Borne Sulinowo – the Officers' House
When I asked the way down to Lake Pile in Borne Sulinowo, I was told to turn right past the Okrąglak (the Roundhouse). The Officers' House was built in 1934–1936 by the Germans. It served as an artillery school for the German Wehrmacht. There was also an officers' casino there. The building was used to train the officers and non-commissioned officers of the armoured units of General Heinz Wilhelm Guderian.
Between 1945 and 1992 the building fell under Soviet authority. It was referred to as the Garrison Officers' House. It became the cultural centre of Borne Sulinowo. There was a cinema, a theatre, a concert hall and a disco. A local television station also had its seat there, broadcasting programmes transmitted from Moscow, among other places. Amid all these media pleasures, there was also a restaurant.
In its heyday the building hosted the chief commanders of the Warsaw Pact. They came for various kinds of official events.
Today the Okrąglak is private property. There you can come across a few rats and smashed window panes, plenty of rubble and a roof that is caving in here and there. At the back of the building there is a beautiful, if heavily overgrown, path down to Lake Pile.
I quietly hope that it will be developed and rebuilt. Or perhaps it awaits the same fate that befell Kłomino.
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