Grunewald
Vast city forest hiding a rubble-built hill topped with abandoned Cold War spy domes.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Grunewald in Berlin opens in February 1946, when Eleanor Roosevelt walked into what maps called a forest and found only stumps. It traces the brutal Hunger Winter of 1945-46, when coal-starved Berliners came here with saws and axes to fell trees centuries old just to cook a meal and boil water. You'll hear about the Renaissance hunting lodge that gave the forest its name, and what happened to the ground it left behind. Look at the trees around you and listen for how old they actually are.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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