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Borne Sulinowo – Officer’s House: Forgotten History

Borne Sulinowo is a town full of mysteries, once difficult to find on the map of Poland. Its existence was a closely guarded secret. The history of this place begins in the years 1933-1939, when the Third Reich started to displace the local inhabitants to build a military base and training ground here. Between 1934 and 1937, the Pomeranian Wall (Pommernsellung) was constructed, which was part of the fortifications on the eastern border of the Third Reich.
In the garrison Groß Born, as Borne Sulinowo was called at the time, units of Heinz Guderian’s armoured division were stationed. Guderian was a well-known military theorist and the author of the book “Achtung – Panzer!” which presented the concept of “blitzkrieg.” Interestingly, training exercises for Afrika Korps units were also held here, another place of training in Poland was also the Błedowska Desert.

Borne Sulinowo

Dom Oficera

At that time, the Officer’s House was also established, serving as a training center. The Officer’s House was officially opened by Adolf Hitler on August 18, 1938. In addition to the training facilities, the building housed an officers’ casino and a concert hall intended for special ceremonies. There was also a restaurant, which offered an incredible view of Lake Pile.

Dom Oficera - Borne Sulinowo

Dom Oficera

Although the Officer’s House still looks impressive from a distance, up close, its advanced decomposition is evident. For me, this is an advantage, as it makes the place more interesting to explore. However, from a historical and architectural perspective, it’s sad to see such a valuable monument falling into ruin.

Dom Oficera - Borne Sulinowo

Dom Oficera - klatka schodowa

Dom Oficera

In 2010, a fire destroyed a large part of the building, including the roof of the concert hall. Further damage was caused by nature. Despite the ongoing decay, the Officer’s House still makes an incredible impression. Exploring its interiors, one can imagine what it looked like in its heyday. The glass ceiling, though partially collapsed, still looks impressive.

Dom Oficera

Dom Oficera

The history of Borne Sulinowo does not end with the fall of the Third Reich. After the war, this area was taken over by the Red Army, and its existence was kept a strict secret. In the nearby village of Brzezino-Kolonia, a Soviet missile base was located. There was also the mysterious facility 3002, about which I wrote about here.

The Officer’s House isn’t the only attraction in Borne Sulinowo. The area is dotted with many former German bunkers. Another interesting place is Klomino, a ghost town. During the Third Reich, there was a prisoner-of-war camp here, holding Poles, French, and Russians. After the war, when the area was taken over by the Red Army, the camp was used to detain German soldiers. It was later transformed into a military base, which operated until 1992. Since then, Klomino has never been inhabited, and the buildings have gradually been demolished. Currently, the town is not a major attraction because there’s very little left.

Near Borne, in the forest along the road towards Szczecinek, there’s another interesting place—a Soviet military cemetery. The cemetery was established right after the Red Army occupied these areas and created a military base in 1945. It functioned until 1992, when the base was closed. It’s a civil-military cemetery, so civilians who served the secret military base and their families are also buried there. Most of the burials took place between 1945 and 1967. After 1970, only the children of the military base personnel were buried there. 

cmentarz

cmentarz

The cemetery contains about 350 graves, nearly half of which are anonymous. We can only speculate who lies in these unmarked graves. They were likely soldiers of the 6th Guards Vitebsk-Novgorod Mechanized Division, stationed in Borne Sulinowo. There was no war at the time, and the authorities probably did not want to mar the statistics with fatal accidents during exercises. It is also suspected that the anonymous graves belong to deserters.

cmentarz

In 2007, after the renovation of the cemetery, the bodies of Soviet soldiers from closed cemeteries in Kolobrzeg and Bialogard were moved here. Since then, the official name of the cemetery has been “Cemetery of the Soldiers of the Northern Group of Forces of the Russian Federation and Their Families in Borne Sulinowo.” However, locals call it the “cemetery with the PPSh.” This name comes from the grave of Ivan Paddubny, marked with a monument of a PPSh—a Soviet submachine gun. The monument was relocated from the center of Borne Sulinowo after Poland regained independence. While the history of the PPSh is known, the fate of the soldier remains a mystery. It is suspected that he died in a shooting in the village of Kragi in 1946. The circumstances of this incident are unknown, but the fact that it occurred a year after the end of the war is surprising.

cmentarz

Who I am... I'm just an ordinary girl, who once believed that dreams come true, and since then, I’ve been pursuing them consistently. My adventure with travelling started in 2008 and since then, I've seen a lot of interesting places which I describe on my blog. I’m interested in the history and culture of the countries that I visit and that’s why I travel as much as I can. However, in addition to the preservation of my memories, the main purpose of the blog is to show you that dreams come true and you can travel often and cheap!

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