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Waldsiedlung (German language for "Forest settlement") was the Gated community for the leaders of the German Democratic Republic in Bernau bei Berlin, Brandenburg from 1960 to 1989. Waldsiedlung housed the most senior party members of the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) in relative luxury near Wandlitz, north of East Berlin, with surrounding areas off-limits to all ordinary citizens.
Security was provided by soldiers of the Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.
Nowadays, the community is treated by Germans as a symbol of the elite in the SED party when it ruled East Germany.
Construction of Waldsiedlung began in 1958, two years later after an SED resolution, in a remote wooded area belonging to the city of Bernau bei Berlin in Bezirk Frankfurt, around north of East Berlin. The housing complex was constructed through an agency subordinate to the Ministry for State Security ( Stasi) and was completed in 1960. Waldsiedlung was occupied by senior politicians and their families under the protection of the Stasi's bodyguard department, and relocating there became mandatory for all Politburo members.
Among East Germans, Waldsiedlung was colloquially called Wandlitz, after the nearby village. In the 1980s, Waldsiedlung became known by the tongue-in-cheek nickname " Volvograd", both in reference to the Soviet city of Volgograd and the GDR political elite's use of Volvo cars from Sweden (after initially using luxury Soviet GAZ Chaika).
Waldsiedlung consisted of 23 semi-detached family houses with of land each within the inner ring. The site had a club house (de) with a movie theater and a restaurant, a shop where a limited selection of subsidized luxury Western world goods could be purchased with East German marks, a market garden, a health clinic, a shooting range, a swimming pool, a sports field, and . There were also barracks and social buildings for site employees and guards. During the Erich Honecker-era, cooks at Waldsiedlung were required to produce gourmet-level meals. In addition to high-quality East German food products, western products such as Beaujolais and seltzer water were imported from West Berlin. In 1983, a nuclear bunker with the capacity to accommodate 400 people was completed in Waldsiedlung. In late 1989, Waldsiedlung's inhabitants had to leave the settlement in accordance with a resolution adopted by the GDR government under Premier Hans Modrow. After German reunification, Waldsiedlung became home to a rehabilitation clinic and private residences, and was brought under the administration of Bernau bei Berlin on 1 July 2001.
In June 2017, the Brandenburg state government placed the historic buildings of Waldsiedlung under monument protection.
As of 2021, tours to Waldsiedlung are allowed for anyone who wants to look around the area.
In the 1970s, a four-lane autobahn connected Waldsiedlung directly to East Berlin.
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