All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S04E05.Treasure.of.Outlaw.Valley.1080p.DISC.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-DoGSO_track3_[eng]

*

Narrator:
A secret underground facility
With a toxic past...

Nusbacher:
No matter how healthy you were

When you went into
Those tunnels,

After only a few weeks,

Your body is starting
To fall apart.

*

Narrator: ...A ghost town
Home to hidden treasure...

People have to be pretty
Desperate to come out here,

Or there must be something

That makes it worth
All that trouble and danger.

Narrator:
...And a palatial complex left
Deserted and forgotten.

Narrator:
...And a palatial complex left
Deserted and forgotten.

Bell: whoever was here
Obviously left in a mad rush,

Which begs the question --

What forced them
Into such a sudden evacuation?

*

*

Narrator: engineering marvels
Now abandoned,

Ruins shrouded in mystery.

Within these decaying structures
Are the echoes of history.

They speak of death
And destruction,

They speak of death
And destruction,

But also human ingenuity
And endeavor.

Each haunted shell
Ready to be unmasked

And tell its own unique story.

-- captions by vitac --
Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

*

*

In the remote wilderness
Of southern montana

Lies a deserted valley
Haunted by a dark past.

*

Auerbach:
This is a hard land to live in.

There's not a lot of water.

It gets incredibly cold
In the winter.

This is one of the most sparsely
Populated regions

In the whole country.

Narrator: at first glance,

This landscape appears
Stark and desolate.

But there is some eerie
Evidence of life

But there is some eerie
Evidence of life

Here in the form
Of a derelict town.

Auerbach: coming over the hill
And seeing this town,

You'd think there were people
Still living in it.

The outside, the inside --

It's like time was frozen there,

And the people were just
Vanished away somehow.

Gough:
This was a well-established
And large town

That had the infrastructure
To cater to a large population

That had a reason to be there.

That had a reason to be there.

Jerram:
But just why they were there
Is not abundantly clear

From the sort of ghost town
That's there now.

*

Narrator: the first clue to
The settlement's origins

Is in its geography.

Jerram: all of the buildings
Follow very closely

The route of the river.

It makes you wonder whether
There was something more

Than just the supply of water

That was valuable
About this river.

Auerbach:
Something has drawn people
There for hundreds of years.

There's value in the ground
And in the rivers.

There's something there
That's worth killing for.

There's something there
That's worth killing for.

*

You wouldn't know it
To look at it now,

But this was once

One of the most violent places
In america --

Killings, robberies, shoot-outs,
Hangings.

What could have caused
All this violence?

Narrator: one rumor still haunts
This valley.

Gough: in the surrounding area,
Somewhere nearby, buried,

Is a great, great treasure.

Narrator: but the controversy
Around these hidden riches

Is just one of the mysteries
That still torment this town.

*

The graphic tales of robberies,
Betrayals, and murders

That swirl around this place

Stem from when this was

One of the last frontiers
Of the wild west.

The story begins in the 1860s,

As park ranger john phillips
Explains.

*

*

In july 1862,
John white and a party of men

Were on their way
To the salmon river,

To the community of florence.

And en route,
They came upon this stream.

Narrator:
Just like thousands of others in
The middle of the 19th century,

These pioneers were scouring
The land across america

In search of a new life

And hoping
To make their fortune.

They were going to put their
Pans down into this stream,

Go through these gravels
Looking for black sands.

Go through these gravels
Looking for black sands.

And, lo and behold,
After a little test,

They found out
That they had found

What they were looking for --
Gold.

Narrator: john white
And his fellow travelers

Had hit the jackpot.

And this wasn't just
Any old gold.

It was 99% pure.

That find started the gold rush
To what we now call montana.

Within weeks,
There were hundreds.

Within months,

Within months,

There were thousands of people
In this community

All trying to get rich

By out there panning for gold
In this little stream.

Narrator:
The gold-mining town
Of bannack was born

And boomed.

You would have seen houses
And tents and wagons

As far as the eye could see.

*

There were people.

There were saloons.

There were brothels.
There was everything.

There were brothels.
There was everything.

This was a very active
And wild place.

*

Narrator:
But alongside wealth came crime.

*

Auerbach: once people realized
There's gold in the river,

Greed overruns everything else.

The idea that you need
Law and order --

Well, that's
A secondary consideration.

Gough: morals --
They were out the window.

Outlaws --
They came like a magnet.

