ASW Contest: The abandoned Karl-Krause factory in Leipzig

Glass broke under our feet as we squeezed through the small hole in the barricaded back door. A rat tail disappeared into the musty brick wall, an ascending disgust, but just for a second, a huge step into the darkness and we are taken by the mysterious atmosphere of this old, historic ruin. With childlike excitement, we sneaked from door to door, over the squeaky stairs to the next floor and explored like this, carefully, step by step, the interior of the huge factory building with the twitching light balls of our flashlights.

With its broken windows and graffiti-adorned walls, the building seems like a dilapidated and forgotten skeleton in the fast-growing city of Leipzig. But once this factory was famous for the construction of machinery and served as a workplace for hundreds of workers. Build in 1870, partially destroyed during the second world war and later expropriated in the socialist regime, this place has a long and moving story till its final closure in 1994.

Nowadays the old factory in the district Reudnitz, located in the east of Leipzig, stands as a slowly decaying monument for the early heyday of Western capitalism. Abandoned and forgotten for the majority of the city dwellers it now serves as shelter for outsiders and homeless, art space for graffiti writers or street artists, adventure playground for rebellious teens or simply as historical witnesses of a long-forgotten time for exploring wanderers like me. Society may have written off these places, but for a few who recognize the value, these places offer pure freedom and shelter, in a superficial, plastic world.
Just never stop exploring.

Pictures taken with an old Canon ixus 80 is.