I met with a friend one sunny Saturday afternoon to go to an abandoned Iraqi Embassy. Basically, when the Berlin Wall still stood, Iraq had 2 embassies in Berlin. When the wall, separating East Berlin and West Berlin, came down in 1989 Iraq decided to completely abandon their Eastern residency. They did not care about any of the files, furniture, and other items left in the building and on the property. The building at this point, in fact, has trees growing through the roofs. The building is over grown, and obviously it has been walked through- by tourists, graffiti artists, homeless etc.. Most of the windows have been smashed or broken, and the same goes for the toilets and bathrooms. To me, the most interesting rooms had floors covered with old files, records, plans, and graphs written in Arabic. Being in the building was surreal and a little creepy. It was crazy to think how the Iraqi people literally left a building with all of its contents, but then also to think about how long it has remained this way. The building was not set hidden away, but with front open views of neighboring office buildings. I could not tell for sure, but it looked as if there could be some potential plans for the building. I would for sure recommend to anyone going to Berlin to check out the building, that is, if they are up to hopping a fence and walking on broken glass.