And that created
Nothing but trouble.

And that created
Nothing but trouble.

*

The hills around town

Were practically filled
With bandits and outlaws,

And guess what?

That led to murder.

*

Narrator:
Was it this out-of-control crime

That led to the town
Being abandoned?

This lack of law enforcement
Couldn't last forever.

*

A sheriff finally arrives
With a couple of deputies.

He's here to promote
Law and order.

But is that all he's here to do?

*

*

His name was henry plummer,
And he quickly got to work.

He built a prison

And began rounding up
The troublemakers.

*

The first jail in montana.

You could just imagine
What it would have been like

Here in the wintertime.

Henry plummer was a man
That had multiple sides.

He put on this great front,

And he showed, you know,
By building the jail and thing,

That he was an honest,

That he was an honest,

Hardworking law-enforcement
Official.

But on the other side,

Nothing is ever
As crystal clear

As that we like
To believe it is.

*

Narrator: maybe plummer
Wasn't all that he seemed.

Despite the arrival
Of the sheriff,

Bannack would soon become
More violent, not less.

Why was plummer so ineffective?

And what does he have to do with
The stories of buried treasure

And what does he have to do with
The stories of buried treasure

That still haunt these streets?

*

*

Narrator: in the 1860s,

The gold-mining town
Of bannack, montana,

Was one of the most
Lawless places in america.

Henry plummer had arrived

To become the settlement's
First sheriff,

But nothing had changed,

And the people of the town
Weren't happy.

*

Auerbach: so, the sheriff
And his deputies

Are just not enough to bring
Law and order to this place.

So a new group sets itself up --
The montana vigilantes.

So a new group sets itself up --
The montana vigilantes.

*

The locals band together

To do something
About all the crime.

Narrator: the masked men
Of the the montana vigilantes

Began hunting down
Suspected criminals

And executing
Those they deemed guilty.

The entire town
Was riddled with corruption.

But what's really interesting

Is that it comes
To our attention

That the center
Of that corruption

That the center
Of that corruption

Was the sheriff himself.

*

Narrator:
A rumor spread that plummer
Might be the secret head

Of a terrifying gang of bandits
Known as the innocents.

And at the beginning of 1864,

The montana vigilantes
Decided to take action.

*

Phillips:
On a freezing-cold night,

Henry plummer and his men,

Taken from their homes
And from the saloons,

Are captured by vigilantes,

And brought into
This area out here,

And brought into
This area out here,

Where they would meet
Their final demise.

All three men
Were hanged on the gallows.

So, were the vigilantes
Right to execute plummer?

A certain tale
About his last moments

Has some convinced.

One legend has it that
On his way to the gallows,

Sheriff plummer pleaded
For his life,

And in exchange for his life,

He offered the location
Where a secret stash of gold

He offered the location
Where a secret stash of gold

Worth $100,000 back then

Was buried.

*

Narrator:
But despite the sheriff's death,

The violence continued.

And some began to think
It was the montana vigilantes

Who had been behind
The crime all along.

*

In fact, bannack remained
As lawless as ever until 1870,

When the gold began to run out.

With towns like these
Out in the wild,

With towns like these
Out in the wild,

When the incentive
For people to stay is gone,

People just left.

Only a few stayed.

Narrator: then there was
The sheriff's hidden treasure.

Auerbach:
What about this buried gold

That plummer had tried to buy
His way out of death with?

Did it really exist?

It was never found.

Narrator: a small number
Of tough inhabitants

Continued to eke out
A life in bannack,

Continued to eke out
A life in bannack,

But by the 1950s,
The population had dwindled.

And what remained of
The infamous mining town

Became a state park.

But the mystery
At the heart of its lawless past

Still endures.

Was sheriff plummer bannack's
Real criminal mastermind?

And will we ever find
His missing treasure?

Did they get rid of him
'cause he was bad?

Or did they get rid of him
Because he was good?

No one knows for certain.

No one knows for certain.

*

*

Narrator:
In southwest poland,

Deep in the woods
Of the owl mountains

Lies a secret entrance
Into a dark underworld.

*

From the outside, it doesn't
Really look like much at all,

But when you get underground,
It's vast.

And it's all in solid rock.

Narrator:
Inside, murky tunnels lead into
Eerie halls and flooded caves.

Narrator:
Inside, murky tunnels lead into
Eerie halls and flooded caves.

Is this a natural phenomena
Or something more sinister?

