Bornholm – Military History of a Contended Danish Island

September 22, 2024 CarloR1 Comment

The small island of Bornholm is today a popular destination for vacation time. Especially in the summer, the small and picturesque towns along the coast, as well as the curvy roads unwinding over the gentle slopes in the countryside, become increasingly crowded with cars, motorbikes, campers and bicycles – however, without reaching the point where a tourist who is looking for relaxation may feel uncomfortable.

The quiet and relaxed aura of this enjoyable piece of land, halfway between the German-Polish coast and that of Sweden – and nonetheless part of Denmark – hides a history pointed of battles and turmoil, lasting from the early era of the vikings until the Cold War.

Quick historical facts

Between the medieval times and the 17th century, the island was often seized by the Hanseatic League, binding together coastal towns in the Baltic and protecting trading routes. During the 17th century, Sweden became a major player in the area, and wars between Denmark and Sweden meant the island changing landlord more than once, with the locals always playing militarily in favor of a union with Denmark, to an extent made possible by their own forces, yet meeting with final success.

A largely forgotten war between Britain and Denmark, taking place in the years of total confusion brought about by Napoleon’s endeavors all over Europe, meant that Bornholm was attacked by the British fleet in more instance between 1808 and 1810, basically without any success.

World War II

The invasion of Denmark by the Third Reich and the capitulation of the Danish government, militarily unable to counter the irresistible march of Hitler’s military forces in April 1940, resulted in Bornholm being occupied by the Germans. The local Danish commander annotated the order not to resist the German take-over with disappointment, feeling that a firmer military response to the invaders was indeed possible. The island was fairly well organized and armed against an air-launched invasion.

The capitulation of Denmark without engaging in a military struggle allowed to obtain less harsh conditions from the occupants, including a limited independent military activity for the first years of WWII. However, a strong anti-German feeling fueled the growth of a resistance movement, including locally in Bornholm.

Similar to what happened to the Danish mainland (see this post), the military planners of the Third Reich included Bornholm in the coastal defense structure on the outer border of the newly acquired German territory – the so-called Atlantic Wall. In particular, construction of a fortress for four 38 cm cannons started on the south-eastern corner of the island, in Dueodde (similar to that in Hanstholm, Denmark, of Vara, Norway). The very efficient Organisation Todt had the first two emplacement largely complete by April 1941. By the attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941 however, and with the rapid expansion of the Third Reich to the east, the fortress in Dueodde was deemed of little use. In the event, construction works never reached completion.

Further significant war-related construction projects on Bornholm included observation posts and several radar stations (Würzburg and Freya types), which could profit from the location of the island on the route taken by bomber groups on their way back to Britain from raids over Berlin or the surrounding region. The proximity with respect to the facility for the development of experimental weapons at Peenemünde (see here) made of Borhnolm a natural place for the installation of measuring equipment. Furthermore, the main coastal town of Rønne – still today the largest center of the island, where most of the commercial and ferry sea traffic goes through – was largely employed as a base for the Kriegsmarine. Actually, more than 600 different German submarine units called this port during the war years, about one half of the entire German submarine fleet!

Diplomatic relations between the Third Reich and Denmark deteriorated rapidly in August 1943, when the Germans – now at a turning point of the war – launched operation Safari, trying to capture all assets of whatever military value from Denmark, thus also destroying its military capability. As a response, Denmark scuttled 32 of its own vessels, and sent a handful to Swedish or to even more distant friendly ports. In Borhnolm all Danish troops were disarmed and taken away from the island.

Somewhat paradoxically, the most tragic events of the war struck Borhnolm at the very end, when the island found itself off the coast of Poland, now taken over by the Soviet Red Army advancing from the east towards Berlin (see this post). As the fear of defeat and imprisonment grew among the ranks of Third Reich forces, following the heavy losses on the eastern front in Spring 1945, many German troops reached Bornholm to prepare for an escape further west, or north to neutral Sweden. This presence was noticed by Soviet intelligence, who intercepted communications mentioning several thousands of German military troops on the island – their actual number has been estimated at around 20’000 by May 1945. The war officially ended in Denmark on May 5th, 1945. However, at that time the chain of command and the communication system in the Third Reich had collapsed, and the local German commanders on Bornholm still retained the order to repel the Soviets with any possible means, without permission to surrender. As a result, the Soviets bombed the island twice, severely damaging Rønne and the port town of Nexø, unharmed up to that point, on May 7th and 8th, 1945.

Soviet Occupation

Following the two Soviet bombing raids, a group of six Soviet torpedo boats sailed from Kolberg, Poland (now Kolobrzeg, see this post), landed and reclaimed control of the island of Bornholm on April 9th, 1945. At that time, about 16’000 German troops and refugees were still on the island, trying to flee to the West or to Sweden by any possible means. Reportedly 700 boats of any kind were involved in this desperate evacuation operation, and about 5’000 Germans (military and civilian) had fled by sea just the day before the Soviet landing.

The anti-German resistance movement on Bornholm joined forces with the Soviets, trying to search for trapped German troops and prevent their escape to the West. The airfield in Rønne was captured on May 9th in one of these joint actions – specifically stopping a German aircraft already taxiing for take-off, after some others had already successfully got airborne! These operations went on until May 20th, and due to the very significant number of German troops still on site, they required drafting people in the Soviet-backed group of ‘freedom fighters’, which afterwards remained the only official local para-military group on the island, besides the Red Army (conversely, members of the the original voluntary resistance movement soon returned to their pre-war civilian occupation).

The Soviet presence on Bornholm constituted a potentially explosive problem. The agreement at Yalta between the US, Britain and the USSR in February 1945, months before the actual capitulation of the Third Reich, had defined that Denmark would remain independent, and specifically not within the Soviet-controlled territories in Europe. The British government, at that time still led by Churchill, was extremely worried by the Soviet capture of Bornholm, and after unofficially questioning the Soviets, the answer was even more appalling – according to Soviet diplomats, the island had to stay under Soviet control indefinitely, through the support of a military contingent of 9’000, soon to reach those already on site!

This led to the beginning of a peculiar page in the history of Bornholm, and of the diplomatic relations between the USSR and the West, which would soon get worse on a global scale, leading to the Cold War. Relations between the local Danish government and the Soviets were generally good at an official level, thanks to the skills of the local leading figure on the Danish side, von Stemann. To keep the public eye on this unsolved issue, he managed to organize an official visit of the Crown Princess of Denmark, who met the Soviet top staff on Bornholm. The day-by-day coexistence with the Soviets was less idyllic, with increasing incidents due to the misconduct of the bored Soviet troops stationed on the island, and the growing discontent among the locals. Uncertainty about Soviet plans fostered fear over a possible long-term occupation.

Finally in December 1945, Britain officially questioned the Soviet government about the case of Bornholm, and Molotov answered that the Soviet Union did not intend to have any permanent base in Denmark (as per the Yalta accords), yet the island was to be retained by the USSR as a guarantee, due to the presence of British troops on the Danish mainland.

The Danish government reacted preparing to retake full control of its own territory, correspondingly asking all foreign troops – from any nation – out of its borders. In March 1946 it was announced that the Soviet troops would leave the island of Bornholm, as Denmark prepared to install its own military forces back on it. In good order, the Soviets actually left the island, the last ship departing Rønne on April 5th, 1946.

The Cold War

Denmark joined NATO as a founding member in 1949, the result of the action of the then prime minister Hans Hedtoft, a former member of the resistance in Denmark, who had got a clear insight of the line of action followed by the Soviet Union, at that time still led by Stalin.

The support given by Denmark to NATO was not obvious for that country, since the proximity to the Eastern Bloc – especially Bornholm, geographically located close to the (by then) Soviet-controlled Polish coast – made Denmark extremely vulnerable and militarily untenable in case of a potential Soviet attack. The policy adopted by the Danish government over the decades of the Cold War in support of NATO was sincere but always carefully calibrated, to reduce the risk of Soviet intervention, which would possibly result in an extremely dangerous escalation.

Consequently, no international NATO base nor any nuclear warhead was ever permanently based in Denmark. Yet highly defended coastal strongholds were established, which can still be seen today (see this post).

Bornholm hit the headlines in the early phase of the Cold War, when the first-ever jet-propelled fighter from beyond the Iron Curtain defected to the West. This happened on March 5th, 1953, the very same day of Stalin’s death. The Polish pilot, 21 years old Franciszek Jarecki, had departed Slupsk airbase in northern Poland on a training mission, when he suddenly left his group and flew as fast and low as he could to Rønne, where he safely landed his aircraft, asking for asylum. The aircraft was a MiG-15, and that was the first time this new type of aircraft, which played havoc against propeller-driven machines in the early phase of the Korean War, could be inspected by Western powers.

The case was treated very carefully from a diplomatic standpoint by Denmark, to avoid provoking a violent reaction on the Soviet side. A technical inspection was carried out in a well-coordinated, highly secretive mission set up by the British and the US, ending with the restitution of the reassembled machine to Poland. Finally, the pilot was granted asylum in the US, where he had a remarkable military career (his flight suit from the defection mission ending up in the Smithsonian collection, at Udvar-Hazy Center, close to Dulles airport in Washington, D.C.). This topic is well covered in the excellent book ‘The secret MiGs of Bornholm‘ by Dick van der Aart (see the bookshop section).

Jarecki’s escape was not an isolated case, since in 1953 and 1956 two more Polish fighter pilots successfully landed (or crash-landed) their aircraft on Bornholm (while another made it all the way to Sweden). Then the Soviets had Polish fighter units relocated further south, where Bornholm was out of range, and took over control of the northernmost bases.

Defection to Borhnolm by air on a jet fighter was rare compared to the overall cases of people reaching Bornholm to flee either communist Poland or the GDR, similarly close to the island. For all the years of the Cold War, Bornholm constituted the goal of dozens of escape attempts, some of them successful, carried out mostly by sea.

The location well within the Soviet area of influence was exploited with the construction of a prominent intelligence base by Denmark, to the advantage of NATO forces. This was again in the Dueodde. The base was very effective and was updated to keep up with upgrades in electronic communication technology over the years until the end of the Cold War. It was later kept in service, and shut off only in 2012.

Navigate this post – Clicks on links to scroll

A visit to Bornholm today will likely be for relaxation and for enjoying this nice country. However, for those with an interest for its peculiar history there are some very interesting collections and rare sites to visit. They allow to retrace in particular the rich military history of the island, without much effort and with great satisfaction for either researchers or the general public. This post covers five of them, four of which are museums. They were all visited in the summer of 2024, and all photographs were taken in that occasion.

Bornholm’s Defence Museum, Rønne
Bornholm’s Museum, Rønne
Bornholm’s Tower, Nexø
Bornholm’s Technical Collection, Allinge
Soviet War Cemetery, Allinge-Sandvig
German coastal gun site, Dueodde

Sights

Bornholm’s Defence Museum, Rønne

A good place to start the exploration of the military history of Bornholm, the Defence Museum (Bornholms Forsvarsmuseum in the local idiom) is located to the south of the town center of Rønne, the busiest seaport and the capital city of the island.

The museum is hosted in two old military buildings, including the local kastellet, a massive tower with a round base, built for coastal defense.

The collection is housed in the courtyard and on the two levels of the first building. For the relatively little area it covers, this collection is extremely rich and informative, with panels covering in depth some specific events, offered in multiple languages including English.

On the ground floor, an interesting exhibition on the evolution of the artillery in Bornholm starts with a display of very old cannons – including possibly the oldest preserved exemplars of some types – and insignia dating from the wars against Sweden.

Bornholm Forsvarsmuseum Rønne – Defence Museum – Military Collection

Then more modern exemplars from the 19th century, and reaching to an American type 105 from WWII, employed on Bornholm in the Cold War period, allow to follow the evolution of this type of weapon.

Bornholm Forsvarsmuseum Rønne – Defence Museum – Military Collection

For more curious visitors, little artifacts interspersed between the larger exhibits on display add much value to the collection. Training material for anti-aircraft artillery from the WWII era, including down-scaled fake aircraft targets, as well as various types of grenades and shells employed with the artillery pieces stationed on the island can be found on display between the big guns on the ground floor.

Bornholm Forsvarsmuseum Rønne – Defence Museum – Military Collection

An original German aiming device has been positioned such to be still usable – you can see outside through the optical system. Note the eagle and swastika marking on the label.

Bornholm Forsvarsmuseum Rønne – Defence Museum – Military Collection

A particularly interesting item, not easy to find in a museum, is a complete launching device for the Stinger missile. This type of ground-to-air anti-aircraft missile, albeit rather rudimentary compared to other offensive missile platforms, has turned out very effective in actual war scenarios, especially against slow-moving aircraft or helicopters. The compact launchpad, operable by a single gunner, features two launching tubes. Aiming is via a visor, and the trigger is placed on two pistol-like grips.

Bornholm Forsvarsmuseum Rønne – Defence Museum – Military Collection

Many radio transmitters and receivers, including a sizable console with stacks mostly made in the US (look at the labels and tags!), are on display together with a rare computer, a Compucorp 625 Mark II, a standalone machine which was employed from the late 1970s to run a software for ballistic computations.

Bornholm Forsvarsmuseum Rønne – Defence Museum – Military Collection

On the top floor of the same building, an exhibition covering some specific military episodes from the 19th century serves as an introduction to the rich collection of memorabilia from WWII and the Cold War.

Decorations from the Third Reich, as well as insignia, uniforms and personal everyday items belonging to the Wehrmacht troops, or to some specific people in the German staff living on the island, are on display, in most cases along with explanatory panels telling their peculiar stories.

Bornholm Forsvarsmuseum Rønne – Defence Museum – Military Collection

Unusual items include a table with mottoes in German, an embroidered napkin with emblems from the winning powers of WWII.

Bornholm Forsvarsmuseum Rønne – Defence Museum – Military Collection

As said in the introduction, Bornholm found itself on the trajectory of allied bombers returning from raids on today’s northeastern Germany (including Berlin). In more instances, bombers damaged by flak fire or by German fighter aircraft, hence unable to make their way home, were forced to crash-land on Bornholm. The detailed history of two of these bombers and their corresponding crews is told in a dedicated set of display cases, showing even the track followed by each of the crew members as they tried to flee Bornholm (occupied by the Germans). Some interesting memorabilia items are on display from those episodes, including personal belongings of the crew members, and cash notes in diverse currencies, with their names written on them. These notes were given specifically to crew members, to help them in case of landing in a foreign country in Europe.

Bornholm Forsvarsmuseum Rønne – Defence Museum – Military Collection

From the same era is a perfectly preserved Enigma machine. This is presented together with a detailed story, which could be retraced by war historians in Bornholm. Actually, this specific machine was made in 1937 and largely employed on the Eastern front in the actions against the Soviet Union. When German troops were fleeing the northern coast of Poland and Germany in the last days of the war (May 1945), the machine arrived to Bornholm, where it was little employed, since the chain of command of the German Army had collapsed by that time. The machine was ditched in the water by the surrendering troops, but it was soon to be found, taken to a private house, and largely forgotten afterwards. Finally, it was donated to the museum decades later.

Bornholm Forsvarsmuseum Rønne – Defence Museum – Military Collection

Another unusual display is about the relics of German experimental weapons landing in Bornholm, and the espionage operations related to their find. Due to the proximity with the island of Usedom and the research center of Wehrner von Braun in Peenemünde, launches from the polygon where V-1 and V-2 were being tested could be spotted sometimes from Bornholm. Actually, early exemplars of a Fieseler Fi-103, aka V-1, first stranded on Bornholm in July and August 1943. They were first discovered by two local Danish citizens belonging to the police, who took quick sketches and pictures, and passed them to the British through the anti-German resistance links. These turned out to be the first photographs of that new weapon to reach the western Allies. The two were captured and imprisoned by the German occupants, but eventually they managed to flee to Sweden.

