Government bunker (Germany)
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The Government Bunker ''(Regierungsbunker)'' in
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, officially named ''Ausweichsitz der Verfassungsorgane des Bundes im Krisen- und Verteidigungsfall zur Wahrung von deren Funktionstüchtigkeit (AdVB),'' in English: "Emergency Seat of the Federal Constitutional Organs for the State of Crisis or
State of Defence The state of defence (, ) is the constitutional state of emergency in Germany if the country is "under attack by armed force or imminently threatened with such an attack". Established by a constitutional amendment in 1968 during the Cold War, this ...
to Maintain their Ability to Function" was a massive underground complex built during the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
era to house the German government, parliament and enough federal personnel needed to keep the government working in the event of war or severe crisis. Located only about south of
Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
(the government seat of pre-unification
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
), in the Ahr Valley between the towns of
Ahrweiler Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler () is a spa town in the German Bundesland of Rhineland-Palatinate that serves as the capital of the Ahrweiler district. The A61 motorway connects the town with cities like Cologne and Mainz. Formed by the merging of the ...
and
Dernau Dernau is a municipality in the district of Ahrweiler, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after R ...
, it was one of the best kept secrets of West Germany. It was built between 1960 and 1972 inside two abandoned
railway tunnel Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...
s that were built as part of the
Strategic Railway A strategic railway is a railway proposed or constructed primarily for military strategic purposes, as opposed to the usual purpose of a railway, which is the transport of civilian passengers or freight. Although the archetypal strategic railwa ...
, maintained and kept in a working condition for about 30 years and decommissioned in 1997. A small part of the once-secret site is now open to the public as ''Government Bunker Documentation Site'', while the vast majority is abandoned and sealed.


History

The bunker complex below the vineyards and forests along the river Ahr was built inside two disused railway tunnels of a former strategic railway line built in preparation of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
but never entered into service. After the war, during years of recession, the German state railway company lost interest in the line which was of no economic value and finally abandoned it. Between 1930 and 1939 the disused railway tunnels were used to farm mushrooms to gain independence from having to import French fungi. During the later phase of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
several arms manufacturing companies occupied the tunnels and a huge
concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
for forced labourers was erected outside the protective cover of the tunnels, which was also referred to under the code name ''Lager Rebstock'' (Camp Vine). Inside the tunnels was a construction facility for manufacturing ground equipment and mobile launch pads for the
V-2 rocket The V-2 (german: Vergeltungswaffe 2, lit=Retaliation Weapon 2), with the technical name ''Aggregat 4'' (A-4), was the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was developed ...
. With increasing Allied air raids at the end of the war, the tunnels served as makeshift air-raid shelters.


