Fire damages historic site linked to Nazi propagandist Goebbels near Berlin

Witnesses reported smoke coming from a building on the Bogensee site in the town of Wandlitz on Wednesday night, prompting an emergency response, police said in a statement.

Up to 90 firefighters have been tackling the blaze for more than 12 hours, but the operation has been hampered by low temperatures, with frost damaging some of the pumps, a spokesman for local emergency forces said.

On Thursday afternoon, firefighters were still extinguishing pockets of embers.

The Bogensee complex includes several buildings and is best known for the villa built for Goebbels during the Nazi era.

Police said the Goebbels villa itself was not affected by the fire, which broke out in a former lecture hall established by the Free German Youth, the official youth organisation in the former East Germany.

According to initial findings, the building's large hall, the stage and the former speakers' booths were destroyed by the flames, the municipality said.

The former German communist state used the site until reunification in 1990, after which it served as a conference centre.

The property has been unused since 2000 and has since fallen into disrepair.

The Bogensee site, which covers approximately 16 hectares, is owned by the city-state of Berlin. Because Berlin has neither the funds nor the interest in developing the area, it granted Wandlitz use of the land.

Police said no one was injured in the fire. An investigation has been launched, and the first witnesses have been identified.