ECHOES OF THE PAST
Inside the abandoned ‘Devil’s Mountain’ spy HQ now caked in graffiti where spooks eavesdropped behind Iron Curtain
AN ABANDONED spy station where spooks eavesdropped on the Soviet Union has now become a gigantic canvas for street artists.
Those brave enough to scale 'Devil's Mountain' in Berlin, Germany, have added a splash of colour to the crumbling concrete structure.
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It is hard to believe Teufelsberg was once home to US and British intelligence agents who snooped behind the Iron Curtain.
At the height of the Cold War, the 80-metre man-made hill served as the ideal vantage spot for surveillance of Soviet communications.
State-of-the-art listening towers sat on top of a mound of WW2 debris that was hauled from the German capital to Grunewald.
An unfinished Nazi military-technical college is buried underneath the non-natural hill, only adding to the spookiness in the region.
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The US National Security Agency constructed one of its largest listening stations on top of Teufelsberg in 1963.
Rotating antenna radomes, dubbed "Berlin's balls" by locals due to their shape, picked up even the slightest Soviet whisper.
The bulbous white globes helped expose the Communist Bloc's secrets to US and British spies thanks to their incredible design.
The ominous spheres were a complex puzzle of Teflon triangles, each one meticulously arranged to form the perfect shape.
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The golf-ball-like domes were kept inflated by internal air compressors to combat the powerful winds plaguing Teufelsberg.
Signals between East Berlin and the Soviets were intercepted, transcribed and translated by spies at the historic HQ.
US army veteran turned Devil's Mountain tour guide Christopher McLarren described the spot as a "type of forewarning post."
He explained: "We had to gather as much information as possible in order to find out if the Soviets or the Warsaw Pact were plotting against us."
Their efforts were aided by an unlikely ally - a Ferris wheel which was erected each year as part of the annual German-American Festival.
The fairground ride bizarrely helped relay signals and improved the quality of their listening efforts, prompting the US to ask if it could be left up for a while after the celebrations were over.
Despite Teufelsberg being a top-secret spy base, it didn't stop Germans from making the most of the steep slopes.
A huge ski jump with the capacity for 5,000 spectators had been built there in 1962 and it became a renowned recreational area.
One million trees were planted at Devil's Mountain, providing a curtain of privacy for spooks while adding some life to the region.
But following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Teufelsberg once again became a desolate ghost town.
The NSA stripped the listening station of all its equipment and ditched the key spying spot, leaving only the building and Berlin's balls behind.
Investors talked of transforming the base into a spy museum, but the plans never came to fruition.
Instead, it fell into disrepair and was ravaged by the elements for decades - until a new generation gave it a new purpose.
Despite being privately owned and fenced off from the surrounding forest, the HQ is now one of the largest graffiti galleries in Europe.
Inspired by its colourful history, street artists have created a series of vibrant murals, political cartoons and bright doodles.
The listening towers that were left to rot have become a never-ending art project for spray painters from across the world.
The walls brimming with Cold War secrets are now defaced by scrawls, while the radomes which boasted enviable acoustics are lacking more than a few of their Teflon triangles.
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However, it still serves as an incredible spot to take in the views of Berlin's skyline.
Teufelsberg has now become a tourist attraction for history buffs with a penchant for art.
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