*

It's in rock that wouldn't
Normally form caverns like this.

There's something
That's been built here

To create those hollows.

Somebody has gone
To great lengths

To make this secret
Underground facility.

*

Nusbacher:
The only reason you carve
Your way into rock

Is either to get something
Valuable out of it

Is either to get something
Valuable out of it

Or put something
Valuable into it.

*

Narrator: above the ground,

The mystery continues with these
Puzzling concrete structures.

*

Who built this vast complex?

Jerram: to make those holes
In that rock,

Anyone working on that, it's
Gonna be horrendous conditions.

Narrator: this is a creation
That caused great suffering

And that aimed to support
An evil and ruthless regime.

And that aimed to support
An evil and ruthless regime.

Nusbacher:
It's a place that demonstrates

The willingness of people
To do the most difficult things,

To carve their way
Into mountains

In order to keep the machinery
Of death operating.

*

Narrator:
Polish author igor witkowski

Knows these underground tunnels
And the vast caverns

Knows these underground tunnels
And the vast caverns

Better than anyone.

Those secret subterranean halls

Were around the length
Of a football field.

So, what dark purpose
Did this vast complex have?

And who was forced to build it?

And who was forced to build it?

*

*

Narrator: in the shadowy woods
Of present-day poland

Lies an underground network
Of tunnels

Carved out of solid rock.

The facility's original use
Is shrouded in mystery.

But can its location
Offer a clue?

*

Here is a place that is isolated
From other population centers.

Here is a place that is isolated
From other population centers.

It's hard to get to.

Narrator: hidden by forest,

This remote facility is
Almost invisible from the air.

This was essential
When it was first built

At the height
Of the second world war.

*

The nazis and other axis powers
Dominated europe,

Including this part
Of present-day poland.

But their deadly empire
Was under threat.

By 1943, the allies had
Stepped up their aerial attacks,

By 1943, the allies had
Stepped up their aerial attacks,

Raining down bombs on cities
Across german territory.

It's a shock to the germans.

All of a sudden,

The reality of
The allied bombing campaign

Becomes very, very real.

Nusbacher:
As germany loses control

Of the skies
Over the third reich,

Germany has got to harden
The protection of its industry.

Germany has got to harden
The protection of its industry.

Corum:
And they start a program

To put as many things
As possible deep underground

For fear of
The allied bombers.

*

Narrator: desperate to turn
The tide of the war,

The germans invested in this
Colossal feat of engineering.

It was part of a top-secret
Nazi project code-named

"Der riese" -- the giant.

*

If we were building
A tunnel complex like this

If we were building
A tunnel complex like this

In peacetime,

Tunneling through hard rock,

We'd use machinery.

We would use fuel.

But of course the nazis were
Fighting the second world war.

They couldn't spare resources.

Narrator:
This could have explained

Why the tunnels were abandoned
Before they were finished.

But the nazis found a solution
To the lack of supplies.

*

Corum:
We're looking at a facility

Corum:
We're looking at a facility

That is being built with
Thousands of slave laborers.

And by 1943-'44,
The german war economy

Is operating under
A massive slave-labor system.

narrator: der riese was close

To several of the third reich's
Most sickening apparatus --

The concentration camp.

With this facility,
The nazis found a perverse use

For the men
And women they tortured.

*

*

This is like
A concentration camp

That has been deployed
Into a mountain.

Everyone there
Is being worked to death.

Jerram:
The fact that there's this
Almost inexhaustible supply

Of slave labor

Makes it even more eerie

When you look at
How much of a hollows

And how much of a network
Was built

By the blood, sweat, and tears
Of slave laborers.

*

Narrator:
The germans were desperate

To complete
This secret construction

At any cost.

But why?

*

Even after the war,
Its true purpose was obscured.

Some nazi leaders claimed

It was designed as a secret
Headquarters for hitler.

It was designed as a secret
Headquarters for hitler.

But theories still swirl around
These tunnels and caverns.

Igor has his own
Chilling hypothesis.

Narrator:
With the allies advancing
Into germany territory,

The nazis were in desperate
Need of a miracle weapon.

*

Was this where they planned
To produce that weapon?

*

*

Narrator:
In remote southern poland

Is a cryptic
Underground complex.

Built by the nazis,

Its epic proportions suggest

It was central to their efforts
In the second world war.

*

And one theory claims

This was where the germans
Were pinning their hopes

For transforming
Their fortunes in the war.