Construction and interior design

In the days of cold war, when Germany was on the front line between
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
and the
Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republic ...
, it became apparent that a nuclear war fought on German soil was a very real possibility. Therefore, it was decided that some form of emergency seat was needed for the federal government, should
Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...
become the target of an attack. After some deliberations the two tunnels were selected as the site for such an installation due to their proximity to Bonn and the rural surroundings which, unlike urban areas, would not attract air raids or missile attacks. Construction of the bunker began in 1960 and lasted until 1972. The government bunker, also known by the neutral-sounding name ''Dienststelle Marienthal'' (Office Marienthal) was constructed inside the existing tunnels which had never been used for the purpose they had initially been built for. Additional tunnels of a total length of 17.3 km were driven and blasted into the soft slate mountains along the
Ahr Ahr () is a river in Germany, a left tributary of the Rhine. Its source is at an elevation of approximately above sea level in Blankenheim in the Eifel, in the cellar of a timber-frame house near the castle of Blankenheim. After it crosses fro ...
Valley to build an emergency seat for the federal government that would allow up 3,000 people to survive an attack for at least 30 days. At the time of construction the total length of all tunnels probably amounted to 19 km. The facility was designed to withstand attacks with nuclear weapons and was fitted with autonomous supplies of electric power, fresh air and drinking water. Unlike other fortifications or military bunkers, however, there were no defence systems and it would have been protected by military units stationed nearby. The costs of construction were estimated at about DM 3 billion, although no precise figures are known due to the high level of secrecy. The bunker built beneath 110m of slate rock consisted of two sections named ''Ost'' (East) and ''West'' which were separated by a valley and connected by a 60m deep passageway. The eastern section was partitioned again into two independent parts (''Ost/West'' and ''Ost/Ost'') and the western section into three parts (''West/West'', ''West/Mitte'' entreand ''West/Ost''), each with tunnels parallel to and crossing the main tunnels. All tunnels were concrete-lined and most had two floors, with several exits and emergency escape routes. The main portals were sealed by manoeuvrable steel and concrete gates built by
MAN A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromos ...
, each weighing 25 tonnes. The bunker housed 897 offices and 936 dormitories and had 25,000 doors in total. It even had an underground hairdresser's salon. Huge gates and ventilation lids were installed that could seal off the bunker hermetically within seconds. Drinking water was drawn from two deep wells. Air filters, supplies, kitchens, medical units, dentist's surgeries, etc. would have allowed for survival without contact with the outside world for up to 30 days. In the event of a nuclear attack it would have been possible to continue governing and lead the West German Armed Forces from inside the bunker. In its final capacity the bunker would have accommodated up to 3,000 people of which all but the federal president and chancellor would have slept in multi-bed dormitories fitted with only very basic furniture. In the event of a defence situation the bunker would have accommodated the federal president, the chancellor, the joint defense committee, the president of the constitutional court, various ministries as well as civilian and military personnel. Briefings would have been held in large conference and map rooms situated next to the chancellor's office. Part of the A61 motorway (Autobahn) near the village of
Gelsdorf Gelsdorf may refer to: ;Places * Gelsdorf, a village in the municipality of Grafschaft, Rhineland, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany * Gelsdorf, a hamlet in the municipality of Gransdorf, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany ...
had been designed for use as a runway and would have been used as an airport for the bunker with spacious aircraft parking spaces at both ends disguised as roadside car parks. Every two years exercises took place in the bunker as part of
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
Wintex whereby staff actually worked inside the hermetically sealed bunker for up to 30 days. Such exercises, for instance, involved the passing of bills by an emergency parliament of 22 members, including a mock chancellor and president. The bunker was used for the first time in October 1966 during the course of the NATO high command exercise Fallex 66, and for the last time in 1987. The
Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...
came down two years later. About 180 staff working in three shifts were required for maintaining, repairing and operating the bunker. In 2008 it became publicly known that the shelter would have just about withstood the detonation of a 20 kiloton bomb, comparable to the destructive force of the Hiroshima bomb. Secret surveys conducted as early as 1962 had found that 250-times more powerful weapons were to be expected and it had been made clear that the bunker would collapse if ever hit by a nuclear bomb. Despite this known fact, however, construction was continued for political reasons.


Dismantling of the bunker

In 1997, following the decision to move the capital and government seat of re-unified Germany to Berlin, it was decided to abandon the bunker as no concept for civilian use could be found. Only few parts of the fire safety installations had been upgraded, which was a decisive criterion that deterred potential investors. The costs of continuous operation of DM 20 million (about EUR 10 million), however, could have been reduced in event of civil use as preparations for potential nuclear attacks would no longer have been required. It also would have been possible to use only one of the five independent sections. Over the following years the tunnels were cleared out, gutted and sealed, costing €16 million in total. In 2001 deconstruction was interrupted briefly due to considerations whether it might be sensible to have a bunker following the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
. All that remains now are the gutted, concrete-lined tunnels. The access buildings above the ''Kloster Marienthal'' vineyard still exist, although the doors have been welded shut.


The Documentation Site

Only of the original bunker exist today near the town of
Ahrweiler Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler () is a spa town in the German Bundesland of Rhineland-Palatinate that serves as the capital of the Ahrweiler district. The A61 motorway connects the town with cities like Cologne and Mainz. Formed by the merging of the ...
and have been converted into a museum of the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
. It was opened on 29 February 2008. The German government still owns this remaining part of the bunker and has invested €2.5million for its conversion into a museum. The investment was approved because the estimated costs of €30million for deconstruction were undercut considerably, costing only €16million in total. The ''Dokumentationsstätte Regierungsbunker'' museum (Government Bunker Documentation Site) features a cinema, the entrance to former section 1 (''Ost/Ost'') and of tunnel more or less in its original condition. Visitors can see the two MAN gates as well as the air locks used to bypass them with the corresponding decontamination rooms, followed by several steel doors and several offices and dormitories. A partially authentically furnished medical unit is also on display. Original equipment from the bunker and guided tours help imagine what life in the bunker once was like. The museum ends with a view into the fully gutted tunnel.


References


Literature

* Bundesamt für Bauwesen und Raumordnung/Stiftung Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland: Der Regierungsbunker. Ernst Wasmuth Verlag, Berlin/Tübingen 2007, .


External links


Official website

A website about the bunker by photographer Andreas Magdanz

The government bunker and its relevance during the cold war (in German)
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Rhineland-Palatinate Tunnels in Germany Railway tunnels in Germany Government of Germany Eifel Bonn Cold War history of Germany Museums in Rhineland-Palatinate Cold War museums in Germany Tunnels completed in 1972 Bunkers in Germany