The record
The last mushroom-shaped panorama tower in Berlin, abandoned by the border troops because its shaft was too narrow to get out of quickly.
Three of the border's watchtowers still stand on Berlin territory, out of 302 watchtowers and observation towers built. One is the command post at Kieler Eck, now the Günter Litfin Memorial; one is the command post at Schlesischer Busch; this is the third, and the only survivor of its type.
It is a panorama observation tower: a slender round shaft with an iron ladder inside leading to an octagonal perch on top, which gives it the look of a concrete mushroom. The model was introduced in 1969 along the Berlin and inner-German borders. The border installations were continually revised across the Wall's twenty-eight years, and this design did not last — the narrow shaft was not especially stable, and it made it hard for guards to get out in a hurry, so the panorama towers were replaced by roomier square ones.
This tower stood outside the no man's land and watched the ground in front of the border: the dips and uneven terrain between the former House of Ministries, now the finance ministry, the GDR Academy of Sciences, now the Berlin House of Representatives, and the hinterland wall along Stresemannstraße. Other surviving panorama towers were used to watch high-security institutions — the Stasi prison at Hohenschönhausen, the Stasi office in Weissensee.
It has been a listed monument since 2001. Building work on the site after reunification meant the tower had to be shifted about eight metres east, which is a small thing and worth saying anyway: this catalogue is careful about the difference between an object in place and an object moved, and eight metres is still a move.
How did it get here?
In place, shifted about eight metres east after reunification for new construction. Built around 1971 to a design introduced in 1969; listed as a monument since 2001.
Sources & verification
Wachturm Erna-Berger-Straße — Landesdenkmalamt Berlin, Wall monuments ↗
The tower as one of the last of its kind, its mushroom-shaped panorama design with round shaft, iron ladder and octagonal perch, the model's introduction in 1969, its replacement by square towers because the narrow shaft was unstable and slow to exit, its position outside the no man's land watching the ground between the House of Ministries, the Academy of Sciences and the Stresemannstraße hinterland wall, the other surviving panorama towers at Hohenschönhausen and Weissensee, the listing in 2001, and the eight-metre move after reunification.
Source accessed 2026-09-17
Watchtower at Potsdamer Platz — Berlin.de ↗
The tower as a BT-6 type built around 1971, and the count of 302 watchtowers and observation towers of which five survive, three of them on Berlin territory.
Source accessed 2026-09-17
Last verified: Not yet verified
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