Elstal – Olympic Village
About 15 kilometres west of Berlin lies Elstal, and here was the Olympic village built for the participants of the Berlin Olympics in 1936. Construction of the Olympic village began in 1934 and during the games 4,066 participants from 46 nations were accommodated in both single-storey and two-storey houses. There were bathrooms, socializing rooms and a small terrace where participants could socialize when they were not competing or training. There was also a mess hall where participants could socialize with each other. When the participants were competing, they were transported by bus between the Olympic village and the Olympic stadium. The largest building was the Speisehaus der Nation where participants had their meals. In addition to accommodation centres, there were several training facilities in the area, such as a swimming pool, running track and gymnasium. Between 1939 and 1945 the olympic village was taken over by the german armed forces and between 1945 and 1992 both the soviet and east german armed forces were housed in the former olympic village.
Current status: Partly preserved/demolished with museum (2010).
Address: Rosa-Luxemburg-Allee 70, 14641 Wustermark.
Get there: Car.
Follow up in books: Large, David Clay: Nazi Games: The Olympics of 1936 (2007).
Most of the living quarters remain while, for example, the Swedish is gone. In the house where Jesse Owens lived, there is now an exhibition about the Olympic village. Jesse Owens and his roommate’s room have been restored to resemble the original as much as possible.