The West German government's colossal secret shelter for a nuclear war

During the Cold War, different governments ordered the construction of secret shelters in case World War III broke out.

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These shelters were intended for the government to continue its functions even in the event of a nuclear war. The German Federal Republic, also known as West Germany (remember that reunification took place in 1990, after the fall of communism and the disappearance of the dictatorship cynically calling itself the German Democratic Republic), began in 1962 the construction of a bunker in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, in the west of the country, under the government of Christian Democrat Konrad Adenauer.

The The German National Tourist Board (GNTB) points out that when its construction was completed in 1971, during the government of the Social Democrat Willy Brandt, this refuge was 17.3 kilometers long and had 936 bedrooms and 897 offices, being prepared to house the members of the constitutional powers of the country. "It was the most secret building in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany", the GNTB notes.

After the fall of communism, the huge shelter in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler was dismantled between 2001 and 2006, but 203 meters of the old facility have been preserved as a place of documentation, < strong>settling there a museum on the Cold War , which can be visited from April 6 to November 10 on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

The bunker had all kinds of services. Here we can see the bunker fire brigade room (photo by Sascha Kelschenbach).

"Danger! Risk of death! Do not enter marking if floor light is flashing" A danger notice next to one of the bunker hatches (photo: Kajo Meyer).

An armored door at the access to the bunker (photo: Sascha Kelschenbach).

The bunker command center (photo: Sascha Kelschenbach).

Among the bunker facilities there was also a small hospital (photo: Kajo Meyer).

One of the dismantled parts of the bunker (photo: Sascha Kelschenbach).

The entrance blocking structure to the bunker (photo: Kajo Meyer).

If you want to visit the museum, you can find more information on the museum's website and on the Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler website.

If you want to see the dismantled part of the museum, the channel Randomlife.official published today a video in which he walks through it (the video is in German, you can activate the automatic subtitles in English in the bottom bar of the player):

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Source of the photos: Documentation Centre Government Bunker / Sascha Kelschenbach / Kajo Meyer.