Teufelsberg – NSA’s abandoned listening station

It is an artificial man-made hill located in Berlin, Germany where West Berlin was once situated. The surrounding Teltow plateau lies some 80 meters bellow Teufelsberg. The name itself is derived from the so-called devil’s lake that can be found south of the station.

The view from Field Station Berlin. Photo Credit: Martin Schmidt, CC BY 2.0

The hill was made from the rubble of Berlin after the Second World War ended. More than 75,000,000 m³ of debris were brought from the city. Deep inside the hill, the infamous Nazi military-technical college Wehrtechnische Fakultät is buried.

The hallways at Teufelsberg. Photo Credit: Rae Allen, CC BY 2.0

At the time of the Cold War, the National Security Agency of America had a listening station on top of this hill that was named Field Station Berlin. “The Hill,” as it was dubbed by the American soldiers, began its operations in July 1961.

The interior – heavily damaged. Photo Credit: Matt Biddulph, CC BY-SA 2.0

During the German-American Festival, a colossal Ferris wheel was built as a local attraction. This same Ferris wheel proved to have an ulterior use for the NSA: it was used to secretly boost the signal of radio operators eavesdropping on East Berlin.

U.S. listening station. Photo Credit:Rae Allen, CC BY 2.0

After November 9, 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell, there was no longer a need to spy on East Berlin. The Field Station Berlin was abandoned, the equipment removed, and today remains a monument of recent history.

But no urban tale would be complete without an element of mystery and conspiracy.

Teufelsberg domes. Photo Credit: Matt Biddulph, CC BY-SA 2.0

According to local rumors, the NSA built tunnels deep into the hill and all the way down to the Wehrtechnische Fakultät. The reason for such a move would be that the German faculty offered the perfect form of a  shelter in case of emergency.

Another version of this rumor is that the tunnels led to an underground submarine base.

Next to the domes. Photo Credit: Stas Rozhkov, CC BY 2.0

In the beginning, after the listening station was closed and abandoned, it was illegal for anybody to enter the fenced structure. Nevertheless, urban explorers, graffiti artists, and adrenalin junkies broke into the secret American base.

Graffiti inside the listening station. Photo Credit: Jussi Savolainen, CC BY 2.0

As of 2017, the landlord named Marvin Schutte open the site to visitors so that they could explore the abandoned NSA station legally. At the main entrance is a sign that reads, “Open from 10 am to one hour before sunset.”

Sunset from The Hill. Photo Credit: Christoph, CC BY-ND 2.0

The Field Station Berlin is famous enough to be mentioned in books and other forms of media; for example, it was acknowledged in Death On Devil’s Mountain, a novel by David Von Norden; McCurry’s War, a novel by Chuck Thompson; and by many others, including a presentation by Bill Scannell entitled Inside Field Station Berlin Teufelsberg.