Sledding Hill Teufelsberg

Berlin’s highest rubble hill in the middle of Grunewald

Teufelsberg is located in Grunewald and gets its name from the nearby Teufelssee (Devil’s Lake). At 120.1 meters above sea level, it is the city’s highest elevation, measured in 2013 by geodesists from the Technical University; previously, it was listed at 114.7 meters. Beneath it lies one of the city’s darkest construction sites: in 1937, the foundation stone was laid here for the Faculty of Military Technology, a project from the plans for the so-called ‘Welthauptstadt Germania’ (World Capital Germania). Construction ceased in 1940 and was never completed; the shell could not be demolished after the war and instead disappeared under rubble. Between 1950 and 1972, Berlin dumped approximately 26 million cubic meters of debris here, about a third of the city’s total war rubble and the material from approximately 15,000 houses. Afterwards, the hill was shaped with sand and topsoil and planted with about one million trees; the greening was completed in 1976. To the northeast, Drachenberg (Dragon Hill) adjoins it at 99 meters, with a staircase of 280 steps leading up. Parking is available at Teufelsseechaussee and below Drachenberg, and it’s only a few minutes’ walk from Heerstraße S-Bahn station.

Tobogganing under the domes of the old listening station

At the top of the main dome stand the remains of Field Station Berlin, a listening post of the American armed forces with five antenna domes and a 120-meter-high steel lattice mast. In 1991, the Americans and British withdrew; civilian air traffic control radar operated there until 1999. Today, the roof of the main building is a viewing platform over Grunewald and the city. Winter sports have a tradition at Teufelsberg: the Senate created a ski slope, a platter lift, floodlights, and snow cannons were added in 1964, and everything was dismantled again in 1972. What remains are the slopes themselves, where tobogganing and snowboarding take place when there is snow; the State of Berlin lists Teufelsberg in its official overview of toboggan runs. Nothing is supervised here; use is at one’s own risk, and the terrain is uneven. Directly adjacent are the nature reserves Postfenn and Teufelsfenn, which may not be entered. Teufelssee is also home to the Ökowerk with its water museum, and there is a climbing rock on the hill. Gastronomy is sought in vain at the top, but Drachenberg, with suitable wind, is a training ground for hang gliders and paragliders. Those who want to learn more about the mountain can take a guided tour of the station’s grounds.