Some relics of the V-1 crashed on Bornholm are on display, as well as memorabilia items belonging to the two Danes who found the relic. The latter include a British decoration presented for their service.

Bornholm Forsvarsmuseum Rønne – Defence Museum – Military Collection

Additionally, interesting pictures show the contrail of a V-2 photographed over Bornholm, and the picture of another V-2 crashed in Sweden!

Bornholm Forsvarsmuseum Rønne – Defence Museum – Military Collection

Further remains from the era include gauges from the cockpit of German fighter aircraft, captured by the Soviets as they were trying to takeoff from Bornholm and escape, and a ribbon from the ill-fated German passenger ship Wilhelm Gustloff. She was sank by a Soviet submarine roughly 60 miles east of Bornholm in January 1945, while enroute to mainland Germany from former possessions of the Third Reich in nowadays Poland, lost to the advancing Red Army. Losses are estimated in the range of 10’000, making this largely forgotten episode by far the worst-ever naval disaster in history.

Bornholm Forsvarsmuseum Rønne – Defence Museum – Military Collection

Another rich section documents the presence of the Soviets on the island. Artifacts on display range from flags and direction signs for the stationing troops, written in Russian, to many personal items left behind by the Soviets.

Bornholm Forsvarsmuseum Rønne – Defence Museum – Military Collection

Typical propaganda posters are on display as well, similar to more official and non-public items, like transcripts of communications between the local Danish and Soviet commanders from the age of the Soviet occupation of Bornholm in 1945-46.

Bornholm Forsvarsmuseum Rønne – Defence Museum – Military Collection

Many evocative pictures are on display from that time as well, and similarly from the Cold War. Among them, pictures of the Polish MiGs landed on Bornholm, of the many ELINT and COMINT centers put on Bornholm during the decades of the Cold War (including the tower in Nexø, see here), and copy of the Soviet attack plan in case of war against NATO.

Bornholm Forsvarsmuseum Rønne – Defence Museum – Military Collection

A final chapter documented in this nice museum is the service of the Danish Armed Forces within the UN in Cyprus. Tasked with border surveillance between the two regions on the island, Danish forces were involved in action – with some casualties – at the time of the Turkish attack in 1970. They only left the island in the early 1990s.

Bornholm Forsvarsmuseum Rønne – Defence Museum – Military Collection

The kastellet is today mostly empty, and once inside, it is possible to appreciate the original architecture of this bastion, which saw action against the many attempts by foreign attackers to land on Bornholm.

Bornholm Forsvarsmuseum Rønne – Defence Museum – Military Collection

On the outside and in a small depot on the side of the inner courtyard, further items are on display. Propellers from the WWII aircraft crashed in the area represent both the German Luftwaffe (Do-17 bomber) and the Western Allies (B-24 and Halifax bombers).

Bornholm Forsvarsmuseum Rønne – Defence Museum – Military Collection

A Chaffee-type small tank and two armored vehicles are on display, together with naval guns, radar antennas, land robots and artillery aiming gear.

Bornholm Forsvarsmuseum Rønne – Defence Museum – Military Collection

A peculiar sight is one of the observation turrets originally scattered on the territory of the island, for spotting aircraft or other flying stuff and promptly report it.

Bornholm Forsvarsmuseum Rønne – Defence Museum – Military Collection

On display are also sea mines, sonobuoys, radar scopes and parts of torpedoes, some of them interesting Soviet models, likely recovered from the Baltic Sea during the Cold War.

Bornholm Forsvarsmuseum Rønne – Defence Museum – Military Collection

Ahead of the entrance to the museum, a memorial stone has been put more recently by an association of veterans.

Bornholm Forsvarsmuseum Rønne – Defence Museum – Military Collection

Getting there and visiting

The museum is located close to Rønne downtown, from where it can be reached with a short walk (about .3 miles south from the central touristic area). The address is Arsenalvej 8 – 3700 Rønne. There is a little parking area on site. The museum is professionally run, and it has its own dedicated website here (also available in English).

Visiting is strongly recommended as a first stop for an exploration of the military history of Bornholm. For war buffs, WWII and Cold War historians, this place has much in store, and a visit may easily take 2 hours. Less is required for a more basic visit, made easy also by the compactness of the display.

Bornholm’s Museum, Rønne

Bornholm’s Museum is the main facility dedicated to the history of the island. Located in a former hospital, you can immediately notice the presence of a bombing raid shelter in the courtyard. This is an original relic from WWII.

Bornholms Museum Rønne – Vikings, WWII and Cold War History

The museum takes all floors of a small building, and it is dedicated to the history of the island in all its aspects, and with artifacts from all ages, including Roman coins and viking accessories.

Bornholms Museum Rønne – Vikings, WWII and Cold War History

Of particular interest from the time of the vikings is a collection of golden plates. They are smaller than a human fingernail, and decorated with human figures and other subjects. Plus, they are really many! They are of special interest also due to the fact that nobody knows what they are. Archaeologists found them mostly on Bornholm, and in a much lower quantity elsewhere in Scandinavia.

Bornholms Museum Rønne – Vikings, WWII and Cold War History

Fast forward to the 20th century, the museum has on display interesting memorabilia from WWII and from the era of the Soviet occupation.

Among them are original decorations, documents and photographs, from both the German and Soviet sides.

Bornholms Museum Rønne – Vikings, WWII and Cold War History

From the early Cold War period, a small piece from Jarecki’s MiG-15 is preserved in a display case, with a picture of President Eisenhower receiving at the White House the first pilot defecting from Eastern Europe (apparently, a young John F. Kennedy appears to stand behind them).

Bornholms Museum Rønne – Vikings, WWII and Cold War History

Shop signs and indication signs in Russian, the original working desk of the Danish governor of the island at the time of the Soviet occupation, and everyday working tools belonging to the Soviet staff are among the displays in this museum.

Bornholms Museum Rønne – Vikings, WWII and Cold War History

A – perhaps – non-permanent exhibition is dedicated to the Soviets on the island, including the two air bombing raids they carried out in the closing days of WWII, which caused much destruction.

Bornholms Museum Rønne – Vikings, WWII and Cold War History

An interesting exhibition on the Cold War in Bornholm examines it from different perspectives. Among them, it is shown how preparations for a nuclear attack included the institution of a civil defense system, similar to most western Countries.

Bornholms Museum Rønne – Vikings, WWII and Cold War History

Similarly, the conspicuous wave of defections, of both military staff and civilians, from beyond the Iron Curtain to Bornholm is fully documented. Being located relatively close to the GDR and Poland, Bornholm was a natural target destination for those trying to leave the Baltic coast by sea. On display are documents of seamen asking for asylum, as well as a small dinghy employed for a successful escape attempt. A rather impressive full list of the successful and unsuccessful escape attempts towards Bornholm from the communist world is provided.

Bornholms Museum Rønne – Vikings, WWII and Cold War History

In another part of the museum, dedicated to everyday items and business activities, it is possible to find toys and other common tools from the Cold War era, as well as beautiful models of several vessels in service at that time – as well as today.

Bornholms Museum Rønne – Vikings, WWII and Cold War History

Getting there and visiting

The museum is one of the major attractions in Rønne, the capital city of the island. It is located within the perimeter of the historical center of the town, and you will be probably visiting it if you are interested in any aspect of the history of Bornholm. The address is Sankt Mortens Gade 29 – 3700 Rønne.

For those with an interest for the military history of the 20th century, the collection of this museum makes for a nice complement to that to be found in the Defence Museum (see above).

For a complete visit, 1 to 2 hours are likely enough. Less than 1 hour is needed if you are mostly interested to the WWII and Cold War part, including the nice exhibition on the Soviet presence.

The museum has regular opening times and a fully documented website here (also available in English).

Bornholm’s Tower, Nexø

The tower is an authentic relic from the Cold War. The intelligence site in Dueodde (close to the major town of Nexø, itself close to the southeastern corner of Bornholm) was originally established in 1958, in the facilities of an old lighthouse from 1876, which is still standing besides the new tower.

The task was that of intercepting communications from Soviet channels, primarily to the aim of knowing of any potentially offensive maneuver against Denmark or NATO in advance. The geographical location of Bornholm made it ideal for installing such a plant, since this territory is significantly farther east than the Danish mainland, hence closer to the Eastern Bloc and the Soviet Union.

Soon after the take over of the lighthouse by the Danish intelligence and the installation of the first technical gear, continuous improvement started around that facility, leading to the construction of a dedicated tower, which stood until the mid 1980s, and was extensively employed for gathering useful intelligence. Among the most notable information obtained in favor of NATO forces were the reports witnessing the preparation of an attack by the Warsaw Pact forces on Czechoslovakia, at the time of Dubcek’s attempted reformation of the communist system in 1968 – an invasion which eventually took place, tragically putting an end to a new political course in that Country.

The relevance of the site in Dueodde in the panorama of NATO intelligence is further shown by the decision to substantially upgrade the technical installation, demolishing the existing infrastructure and building anew a more modern and massive tower in 1986.

The new tower was operated continuously until 2012, when the installation was finally shut down, and the facility was partly demolished and sold. It is since then privately owned, and it has now reopened for visitors.

A visit allows to explore the foundations of the tower, where cables and pipelines – including compressed air and coolant fluid – can still be seen. Compressed air was employed for keeping in shape the special ‘shells’ where the technical stuff used to be put.

Bornholmertårnet – The Bornholm Tower – Cold War Intelligence Center NATO USSR

These shells were arranged hanging vertically from the concrete tower, which is the only part remaining today (the shells are gone, you can see two of the original platforms in the courtyard, close to the original cooling station). Coolant fluid was employed for the big servers which hosted and processed data. A wind monitoring cabinet – made in USA – can be found at the ground level of the tower.

Bornholmertårnet – The Bornholm Tower – Cold War Intelligence Center NATO USSR

By taking the original elevator, it is possible to climb to the top, where the view ranges in all directions, and allows to see the beautiful white dunes for which this area is mostly famous.

Bornholmertårnet – The Bornholm Tower – Cold War Intelligence Center NATO USSR

Inside the facility, mostly empty today, it is possible to see some remnants of the server rooms. Most of the empty rooms have been employed for a display of electronic cabinets and communication gear. A reconstruction of some of original technical rooms has been attempted, and the display is completed with historical pictures of the site.

Bornholmertårnet – The Bornholm Tower – Cold War Intelligence Center NATO USSR

Server rooms are among the preserved original parts of the tower.

Bornholmertårnet – The Bornholm Tower – Cold War Intelligence Center NATO USSR

Further rooms host displays related at large to WWII and the Cold War.

Bornholmertårnet – The Bornholm Tower – Cold War Intelligence Center NATO USSR

An interesting addition to the visit is an original MiG-15, presented in the colors of the Polish Air Force, and resembling those which fled from Poland to Bornholm, at the commands of brave early Cold War defectors. Photographs and copies of newspapers documenting those episodes are on display.

Bornholmertårnet – The Bornholm Tower – Cold War Intelligence Center NATO USSR

Interestingly, what appears to be a control surface or the part of a wing of an authentic Soviet aircraft can be seen on the side of the display, likely only provisionally.

Bornholmertårnet – The Bornholm Tower – Cold War Intelligence Center NATO USSR

Scattered along the walls in the exhibition are original pictures, with close-ups of intercepted aircraft from the Soviet bloc.

Bornholmertårnet – The Bornholm Tower – Cold War Intelligence Center NATO USSR

Getting there and visiting

The tower (Bornholmertarnet in the local idiom) is located close to the white dunes of the strand of Dueodde, on the very southeastern tip of the island, about 4 miles south of the major town of Nexø. The exact formal address is Strandmarksvejen 2 – 3730 Nexø. Large parking on site.

Visiting may take about 1 hour for the interested visitor. The tower can be climbed to the top with an elevator. Visiting the facility and exhibitions does not take much, since most rooms are basically empty.

The official website of this installation is here (multiple translations available).

Bornholm’s Technical Collection, Allinge

This incredible museum has been constituted through the merge of several private collections. In most cases they are very specialized selections of technical items. These range from tractors to airport vehicles, from pocket lighters to radios, from personal computers to naval radar scopes, and much more!

Besides well-stuffed collections, which strike for their size and range, there are also some specialties, like unusual items – typically relics or one-of-a-kind exemplars. Especially the latter include some items from the Cold War chapter of the history of Bornholm.

Actually, possibly the biggest item on display is a SAAB Draken aircraft. This excellent Swedish-made attack aircraft used to fly in the colors of the Danish Air Force (see this post). The exemplar on display comes with some of the accessories, including wing pods, the parachute for brake assistance, etc.

Bornholms Tekniske Samling – Bornholm’s Technical Collection – Relics from the Cold War, GDR and more

Close by the Draken, it is possible to find several aviation-related displays, like jet engines, optical gear, radar-receiving consoles. There is also the map of the scenic flights offered from an airport which does not exist any more, and which used to be close to the northern coast of the island (the only airport is today that in Rønne).

Bornholms Tekniske Samling – Bornholm’s Technical Collection – Relics from the Cold War, GDR and more

One of the jet engines looks like an evidence from an aircraft accident, involving a Learjet business jet crash-landed on Bornholm.

Bornholms Tekniske Samling – Bornholm’s Technical Collection – Relics from the Cold War, GDR and more

Not far from the Draken, another rare aircraft on display is a SAI KZIII, designed and manufactured in Denmark in 1946.

Bornholms Tekniske Samling – Bornholm’s Technical Collection – Relics from the Cold War, GDR and more

Further finds in the museum are a stop light, which was employed for stopping road traffic on local roads close to the runway, when an aircraft in need of a shallow approach path was landing in Rønne, and the doors originally in an airport building, with stickers of flight associations from all over the world.

Bornholms Tekniske Samling – Bornholm’s Technical Collection – Relics from the Cold War, GDR and more

A military trailer with radio communication gear is on display, as well as an old truck, which happens to be the very same truck seen boarded by young Soviet soldiers, at the time of the Soviet occupation of Bornholm!

Bornholms Tekniske Samling – Bornholm’s Technical Collection – Relics from the Cold War, GDR and more

A little collection is made of GDR-made items.

Bornholms Tekniske Samling – Bornholm’s Technical Collection – Relics from the Cold War, GDR and more

A small room is dedicated to marine detection gear and the corresponding scopes.

Bornholms Tekniske Samling – Bornholm’s Technical Collection – Relics from the Cold War, GDR and more

Bulky elements on display include a one-of-a-kind locally assembled truck, a monster roadworks machine made in the Third Reich and which never returned to Germany, and trucks for removing snow from the road. They have two engines, one moving the truck, the other moving the spool. The arrangement is rather involved, with an articulated (angled!) shaft carrying mechanical power from the engine to the spool.

Bornholms Tekniske Samling – Bornholm’s Technical Collection – Relics from the Cold War, GDR and more

Airport gear includes a SAAB car with a runway friction tester in the back, and a truck for spreading anti-ice fluid.

Bornholms Tekniske Samling – Bornholm’s Technical Collection – Relics from the Cold War, GDR and more

Other rich hi-tech collections include one with radio receivers, another with cameras and video-recorders.

Bornholms Tekniske Samling – Bornholm’s Technical Collection – Relics from the Cold War, GDR and more

Even one centered on personal computer consoles can be found.

