"Please Take It for Free" Despite Pleas, Empty Vacation Home Stands for 25 Years... Who Is the Owner?

Berlin State Government "Free Transfer of Joseph Goebbels' Villa"
Annual Maintenance Costs 400 Million KRW...Opposition to Demolition Attempts Citing "Historical Value" Considerations

Authorities in Berlin, Germany, have proposed transferring the villa of Joseph Goebbels (1897?1945), the Nazi propaganda minister, free of charge. Goebbels was a politician of Nazi Germany, one of Adolf Hitler's closest aides, and known as the king of propaganda and agitation. He cleverly promoted Hitler as the savior who would rescue Germany from the humiliation of defeat in World War I and restore it as a great nation, creating the myth of the "Hitler infallibility theory."

Josef Goebbels' Villa
Photo by AP Yonhap News

Recently, local media including the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) reported that Stephan Evers, Berlin's State Minister of Finance, proposed in parliament the day before, "Please accept the Goebbels villa as a gift from Berlin." Berlin authorities had previously expressed willingness to transfer the villa to other state governments for 1 euro (about 1,460 won) if requested.

The villa was built in 1939 on a vast 170,000㎡ site in a forest by a lake north of Berlin. Shortly after World War II, the Allied forces temporarily used it as a hospital, and after the division of East and West Germany, East German authorities used it as a youth education center. It has been left unused and neglected for 25 years since 1999. The maintenance cost amounts to 250,000 euros annually (about 365 million won).

Although the villa building and land are owned by the State of Berlin, the actual location is in Wandlitz, Brandenburg State, more than 10 km from the Berlin city boundary. Berlin's state government proposed a free transfer to Brandenburg due to maintenance costs, but it was not accepted. This is because the estimated remodeling cost reaches 350 million euros (about 510 billion won).

When Berlin announced plans to demolish the building entirely, Brandenburg authorities opposed it, arguing that a building with deep historical significance should not be demolished at Berlin's discretion. Thomas Drachenberg, the head of cultural heritage protection in Brandenburg, said, "We must thoroughly and long-term consider how to utilize a building that holds the history of two dictatorships in our society," but no concrete alternatives were presented.

The villa site is located 3 km away from the nearest village and is difficult to access by public transportation. While finding a way to utilize it is challenging, there are concerns that if left abandoned, far-right groups could exploit it.