For transforming
Their fortunes in the war.

Nusbacher: these tunnels
Are intended to be the place

Where german know-how,
German racial superiority,

Is going to create
The wonder weapons,

the wunderwaffen,

That will enable germany
To win the war.

*

So, was this site developing
An experimental super weapon?

The mystery only deepens
When you explore further.

Jerram: just vast in itself,

Jerram: just vast in itself,

But actually there's another
Five underground constructions

Along this particular
Mountain range.

Narrator:
The whole region is littered
With these facilities,

Which were heavily armed
And hidden from view.

*

Abandoned in various stages
Of completion,

It's believed the intention
Was for them all to link up,

Forming a vast underground city

That could win the war
For germany.

*

Nusbacher: the red army,
The soviet army,

Is relentlessly
Invading westward,

Taking back big chunks of europe
From the nazis.

*

As the red army comes closer,

Like the rest of the s.S.'s
Concentration-camp system,

Like the rest of the s.S.'s
Concentration-camp system,

Everything is death-marched
Back into germany

In order to ensure that there
Will be no evidence left

For the war crimes tribunal.

Narrator: by the end of 1944,

The russians had reached
The polish capital, warsaw.

Early the next year,
the nazis fled der riese,

Abandoning their
Epic underground project.

*

*

Today, questions and rumors
Still abound

about der riese's role
in the nazi war machine.

But what's certain
Is the terrible price paid

By those who were forced
To construct it.

*

Nusbacher:
This is an underground
Concentration camp

Where thousands
And thousands of people

Were forced
To breathe their last

In the service
Of an evil regime.

This is a monument
To the deaths of millions.

This is a monument
To the deaths of millions.

*

Narrator:
At the southwestern tip
Of england,

Deep in the tranquil
Cornish countryside,

Is a valley scattered
With overgrown remains.

*

Barratt:
There's all sorts of curious
Things going on here.

There's a chimney.

There's obviously foundations
From different buildings.

There's obviously foundations
From different buildings.

Selwood:
It's a confused site

With a variety
Of abandoned buildings,

Some partly buried masonry,
Some collapsed structures.

Narrator:
From beneath the grass,

Bizarre circular mounds
Appear alongside the ruins.

*

Barratt: looking deeper here,

There's clearly been
A lot of activity

Over a considerable period
Of time.

*

Jerram: it's got the makings
Of some big buildings

Jerram: it's got the makings
Of some big buildings

But, in part, it looks like
They've been pulled down

Or they've fallen down
Or something's even broken them.

Narrator:
Almost nothing remains

Of the extensive structures
That once stood here.

Barratt:
Clearly, nature's taken its toll
On the landscape here.

But there's also,
Could there have been something

More explosive in the past?

What has destroyed
This environment?

*

Narrator: look closely,

And you can uncover
This landscape's deadly history.

And you can uncover
This landscape's deadly history.

Barratt: in this particular part
Of cornwall,

It's not what's above
The surface that's the clue.

It's what's below.

*

Beneath nature is a toxic past.

*

Narrator: so, what makes
This place so poisonous,

And does that explain
Why it's now abandoned?

*

Cocks:
When I first came to this
Landscape about 30 years ago,

Cocks:
When I first came to this
Landscape about 30 years ago,

I felt a real sense of mystery

And definitely
An urge to explore.

Narrator: ainsley cocks,

Research and information officer
At cornwall council,

Has studied this area
Extensively.

Here, at the head of
The poldice valley

In midwest cornwall,

We're in very much
A rural setting.

But you'll see around me
Crumbling walls,

Crumbling features,

Which allude
To an industrial past.

Which allude
To an industrial past.

Narrator:
This valley was once home

To the region's
Biggest business --

Mining.

Barratt: cornwall
Is famed for its tin mines.

This is where it started.

And the expertise
That people built up here,

They exported around the world.

Cornish tin drove
The industrial revolution.

Cocks:
Cornwall has been described
As being in the mid-19th century

As probably the most important
Mining district in the world,

And the production
Of copper and tin

And the production
Of copper and tin

Specifically was
The principle reason for that.

Narrator: but these aren't just
The remains of a mine

For tin or copper.

There's evidence of something
Much more lethal.

What was produced here had
The capacity to kill millions.

This site was at the heart
Of an international trade

In top-grade poison

That spread around the world.

*

*

So, what deadly chemical
Was produced here,

And for what evil purpose
Was it used?

