Abandoned Iraqi embassy in Berlin

They must have just left the Iraqi Embassy to East Germany (German Democratic Republic or GDR) with no notice at all. “We’re leaving. Pack your bags and get out!” They didn’t even bother to clear their desks. Almost 20 years later the telephones, rusty typewriters and telex machines still sit on desks, along with manuals and lists of phone numbers. There was even toilet paper still on a roll beside the smashed up cistern!

All photos on this site are taken by the author and copyright Abandoned Berlin

Most of what they left behind in January 1991 is still there. All the good stuff was gone of course; I was looking for a picture of Saddam Hussein to hang on my wall. Any medals, busts or trinkets were long pilfered but there was still more than enough to hold the attention. A receipt from April 28th, 1970 for 1.070,66 East German Mark made out to Herr Dr. Hl Hussani, whoever the hell he was, and letters addressed to Mr. Issam Salman Al Rawi from the Iraqi embassy in London. manuscripts on the Iran-Iraq war, and plenty of pictures of missile launchers in action, smiling Iraqi soldiers and wartime propaganda.

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Former Iraqi Embassy in the GDR: Tschaikowskistraße 51, Berlin 13156, Germany

The new all-German government, no doubt on its best behavior and keen to kiss arses across the Atlantic, ordered staff out of the embassy in January 1991 while the first Gulf War was coming to an end. It’s been abandoned ever since, stuck in a bureaucratic tied-knot which I hope won’t be untied for a long time to come. It’s absolutely fantastic!

First published by Irish Berliner in Abandoned Berlin

Read the full article at Abandoned Berlin