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DDR Watch Tower

This watchtower once presided over the Berlin Wall.

Berlin, Germany

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Near Potsdamer Platz you can find the last surviving "panoramic observation tower" of the GDR. The rarity, called RBT or BT-6, was built to secure the inner-German border and, as the last of its kind, was placed under monument protection in 2001.

Over eight meters high and resembling a mushroom, it leads through a narrow shaft onto the octagonal pulpit with windows on all sides and shooting holes underneath. Towers of this kind were constructed only for a short time from 1969 to 1972 due to static and logistical issues; square towers soon took over.

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As of August 2024, the whole area is a fenced construction site for a new building, and the watch tower was possibly removed.

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Published

January 25, 2022

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