*

*

Narrator: in the 19th century,
This english valley produced

One of the deadliest chemicals
Known to man.

But before that,
This was simply a mine.

*

Barratt: originally in cornwall,
Tin was the goal.

That's the product
That had the market

And commanded the profit,

And anything that got
In the way of that profit

Was a nuisance.

Was a nuisance.

One of the biggest ones
Was arsenic,

A completely poisonous,
Toxic nuisance.

*

Narrator: odorless and tasteless
But highly toxic,

Arsenic was known
As the perfect poison.

But at these mines,
It was impossible to escape it.

Jerram: what's interesting
With tin mining

Is that the very nature
Of those types of tin-rich veins

Is they often contain
Quite high concentrations

Is they often contain
Quite high concentrations

Of arsenic and sulfur as well.

And, for the most part,
Early on,

You try and discard these,

Particularly things
Like arsenic,

Which are highly poisonous.

*

Narrator:
This is the poldice valley,

Where arsenic was produced
For over 100 years.

In the 19th century,
This mine switched production

From copper and tin to poison.

But why would anyone need
Industrial amounts of arsenic?

But why would anyone need
Industrial amounts of arsenic?

*

These have been fenced off
Because of concerns

About contamination
And public access.

But you can see
The multi-walled nature

Of the arsenic labyrinth here.

*

Narrator:
The arsenic labyrinths

Were where the purified arsenic
Was collected.

*

First, the metal ore
Dug up by the miners

Was heated to a fiery
1,000 degrees fahrenheit.

Was heated to a fiery
1,000 degrees fahrenheit.

During this roasting process,

The arsenic separated
From the metal

And turned into gas.

This gas was fed through flues
That led to labyrinth chambers,

Where it would cool down
And solidify as crystals.

The doorways would have been
Unplugged, opened up,

And then workers would go in
With shovels and brooms

And basically remove
All of the arsenic soot,

And basically remove
All of the arsenic soot,

As it was called,

From the interior
Of the labyrinth.

Narrator: in the 19th century,
The arsenic industry boomed,

And sites dedicated
To its production

Opened throughout this valley.

By the 1870s, a handful of
Facilities in cornwall

Were providing over half
Of the world's arsenic.

*

Narrator: this lethal commodity
Was in demand

For more than just murder.

*

*

Barratt: by about 1800,
The world is starting to mold

A wider range of raw materials.

One of those was arsenic,
A toxic poison.

It's hard to think
Of a use for it, isn't it?

But people needed it for
All sorts of different reasons

All around the world.

Narrator:
As the industrial revolution
Took hold,

Investors realized
Arsenic could be used

Investors realized
Arsenic could be used

To make new
Manufactured products.

Selwood:
Arsenic was suddenly everywhere.

It was a key requirement
For wallpaper coloring,

Glass manufacture, lead shot,

Pharmaceutical processes,
Sheep dip.

Arsenic was suddenly
The wonder compound

Of the early 1800s.

*

Narrator:
Women even used it as makeup
To whiten their faces.

The poison contaminated

Almost every aspect
Of 19th-century life.

Almost every aspect
Of 19th-century life.

But those worst affected

Were the people who worked
In these plants producing it.

*

This is not
A mechanized process,

So it's all done
By hand with shovels

And scraping of the crystallized
Arsenic off the walls.

Selwood: there were no organized
Safety measures

Or protective clothing
For the workers.

They individually covered
Their skin in clay

And used wet rags
To cover their faces.

And, as you can imagine,
Neither of these were effective.

And, as you can imagine,
Neither of these were effective.

Narrator:
Prolonged exposure to arsenic

Could have
Devastating consequences.

*

People start to get fatigue
And become quite --

You get stomach cramps
And so on.

And ultimately,
In very extreme exposures,

This can lead
To body shock and death.

Narrator:
This was truly a deadly job.

Just one teaspoon
Of the arsenic they produced

Just one teaspoon
Of the arsenic they produced

Was a lethal dose
For six people.

*

Narrator: and before long,
This murderous product

Was wiping out more than
Just the workers who made it.

*

In the first world war,

Chemical weapons containing
Arsenic made in england

Killed thousands.

And it became clear

That prolonged exposure
To the chemical

Was causing
Serious health issues

For people employed

In pharmaceuticals
And agriculture.

Eventually,
The dangers of producing poison

Eventually,
The dangers of producing poison

Could no longer be ignored.

