Hidden on Viktorshöhe, in the forest near Friedrichsbrunn, lie the ruins of VEB Draht- und Seilwerke Rothenburg’s former holiday home - a forgotten paradise now captivating hikers and photographers. Where Hulk Hogan once lay in a charred Finnish hut, barely recognizable, history whispers. Secrets await discovery in the shadows of the past. What will we uncover in this lost relic?
By chance, a passing doctor from Hamburg discovered the human remains at the top of Viktorshöhe. Police, forensic scientists, and investigators began a search for clues.
Eventually, it was determined that the body was that of a man called Bernd Brehmer, a doppelgänger - in German - of the famous American wrestling star Hulk Hogan, known throughout the Harz Mountains.
The lonely death
The lonely death of the cheerful impersonator drew attention eight years ago to a place that, in another time and country, was considered a holiday paradise. Viktorshöhe, at 581.5 meters, is the second-highest peak in the Ramberg massif, which stretches from Thale to Friedrichsbrunn, and was already a popular tourist destination in the 18th century.
Prince Viktor Friedrich of Anhalt-Bernburg, the namesake of the peak in the Harz foothills, had a hunting lodge built here in 1750. Later, an observation tower was added, and in the 19th century, an inn was established on the summit.
To attract more visitors to the often-underestimated region between the Selke Valley and Upper Harz, a 20-meter-high observation tower was built in 1897, offering views as far as the Kyffhäuser Mountains.
At the Devils Mill
Eventually, the foresters who had previously entertained guests also vanished. Guest rooms became available on the summit from 1927 onward. Postcards depict the restaurant - known as "Waldwirtschaft" (Forest Pub) - nestled between the volcanic cliffs of Kleiner and Großer Teufelsmühle (Devils Mill) as a clear spot in the forest with a shady beer garden under lush trees.
Almost a century later, all of this lies in ruins. Where VEB Draht- und Seilwerke Rothenburg built an opulent company holiday home for its employees in the late 1970s, only a bizarre landscape of ruins remains today.
Collapsed tower
The observation tower has collapsed. The beer garden is overgrown with man-sized saplings. On the steep slope down to the hiking trail to Friedrichsbrunn, a Trabant 501 lies wedged between the trees. The place now draws its fascination from its almost undisturbed decay.
Until the end of the GDR, vacationers still spent pleasant days here, right next to stamp post 189. The Draht- und Seilwerke from the Saalkreis region had built a three-story apartment block next to the historic buildings, which housed several vacation apartments for guests.
There was a bowling alley, a fireplace lounge, a sauna, and its own boiler house. Then, the German State's Treuhand Agency took over. As elsewhere, the socialist GDR system of allocating holiday accommodations through state-owned enterprises collapsed.
At the same time, Viktorshöhe was placed under nature conservation - a less-than-ideal combination for those seeking an investor to continue operating the excursion destination on the shady peak.
After three decades
Three decades after the last vacationers left, the remains of the former holiday paradise bear witness to the abrupt end of the idyll. The vacation apartments have lost most of their exterior walls, and scrap collectors have stolen all the railings and parapets. Windows are broken; doors have been stolen or burned during illegal bonfire parties.
What it was like can only be imagined. Pieces of former furniture are scattered everywhere on the site. Saffron-yellow armchairs, woven chairs, and trampled cupboards lie in the deep grass. A concrete ping-pong table is picturesquely overgrown with moss; roofs and floors have collapsed, and the chimney has lost its clinker bricks.
Tourists are explorers
Only the foundations of the inn remain. Instead of vacationers from the near Saalkreis region and thirsty hikers, Viktorshöhe today primarily attracts urban explorers - fans of "lost places," sites of former human settlement that nature is slowly reclaiming. Where Bernd Brehmer, the Harz Hulk, died, there are now boards, leaves, and debris. According to Quedlinburg City Hall, the site belongs to a private owner. The city is unaware of their future plans.
