BERLIN.- The old one mansin of the propaganda minister of HitlerJoseph Goebbels, is a burden on the municipality of Berlinwho now declares himself willing to give it away since it is expensive to maintain.
Berlin has been struggling for years to find a second life in this once luxurious property, built near a lake, on a vast 17-hectare property in the countryside surrounding the German capital.
“I donate the land to whoever wants to recover it. It is a gift from the state of Berlin,” declared the head of finance, Stefan Evers, during a discussion in the Berlin Chamber of Deputies, hoping to put an end to this endless debate.
“The property is located about 40 kilometers from Berlin, in the federal state of Brandenburg, but neither the latter nor the federal government are interested in such a generous gift,” he added.
History of the mansin in Berlin
Joseph Goebbels received the land as a gift in 1936, and had the large mansion built thanks to financing from the UFA, a powerful film production company over which he reigned as absolute owner.
Built in a ‘U’ shape, it housed a private cinema room and spacious rooms overlooking Lake Bogensee, where Goebbels received stars, personalities and lovers.
After the war, the authorities of the former GDR built on the same land – where Hitler’s former minister’s villa is located – a large complex in the middle of the forest.
This complex of buildings built in the Stalinist style in the early 1950s housed the training center of the Free German Youth (youth organization of the East German communist party SED).
In the center of this communist university, the Goebbels villa had been converted into a supermarket for students and a daycare center.
In the absence of a buyer or a subsidy, Berlin is considering demolishing everything and renovating the land, as annual security and maintenance costs run into the millions, according to German media outlets Bild and RBB.
To do this, the buildings’ status as historical monuments would have to be removed.
In 2016, the Berlin Real Estate Fund had given up selling the Goebbels villa, already very deteriorated, for fear that it would fall into the wrong hands and become a pilgrimage site for the Nazis.
FUENTE: AFP
