Dark Tourism

Cold War

Discover the remnants of the Cold War in Europe, from hidden bunkers to espionage sites, and explore the intriguing history of a divided continent caught between two superpowers.

  • 24 destinations
Army tanks in Brander Wald
Aachen
Abandoned US army tanks near Aachen

Brander Wald is not only a 165-hectare nature reserve, it has also been a military domain since 1937, and that is no different today: you cannot enter it during weekdays because the Bundeswehr, the German army, still conducts exercises there.

GDR border in the Harz
Sachsen-Anhalt
GDR border in the Harz
Until 1989, the five-hundred-meter-wide GDR border split the German Harz Mountains in half.
Russian traces in Karlshorst
Berlin
Russian traces in Karlshorst
In Karlshorst, deep in the east of Berlin, the signing of the capitulation by Germany meant the end of the Second World War.
Air watchtower Nieuw Namen
Zeeland
Air watchtower from the Cold War
During the Cold War, almost three hundred air watchtowers were scattered throughout the Netherlands to detect enemy aircraft.
Tank memorial
Berlin
A tank on a pedestal
In the summer of 1945, only a few months after the Third Reich was removed from power, the Soviet government erected the Panzerdenkmal (German for 'Tank memorial') near the AVUS highway.
Bunker town Wünsdorf
Brandenburg
Bunker town Wünsdorf
The residents of the German village of Wünsdorf saw many neighbors coming and going during the Second World War when the army quickly built bunkers to hide the German Army High Command.
Iron Curtain
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Iron Curtain across Germany
The German-German border, the 1,378-kilometer-long border that cut straight through Germany during the Cold War, was part of the Iron Curtain.
Border guard towers at Dassow
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Border guard towers at Dassow
You should not only be in Berlin for some of the finest abandoned watchtowers and barriers. The border zone also left its mark in the most northwestern city of the former GDR, Dassow, Germany.
Lenin statue in Wünsdorf
Brandenburg
Lonely Lenin in Wünsdorf
Until 1994, Wünsdorf, East Germany, was the headquarters of the Russian army during the Cold War. In front of the officer's residence, a statue of Lenin looks out over the overgrown parade square.

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