Despite arsenic's use

In a range of pharmaceutical
And medical products,

Increased knowledge
About its intense toxicity

And its links to cancer

Soon spelled the end
For the arsenic trade.

Narrator:
One of these sites in cornwall

Continued producing arsenic

Until the outbreak
Of the second world war.

*

Cocks:
Work continued until 1939.

Cocks:
Work continued until 1939.

At that time, other materials
Had come along

For use in insecticides
And so forth,

So arsenic
Was no longer needed

In the huge quantities it was

Particularly
In the 19th century.

*

Narrator: for decades,
After these sites closed,

The valley's toxic past
Was all but forgotten.

But in 1994,
A survey revealed

The countryside still contained
High levels of the poison,

The countryside still contained
High levels of the poison,

And the area had
To be decontaminated

Before it could be
Opened to the public.

Selwood: these days,
The site is a nature reserve.

Most visitors to the site

Are blithely unaware
Of the deadly past

Which lies just
Beneath their feet.

*

Narrator:
Due south of germany's capital,

Standing alone on the edge
Of the city,

Is a vast complex
Of deserted buildings.

Is a vast complex
Of deserted buildings.

*

Bell: through the mist
And the autumn leaves,

These grand buildings emerge,
Almost palatial.

Narrator: at first glance,

The architecture suggests
Old-fashioned opulence.

Then, jutting out
In the center of this courtyard,

This strange circular structure

That looks altogether
Different in style.

*

*

Narrator:
This concrete addition

Is decorated
With distinctive murals,

Hinting that this site
Had other powerful influences.

Nusbacher:
When you come on an example

Of something that's clearly
Alien to the middle of europe,

Something that is clearly there
Because some other culture

Has implanted itself
Onto the soil of germany.

Narrator:
Hundreds of disparate buildings

Extend across this huge stretch
Of berlin suburbia.

Extend across this huge stretch
Of berlin suburbia.

Inside, long corridors
Reveal endless empty rooms.

Bell:
The theater, the swimming pool,

And many of the other facilities
Suggest something civilian.

But then the maps and the murals
Give you the sense

Of something
That feels far more military.

*

Narrator: this place is cut off
From everything around it.

Isolated, derelict,
And decaying,

Isolated, derelict,
And decaying,

The buildings are a relic
From the past.

Who was this all for,
And why did they leave?

Bell: whoever was here
Obviously left in a mad rush,

Which begs the question,

What forced them
Into such a sudden evacuation?

*

Narrator:
On one cold march day in 1994,

This place changed forever.

The people who lived here
Were leaving,

The people who lived here
Were leaving,

And everything was in turmoil.

Jurgen naumann,
Now the site's caretaker,

Saw it for himself.

Naumann:
[ speaking german ]

Interpreter:
A certain chaos broke out.

There was no discipline anymore.

Order and discipline
Had gone down the drain.

They sold everything here,
From gasoline to kalashnikovs.

*

Narrator: the people leaving
Were part of a tiny elite.

Narrator: the people leaving
Were part of a tiny elite.

For decades, the site
Had been set off-limits

To everyone except them.

They annexed this neighborhood,

And they put this big wall
Around it.

It was forbidden for any
East german to go in there.

Narrator:
With over 600 buildings

In an area encompassing
More than 2 1/2 square miles,

This site dominated
Everything around it.

So, what was it?

*

When hitler
Had been defeated in 1945,

When hitler
Had been defeated in 1945,

The allied powers
Had split germany in half.

This divided country
Quickly became the center

Of cold war tensions,
And the russians needed

Somewhere to station
Their troops.

Nusbacher: when the red army
Took over eastern germany,

The easiest thing for them to do

Was to take over existing
German armed forces complexes

From the second world war.

*

When the soviets arrived
In april 1945,

They found a large
Military complex,

They found a large
Military complex,

And they simply rolled in
And took it over.

Narrator: this is wunsdorf,

The headquarters
Of the russian army

In east germany.

This was the most formidable
Concentration

Of soviet armed might

Outside the borders
Of the soviet union.

Narrator: the site was
Off-limits to germans,

But some locals
Did find a way in

To take part in shady dealings.

To take part in shady dealings.

[ speaking german ]

Interpreter: the whole place
Was surrounded by fences,

And there were
Several entrances --

Large, fortified gates
With guards.

But if you were to, say,
Give a soldier a gift,

They would let you in.