Bornholms Tekniske Samling – Bornholm’s Technical Collection – Relics from the Cold War, GDR and more

The collection of tractors on display is really impressive, with machines coming from diverse nations and makers.

Bornholms Tekniske Samling – Bornholm’s Technical Collection – Relics from the Cold War, GDR and more

Other parts of the museum are basically old shops moved in, and in some cases with fully working machinery (like the blacksmith).

Bornholms Tekniske Samling – Bornholm’s Technical Collection – Relics from the Cold War, GDR and more

The list of collections is really huge! There is surely something for everybody on display.

Bornholms Tekniske Samling – Bornholm’s Technical Collection – Relics from the Cold War, GDR and more

Getting there and visiting

The museum can be found in the countryside, on the road 159 connecting Rønne to Allinge-Sandvig, one of the biggest settlements on the northern coast, about 1.5 miles from the latter. The exact address is Borrelyngvej 48, 3770 Allinge-Sandvig. Large parking on the premises.

The museum is very peculiar, it features rich collections and it is run by knowledgeable people who are willing to provide descriptions and information also in English. A visit may appeal to everybody including children, and not only to war historians. However, it is duly listed here especially for the war- and aviation-related collections in it. A visit to the entire museum may easily take about 2 hours, especially when talking with the locals. Much less is needed for a quick look at just some parts of it.

The website can be found here.

Soviet War Cemetery, Allinge-Sandvig

Even though Stalin’s USSR finally withdrew from the occupied territory of Bornholm, the conquer of the island by the Soviets in 1945-46 meant the construction of a Soviet war cemetery, similar to those to be found scattered on the territory of the former countries of the Eastern bloc.

A very unassuming and rather intimate monument was inaugurated close to the local Danish graveyard in Allinge-Sandvig. By agreement with the local government, the cemetery is still maintained today.

Den Russiske Kirkegård Bornholm – Soviet War Cemetery

A central obelisk, with prominent emblems and writings in both Russian and Danish, is placed ahead of a large memorial stone, with the names of fallen Soviet soldiers on it.

Getting there and visiting

The cemetery can be conveniently reached uphill of the village of Allinge-Sandvig. The exact address is Pilegade 18A, 3770 Allinge-Sandvig. Parking is possible on the road in the immediate vicinity of the cemetery. The site is open-air and not fenced, therefore it can be accessed 24/7. Visiting may take 15 minutes.

German coastal gun site, Dueodde

The coastal guns in Dueodde, close to the southeastern corner of the island and the Cold War tower (see above), are not open as a museum, yet they are fairly easily accessible to the general public. They are the most sizable remains of the planned installation for four 38 cm coastal guns, part of the ambitious coastal defense program of the Third Reich known as Atlantic Wall. This particular fortress became pointless after the break-out of hostilities between Hitler’s Germany and the USSR in 1941, since the line of the front shifted significantly towards the east, far away from Bornholm. Since construction works were correspondingly halted, only the unfinished emplacements of two of the cannons remain today, respectively Nr.3 and Nr.4.

The emplacement Nr.3 is easily accessible from the road. You can see the large round base prepared for the revolving gun. The central pinion is still there (note the big diameter of the metal screws, compared with the cover of my wide lens!).

Atlantic Wall Third Reich Coastal Guns Dueodde, Bornholm – German fortress

The circular corridor for moving the shells and taking them to the gun can be easily walked.

Atlantic Wall Third Reich Coastal Guns Dueodde, Bornholm – German fortress

The construction to the north was planned to shelter the troops manning the station, as well as with a technical part for storing the shells and the explosive cartridges. Many rooms can be accessed – albeit a torchlight is mandatory in this area. However, they are completely empty, and there is nothing more than bare concrete.

Atlantic Wall Third Reich Coastal Guns Dueodde, Bornholm – German fortress

The second site, Nr.4, is more secluded within a group of private homes. However, it can be accessed fairly easily by walking. It is basically a twin of the other emplacement, and the state of conservation (including, unfortunately, tons of stupid graffiti) is the same.

Atlantic Wall Third Reich Coastal Guns Dueodde, Bornholm – German fortress

Getting there and moving around

The two emplacements are geographically extremely close to the Cold War tower described above. It is possible to park at the tower, in the large parking areas closer to the white dunes strand, or along the road in proximity to these installations.

The coordinates for parking and getting a quick access are for Nr.3: 55.00058432993301, 15.080803777073971, and for Nr.4: 55.00255210231893, 15.084640862385443.

Both sites are not fenced and accessible 24/7. Visiting may take 15 minutes for each of the emplacements – the condition is unfortunately not ideal, with many graffiti likely such to spoil your pictures.

Preserved Cold War Bunkers in Northern England

April 8, 2023 CarloRLeave a comment

The central role taken by Britain in WWII, firstly containing and then countering the expansion of the Third Reich, is duly and proudly celebrated all around the Country, with memorials and thematic exhibitions, often hosted in historical locations, regularly open for a visit.

The United Kingdom joined NATO as a founding member in 1949, and had already been at the forefront of a European anti-Soviet alliance with France since 1947. The strategic political and military ties with the US, pivotal in putting and end to WWII in Europe, were kept over the following decades, against the menace constituted by the Eastern Bloc. Thanks to its geographical position, and bolstering a nuclear arsenal, strategic bombers and submarines of its own, Britain was a major player of the Cold War.

Despite that, the Cold War left behind comparatively less memories than WWII, with only a handful installations open to the public, and somewhat out of the spotlight. In this regard, this reflects an attitude generally widespread in Europe towards the traces of the second half of the 20th century.

However, for people with an interest in the Cold War age, and more in general for those with a thing for (especially nuclear) warfare technology, there are two really unmissable sights in Northern England, which make for a vivid hands-on experience of the ‘era of Soviet threat’.

One is the Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker, with a fascinating history starting in WWII and spanning the entire duration of the Cold War. Here one of the finest collections of nuclear-war-related material in Europe can be found, together with much additional material from the era, in a largely preserved historical site.

Another is the York Cold War Bunker, built in the Cold War age to provide protection to the staff of the Royal Observation Corps (ROC) in case of a nuclear attack, as well as the ability to help coordinating fundamental public functions – health, transportation, food and energy supply, etc. – in a post-attack nuclear fallout scenario.

Both sites are regularly open for a visit, and provide a vivid testimony of civil and military plans and facilities seriously prepared in England for a nuclear apocalypse scenario.

Sights

Navigate this post – Click on links to scroll

Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker
York Cold War Bunker

Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker

The Hack Green site is located deep in the Cheshire countryside, about one hour driving south of Manchester. Actually, it is in a really secluded location, far from any sizable urban center, and away from major roads. Even today, when this facility is working as a top-level museum, some attention to the signs is needed to reach the site.

Once by the gate, you are immediately driven back in time by the appearance of the tall military-style external fence with official government signs, and by the blunt and in impenetrable appearance of the big concrete bunker – what you see is only the part above ground level! – with a big antenna protruding from the top. Nearby, you can see an apparently still off-limits area, with a now-dead radar antenna and an old Jet Provost trainer in RAF colors.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

History

The history of the Hack Green site dates to as back as WWII, when it was established as one of the 12 most developed Ground Controlled Intercept (GCI) centers, out of 21 total nodes in Britain. Essentially based on the airspace scanning radar plants available at the time, the so-constituted ‘Chain Home’ surveillance system was operated by the RAF, and intended to track intruding German aircraft, thus directing air force planes against them. Radar aerials appeared on site at the time, suitable against relatively slow moving propeller-driven aircraft of those years.

With the start of the Cold War, and the need to reconfigure the defense against the USSR and Warsaw Pact forces operating with jet-powered aircraft of increasing speed, several modernization plans were started in Britain, aimed at implementing more effective detection and threat-countering radar technology, like ‘Green Garlic’, and later ROTOR. The latter called for the institution of a chain of detection nodes, not much dissimilar in concept from the older ‘Chain Home’ of WWII, but much more articulated, efficient and technologically advanced. At the time one of the most expensive government-funded operations ever, 66 installations were implemented all over Britain within ROTOR before the mid 1950s, with different roles in the network. The bunker you see today on the Hack Green site was one of them.

Keeping up with the fast-developing offensive technology of the 1950s and 1960s required a continuous update of the defensive network, in particular asking for the addition of intercontinental missiles to the enemy arsenal to counter. The US-led ‘Ballistic Missile Early Warning System’ (BMEWS) included 12 early-warning radar stations around the Atlantic, including a single station in the UK (RAF Fylingdales, Yorkshire, still in operation today). Before BMEWS went operational (early 1960s), triggering a re-organization of all other defense radar systems by the time obsolete, Hack Green took an interim role as one of only 4 radar stations operated by the RAF monitoring all military and civilian traffic through the British airspace, coping with new fast jetliners. The name of the Hack Green radar site in that stage was ‘Mersey Radar North’. Finally, in 1966 the RAF released the site to the government, which put it in mothballed status.

It was in 1976 that a new life began for Hack Green. Starting in 1958, the Home Office invested much in the preparation of an emergency structure, capable of keeping of managing a post-nuclear attack scenario, and keeping the basic public functions active. In the event of a total nuclear war, a failure of the national hierarchy and military chain of command was forecast, as a result of an extensive damage to the infrastructures and communication systems. In order to recover as fast as possible in such an emergency, the UK would split in 11 regions, each with a regional seat of government (RSG). In the region, a civil Regional Commissioner would take a leading administrative role, and would be responsible for coordinating disaster recovery operations, like supplying medical resources, food, water, and reconstructing infrastructures, while waiting for the national government to reactivate its functions. The Commissioner would be aided by the UK Warning and Monitoring Organization (UKWMO), which took over the function and organization of the older Royal Observation Corps (ROC) established during WWII. This structure was further potentiated in the 1960s and 1970s, also introducing a similar regional scheme for the military in case of a nuclear attack.

The seat of the RSG was in the Regional Government Head Quarters (RGHQ). Following some years when it was hosted in Preston, then in Southport, north of Liverpool, the RGHQ for the 10th region (then 10:2, following a split in two halves of this large region) found its home in Hack Green. The former radar facility was potentiated enormously, and set up with the ability to host 160 civil and military staff for 3 months without resupply in case of a nuclear attack on the UK.

Within the framework of the emergency plan for a nuclear attack, the RGHQs all over the UK went on operating until the demise of the USSR in December 1991, to be soon deactivated over the following years. Hack Green was scrapped of all content, and put up for sale in 1993. It was privately acquired in the mid-1990s, and carefully restored in some parts, or being stocked with interesting material from the Cold War era in some of the many rooms.

A tour of the bunker

Access to the bunker is via a concrete slide, and through a metal gate. Originally the male civil servants dorm, the first room you meet is now a kind of storage for items recently incorporated in the collection. These include a jeep, a model of an Avro Shackleton, and interestingly a nuclear warhead. The original system to activate the rooftop antenna is in a cabinet along a sidewall.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

The ticket office and canteen are now in the original canteen area of the Hack Green site. Restored to a 1960s appearance, parts of the kitchen furniture are original from the site. Along the sidewalls are several memorabilia items, including some original Soviet emblems, not unusual today in museums on the other side of the Iron Curtain (see for instance here), but hard to find in the UK.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

An adjoining room reproduces the environment where the ROC would have worked in case of a drill or real nuclear attack. Among their function was the pinpointing of nuclear explosions. The forecast and monitoring of the fallout is strongly bound to the local weather and winds. This was kept under surveillance through reporting stations scattered on the UK territory (more than 1 thousand), which transmitted information to Hack Green and other RGHQ and UKWMO bunkers (see the York bunker later in this post). They could then coordinate recovery operations, avoiding extreme exposure to radiation of the emergency staff.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

Monitoring was through dedicated sensors, and communication through specific transmission gear. Two display cases in the same room feature interesting instruments, training documents, and memorabilia items from the rich history of the ROC, documenting also their activities in WWII.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

Ground floor

The Hack Green bunker largely retains its original arrangement. It is composed of a ground and an underground floor. Along the main corridors are interesting examples of the papers produced by the UKWMO, and by the civil defense service during the Cold War. Among them, are leaflets for the population, with best practices in case of a nuclear attack.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

Also interesting are more technical posters from the era, either outlining the role of the public organizations monitoring a potential nuclear apocalypse scenario, or providing technical details on the effects of nuclear weapons – what to expect in terms of damage or health issues, depending on the type and local condition of a nuclear explosion.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

For sure a focal point in the exhibition of Hack Green today is the display of nuclear warheads, and nuclear-related material. Hosted in a room previously employed by emergency staff, the exhibition retraces with original material, mock-ups, rare pictures and videos, the history of the British nuclear arsenal, managed by the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE).

The WE177 was designed to constitute the backbone of the air-dropped nuclear deterrent of the UK. Examples of this bomb are on display together with technical material employed to monitor their status and manage launch or drills. In service between the 1960s and the 1990s in association with larger strategic bombers like the Vulcan, or smaller fighter-bombers like some versions of the Harrier or Jaguar, it could be assembled in some different versions, sharing the same baseline construction, but with nominal yields ranging between 10 to 450 kilotons.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

Also on display are pictures and mock-ups of the old Polaris warhead, together with the original casing employed to transport this 200 kilotons item! A US design, the Polaris was acquired by the UK in 1963, to supply the Royal Navy and constitute the UK underwater deterrent. The Polaris missile featured a three-warheads fuse, bearing a total yield of 600 kilotons.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

A very rare artifact is the warhead of project Chevaline, a British design to improve the potential of the Polaris, which saw limited service with the Royal Navy in the 1980s. The Polaris/Chevaline was replaced by the Trident missile system, still employed today in the nuclear deterrent role.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

Besides the central exhibition of nuclear warheads, the display cases in the same room offer a wealth of super-interesting technical gear and memorabilia related to nuclear weapons. These include components and cabinets of radio and radar systems, to be transported on board aircraft or to be employed on the ground. These parts come from different ages, and from several Countries, including the Eastern Bloc – for instance, a very rare Soviet suit to work on high-power radar antennas for maintenance. Powerful radars actually emit rays with a high power-over-volume (power density) ratio especially in the vicinity of the emitting apparatus. This may even turn deadly for humans (roughly like being in a microwave oven would be!), and precautions are needed when working in such environment.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

A really unique collection on display is related to Geiger counters and dosimeters. These include environmental and personal use devices, from various ages and nationality.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

Two display cases are dedicated to material coming from beyond the Iron Curtain, most notably from the USSR and the GDR! It is really hard to imagine how this material could manage to come to Hack Green.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

Part of the display is dedicated to the civil defense corps of different Countries, with helmets, emblems, papers and uniforms, showing how similar actions in preparations for a nuclear war were carried out in many Nations of continental Europe, also in the Eastern Bloc. Actually, a very close relative of the UKWMO RGHQ control center, with a totally similar function, can be found in a perfectly preserved condition in Poland (see this post).

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

More memorabilia items come from the history of civil defense in the UK. Among the most rare artifacts are the only surviving example of the ‘Queen’s telephone’, which was employed for enforcing the Emergency Power Act, which among other things may have transferred power to the Regional Commissioner. There used to be one such phone in each of the RGHQ, but all were destroyed for security reasons following the shut-off of the bunkers, except this one, and the one at the other end of the line – in the Royal residence.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

An adjoining room hosts a reconstruction of the radar screen room from the age Hack Green was employed as a radar station managed by the RAF. All panels are lit, providing a vivid, pure Cold War experience!

