Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler near Bonn.
'Ausweichsitz der Verfassungsorgane der Bundesrepublik Deutschland.'
State of emergency bunker for the Government of West-Germany.
With the start of the Cold War, the German Government was looking for a place to stay in case of an atomic war. After some research they decided to go for an old train-tunnel trough a mountain in the Ahrweiler area. Before WW I the German's where making a train-tunnel from the Rhine towards the Elzas region, but after WW I they had to leave the Elzas region to the France so the tunnel was left behind.
During WWII the German's brought all kinds of manufacturing factories for cars, machinery, V1 and V2 rockets over to the old train-tunnel (with a length of 3.5 km). The tunnel was heavy enough to protect the factories for the bombings. After the war the tunnel was abandoned and the Allies closed it down by blowing up some of the entrances.
In 1960, during the Cold War, the Germans started construction of a bunker that would be suitable for all the departments of the German government in time of an nuclear attack. This included the housing of 3.000 men and their equipment and all kind of facilities, the bunker was equipped to house those 3.000 men for about 30 days in case of an nuclear attack or a nuclear threat. Therefore they had to re-construct the tunnels in the mountain, construct new entrances, closing systems and other systems to prevent a nuclear contamination in the bunker. Because of its importance the construction had to be under strict rules of secrecy to prevent the Russians from knowing about this bunker. They build for 12 years on the whole complex; several sub complexes with different use and purpose. Total length of the entire complex is 17,5 km!
In 1997 the bunker was no longer in use, by that time the government and all the ministries where moved to Berlin. From 2001 till 2006 the bunker is dismantled and a part of only 200 meters is kept intact. Nowadays it is in use as a museum; you can get an impression of the enormous bunker project with a guided tour. It is nice to see that several techniques from WW II for bunker building where used again in the 60s and later. Such as the entrance-defence, air systems and a closing mechanism at the entrance (Rollkorpersperre.)
For more information look at
this website in German.
Types:
17.5 km of bunker complex in mountain.
