The creation of a separate housing area for the great number of athletes attending the Olympic Games was first attempted in Los Angeles in 1932. Four years later, at the XIth Olympiad in Berlin, the concept was further developed with the construction of this tiny ‘village’ in the Brandenburg countryside, just 14 kilometers from the Olympic Stadium. Newspapers in the U.S. ran kitschy photographs in their Olympic reports featuring American athletes gathered in front of their cabins and singing folk songs after long days spent breaking world records.

During WWII the cabins and cottages were converted to an infantry training facility for the German troops, and after the war’s end the Soviet and East German military occupied the site until 1992. For many years the village was a favorite destination for day-tripping history buffs and enthusiasts of abandoned structures, and in 2004 the Olympic Village was listed as an historically protected site and officially opened to the public. Between April and October local historians offer group tours of the facilities—check the website for dates and times.