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

To the end of the main corridor, you can reach another entrance to the bunker, which is nowadays normally shut. However, this used to be the main entrance, and close to it are the control room of the bunker and the decontamination area.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

The control room is not accessible, but the large windows allow to take a glance to its original appearance. It is still employed to control electric power and air conditioning. Manned nuclear-proof bunkers are customarily pressurized, sucking contaminated air from the outside, which is carefully filtered for poisons and radioactive particles, and pumping unfiltered bunker air to the outside (see this post for another example in a Soviet bunker).

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

People entering after work out in the fallout-polluted environment were decontaminated through showers, and used anti-radiation suits were left in an isolated sink still on display.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

Before leaving the ground floor, you can find on the ground level the female dorm for the staff of the RGHQ bunker. In the same room, an original system for communicating on the very low frequency bandwidth has been put on display. This Cold War relic could be employed to issue orders to the strategic submarine force. This very cabinet was employed by Prime Minister Thatcher for ordering the attack against the Argentinian ship General Belgrano.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

A final room on this floor is the sick bay, sized for the staff of Hack Green only, but equipped to manage health issues resulting from the exposition to a nuclear attack.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

Underground floor

Descending to the underground floor is possible via the original stairs. The first room you meet features an exhibition of original Soviet uniforms, belonging to some high-ranking officials from various branches of the Red Army. Really hard to see in this part of the world, their origin is well documented.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

Close by, is a small display of military material from the Soviet bloc, ranging from original weapons, to communication systems, emblems and instructional posters for the troops (similar to what you can find in dedicated museums in former Warsaw Pact Countries, like here or here).

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

Nearby is a communication room originally employed by the military staff of the bunker, working in parallel with civil servants in the management of the nuclear emergency. Original radio transmission gear of military standard is still in place.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

Before entering the core preserved area of the bunker, i.e. the rooms of the RGHQ, you can find the original water and air supply systems, and the corresponding technical cabinets, in a big room on the underground level.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

The rooms of the RGHQ are all interconnected, and located to the side of the corridor on the underground floor. The way they look is from the days of activity of Hack Green as a RGHQ, i.e. the 1980s. Typical Cold War technology from the time is featured in this area.

Firstly, you enter the warning room, which used to be the contact point of the RGHQ with the national surveillance system. By design, the BMEWS at Fylingdales should have picked up an incoming ICBM within 30 seconds from launch, spreading an alert signal at all levels. This would have been received here and by the entire civil defense system within 90 seconds. This would leave roughly 4 minutes (out of a total of around 6 minutes for the missile to come to Britain from the Eastern Bloc) to tell the population of the incoming missile, which would happen through some thousands sirens scattered around the UK. The physical alarm signal management system was called HANDEL, and was employed from the 1960s to 1992. The apparatus on display at Hack Green, a node of HANDEL, is notably still working, albeit disconnected.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

The warning room can be accessed directly from the Commissioner’s room, both an office and private room. Original maps and furniture can be found in this room, the only private one in the bunker. Immediately next to it is the cipher office, a communication office connecting – at least in non-emergency conditions – the center with the external world. Ciphered language was employed for safe communication with governmental offices, both domestic and abroad.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

Next are a conference room, for meeting within the staff of the RGHQ, and a broadcast studio. The latter was focused on radio broadcast instead of TV, since the latter would not work in case of a nuclear attack. The idea was for the Commissioner to communicate directly with the administrative region, possibly repeating messages of national significance, or instructing about local disaster recovery actions, evacuation operations, etc.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

The tour goes on with a very interesting area, stuffed with original electronic and communication material. Communication from the bunker to the other similar bunkers withing the UKWMO was possible through a dedicated system called Emergency Communication Network (ECN). The main function was that of constantly updating the map of the fallout and of the operations taking place at all levels, including all surviving infrastructures. Many maps and teletypewriters, original components of the system, are part of the display.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

The ‘brain’ of the system was the Message Switch Exchange (MSX). A top-tier system elaborated by British Telecom in the 1980s, it looks exceptionally complex. The lit cabinets and modules provide a really vivid impression of how it should have looked like back in the Cold War years. The electronic cabinets and wiring driving to the rooftop antenna are still lit as well.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

A rare, incredible portable satellite communication antenna is on display. This was employed in peacetime condition, and stored inside the bunker when under attack.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

The screens where the meteorologists and nuclear scientists displayed all the information gathered and prepared forecasts are another unusual Cold War sight.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

Perhaps unexpectedly in a 1980s hi-tech environment, a purely analog, wired telephone exchange system is on display. This is original as well, and was kept in service as a ‘last line’ backup system within the ECN until 1992, should the futuristic MSX system fail under an attack.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

A complement to the exhibition of the RGHQ is the fire control room, where a big screen and several communication consoles were employed for directing firefighting actions at a regional level. Following the experience of Nagasaki and the extensive nuclear tests of the 1950s, it is known that fires resulting from the extreme temperature and radiation intensity associated with a nuclear explosion are possibly even more dangerous to buildings and infrastructures than the shock-wave itself.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

A display which is not original from Hack Green, but found an ideal home in this bunker, is made of a reconstructed room from the Regional Air Operation Center (UKRAOC), which would gather information from the BMEWS. The material on display used to be at RAF High Wycombe, where the UKRAOC facility was located in the Cold War years.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

Fed by the BMEWS early warning station at Fylingdales, the apparatus in this room was constantly updated on the defense situation. A Soviet ICBM attack would be detected here, and from here the alarm signal to the entire national civil and military defense system would be triggered. This really one-of-a-kind reconstruction is really evoking, with the original panels all lit, and a dim light background!

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

A final room on the underground floor hosts a reconstruction of a Soviet missile launch room. Perhaps not accurate as a reconstruction, it is however centered on original material and memorabilia items from the Soviet bloc. This area has been employed as a set for movies.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

At the base of a second stair well ascending to the ground floor you can find a reconstruction of one of the more than 1 thousand peripheral posts of the ROC. Such posts, scattered on the UK territory, gathered information for the RGHQ, and constituted the ‘sensors’ of the nuclear attack detection network. The technical gear includes over-pressure and radiation intensity transducers.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

Getting there and visiting

The bunker is in a very secluded location, about 25 miles west of Stoke-on-Trent, and roughly 60 miles from Liverpool and Manchester. Very little advertised in the area, and not much known to the general public even in the UK, this hidden gem can be reached very conveniently by car, not much conveniently with public transport. The exact address is French Ln, Nantwich CW5 8BL, United Kingdom.

The bunker was built far from the crowds. Do not be worried as you see the road getting narrower and you feel like your NAV is taking you to nowhere – you are probably on the right path! Once there, you will find a large inside parking, and a top-level management of the entire facility.

Hack Green – Secret Nuclear Bunker – Crisis Regional Government – Cold War – UK

Visiting is on a self-guided basis, with tons of explanatory panels and illustrations allowing to make the most out of your visit even if you have just a normal interest and preliminary knowledge of the topic. For a specialist, this super-interesting, one-of-a-kind site may require at least 2 hours for capturing the details, and possibly take pictures. Website with visiting information here.

York Cold War Bunker

Besides the impressive Minster and the beautiful historic town, York has the distinction of being the seat of one of the few Cold War bunkers preserved in the UK. Differently from Hack Green (see above), the bunker in York was installed relatively late in 1961, in the middle of the Cold War. Since then and until the collapse of the USSR, it acted as a node in the UK Warning and Monitoring Organization (UKWMO), collecting information and coordinating emergency actions around York in the event of a nuclear attack. A cluster of reporting points was linked to the bunker in York, which took the name of Headquarters of the N.20 Group within the UKWMO.

An eminently intelligence collection and information relay facility, the bunker was manned by the Royal Observation Corps (ROC), who provided voluntary civilian staff to support the monitoring and communication functions of the bunker in the UKWMO network. The bunker ceased operations and was basically sealed in 1991. Until that time, the ROC ran the facility, carrying out regularly scheduled drills and simulations. The bunker was designed and sized to offer its staff a self-support ability of a few weeks in a nuclear fallout scenario. Besides all supporting facilities, including water tanks, pumps and power generators, the facility was centered on a set of sensors for nuclear blast detection, as well as provision for fallout forecast and monitoring.

The bunker has been taken over by the English Heritage, a structured nationwide historical conservation association, which restored the site and opened it to the public.

The York Cold War Bunker is not far from the historical center, yet in a quiet residential area. Access is from a small parking area among low-rise buildings. The greenish paint of the concrete walls and the tall metal antenna on top cannot be spotted from much farther away than the parking itself. Curiously, the pedestrian door of the bunker stands some feet above the ground, and can be reached via a concrete stairway. Then once on top and inside, you need to descend some flights of stairs to get underground.

York Cold War Bunker – York – England

Compared to the Hack Green bunker, the York group headquarter is more cramped, with smaller rooms, lower ceilings and narrower corridors.

York Cold War Bunker – York – England

The first part of the visit covers the supporting facilities. These include a ventilation system, which as customary for nuclear-proof bunkers (but the same is true for older bunkers dating from WWII) filtered the incoming air and ejected the inside air, basically pressurizing the bunker environment with respect to the outside atmospheric pressure. This avoided passive ingestion of contaminated air from the outside.

York Cold War Bunker – York – England

A power generator and a water pumping system are also visible. A control panel for all the plants has been preserved, similar to the machinery in this area, dating from the time of construction.

York Cold War Bunker – York – England

The centerpiece of the visit is of course the reporting room. The reason for putting a headquarters in relatively low-sized York was the presence in the area of significant food production industries, as well as of a major railway node in Northern England. Furthermore, military facilities like the only BMEWS station in the UK happened to be in Fylingdales, northern Yorkshire. These features would make York a valuable strategic target for an attacking enemy. The main function of the bunker within the UKWMO was that of ascertaining the position and intensity of a nuclear explosion on the territory covered by its jurisdiction.

Anticipated by the early warning ballistic missile detection system protecting the UK, the hit could be recorded by the sensors available in the bunker or in other reporting points scattered around in the country. The bunker would then try to predict and follow the evolution of the fallout. This would allow coordinating emergency and recovery actions including fire suppression, medical evacuation, water and food transport and supply, etc.

The central reporting room looks mostly like an operations room in a military headquarter. It is structured on two levels, with large maps and boards for visually updating the situation and writing information. Batteries of telephones and teletypewriters allowed obtaining communications and sending updated information to allow emergency services as well as decision centers to carry out post-attack operations. This system was not dissimilar from the counterpart beyond the Iron Curtain (see for instance this center in Poland).

York Cold War Bunker – York – England

Nearby the reporting room, the components of the sensor suite allowing to detect the position and intensity of a nuclear explosion are on display.

The first is the bomb-power indicator (BPI). The working principle is that of reading the over-pressure caused by the shock-wave invariably produced by an explosion, and particularly intense for a nuclear explosion, releasing an immense amount of energy in a small volume and within a very short time. The supersonic traveling shock-wave is responsible for the mechanical breaking of building and superstructures, like antennas, suspended power lines, bridges, piers, etc. Being a wave of pressure, its intensity can be measured by pressure transducers, which for the BPI show the reading on a simple analog dial.

York Cold War Bunker – York – England

The transducer, seen handing from the ceiling in the exhibition, would stand on the rooftop of the bunker, exposed to the explosion. This type of sensor was also installed in smaller reporting points scattered over the territory of the UK.

A second sensor was the ground zero indicator (GZI). Here the working principle was also very simple. The main element in the GZI is a metal drum with a small hole in the side, and a piece of photographic paper covering the inside surface of the cylinder. An explosion would send a high-energy light beam through the hole, producing an impression on a precise point on the paper. By positioning in a very accurate way the drum on its pedestal on top of the bunker, according to a precise fine-tuning, it was possible to retrieve the direction of the incoming beam. By composing the reading of more than one precisely-located drum, it was possible to pinpoint the position of the explosion by triangulation, both in terms of geographical position and altitude. The latter is a very relevant practical information, since for instance the quality and hazard of the fallout are strongly related to the proximity of the explosion to the ground.

York Cold War Bunker – York – England

The GZI, a purely analog sensor, had the odd feature of requiring collection of the photographic paper by venturing outside of the bunker after and explosion, i.e. facing the fallout.

The third and most evolved system on display is an AWDREY computer. The name stands for Atomic Weapon Detection Recognition and Estimation of Yield. This artifact is very rare to see, and a quite refined piece of engineering for the time. It was supplied to 12 headquarter bunkers of the UKWMO, including York, and was operative from the early 1970s. The computer is the computational part of the system, whereas the detection system was based on a sophisticated transducer put outside, on top of the bunker. The working principle was much more sophisticated here, and related to the evolution of the intensity of the radiation coming from the core of the explosions in the first instants of the detonation process. Several stages of a nuclear explosions happen in a row on a scale of a few millionths of a second. These include a predictable oscillation of the intensity of radiation. The exact features of this oscillation are correlated to the yield of the explosion. The ability of AWDREY to collect and interpret data from the early stage of the explosion would allow it to reconstruct the position and yield of the explosion at once.

York Cold War Bunker – York – England

Tuned on experimental data from nuclear testing in the field, this system delivered good general performance, with some inaccuracy in case of intense atmospheric phenomena taking place – or during fireworks, when the York system was apparently misled in one occasion, interpreting it as a Soviet attack!

York Cold War Bunker – York – England

The tour is completed with a view of the dorm for the civil servants of the ROC, and with a short exhibition on some historical and political aspects of the Cold War.

Getting there and visiting

The York Cold War Bunker is professionally managed by the English Heritage. Visiting is only possible with a guide. Please note that as of 2022, pre-booking is strictly necessary, since there is no ticket office on site. The guided tour lasts about 45 minutes, including a well-crafted introductory video. At the time of writing, only the first underground floor is open for a visit, but plans for an expansion of the visible part of the facility are being drafted.

The tour is very interesting and detailed, with some educated humor to make it more enjoyable! For specialists, it will be too quick, especially if you like to take pictures. However, the site indeed deserves a careful look also for the more technically-minded people, especially considering the little number of similar facilities open in Europe – and of course in the UK, where it is a one-of-a-kind destination, and a true must for Cold War historians.

The location is about two miles west of York Minster. Convenient to reach by car, several public parking lots are available in front of the gate or in the neighborhood. The exact address is Monument Cl, Holgate, York YO24 4HT, United Kingdom. Website with full information here.

The Rise and Fall of Communism in Romania

December 12, 2021July 28, 2022 CarloRLeave a comment

Romania has been ruled by a communist dictatorship since the early Cold War period until the fall of Ceausescu in December 1989. The monarchy had been basically put aside by a military authoritarian government in the 1930s. The latter took the side of Hitler’s Third Reich during WWII. Eventually, towards the closing of the war, Stalin’s Red Army irresistibly wiped out all opponents in Eastern Europe, including Romania. A Stalinist regime, characterized by forced collectivization, mass arrest and persecution of many social categories, as well as political opponents, was put in place soon after the end of WWII, with the backing of the invading Soviet forces. A similar scenario was encountered in almost every Nation captured by the Soviet Union after WWII.

Following a struggle between rival exponents of the Communist Party of Romania, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej emerged as a dictator in those early years, and managed to stay in the pilot’s seat until his death in 1965, thus surviving the confusion in the USSR following the death of Stalin in 1953, and for the full length of weather-cocking Khrushchev’s tenancy of power. Among the most infamous creations of this period was the Securitate, the equivalent of USSR KGB, or the East-German Stasi (or the Third Reich’s Gestapo…). Actually, publications by the former Romanian Securitate official Ion Pacepa, who defected to the US in the late 1970s, have documented the intimate relationship of the Securitate with KGB, in some of the most delicate and long-reaching disinformation operations carried out in the West.

