Heilstätte Grabowsee, Former tuberculosis sanatorium in Oranienburg, Germany.
Heilstätte Grabowsee is a former tuberculosis sanatorium in a forest near Oranienburg, spreading across extensive grounds with several treatment buildings, residential structures and administrative blocks. The complex sits in wooded land near Lake Grabow and was originally designed as a lowland sanatorium to treat tuberculosis patients away from urban centres.
The German Red Cross founded this facility in 1896 as an experimental station to prove that tuberculosis could be treated outside mountain regions. After the Second World War the Soviet army took over the grounds and used it as a military hospital until 1994, when it was abandoned.
The facility represents the evolution of German healthcare, from its inception under Bismarck's health insurance system through its transformation into a Soviet military hospital.
Access to the grounds is only allowed after prior registration with the Kids Globe management, as many buildings are dilapidated and not secured. Visitors should wear sturdy footwear and expect uneven paths as well as partially collapsed ceilings and floors.
Beneath the buildings ran an electric rail system that transported meals from the central kitchen to patient pavilions, so staff did not have to walk through the forest in all weathers. A separate lift was reserved exclusively for discreet transport of deceased patients and led directly to the mortuary.
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