Waldsiedlung

Waldsiedlung (English: Forest settlement) was the secure housing zone built for the leaders of former East Germany. It was located near Wandlitz (Barnim) about 30 kilometres (19 mi) north of East Berlin. The most senior party members of the SED lived here in relative luxury from 1960 to 1989.

Waldsiedlung and surrounding areas remained off-limits to all ordinary Germans until German reunification.

After the events of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, the SED party leadership in East Germany decided to build themselves a secure residential zone more remote than their mansions on the Majakowskiring in Berlin's Pankow district. Construction of Waldsiedlung began two years later after a SED resolution in an area belonging to the city of Bernau. It was built between 1958 and 1960 through an agency subordinate to the Stasi; this department was tasked with protecting individuals and worked closely with the Ministry for Public Security.

Waldsiedlung covered about 2km² although the area's perimeter was not immediately recognizable from the outside. The 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) outer ring consisted of a wire-mesh fence, on which there were signs indicating a 'wildlife research area'. The inner ring was surrounded by a two-metre high, green security wall and could only be entered with special passes.

The four gates were guarded by Stasi troops from the Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment. Troops were stationed at 31 watch posts within the 5-km outer fence.

In the 1970s a four-lane autobahn connected the site directly to Berlin.

Within the inner ring, Waldsiedlung consisted of 23 detached family houses with 180m² of land each. The site had a club house with a cinema and a restaurant, a shop where a limited selection of luxury Western goods could be purchased with local currency, a market garden, a health centre, a shooting range, a swimming pool, a sports field and tennis courts. A nuclear bunker with a capacity to accommodate 400 people was completed in 1983.

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