Besides that, in order to preserve the statu quo, political opponents, non-communist scientists, artists, exponents of the Romanian Christian churches, and many other target categories and individuals were subject to attentive and constant controls within Romanian borders. These controls were often followed by arrest, long detention in labor camps and prisons, and in several instances by execution, or mysterious ‘deaths in prison’, cowardly attributed to fancy causes.

A surviving tangible symbol of what is possibly the darkest chapter of the monstrous communist dictatorship in Romania is represented by the Sighet Prison, in the northern region of Targu Mures, on todays border with the Ukraine. Turned into a memorial, this is much visited by Romanians and foreign visitors as well. This is described in this chapter.

A big country with vast natural resources and access to the Black Sea, Romania had the potential of a big economy. But as Sir Winston Churchill once said, communists would run quickly out of sand in the Sahara. Industrialization and mass production was carried out at the price of an increasing international debt. The state was everywhere, it employed every worker, but the state had debts. As a result, wages, services and living conditions started to decline significantly with respect to free economies over the years.

Following the death of Gheorghiu-Dej, the relatively young and energetic Nicolae Ceausescu conquered power. He would reign over Romania together with his wife Elena, until the demise of communism in Romania and in Europe. For Romania, the Ceausescu era differed to some extent from the previous chapter of the Cold War. Profiting from the struggle for supremacy in the communist universe between China and the USSR, Romania escaped the orbit of any major communist state, and tried a new way on his own, establishing tight economic and political links with the West. This was somewhat similar to what Tito had tried in Yugoslavia.

Sealing the renovated international image of the Romanian ‘People’s Republic’, president Nixon and Ford payed a visit to Ceausescu in the 1970s, the first and last US presidents to do so, and Ceausescu’s ride on Queen Elizabeth II’s golden coach in London is a popular image even today. The Romanian dictator visited the White House. However, in a move to balance international debt, a growing share of the Romanian rich domestic production was sold to foreign countries. Correspondingly, life conditions in Romania went lower and lower.

Two interesting collections exist in Romania offering a glimpse on the everyday life of the Romanian people, the ‘Museum of the Communist Consumer’ in Timisoara, and the ‘Museum of Communism’ in Hunedoara. Both are covered in this post.

The situation spiraled at the beginning of the 1980s, when the Ceausescus started to behave more like Olympic gods than ‘usual’ communist dictators. The growing cult of personality of Nicolae and Elena as geniuses in economics, politics, science, art, … is witnessed by statues, emblems with the faces of the ‘royal couple’, kitschy communist paraphernalia which were more typical to Stalin’s last years, and not to other countries in the Eastern Bloc – there were no statues of Honecker in the DDR, nor of Kadar in Hungary, despite the hardcore communist regime affecting both countries. Meanwhile, the living conditions in the country hit an all-time low, with a real famine hitting large shares of the population. The sharp contrast with the Hollywood living style exhibited by the Ceausescus widened the distance between the autocratic government and the Romanian people. Strict control and intrusion in private life by the state, increased all along Ceausescu’s era, became even more paranoid, to try preventing any subversive action by the population.

Triggered by the surprise fall of the wall in Berlin, an inevitable eruption started with riots in Timisoara, and quickly spread in other large towns of the Country, in the fall of 1989. This culminated in the first and last public mass opposition to Ceausescu in Bucharest, just days before Christmas 1989. A full-scale revolution was started, with people shooting in the streets, casualties and deaths. The Ceausescus fled the palace of the government in Bucharest by helicopter. They landed in Targoviste, some tens of miles north, only to be captured by the local military. They were summarily trialed an executed shortly after, on Christmas day 1989, putting and end to the communist rule in Romania.

The trial and death of the Ceausescus have been captured on a video, broadcast worldwide in many occasions as a historical document since then. Possibly less known is the fact that the location where the Ceausescus were shortly detained, trialed and executed is today a monument, which has been preserved since those days with its original 1989 appearance, and can be easily visited. A report is displayed in this post.

Photographs were taken during a visit in the summer of 2021.

Navigate this post – Click on links to scroll

Sighet Prison, Sighetu Marmatiei
Museum of the Communist Consumer, Timisoara
Museum of Communism, Hunedoara
Ceausescu’s Trial and Shooting place, Targoviste

Sights

Sighet Prison, Sighetu Marmatiei

The Sighet Prison is located in the town of Sighetu Marmatiei, in the hilly region of Targu Mures, northern Romania, on the border with Ukraine (i.e. the USSR). The prison was built in the 19th century when this territory was part of the Austrian Empire.

Following the end of WWII, the Soviet-controlled territory of defeated Romania, just like any other future Soviet satellite country, was object of roundups against some groups, like former men from the military, religious ministers, politicians,… who amidst the lack of an established law system were arbitrarily deported to the Soviet Union. At this time, Sighet was used as a kind of transit camp for people on their way to deportation. This was mostly similar to what happened in Hohenschönhausen in Berlin (see here).

The prison then took over the primary role of a detention center for people opposing the new communist regime, and it was used as such at least until the death of Stalin in 1953. In 1955 it was converted into a standard prison for common criminals, despite only a general amnesty in the mid 1960s meant the liberation of the last political prisoners – quite similarly, the Gulag prison camp system in the USSR was dismantled by around the end of the 1950s.

In the years of Stalin, who backed a hardcore communist government in Romania, the Sighet Prison was therefore an instrument of repression, arbitrarily used against very high-profile people opposing communism, like former top members of the pre-WWII government, non-communist party leaders, professors and scientists, bishops and ministers of various Christian faiths. But also anti-communist students and less prominent figures went through this deadly installation.

The inmates in Sighet were mistreated to the point that many died there, including some prominent figures in the history of Romania.

The prison was closed in the late 1970s, to be duly re-opened as a memorial the early 1990s. The former prison building – not very big, similar to an average high-school building – has been almost totally taken over by a very rich and interesting exhibition. Today, this is a major destination for both Romanian and international visitors.

Sighet Prison Memorial Museum – Communist Dictatorship Political Prisoners – Sighetu Marmatiei – Maramures – Romania

Starting from the entrance hall, you are provided with information on the detention system put in place by the communists in Romania. This was pretty extensive, with labor camps (to be found also elsewhere in central Europe, from the same Stalinist era, see here), prisons with various ‘targets’ – including the in-famous Pitesti prison, made specifically for religious people, and remarkably demolished still in the communist era, soon after the conclusion of the homonym ‘experiment’ – psychiatric hospitals used for confinement of mentally healthy people, etc.

Sighet Prison Memorial Museum – Communist Dictatorship Political Prisoners – Sighetu Marmatiei – Maramures – Romania

The original gates, grates and fences, dividing the halls of the prison, are still there. The main row is on two floors, with cells aligned along both sides. Most of the cells now host informative displays, covering several specific themes.

Sighet Prison Memorial Museum – Communist Dictatorship Political Prisoners – Sighetu Marmatiei – Maramures – Romania

The exhibits range from copies of documents witnessing the arbitrary arrest of many people, fake death reports with fancy causes, to collection of articles showing the careful use of the press to build up a ‘parallel reality’, in support of the moves of the government. Lists of inmates by category are also presented.

Sighet Prison Memorial Museum – Communist Dictatorship Political Prisoners – Sighetu Marmatiei – Maramures – Romania

Extorted confessions of absurd crimes were among the goals of the detention of political inmates. These were obtained with torture and violence (typical to the every communist dictatorship, as accurately shown in Budapest, see here).

Sighet Prison Memorial Museum – Communist Dictatorship Political Prisoners – Sighetu Marmatiei – Maramures – Romania

Some of the cells, including those where some particularly famous people died, have been preserved with their original appearance.

Sighet Prison Memorial Museum – Communist Dictatorship Political Prisoners – Sighetu Marmatiei – Maramures – Romania

A rigor cell, with shackles anchored to the floor and no windows, has been left as it was. Artifacts made by the inmates are also on display.

Sighet Prison Memorial Museum – Communist Dictatorship Political Prisoners – Sighetu Marmatiei – Maramures – Romania

Several cells on the top floor cover the history of communism in Europe and in Romania, with some artifacts, copies of pictures and documents.

Sighet Prison Memorial Museum – Communist Dictatorship Political Prisoners – Sighetu Marmatiei – Maramures – Romania

The prison features a double courtyard, where memorial installations have been placed – a sculpture, a memorial wall, and a nice modern chapel.

Sighet Prison Memorial Museum – Communist Dictatorship Political Prisoners – Sighetu Marmatiei – Maramures – Romania

All in all, a sober place, which preserves and relives sad memories, quintessential to the communist experience of this fierce country.

Visiting

The town of Sighetu Marmatiei is a major center in Targu Mures, but is nothing special in itself. However, due to its strategic position, it is likely you will have chance to pass by. Access to the memorial is from a walking area in the town center. A signaled parking can be found immediately nearby, providing easy access to the site. Entrance is at a small fee. The exhibition is modern, detailed and catchy. Most explanations are in Romanian only, but free detailed booklets in several languages are included in the entrance fee. Therefore, even for non-Romanian speakers, visiting may be rewarding, and a visit may easily take 1-2 hours.

Museum of the Communist Consumer, Timisoara

This collection is really unusual, in both its setting and arrangement. It is located in the basement and ground floor of a pub, in what appears to be a former apartment. Especially the basement – which however gets some sunlight – features some rooms like a kitchenette, a living room, a corridor, a small studio.

The content is partly the result of – possibly – the original furniture of this apartment, or a similar one, as well as – literally – thousands of everyday items, everything from the communist age.

Furthermore, the museum is ‘interactive’, meaning that you can touch everything, take items in your hands, move around everywhere, as if you were at home!

Licenses and personal documents from Romanian authorities, product labels, books, LPs, … you might spend hours digging in this incredible mass of original material.

Museum of Communist Consumers – Muzeul Consumatorului Comunist – Timisoara – Romania

Postcards from the communist age are especially interesting, showing popular locations in Romania, portrayed sometimes from… a different perspective. Differently from today, the subject of postcards was typically a monster apartment block in pure socialist brutalism style, newly built in the peripheral surroundings, rather than some castle or graceful Orthodox monastery in the historical district! But these were the triumphs of communism to show off…

Museum of Communist Consumers – Muzeul Consumatorului Comunist – Timisoara – Romania

Some souvenirs from the USSR are also on display, similar to many ‘Made in CCCP’ technology items – from a vacuum cleaner loosely resembling a rocket, to LP record players.

Museum of Communist Consumers – Muzeul Consumatorului Comunist – Timisoara – Romania

There are gas masks, maps of Romania – possibly from a school or public office? – and a few remarkable official emblems of the Communist Party of Romania, including an embroidered red banner, and a few big portraits of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu. These also might result from the dismantlement of a public office, school, communist workers group, or similar.

Museum of Communist Consumers – Muzeul Consumatorului Comunist – Timisoara – Romania

The upper floor is partly a collection, partly a pub, with a nice ‘exotic’ atmosphere.

Museum of Communist Consumers – Muzeul Consumatorului Comunist – Timisoara – Romania

Definitely a pick for a full immersion in the everyday life in the communist age of Romania.

Visiting

The location of the museum (‘Muzeul Consumatorului Comunist’ in Romanian) is slightly peripheral with respect to the large historical district of Timisoara. The location is in Strada Arhitect Laszlo Szekely 1, Timișoara. It is convenient to reach with a car, parking is possible almost everywhere around, as usual in Romania. Entrance is free. They have a Facebook page with some information here. Do not be discouraged by the front appearance, which may look sealed. Entrance is possible from the little pergola to the back of the building. Visiting may take from 30 minutes to much more, in case you decide to dig into this impressive collection.

Museum of Communism, Hunedoara

This remarkable collection has been put in place privately by a Romanian now living mostly in Germany. The exhibition is articulated in four halls.

A first one showcases original reviews and newspapers from the communist era. Official portraits of Gheorghiu-Dej and Ceausescu can be seen hanging on the walls, similar to official material from the Romanian communist party (the acronym ‘PCR’).

Museum of Communism – Permanent Exhibition of the Steps of Romania from Socialism to Democracy -Muzeul Comunismului – Expoziție Permanentă Pașii României prin Socialism și Democrație – Hunedoara – Romania

The main hall has on display reconstructions of two rooms, one from a railway workers building, and another from a general grocery store. Both have been created based on original emblems, instructional posters, propaganda posters, and various celebration items.

A third hall hosts the reconstruction of an elementary classroom. Everything original also here, and the atmosphere which has been recreated is particularly exotic and authentic – see for instance the similarity of the items on display with respect to an original Soviet school ‘preserved’ in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, here and here.

Further display cases are stuffed with original items, from medals and decorations to propaganda material.

The last room in this museum hosts a collection of uniforms, from the communist age down to the post-communist years. The change is reflected mainly in a different emblem on the official’s hats.

This collection is very well preserved, and makes for an interesting complement to a visit to Hunedoara, a popular destination thanks to the Corvins’ Castle.

Visiting

The museum is located in central Hunedoara, Strada Cloșca Nr 2. A small parking can be found ahead, plenty of parking opportunities around. The rather articulated full name in Romanian is ‘Muzeul Comunismului – Expoziție Permanentă Pașii României prin Socialism și Democrație’, but the first part is basically ‘Museum of Communism’. There is a Facebook page with some information here. The owner is very friendly, and the place is well maintained and presented. Please note that only cash is accepted. The exhibition is rather compact, and visiting may take about 30 minutes.

Ceausescu Trial and Shooting Place, Targoviste

In December 1989 things degenerated rapidly for the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Starting from Timisoara, riots became more violent and focused, asking for the deposition of Ceausescu from power. In a desperate move to induce the general public and the international press to believe he still retained control, a mass demonstration was set up in Bucharest on December 21st by the communist leader. Despite a huge crowd – mass-infiltrated by the Securitate – was ahead of the palace of the government to listen to the Ceausescus (see this post), a genuine counter-demonstration fueled by the population of Bucharest soon took control of the show. The incredible scene which resulted, with Ceausescu trying to silence the protesters and visibly loosing credit and power second after second at an impressive rate, has become a historical document and a symbol of the demise of communism dictatorship in Europe.

The following day (22nd), the Ceausescus, trapped in the Palace of the Government now besieged, escaped from the roof with a helicopter in the early afternoon. In the meanwhile, revolutionaries faced the governmental militia, and shots were fired in the streets, with many victims and wounded. But the revolutionary wave continued to grow and spread very rapidly all over the country, with branches of the public administration and military abandoning the ‘sinking ship’ of Ceausescu, and openly taking the side of the protesters in several districts of the Country.

The helicopter with the Ceausescus landed in Targoviste, and by the evening they were under arrest there, in the Army Barrack 01417. There they were confined and kept under strict armed surveillance, in a decent, albeit essential room, together. Finally, on December 25th, they were summoned in an adjoining room, where they were trialed by an improvised court, mainly composed of military staff. The couple was charged with very general imputations, including genocide of some tens of thousands people, as well as destroying the economy of the state. They were found guilty, sentenced to death and executed soon after in the courtyard of the barrack.

Both the trial and (the last part of) the execution by firing squad were filmed and broadcast, and this too is a well-known historical document.

Maybe the fact that you have seen this on TV makes a visit to Barrack 01417 particularly impressive. The former barrack, now a rather understated memorial, can be approached through the small front courtyard, where you can read a detailed description in multiple languages (including English) of the facts briefly outlined above.

