On my way to the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s estate and old airfield. [Werneuchen Loop]
I’m looking for a way to go back to writing. It took me years to figure out what I’m interested in sharing — and I figured that I want to start with my trips.
A couple of months ago, I bought my first decent road bike, and I started to make trips around the city I live: Berlin.
Initially short ones, I went on a path to discover what I like about biking. The initial intent was to ride fast, but I quickly figured that’s not what makes me tick as I hate riding loops.
The distance and ability to see things — this is a pure delight. Since then, I have made over 100 trips already, I’m hitting 3000 km mark, and I figured, I’d like to share this. Maybe someone else will get interested.
My goals for each trip: to go far and to see something specific — nature, historical buildings, points of interest, etc. Let’s start.
The starting point being Berlin and my first destination: the military airfield in Werneuchen. The whole trip distance: 65km.
Werneuchen
Werneuchen is a small town of nearly 8,000 people located 30km away from Berlin. Reaching it is quite easy, the road quality is good, typical tarmac.
There is not much of a history to the town — it was a Wendish settlement, destroyed in the Hussite wars and the 30-years War. It grew significantly after the 1900s. It got connected to the railroad line, which led to subsequential development in the roads and connectivity. It grew in the importance more with the opening of the mentioned first goal of the trip: the airfield in 1937.
The airfield was a modern airbase created as a model-airfield for the future German (Nazi) developments — it was very well equipped. The town became the garrison-town for the airfield year later. The airfield took part in the bombing operations during the war against Poland. In the Nazi times, Germans performed here research on the radar technology for the needs of the night fighters.
It survived the war without damage, and one of the locals prevented the explosive destruction of the airfield, which shortly after became occupied by the Soviet army.
The Soviets were using the airfield as a base for the elite Guard Reconnaissance Air Regiment until Germany’s reunification in the 1990s. Still, little is known about the operations performed in those times as they were kept secret.
After the Russians left, the airfield became a civilian strip of little importance. Occasionally it can be used for helicopters and lightweight planes. On two occasions in the 2000s, there were two emergency landings on the airfield of larger aircraft with seven injured passengers overall.
The area is mostly open and freely available, although the few publicly available buildings are in the state of disrepair. Part of the airfield has been filled with solar panels. There is an event location which when I was there held a small techno party. It’s a really cool place to visit if you are into the “urban decay” stuff.
I didn’t have much time to go around the whole airstrip, but I encourage highly to do it as it’s empty and feels bigger than Tempelhofer Feld.
Unfortunately for the trip, the arrival to the airfield was the end of the fun part. After going out of Werneuchen the tarmac became uneven, the terrain quite hilly (it was formed during the Ice Age), and I had the headwind for the next 40km directly in my face. But since “shut up legs,” I arrived at…
Schönefeld
No, not the airfield one.
I’ve spent a couple of minutes here — the town has a long history, but I stopped here because it’s one of those cute small rural towns with a few large, old abandoned farms and a lovely church.
Typically next to those town-churches (dorfkirche), there are statues for the fallen in World War 1 (usually: more prominent and decorative) and World War 2 (typically: small plate, somewhere on the back).
This split is fascinating to observe — on the one hand, paying tribute to the fallen husbands, fathers, sons, and on the other — having this feeling of shame.
Börnicke
The last point of interest in the trip is the village of Börnicke. It’s again a typical Branderburgish village, with many old farm buildings and the typical rural architecture but two main points stand out:
The church and the palace.
The palace was owned by the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy family members until 1935 when Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy has died.
Swiss Embassy moved for a short time to the palace in 1945 due to the bombings of Berlin. Later it was a field-hospital for the Soviet Army, a holiday house in the ’60s, home for handicapped children and a school until it was finally closed in the ’90s and bought by a private party in 2003. Since then efforts are being made to restore the palace and the park to its former greatness
The story of the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s family is an interesting one as many of its members were Europe’s best traders, bankers, and of course: musicians, composers, and philosophers. Jews in Prussia didn’t have last names — Moses Mendelssohn has picked the last name after his father: Mendel. His son: Abraham, the father of Felix, has added Bartholdy to his last name after his wife once they converted to Christianism. They raised their children in the Christian (protestant) faith.
Next to the church’s tower, there is the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s family tomb. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, I could not enter the cemetery as it’s closed outside of the opening times due to the COVID-19 regulations.
Trip summary:
The distance: 65km, My ride time: 2 hours 23 minutes, I assume that the regular weekend trip along this route will take up to 3.5 hours.
The whole route is a different quality of tarmac, mostly flat with a couple of “false-flats” and uphills and relaxing downhills.
There are a few small restaurants and gas stations where you can grab a bite or a quick coffee. There is no need to prepare anything special, but having something sweet and about 1.5litres of water would be enough for one person to comfortably ride this trip.
Places passed: Ahrensfelde, Blumberg, Seefeld, Werftpfuhl, Beiersdorf, Schönefeld, Willmersdorf, Börnicke, Birkenhöhe.
Places I’ve missed (for the next trip):
- Radar tower in Weesow
- The roof-less church in Beiersdorf (a ruin since the 1970s, haven’t found more info yet)
- There are some ruins and remains of the radar towers around Doringsee — I will go there some other time.
Not sure if such content fits Medium, but maybe someone will find it useful, and I will search for a more suitable place and form as I move on with the next notes.
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