GERMANY – On a short holiday in Berlin (my first visit since I moved away in June 2019), I decided to visit Eisenhüttenstadt, a town near the Polish border in a forgotten corner of the country. I didn’t know much Eisenhüttenstadt, except that it means ‘Metal Hut Town’, and that one of my colleagues at Berlin-Schönefeld Airport came from there.
Eisenhüttenstadt was founded as Stalinstadt in 1950. A socialist model city built to house the workers for the nearby steel mill, it looks like a small (and much less hip version) of Frankfurter Allee in Berlin. To be honest there’s not very much there. It is actually located next to the historic town of Fürstenberg an der Oder, but I didn’t know that yet (even though my colleague had a picture of a historic looking town on a river as a desktop background). Well, that’s for next time, if there is a next time.
Not much in the mood for making pictures, I decided to make quick snaps, often not even bothering to get off my bike.
1. Eisenhüttenstadt station, where I got off the train from Frankfurt an der Oder 2.3. The Oder-Spree Canal4.5. Typical D.D.R. apartment buildings from the 1960’s or ’70’s6. Eisenhüttenstadt gave me a very functional and run-down first impression7.8. The architecture in the town center is in the more neo-classical Stalinist style of the 1950’s 9.10.11.12.13.14. Lindenallee, the town’s main street15. Both east and west Germans like putting clocks everywhere. Though I’m not sure if people in Eisenhüttenstadt ever have to be on time16. A typical stalinist apartment building in a side street17. A typical socialist mural18. A typical Soviet WW2 memerial19. The people who live in this street are just as punctual as those on Lindenallee20.21. Back on Lindenallee, with Friedrich-Wolf Theater on the left22.23.24.25. The steel factory is visible in the distance26. Leaving Eisenhüttenstadt27.28.29.30. The village of Schlaubetal31.32.33.34.35. Bremsdorf36.37.38.39.40.41. Grunow station42.43.44.45.46. The Spree river (which also flows through Berlin) in Beeskow47. Beeskow’s ramparts48.49.50.51.52.53.54.55.56.57. Beeskow station – I wanted to take a train back to Berlin from here, but the service had been replaced by buses due to construction. As I couldn’t take my bike on the bus, I cycled 30 kilometers to the station in Fürstenwalde instead58.59.60.