Ceausescu’s Detention and Execution Place – Locul executiei cuplului Ceausescu – Targoviste – Romania

The entry hall of the barrack is painted in an unusual vivid blue, and clearly dates from before the communist age – maybe from the early 20th century. Three rooms are accessible from the hall. One is the ticket office. A second one is a preserved office of an officer of the barrack. Telephone connections, maps and a cabinet with original communist propaganda material are on display.

Ceausescu’s Detention and Execution Place – Locul executiei cuplului Ceausescu – Targoviste – Romania

The last room accessible from the hall is the one where the trial took place. This has been preserved exactly as it looked like in the video, with the same arrangement of the tables and chairs. A massive stove is still there. The positions of the defendants is marked with labels. Everything is very shabby here. An adjoining room was used by the court for the quick discussion and decision on the fate of the Ceausescus.

Ceausescu’s Detention and Execution Place – Locul executiei cuplului Ceausescu – Targoviste – Romania

The aura of this semi-dark room is still today rather gloomy, and somewhat disturbing.

From the main hall, you can access a corridor. A door on the side is the entrance to the room where the Ceausescus were kept in custody from the 22nd until their death on the 25th of December. Three berths can be seen – one possibly for a guard – a front desk facing the door, and in a corner a small table with two chairs for meals, once protected by a curtain.

Ceausescu’s Detention and Execution Place – Locul executiei cuplului Ceausescu – Targoviste – Romania

The toilet to the dead end of the corridor is possibly also original from the time.

Finally, you may step outside in the backyard, to the place were the two were actually shot. The door giving access to the courtyard is close to the trial room, and cannot be opened.

Ceausescu’s Detention and Execution Place – Locul executiei cuplului Ceausescu – Targoviste – Romania

The wall behind the Ceausescus where they were shot is still marked by bullet pierces. Based on the video, automatic rifles were used, therefore really many bullets were shot at the two targets.

Ceausescu’s Detention and Execution Place – Locul executiei cuplului Ceausescu – Targoviste – Romania

The places of the dead corpses of Elena (to the left) and Nicolae are marked on the ground.

Ceausescu’s Detention and Execution Place – Locul executiei cuplului Ceausescu – Targoviste – Romania

A plaque on the wall remembers the shooting. With respect to the video, the area immediately ahead of the shooting place, i.e. where the firing squad should have been standing, is now covered by some bushes. However, apart from that, the setting looks mostly like what you see in the historical records from that moment.

Ceausescu’s Detention and Execution Place – Locul executiei cuplului Ceausescu – Targoviste – Romania

Clearly connected with a rapid sequence of undoubtedly tragic moments, the Targoviste memorial stands out as a symbol of the – this time, violent – end of communism in Europe, like the memorials of the wall in Berlin, and a few more locations in former communist countries in the Old Continent.

Visiting

The memorial is not much visited nor crowded these days – more than 30 years have elapsed since that fateful day in 1989. However, the place is indeed a museum open to the general public for visits. The name of the place in Romanian is ‘Locul executiei cuplului Ceausescu’. The exact location is Bulevardul Carol I 68, Târgoviște. You may find a public parking on the street in the immediate vicinity of the boulevard where the barrack is. Unfortunately, opening times are not officially published (even on site, they were not clear), but those you can find on Google Maps were correct in the summer high season. Visiting is on a self-guided basis, and may take from 10 to 45 minutes, for a quick visit or in case you want to take pictures.

The Atlantic Wall in Denmark

December 1, 2019 CarloRLeave a comment

A pleasant country in northern Europe, Denmark is geographically surrounded by the North and Baltic seas, and shares its only land border with Germany. In the late 1930s, this meant having a very dangerous dictatorship as the only neighbor, and no possible direct help coming by land from other allies. Without natural defenses against and attack from the south, the Kingdom of Denmark was militarily occupied basically in one day, on April 9th, 1940. This happened through a joint operation carried out by the land, air and naval forces of Nazi Germany.

A quick historical overview

The interest of Germany in controlling Danish territory was mainly strategic. It served as a springboard to attack Norway further north. The latter was in itself more interesting to the economy of the Third Reich, as it was rich of natural resources, including raw materials not available in Germany. These were so needed by the Führer, who was dreaming of making Germany independent from international supply trade.

Furthermore, controlling both Denmark and Norway meant control over the eastern coast of the North Sea, and a chance to control the only access to the Baltic Sea. The USSR was not a declared enemy before 1941, but withdrawing from the mutual cooperation pact with Stalin – signed in a hurry just days before the invasion of Poland in September 1939 – at some point, and openly attacking Russia, had been in the mind of the Führer since he first put on paper his worrying geopolitical thoughts. By controlling the Baltic, Hitler could control sea trade to non-freezing ports of the USSR, which in 1940 had already taken over Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in agreement with Germany.

As a matter of fact, the conquer of Norway was not without significant losses for Germany. This was also the result of Britain starting to militarily oppose Germany. The two countries had been already at war since September 1939, but without any serious confrontation having taken place for months.

Since then, the British – and later also the American – threat from the west had to be faced through the fortification of the western coast of the Third Reich, which by the end of the summer of 1940 extended roughly from the Pyrenees in southern France to Kirkenes in northern Norway. This highly visionary task was taken up very seriously by the German military-economic machine, and produced the ‘Atlantikwall’ – which translates pretty obviously into the ‘Atlantic Wall’. This long defensive line had to be built all along the coast, and was mainly based on a catalog of standardized reinforced concrete constructions, to be reproduced in great numbers. Construction was coordinated by the main contractor, the German ‘Organization Todt’, which made extensive use of subcontracted local companies in the various occupied states where construction had to take place.

Despite the majority of the elements in the line were reinforced barracks for troops watching the coastline, ammo and supply storages, command and communication bunkers, canteens, and other service buildings, there were of course also a number of heavier constructions. These included coastal gun batteries, to counter attacking ships, lighter gun batteries, to stop troops attempting a beach landing, aiming stations, to adjust the line of fire of gun batteries, anti-aircraft guns to defend the line from air attacks, and some technical buildings serving as bases for advanced radar systems. The latter were among the most useful and widespread items along the line, as German technology developed fast during the war, to produce powerful detection systems against air and sea menaces.

Needless to remember, similar to many pharaonic works conceived by the Führer and his entourage, the Atlantic Wall was never completed, and it failed to spare the Third Reich from total annihilation. The once-modern military installations along the western coast of Europe soon became obsolete, as war changed face at a quick pace following WWII, with new weapons and techniques. Furthermore, the front line of the new Cold War shifted geographically to the middle of Europe. A tangible sign of enemy occupation, the massive bunkers of the Atlantic Wall met different destinies depending on the country. However, albeit only rarely preserved, thanks to their bulkiness and sturdy make, they are in most cases still visible.

About this post

Being the first land along the western coast to fall under German control, work on the Atlantic Wall started in Denmark earlier than anywhere else. Today extensive traces of the line are still pointing the shores of the North Sea.

A few focal points are preserved as first-class museums. These include the strongholds of Hirtsthals and the huge battery at Hanstholm, in Northern Jutland. The latter had been designed around a cluster of four monster coastal guns, to the aim of controlling the passage through the Skagerrak channel, providing access to the Baltic Sea. A twin battery – Vara – was built to the north of the strait in Norway.

Closer to the German border, the area of Blavand – featuring also the famous ‘Tirpitz battery’ in its arsenal – is another example of a partly preserved portion of the line. Bangsbo fort in Frederikshaven has been partly refurbished and opened as a museum, after being used by the Danish military for a while. There you can find one of the few remaining examples of an Atlantic Wall installation with its original guns still in place.

Smaller strongholds, opened as smaller scale museums or left to more adventurous explorers, often feature unique special constructions, which justify a detour at least for more committed war historians. These include the Skagen battery, the disguised bunkers in Thyboron, and the complicated Stauning battery, built on two opposite coasts of a closed firth.

All these sites – and a few more – are covered in this post, which is based on photographs taken in August 2019. Denmark is officially protecting the installations of the Atlantic Wall as historical buildings – unlike France, for instance – so visiting even abandoned sites maybe rewarding, especially if they are out of the mainstream touristic routes. Unfortunately, many bunkers now closer to crowded touristic areas have been damaged by vandals.

Sights

Map

The sites covered in this post are listed on the following map. Sites opened as museums are pinpointed in red, wild sites are marked in blue.

The sites are listed in the post following the coastline of Jutland from its southwestern end.

Blavand – Shore Battery & Military Area

Located about 50 miles north of the German border along the coast of the North Sea, the small town of Blavand sits on a promontory protruding towards the sea, and protecting the access to the port town of Esbjerg – still today a major commercial port of Denmark.

The area of Blavand saw the construction of an incredible number of Atlantic Wall elements, which grew up in more instances during the war years.

Close by the parking ahead of the lighthouse on the very tip of the promontory, you can find trailheads leading to the southern and western shores of the promontory.

The southern shore makes for a typical North Sea landscape – an endless sand beach. What makes it different from others is the number of light bunkers placed along the shoreline. Despite little imposing, this model – type ‘F’ – was purpose built for the wide shores of Denmark in 1944, in view of a potential enemy beach landing. These firing positions were armed with machine guns, and placed at pre-determined intervals – about 1’500 ft – matching their accuracy range.

Atlantic Wall Stronghold Blaavand (Blåvand) Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Many bunkers are slowly sinking in the sand, and only small parts of them can be seen emerging from the ground.

Others have been turned into strange sculptures, adding a horse head and tail.

Atlantic Wall Stronghold Blaavand (Blåvand) Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Under favorable tide conditions, you may enter some of the bunkers. There you can appreciate their simple structure, with a defensive embrasure by the entrance (looking towards the coast) and loopholes to the sides of the firing chamber.

Atlantic Wall Stronghold Blaavand (Blåvand) Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

On the beach close to the lighthouse you can find a very big bunker with a wide hollow cave on the inland side, which used to support a searchlight.

Atlantic Wall Stronghold Blaavand (Blåvand) Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Along the western shore you can find more massive bunkers. These include four former coastal gun batteries. These heavier constructions have assumed strange attitudes, after sinking in the sand somewhat irregularly over the years.

Atlantic Wall Stronghold Blaavand (Blåvand) Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Looking towards the inland from the beach, you can spot an aiming/fire control positions, with a distinctive bulbous roof and a long curved slot on the facade.

Atlantic Wall Stronghold Blaavand (Blåvand) Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Your walk along the northern shore may be interrupted by safety warnings concerning mine threat. As a complement to the defensive potential of the Atlantic Wall, extensive minefields were set up on most of the Danish beaches. This turned into a big issue soon after WWII, when an extensive demining action had to be carried out.

Furthermore, part of the Blavand promontory is occupied by a military firing range. When training exercises are taking place, special warning lights are lit and flags are raised, to delimit the territory where you should not venture.

Atlantic Wall Stronghold Blaavand (Blåvand) Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

In the dunes slightly inland from the shoreline, it is possible to find another big number of bunkers. They are not always visible from the distance, and entrance is in most cases from one side only – the only side emerging from the sand.

Atlantic Wall Stronghold Blaavand (Blåvand) Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

A very distinctive item is the colossal platform for a ‘Mammut’ type long-range anti-aircraft radar. This used to be operated by the Luftwaffe, whereas other bunkers in Blavand – like elsewhere along the Atlantic Wall – used to be run by other branches of the Germany military.

Atlantic Wall Stronghold Blaavand (Blåvand) Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

The base for the radar is in itself a rather complex bunker, with several cavities and extensive piping, once needed for power cables feeding the antenna, as well as other wiring.

Close by, a smaller radar base bunker used to be operated by the German Navy. Also here, holes and passages for cables can be found in the walls and roof.

Atlantic Wall Stronghold Blaavand (Blåvand) Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

It is noteworthy how many bunkers feature traces of original decorations, like painted walls, fake wallpaper, frescoes and small frieze lines. This is typical to many other installations of the Atlantic Wall.

Atlantic Wall Stronghold Blaavand (Blåvand) Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Metal hardware can be found in the form of a bulky aiming turret emerging from a bunker.

Atlantic Wall Stronghold Blaavand (Blåvand) Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

In another instance, a mortar mouth pops out from the ground.

Atlantic Wall Stronghold Blaavand (Blåvand) Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

The underground bunker underneath the latter can be explored with some difficulty – there are also quite annoying bats inside -, but it reveals an aiming wheel with original markings in a reinforced concrete dome!

Atlantic Wall Stronghold Blaavand (Blåvand) Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

An interesting sight nearby the lighthouse is the tower once supporting a ‘See Riese’ radar. The protruding arms once sustained a wooden platform for military operators.

Atlantic Wall Stronghold Blaavand (Blåvand) Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Getting there and moving around

The area of Blavand is rather extensive and rich of diverse installations, so notwithstanding the general bad shape of most of the bunkers, visiting may easily take 3-4 hours for a committed tourist, getting inside most of the items. A good starting point is the free parking by the lighthouse, provided you come early especially in summer, cause it tends to get more and more crowded along the day.

Blavand – ‘Tirpitz’ Coastal Guns

Despite at least some of the bunkers on the shores of Blavand being in a relatively good shape, there is a part of the Atlantic Wall which is officially preserved as a museum. This is one of the two unfinished bunkers intended to support a set of massive 38 cm coastal guns.

These guns – four, two for each bunker – were originally intended to be put on board battleship Gneisenau. The latter got damaged in port, and the guns were diverted to coastal use. The decision to build the Tirpitz battery to protect the port of Esbjerg came relatively late during the war, in 1944. As a result, construction of the battery supporting structures was not completed when the war ended, and the four never installed guns were scrapped – except one, which can be admired in Hanstholm (see below).

The name ‘Tirpitz’ attributed to this battery is of uncertain origin, and sometimes this installation is also referred to as ‘Vogelnest’.

The museum has been built only in the southernmost bunker. The installation is very modern (and crowded), and it has been designed as a thematic museum in five sections. Two of the most interesting are about the Atlantic Wall and its impact on local life, and on the extensive mining and demining operations on the shores of Denmark.

Atlantic Wall Tirpitz Battery Blaavand (Blåvand) Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Other sections are related to amber trade and local seamen activities.

Finally, you can get access to the base of the gun turret. Photographs are bad here, due to very poor lighting and limitations on camera use.

You can see a central round dome, surrounded by an external corridor. Traces of a post-war explosion can be noticed looking at the metal part of the construction.

Atlantic Wall Tirpitz Battery Blaavand (Blåvand) Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Outside of the museum you can find a cannon cut in pieces, plus rigs used for construction. The bulky concrete arms protruding from the roof were meant to support the crane for mounting the cannons.

Atlantic Wall Tirpitz Battery Blaavand (Blåvand) Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

With a five minutes walk from this bunker, you can get to the northern battery. This is not preserved, and the entrances have been bricked up. Yet you may better appreciate the size of the bunker from this exemplar than from the one turned into a museum.

Atlantic Wall Tirpitz Battery Blaavand (Blåvand) Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Getting there and moving around

The museum is located east of Oksby along Tane Hedevey, a local road connecting Blavand to Esbjerg. There are signs along the road, and a large parking ahead of the entrance. The museum is very modern, and may turn very crowded in summer. Website with full information here. You can visit on your own with an audio-guide. The visit to the military-related sections may take about 1 hour.

Adding a walk to the northern battery will take further 20 minutes at most, as there is no chance to step in.

Stauning Battery

Construction of this battery started in the second half of 1944, and consequently it was only partially completed before the end of the war. The geography of the Stauning battery is rather peculiar. The intended design was based on four coastal guns to be placed on the inland side of the Ringkobing firth – basically a lake with a channel-like small mouth connecting it to the sea. On the other coast of the firth, i.e. very close to the North Sea in Hvide Sande, the aiming station for the battery was finally built.

