Monday 6, May
Berlin Finance Ministry wants to give away Goebbels’ Nazi villa
Berlin’s Finance Ministry has offered to give away the villa of Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels to avoid demolishing the structure. “I am offering anyone who would like to take over the site to take it over as a gift from the state of Berlin,” said Stefan Evers, Berlin’s state finance minister. “If we fail again, as in the past decades, then Berlin has no other option but to carry out the demolition that we have already prepared for”.
Security and maintenance of the sprawling villa, which is located 15 kilometers north of Berlin, costs the state several million euros annually.
The villa was built for Goebbels in 1936 as a retreat for the Nazi propaganda minister where he would entertain fellow Nazi officials, artists and actors. He is also believed to have used the home to carry out his many secret relationships, away from his wife and six children who lived in Berlin.
After he and his wife killed themselves and their children while hiding in a Berlin bunker in 1945, the villa was briefly used as a military hospital, before becoming a base for the DDR youth wing. It was largely abandoned following the fall of the Berlin Wall, and its upkeep has since become a financial liability for the state.
Source: DW
