How did America spy on the Soviets from behind the Berlin Wall? | culture

On a tree-covered hill in western Berlin, a strange building is entrenched with huge white towers resembling giant balls. Today the place seems quiet and attractive to photography and art lovers, but in fact it hides one of the most mysterious stories in modern history.

On Mount Teufelsberg, or “Devil’s Mountain,” as the Germans call it, the US National Security Agency established one of the largest eavesdropping stations in the world during the Cold War.

On the 36th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germans are still reliving that moment that ended 28 years of division between East and West Germany.

From above the mountain peak, American forces were picking up military and political communications coming from the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries, while East Berlin was located a few miles behind the Berlin Wall, or the “Iron Curtain.”

The location was ideal for spying, as the building was more than 80 meters high above the German capital, and provided a long-range view of everything going on in the eastern side. There, the Americans worked with their British and French allies for years in complete silence, trying to discover any sudden military movement.

After the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the eavesdropping devices stopped and the spies left, and a new story began for the place.

After the American eavesdropping center went out of service, a group of artists took over its management and turned it into a permanent street art exhibition. The halls, which were teeming with wires and radar devices, were transformed into colorful walls, filled with manga drawings, political slogans, and artwork expressing freedom and peace.

Spy tales

During an episode (11/3/2025) of the “Al-Marsad” program, some of the station’s old employees returned to tell what they experienced. Retired American intelligence officer William McCowan said, “We were working non-stop. Our mission was to warn of any possible Soviet attack on Western Europe. We were picking up signals, analyzing communications, and sending warnings when needed.”

As for former British pilot Frank Johnston, he recounts an incident that almost sparked a crisis between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. On one of the flights, the Russians tried to impersonate employees in the Berlin control tower in order to give them wrong orders to change the flight path. He added, “Fortunately, we discovered the trick at the last minute.”

Over the years, Satan Mountain turned into a tourist and artistic destination visited by visitors from everywhere. They began to wander among its murals, taking pictures, and many of them may not know that decades ago these walls were the center of one of the most dangerous espionage operations in the 20th century.

The wall and spy towers have become symbols of freedom and unity, but history will always bear witness that the conflict has not completely disappeared. Today – as many see – the escalation of tension between Russia and NATO brings to mind the echo of the Cold War, as if the Devil’s Mountain is still silently watching the world, as it did in the past.