In the event, only one of the reinforced concrete gun positions reached completion, whereas the other three cannons were kept on basic, not reinforced aprons. The gun bunker is the only exemplar of this model built along the Atlantic Wall, and was designed around a 19,4 cm gun manufactured in France.

Located far from the shore in a secluded area of the countryside, this battery is in a relatively good shape, and thanks to the hard soil its position has not drifted since it was installed. You can even walk on top.

Atlantic Wall Stauning Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

More elements are scattered in the bushes and over the private pasture nearby. Among them, a firing position presumably for anti-aircraft or light field guns, and corresponding ammo storages.

Atlantic Wall Stauning Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

There is also a reinforced concrete barrack or command post. This can be toured inside, revealing some metal piping still in place.

Atlantic Wall Stauning Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Traces of gun concrete platforms – likely gun firing positions – blown up after the war can be seen, similar to many smaller cubic buildings of uncertain purpose.

Atlantic Wall Stauning Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

A couple of unattractive half-interred ‘living bunker’ can be found too, another design present only in Denmark – the type was named ‘Falkenhorst III’. Inside, traces of original wall paintings can be easily spotted.

Atlantic Wall Stauning Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

There is actually a fire direction post of some sort in this part of the battery too. This is a square-based concrete booth, with an adjoining living bunker.

Atlantic Wall Stauning Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

The aiming position in Hvide Sande is rather easy to find, on top of a mound close to the city center. There are actually two concrete accesses on the eastern side of the hill. The one closer to the top gives access to the metal dome you can spot on top of the mound.

Atlantic Wall Stauning Battery Hvide Sande Point Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Climbing up to the dome is possible along a rusty ladder, going through a narrow vertical passage. Once there you can see the mounting of a telescope for measurements. There are side slots looking outside, and an original marked wheel to provide measurements. You can also spot small foldable wooden tables (or perhaps jump-seats).

Atlantic Wall Stauning Battery Hvide Sande Point Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Downstairs, there are a few panels explaining the history of the battery.

Atlantic Wall Stauning Battery Hvide Sande Point Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

The second concrete entrance gives access to a ‘living bunker’ for the troops, with explanatory panels on the history of the place.

Atlantic Wall Stauning Battery Hvide Sande Point Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Getting there and moving around

The inland part of the Stauning battery with the gun station is located close to Stauningvej 55. You may park your car not far north from this address, on a wide lot close to the entrance of a local residential area. Most notably, this battery is about .5 miles from the beautiful Danish Museum of Flight (see this post). Exploring the battery may take 1-1.5 hours, as the place is totally wild and inconvenient to visit.

The Hvide Sande point is on the northern rim of the channel linking the firth to the North Sea. You can see the mound close by a major round about, where road 181 meets Troldbjergsvej. There are several parking options nearby. The place is technically not abandoned, but there was no ticket/staff, and it was totally dark when I visited. You would better take a small torch with you.

Sondervig

Just as an example of how extensive the construction of the Atlantic Wall was in Denmark, you may have a look to the beach in Sondervig, where people spending the day by the sea are accustomed to the view of the monstrous German bunkers pointing the shore.

Atlantic Wall Sondervig Beach Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Getting there and moving around

You may find a parking spot in Sondervig and access this famous touristic beach by foot.

Thyboron

The coastal battery at Thyboron has a unique place in the panorama of Atlantic Wall buildings. Here a sort of sample list of possible deceptive techniques were tested on otherwise normal bunkers. The usual constructions pointing the shore have a strange appearance here, thanks to the imaginative talent of a Danish architect – who turned out to be a spy working for the Allies.

At least two gun batteries bear a special roof, resembling that of a house. Also thanks to erosion, they now have even odder shapes, resembling some Star Wars spaceship.

Atlantic Wall Thyboron (Thyborøn) Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

An observation bunker bears a tiled roof. Surprisingly, an apparently original fragment of telegraph wire can be found inside.

Atlantic Wall Thyboron (Thyborøn) Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Given the position of the bunkers – lying isolated on a deserted beach – it’s pretty difficult to suppose this kind of deception was ever effective…

There are also some more straightforward constructions around, some of them in a relatively good shape. The cusped lintels above most doors and openings are typical to elements of the Atlantic Wall in northern countries, and are made for protecting the passages against snow and icing rain.

Atlantic Wall Thyboron (Thyborøn) Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Just inland from the ‘sample list’, you can find a large underground bunker, somewhat difficult to access – it is sinking in the sand. Conspicuous traces of original wall painting and even writings in German can be found on the walls.

Atlantic Wall Thyboron (Thyborøn) Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

The message in German is a warning message, telling to stay away of the walls in case of bombardment. This warning sign is rather ubiquitous in Danish bunkers.

Close to the the city center – and actually a part of the Coastal Center, a museum for children dedicated to the life along the western coast of Jutland – it is possible to find another bunker deceived as a wooden house! This deception technique is far more convincing than those on the shore…

Atlantic Wall Thyboron (Thyborøn) Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Getting there and moving around

To visit the bunkers on the shore you can reach a convenient public parking at the southern end of Vesterhavsgade, southern Thyboron. Visiting these bunkers may take about 45 minutes for a committed tourist. To get to the Coastal Center you may follow the signs and park at your convenience ahead of the building. The deceived bunker can be seen from the outside of the museum, so getting the ticket is not needed if you are not interested in the rest of the installation.

Extra feature – Sea War Museum, Thyboron

Thyboron has a prominent place in WWI history, being the Danish village closest to the area of the Battle of Jutland, one of the very few naval battles of that war, and one of the top-ranking in history for the number of vessels and tonnage involved, and for the casualties – almost 9’000 seamen were killed.

The battle was fought between two major formations of the the German Kaiser on one side and the King of England on the other. Started almost by chance, as the two opposing factions appeared on the same sector unaware of each other, the fighting was so intense that cannon fire was heard along the shores of Thyboron for many hours. The battle ended with a tactical defeat on the British side, but the Kriegsmarine of the Kaiser avoided any other serious clashes with the British for the rest of the war – in this sense, this was a British strategic victory.

Today, a monument dedicated to those who perished in the Battle of Jutland occupies a wide area over a promontory in northern Thyboron, close by the Coastal Center (see above).

Sea War Museum Thyboron (Thyborøn) Jutland Battle WWI Denmark

A nice museum dedicated to sea war has been put in place nearby. On the exterior you can find old mines, torpedoes and even parts of relics taken from the bottom of the sea.

Sea War Museum Thyboron (Thyborøn) Jutland Battle WWI Denmark

Inside you can find many unique artifacts, including cannons, insignia, and everyday items from ships taking parts to the Battle of Jutland.

Sea War Museum Thyboron (Thyborøn) Jutland Battle WWI Denmark

Also unique are parts of early submarines dating from WWI, recovered from the sea thanks to novel investigation and capture technologies.

Sea War Museum Thyboron (Thyborøn) Jutland Battle WWI Denmark

The museum is at large dedicated to naval battles and ventures of WWI. A section is dedicated to the most modern sea archaeology techniques.

Sea War Museum Thyboron (Thyborøn) Jutland Battle WWI Denmark

Outside of the museum, you may spot a few Atlantic Wall bunkers as well, likely converted into more modern military installations in a post-WWII period. They are apparently run as museums, but they were closed when I passed by.

Atlantic Wall Thyboron (Thyborøn) Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Getting there and moving around

The Sea War Museum is located very close to the Coastal Center in central Thyboron. Dedicated free parking right ahead of the entrance. Visiting may take about 1.5-2 hours for more committed subjects, despite the small size. The museum is stacked with extremely interesting details, the exhibition is rich and well made. Really an interesting detour for anybody interested in sea war. Website here.

Agger

Agger is located north of the Thyboron Channel, and can be reached with a five minutes ferry ride from nearby Thyboron. The long, windy, wild and distressing beaches south of the village of Agger are not really welcoming, nor easy to visit. Yet here you can find some unique and imposing elements of the Atlantic Wall.

These include a firing control bunker of the Navy. A feature often found also elsewhere, you can see some of the concrete bunkers are made of joined blocks. Light can be seen coming from the thin slots between the blocks in some occasions.

Atlantic Wall Agger Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Another special construction here is the support tower for a ‘Seetakt’ radar. The tall concrete tower is assembled together with a bulkier concrete base.

Atlantic Wall Agger Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

The assembly has slipped to the shoreline, and today it can be neared only in favorable tide conditions. Furthermore, it is sitting in a banked attitude, making it looking really derelict.

Atlantic Wall Agger Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Thanks also to a rather bad weather, these elements of the Atlantic Wall looked really eerie when I visited!

Getting there and moving around

The Agger site is wild and not signaled. The area is part of a national preserve, and part of the endless beach is a stage for kites, surfing activities and other beach sports. There is an official parking at the western end of Lange Mole Vej, less than five minutes by car from the ferry terminal to Thyboron. From there you should go to the beach and walk north for about 15 minutes to get to the tower, the highlight of the show.

You may spot it from the distance. I could not get in the tower due to unfavorable tide conditions, but visiting inside may not take much time, for the expected condition is not good, with little left to see.

Hanstholm

The Hanstholm battery is one of the most developed of the entire Atlantic Wall. As pointed out in the introduction, together with the sister site ‘Vara’ in Norway – about 80 miles north – this battery was centered on four massive 38 cm cannons, installed to obstruct surface passage through the Skagerrak, and de facto controlling the access to the Baltic Sea.

An initial battery based on less powerful 17 cm coastal guns was put in place as soon as 1940. The gigantic 38 cm guns arrived only later and were tested, but never used in action. The metal parts of the firing stations, including the turrets and guns, were eventually scrapped in the early 1950s. Over the years, this huge installation, with more than 300 bunkers fell largely into private hands, and today many former storage bunkers are used as warehouses for machinery and goods by local owners.

Nonetheless, battery Nr.3 has been turned into a modern museum, after being largely refurbished to its original splendor. As such, it is a one-of-a-kind museum, with thousands of visitors per year. Two more turrets and a number of bunkers are left to explorers. While they are not actively maintained, they are still in a rather good shape, and responsible exploration is even supported with some indications.

The area of the Hanstholm is almost 4 square miles. In order not to get disoriented, a good starting point is the museum in and around turret Nr.3. There you are greeted by a pretty unique 38 cm cannon! This is actually from the Tirpitz battery (see above), but it is exactly the same item once installed in Hanstholm. The size is really remarkable, especially when compared to more modest and usual 15 cm coastal guns, on display.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

The modern museum offers a quick recap of the history of the place, with memorabilia including everyday items, letters, maps and original weapons.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Once you are done with that, you can get access to the underground part, where you first meet the ammo storage rooms, on the side of a long corridor aligned along a narrow gauge railway track. This was used to connect the firing stations – i.e. the four bunkers with the guns – to larger ammo storages scattered around the are of the fort.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

There are two major adjoining rooms along the corridor, each dedicated to a different part of the cartridge. The piercing part – the ‘bullet’ – and the exploding fuse were kept separated from each other. This is similar to naval guns, and typical to larger calibers. The complicated railings hanging from the roof were made to allow moving the parts of the cartridge by means of movable cranes.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

In action, the bullets and fuses were loaded on a slide, and from there on trolleys which would enter the turret from below. Today, as the turret is not there any more, the trolleys are in an open air corridor, apparently without any sense. It is noteworthy that the inscriptions and frescoes are all original, albeit refurbished.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

The structure of the firing station and of the Hanstholm fort can be better appreciated from the drawings and models below.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

A second part of the firing station is the bunker for the complement of men needed to operate this complicated cannon. The place was permanently watched, with shifts spending the night in underground quarters. Those pertaining to firing station Nr.3 have been refurbished, and provide a vivid impression of the original appearance. There are sleeping and living quarters, as well as large, military style showers and toilets.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

There is also a complete power station, with two Diesel generators, a mechanics shop, water tanks and more.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Out of the Nr.3 firing station you are encouraged to tour at least part of the site along a series of prescribed trails. Among the items you meet on this tour is one of the ammo storages. It is not dissimilar from the ammo storage part of the firing station. The ammo parts were loaded on a railway car passing through, and from there moved towards the gun turret.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

There are also many smaller storage and service bunkers, some bearing interesting original inscriptions inside.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

The Hanstholm fort was defended by field cannons and anti-aircraft guns. Emplacements for the latter can be spotted around in more instances.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Another suggested part of the visit is firing station Nr.4, which is not really preserved, but is not in a generally bad shape either. You can get in only if you have a torchlight. Visiting may offer something very similar to Nr.3, except everything is more derelict – but for this reason, may be more authentic.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

In the living part, you can find inscriptions in German and traces of the original wall paint. With a general knowledge of the plan from the visit to Nr.3, you may easily recognize the corresponding rooms – power station, toilets, living rooms, etc.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

To get to the ammo storage part, you can walk along the round corridor outside. No trolleys left here, differently from Nr.3.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Inside the ammo storage rooms, you notice that the inscriptions have been largely canceled for some reason, but the slides as well as the frescoes above them are still there.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Still part of the suggested itinerary, you can find a control station, in a rather bad shape, and more interestingly a very peculiar building, located on top of a cliff.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

This was a fire direction station. Due to the high-tech nature of the Hanstholm battery, fire direction worked on what can be considered archaic computers! The building has many floors. There is provision for a permanent team of technicians, hosted in living and sleeping quarters downstairs.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

The top floors used to host the computing machines, which were fed by measurements from instruments mounted in metal domes, facing on the roof of the building. The room for the computing machines is rather dark, and due to the black walls it is difficult to see anything even with a torch.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

The Hanstholm site offers several ancillary bunkers open to the public. Among them, one for a generator, supplying the whole fort in case of a grid failure.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Another bunker is an ammo storage, with a big concrete arch outside, for a moving crane operating above railway cars. Narrow gauge railway tracks can be seen still today in this part.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

The pivot in the middle of firing station Nr.2 has been interred after the war, but the living/sleeping quarters for the troops and the ammo storage parts can be visited, albeit they are not connected any more by a direct passage.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

A visit to this firing station is very interesting, for writings are in a generally better shape than in Nr.4, even though this too has not been refurbished.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

In the ammo storage part, writings are especially abundant. You can see also traces of the original telephone wiring.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

The last firing station, Nr.1, is not accessible, even though not interred.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

As said, there are many other bunkers an remains around, which are typically not accessible, especially the farther you go from the museum. They are now largely on private land and used for something else.

Atlantic Wall Hanstholm Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Getting there and moving around

The Hanstholm strongpoint is a must for everyone interested in the Atlantic Wall! The museum is modern, completely accessible, with a convenient parking and all usual facilities. Website here.

The refurbished part is basically only firing station Nr.3, but many other bunkers, like the fire control center, as well as firing stations Nr.2 and 4 are open for explorers, and they have not been spoiled by vandals. You need to go with a torchlight and proper clothing, but the visit may be very rewarding.

Many more bunkers around are closed to the public, as they are now private property and used for other purposes.

Due to the enormous size of the area, visiting may easily turn into a full-day or even multi-days business for an enthusiast. For the general public, a visit to the museum and one of the trails may take a 2-3 hours depending on the level of interest.

Hirtshals

Similar to Hanstholm (see above), the area of Hirtshals was soon selected by the Wehrmacht for a coastal fortification, thanks to its strategic position overlooking the mouth of the Skagerrak strait.

The first four 105 mm field guns were positioned here as soon as summer 1941. They occupied open-air concrete aprons, which still today bear trace of the original camouflage paint and deceptive net.

