyard.
However the evil property has caused a debate over its future.
Owned by the City of Berlin, the government hopes to offload the tainted home and 20 acres for free after plans to develop it or sell the cursed property fell through.
Berlin has previously attempted to give the villa to federal authorities or to the state of Brandenburg – however no one wants to inherit the symbol of darkness.
Despite the City of Berlin’s plans to give it away, not everyone is happy with the government’s decision.
According to the mayor of Wandlitz, Oliver Borchet, he has received a flood of expressions of interest for the disused money-pit.
Speaking to The Times, Borchet said: “We have been getting the maddest ideas.
“We are collecting them and one day will invite people to come and pitch them in person.
“One suggestion was to set up a BMX cycle track, actually inside the villa.”
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He added a ghost hunter had also expressed history in the property.
He said: “They wanted to take a group in with cameras for a week, like in a horror movie, and hunt for paranormal phenomena.”
More conventional proposals included a £254million plan to build 2,000 homes on the site.
The villa however has also attracted a dark element.
One organisation that expressed interest in Goebbel’s property was a front for the Reichsbürger movement, a shadowy right-wing group that refuses to acknowledge the legitimacy of the present German state.
Who was Joseph Goebbels?
JOSEPH Goebbels was a prominent Nazi politician and the Minister of Propaganda in Adolf Hitler’s government.
Born on October 29, 1897, in Rheydt, Germany, Goebbels was one of Hitler’s closest associates and played a key role in promoting Nazi ideology and propaganda before and during World War II.
Goebbels was highly educated, with a background in literature and philosophy, and he used his skills in writing and oratory to craft and disseminate Nazi propaganda.
As Minister of Propaganda, he controlled all forms of media in Nazi Germany, including newspapers, radio, film, and the arts.
He was instrumental in spreading anti-Semitic propaganda, which fueled hatred against Jews and other minority groups, ultimately contributing to the Holocaust.
Goebbels was known for his fervent and fanatical loyalty to Hitler and was a skilled public speaker.
He was responsible for organizing large-scale events such as rallies and spectacles that glorified the Nazi regime and its ideologies.
One of his most famous quotes reflects his belief in the power of propaganda: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”
As the war turned against Germany, Goebbels remained a staunch supporter of the Nazi cause. In the final days of World War II, as the Allies closed in on Berlin, Goebbels and his wife, Magda, committed suicide on May 1, 1945, after poisoning their six children.
His death marked the end of one of the most notorious propagandists in history.
Despite it’s dark past, Borchet doesn’t want to see the villa demolished.
He said: “We don’t want to turn it into a museum. God forbid. We don’t want to commemorate Goebbels.
“But it shouldn’t be torn down either. It should be preserved for posterity, so to speak, but not in the sense of paying homage.
“We don’t want to make it a place of pilgrimage for everyone that likes raising their right arm.”
Back in May, the state’s finance Minister Stefan Evers, told parliament he was offering the property for free.
He said: “If we fail again, as in the past decades, then Berlin has no other option but to carry out the demolition that we have already prepared for.
Speaking to the New York Times, Evers said: “The history of the place is precisely the reason why Berlin would never hand this building over to private hands where there would be a risk that it could be misused.”
It currently costs the City of Berlin more than £190 million in maintenance and security.
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