You could go shopping here,
Buy some cigarettes,

And, well, a lot of alcohol,

Because it was reasonably priced

For those who liked
To drink a bit more.

Naumann: [ speaking german ]

Naumann: [ speaking german ]

Narrator: by the late 1980s,

Wunsdorf had become
More than just an army camp.

It was a whole forbidden city.

This place was home

To 75,000 men, women,
And children.

It was known as little moscow.

It had shops, schools,
And leisure facilities.

It even had
A daily train service

To the soviet capital.

Naumann: [ speaking german ]

Interpreter:
Here in wunsdorf,

This area served as
The cultural center

This area served as
The cultural center

For the soviet citizens
Who lived here.

There was a theater
With a lot of performances.

In the big building behind me,

There were exhibitions, museums,
Memorial rooms, and much more.

Narrator:
But all this would come
To a dramatic end.

*

Europe was on the verge
Of a seismic change.

What would happen to wunsdorf

When the soviets
Lost control of east berlin?

When the soviets
Lost control of east berlin?

*

*

Narrator:
Wunsdorf was the high command

Of soviet forces
In east germany

For over 40 years.

But in 1989,
The berlin wall fell,

And the east germans overthrew
Their communist oppressors.

The huge soviet infrastructure
In east germany

Was enormously expensive
To maintain,

And as the soviet economy
Collapsed,

And as the soviet economy
Collapsed,

The soviet presence in germany
Had to be pulled back.

Narrator:
After the reunification
Of germany,

The russians agreed
To withdraw all their troops

By the end of 1994.

But it was far from
A straightforward process.

For the officers
And their families at wunsdorf,

Life was turned upside down.

This very orderly society that
The red army had lived under

Is now gone.

Is now gone.

The government handled
This relocation of their forces

Very, very badly.

In many cases, families were
Given just one or two days

To pack up and leave.

Narrator: jurgen naumann
Remembers the deep distress

Felt by the russians
At the time.

Naumann: [ speaking german ]

Interpreter: once, I went up
To see a sales manager

Who I used to see almost daily.

She was sitting in her office
Crying.

She had two little children.

She had two little children.

She said, "We have to leave
The country in two days,

And I don't know
Where we are going."

Narrator:
The turmoil in berlin had
Its roots 1,000 miles away.

The government in moscow
Was in chaos,

And wunsdorf's
Experienced officers

Were a threat to the president

Of the newly independent
Russian state.

Boris yeltsin had already
Survived one coup attempt,

So with all these high-ranking
And loyal soviet soldiers

So with all these high-ranking
And loyal soviet soldiers

Being sent back
To the motherland,

They were purposefully split up
And sent to different locations

To reduce the risk of
Another attempted military coup.

Narrator: many of these soldiers
Didn't want to leave wunsdorf.

Would they refuse and challenge
Their rulers in moscow?

Corum:
Certainly, in many respects,

The red army officers liked
Being stationed in east germany

Because, actually, the standard
Of living in east germany

Because, actually, the standard
Of living in east germany

Was way above the standard
Of living in russia.

Nusbacher: they had access
To goods and shops

That east germans didn't have.

They had swimming facilities,
Athletic facilities.

You would have not known
You were in east germany.

Narrator:
Life was much harder for those
Who lived outside the gates.

After 50 years
Under foreign rule,

There was a danger
That these east germans

Might seize the chance
For revenge on the russians.

Might seize the chance
For revenge on the russians.

For jurgen,
Working nearby at the time,

The new bad relationship between
The two nations was a shock.

*

Interpreter:
Suddenly, we were not
Their friends anymore.

We were the enemy.

Narrator:
But serious violence in wunsdorf
Was narrowly avoided,

And the russians left.

After one final military parade,
They pulled out,

And they left in their wake

And they left in their wake

A site littered with ammunition,
Ordnance, and rubbish.

Shops were simply abandoned,

Left full of electronics,
Tvs, radios, fridges.

Houses were left full of
Domestic appliances.

Narrator:
And by the end of 1994,

There were no more
Russian troops in germany.

The buildings in wunsdorf

Were handed back
To the german government.

But today, the former
Soviet city is still deserted.

But today, the former
Soviet city is still deserted.

The only regular visitor
Is jurgen naumann.

Naumann: [ speaking german ]

Interpreter:
In terms of the architecture,

These are beautiful buildings,

And I hope
They will be restored soon.

It's our history.