Atlantic Wall Hirtshals Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

A peculiarity of this fort is its extensive network of trenches, which connect all the battle stations to the living quarters for the troops and the service buildings, like the canteen-bunker and the hospital-bunker.

Atlantic Wall Hirtshals Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

On top of the steep cliff dropping to sea level, you can find the bunkers for the guns. These were moved from the open aprons in 1944, into purpose built reinforced concrete firing positions. A special feature here is the steep flight of stair giving access to the gun area from behind. This construction was made necessary by the particular morphology and rock type of the cliff.

Atlantic Wall Hirtshals Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

You can spot significant traces of the original camo paint, and the letters ‘St’ on many walls, meaning ‘Ständig’, i.e. resistant in German. These letters were used to mark those buildings capable of sustaining shelling and bombing raids.

Atlantic Wall Hirtshals Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

A bulbous roof allows to easily recognize the fire direction station.

Atlantic Wall Hirtshals Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

A more rare item in Hirtshals is the base for the ‘See Riese’ radar. This is a hexagonal concrete hollow platform. The bunker underneath it would serve to host a Diesel power generator.

Atlantic Wall Hirtshals Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Back from the coastline, you may enjoy a long exploration of the trenches and of the many restored bunkers. Many bear original markings and paintings.

Atlantic Wall Hirtshals Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

In some rare cases, you can also find original decorative paintings, likely made by the soldiers stationed in the bunkers.

Atlantic Wall Hirtshals Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Restored bunkers include a ‘living bunker’, but many other installations are in good conditions, like interred shelters, ammo storages, etc. Traces of cables, armored doors – some of them with glass lights – and telephone wires can be found in many bunkers.

Atlantic Wall Hirtshals Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Furthermore, in Hirtshals you have the chance to get a bird’s eye view of the fort, by climbing on top of the local lighthouse!

Atlantic Wall Hirtshals Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Getting there and moving around

The Hirtshals site is an open-air museum. There are technically opening times, but the area is not fenced, so if you are looking for a visit to the exteriors, you can walk around freely at any time. The museum has a website here, and guided visits are offered in many occasions. Many bunkers were closed when I visited, and they might be visible only with a guide. Some other bunkers are open and lighted, whereas the majority are basically left to explorers – open and not lighted – but rather accessible and very easy to visit, maybe with the help of a small torch. There is not a clear entrance (the area is not fenced), nor permanent staff on the site.

There are explanatory signs for basically all of the bunkers, in double Danish/German language.

The parking is ahead of the lighthouse, which is a different entity and operates with opening times you can find here. The parking is large and free. Climbing on top of the lighthouse is possible at a small fee – apparently only Danish Crowns cash accepted.

Together with a climb on top of the lighthouse, the visit may take from 1.5 to 3 hours, depending on your level of interest.

Skagen

The Skagen area is mostly famous for its location on the very tip of the Jutland peninsula, the natural northern end of continental Europe, and ideally as the geographical point where the North Sea and Baltic Sea join together. The long and quiet shores there and the population of seals contribute to making Skagen a prominent touristic attraction, often crowded with visitors from Denmark and abroad.

What people going there may not expect is the presence of a number of massive firing positions from the years of the German occupation! These are concentrated along the eastern coast, and include firing position for 120 mm coastal guns, overlooking the Skagerrak strait.

Atlantic Wall Skagen Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

There are also a fire control bunker, which has drifted to the shoreline, as well as radar support bunkers.

Atlantic Wall Skagen Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Unfortunately, these installations have been left to the elements and – most sadly – to vandals. Except for their huge size, there is not much left to appreciate.

But there is more related to the Atlantic Wall in Skagen. A former hospital bunker has been partly refurbished and converted into a very interesting smaller museum on the local battery.

Atlantic Wall Skagen Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Inside, you can first appreciate the special size of the doors and corridors, made to allow moving stretchers around.

Atlantic Wall Skagen Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Put on display are several items related to the history of the Skagen fortress. There are uniforms from the time, photos from the years of operations, and everyday items left over by the Wehrmacht.

Atlantic Wall Skagen Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Some of the rooms have been reconstructed, and provide a vivid impression of the original appearance.

Atlantic Wall Skagen Battery Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Among the exhibits are also some relics from a downed British aircraft.

Getting there and moving around

Visiting the Skagen battery is easier from the small parking Hvide Fyr, Fyrvej, 9990 Skagen. This parking is free. Going on the Baltic shore from the parking means a five minutes walk along a prepared path. A quick walk with a look to the abandoned battery would take about 20 minutes.

You may either walk to the tip from there, or better move your car to shorten the walk, going to the huge dedicated parking area where the road N.40 ends. This parking is not free.

You will find the Skagen Bunker-Museum in the former hospital bunker immediately to the southwestern side of the parking. Website here.

Visiting may take about 30-45 minutes, an interesting small detour from the local natural attractions.

Bangsbo

Comparatively less fortified than the North Sea coast, the eastern cost of Jutland is the place of a primary military and commercial port named Frederikshavn. This is also a starting point for travelers going to Norway from central Europe.

Here the Germans installed one of the few strongpoints on this side of the peninsula. What makes the so-called Bangsbo fort unique among the Atlantic Wall installations is the fact that three of the four original guns in the coastal battery are still in place!

The main area of Bangsbo fort, where the coastal battery is located, can be found to the south of the town, and is somewhat similar to Hirtshals (see above). Both are located on top of a cliff, with a significant area to the back dedicated to command, living and service bunkers.

Today, some of these bunkers have been completely refurbished. These include the command bunker for the local commander of the Kriegsmarine (the German Navy). This is super-interesting, with many artifacts from the time, from military gear to swastika-marked dishware, from maps to photographs of general Rommel – who superintended the construction of the Atlantic Wall – visiting the installation, and much more.

Atlantic Wall Frederikshavn Bansgbo Fort Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Much interesting is especially the reconstruction of the command/meeting room.

Atlantic Wall Frederikshavn Bansgbo Fort Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Scattered over the premises of the military area are cannons and several strange items, like a tank turret intended to be placed on top of a defensive Tobruk.

Atlantic Wall Frederikshavn Bansgbo Fort Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

There are a refurbished hospital bunker and reconstructed living quarters.

Atlantic Wall Frederikshavn Bansgbo Fort Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

The firing control post roughly at the center of the area is another highlight, having been completely refurbished, with plenty of Nazi insignia and original material.

Atlantic Wall Frederikshavn Bansgbo Fort Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

To the back of the bunker are a living and command area, whereas the front part is an observation deck.

Atlantic Wall Frederikshavn Bansgbo Fort Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

The firing positions with guns are numbered from Nr.1 to 3. They are based on 15 cm coastal guns, installed in 1944, replacing older and smaller pieces.

Atlantic Wall Frederikshavn Bansgbo Fort Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

The guns can be walked around. The cartridge supply slides to the back of the firing chamber are still in place.

Atlantic Wall Frederikshavn Bansgbo Fort Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Guns Nr. 1 and 3 are similar, whereas the central gun was taken from a Danish cruiser cannibalized by the Germans in Kiel during the war. Today, it bears a greenish paint.

Atlantic Wall Frederikshavn Bansgbo Fort Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

There used to be a fourth cannon with a field of fire of 360 degrees. Trace of a platform can be seen, as well as an anti-aircraft gun.

Atlantic Wall Frederikshavn Bansgbo Fort Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

The fort shares a border with an active military area, so a part of the original installations cannot be visited. Others are open only for those visiting on guided tours. These include a radar-supporting station. Others can be entered, but are basically empty.

Atlantic Wall Frederikshavn Bansgbo Fort Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

A minor part of the Bansgbo fort is located north of Frederikshavn. It is a partially preserved anti-aircraft firing station. This was made of four firing places and a central fire direction point. The latter is still visible at least from the outside.

Atlantic Wall Frederikshavn Bansgbo Fort Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

One of the anti aircraft guns is also in place. The rest of the installation has been filled with land and made inaccessible.

Atlantic Wall Frederikshavn Bansgbo Fort Denmark Nazi Defense Line Atlantikwall

Getting there and moving around

The major part of Bansgbo fort can be found south of Frederikshavn. It can be accessed from Bakkevej, which ends with the parking of the museum. Website here. The area can be walked and accessed with a ticket. There are picnic facilities and a small shop. Guided tours are offered at pre-defined times, see the website. You can get a good impression even by walking around on your own, but some bunkers can be accessed only with a guide. I did not join a guided tour, and all the pictures above are from a self-guided visit.

The site is not huge, but very interesting thanks to preservation efforts. It may easily deserve a 2 hours visit.

The anti-aircraft site is located north of Frederikshaven, and can be reached from Nordre Strandvej. You may park on the large free parking made for the local beach. This smaller installation may be visited in 10-15 minutes without a ticket.

STASI Prisons and Headquarters in Berlin and the GDR

October 1, 2016December 2, 2023 CarloRLeave a comment

	Heading to Berlin or the former GDR? Looking for traces of the Cold War open for a visit?
	A Travel Guide to COLD WAR SITES in EAST GERMANY Second Edition - 2024
	DON'T LEAVE IT AT HOME! AVAILABLE in PAPERBACK or KINDLE from your national Amazon store!
	amazon.com \| amazon.de \| amazon.co.uk amazon.it \| amazon.fr \| amazon.co.jp

Among the most unequivocal signs of the oppressive communist dictatorship in the former German Democratic Republic – ‘GDR’ or ‘DDR’ in German – are probably the many buildings once operated by the STASI, the German cousin of the well-known Soviet KGB.

Being a state security service by its very name – STASI stands for ‘STAat SIcherheit’, or state security -, this organization was responsible for the capillary control over the behavior of the citizens of the GDR, to the aim of counteracting any threat to the communist rule. It was mainly composed of a para-military staff and of an extensive network of informers – so extensive that actually about 1 out of 180 in Eastern Germany worked for the STASI, while by comparison in the USSR 1 out of 595 worked for the KGB. The main goal of this agency was keeping the statu quo, hence any suspect behavior of East-German citizens, deemed subversive with respect to the communist rule, was reported, investigated and usually suppressed.

People found guilty of acts against the State – i.e. against the communist government – were often sentenced to years of imprisonment. This meant that prisons and camps flourished in the GDR, as people got arrested and at least kept for interrogation just for having received western newspapers or having colored their rooms with posters of American pop singers. How the STASI came to know of similar ‘violations’ was by means of informers, who triggered secret investigations carried out with ‘James Bond gear’, like cameras and microphones hidden in coat buttons and bags. Microphones and cameras were also usually installed in the walls, chandeliers and doors of the houses of suspected subjects.

This huge institution was among the most feared and hated – as well as expensive to run – in the GDR, and soon after the reopening of the border and the demolition of the wall in Berlin in 1989 many of its buildings were occupied by the population. To deny responsibility in the unfair trial, imprisonment and confinement of many citizens, the staff of the STASI began ‘burning’ its archives immediately, but they were so extensive that this rapidly turned out to be impossible. The STASI was disbanded among the first governmental agencies of the GDR in the early months of 1990, even before the two halves of Germany were merged. Finally the archives were made publicly available during the process of the German reunification. Many people came to know they had been carefully observed and spied in every movement during their everyday life.

Today, some of the most prominent buildings once operated by the STASI are open to the public and represent an interesting and worrying memento of this chapter of the history of Germany. The following photographs are from some such sites I visited over the years from 2013 to 2023.

STASI Headquarters, Berlin-Lichtenberg

The headquarters of the STASI occupied an extensive citadel composed of many big, multi-storey buildings. Like the KGB, the tasks of the STASI weren’t limited to internal state security, but also to border protection – a very serious business in Eastern Germany, as you can see from another page of this site dedicated to the German inner border – and espionage activities abroad. The various directorates occupied their respective buildings in the citadel. The place is in a semi-peripheral district of former East Berlin named Lichtenberg.

Berlin Lichtenberg Normannenstrasse Stasi Headquarters

The main building hosts a museum of central relevance on the topic, where you can find much data about the history and the impressive size of this agency, as well as spy gear – for instance mimetic microphones for listening to conversations in private houses. The stories of some of the victims of the communist surveillance machine are also reported. Envelope-opening devices and rags for preserving the odor of those arrested for watchdogs are displayed in showcases.

Berlin Lichtenberg Normannenstrasse Stasi Headquarters

Probably the highlight of the museum is the apartment and office of Erich Mielke, the director of the STASI from 1957 – well before the wall was erected in Berlin – up to the dissolution of the GDR. Many original directional offices have been preserved and nowadays can be visited.

Berlin Lichtenberg Normannenstrasse Stasi Headquarters

The place is very evocative and retains much of the disturbing ‘GDR atmosphere’, typical to this and other similar installations. The number of visitors is much lower than close to Checkpoint Charlie and the DDR museum near the Berliner Dom, which are mostly cheesy tourist attractions with comparatively little content. On the contrary, in this museum you can still easily perceive the commitment of the GDR goverment towards its own survival, and the proportion of the oppressive apparatus that was created to this aim – here you clearly understand the STASI was a serious business and changed the life of many people.

Berlin Lichtenberg Normannenstrasse Stasi Headquarters

After visiting the museum in the central building you may have a look around to the exterior of other buildings in the citadel, today mostly unused, abandoned or partially occupied by private businesses – I guess the place still retains for many people a very negative aura.

Getting there and moving around

Today the citadel can be reached very conveniently by car or with the U5 (between the stops Magdalenen Strasse and Frankfurter Allee). The museum is fairly modern and well presented, but as of 2015 when I visited the ticket could be paid only cash and some explanations were in German only. Inside the museum there is no air conditioning, and it can be very hot and uncomfortable in summer. Parking is not a problem in front of the main entrance or nearby. Website here.

STASI Prison and Restricted Area, Berlin-Hohenschönhausen

The second largest quarters of the STASI are located in yet another outer district of former East Berlin. Old photographs of the area clearly show that this part of the town was interdicted to visitors not connected with the business of the STASI – there used to be fences and gates all around, cutting some of the roads entering the district. Besides some directorates and administrative buildings, this citadel hosted a prison and a labor camp. The former was the main STASI prison in East Berlin, and those who were arrested on account of suspect activities against the State were usually carried here, where they had to withstand interrogations.

Berlin Hohenschönhausen Stasi Remand Prison

This place is really grim and appalling. It looks like the staff of the prison had just left. Everything from what you see to the smell of the cells, offices and interrogation rooms is totally evocative of the original GDR atmosphere.

Berlin Hohenschönhausen Stasi Remand Prison

The STASI became the owner of the place in 1951, after the Soviets, who had managed the occupied territory directly after the German capitulation in 1945, left control of many administrative functions following the creation of the GDR. Under the Soviet rule, in the years of Stalin between 1945 and 1951, a labor camp was set up here and the main building of the prison – a former canteen for Nazi staff – opened for business. More than 20’000 people passed through this installation between 1945 and 1951, many of them on their way to deportation to the USSR.

Under the control of the STASI, the camp was dedicated to non-political prisoners, where the prison, enlarged in more instances as the STASI citadel was growing up, was for the ‘enemies of the State’. More than 20’000 people were imprisoned here between 1951 and 1990.

The place can be visited only on guided tours, offered on a regular basis also in English. Following the tour you can see various imprisonment cells. The worst – and really inhumane – from the times of the Soviets are in the basement of the main building, with no windows and no ventilation, where many people were crushed together waiting for interrogation or deportation.

Berlin Hohenschönhausen Stasi Remand Prison

The majority of the cells date from the era of the GDR, and are more modern. As the main business of the prison was that of extorting confessions, the prisoners were progressively brought in a state of psychological prostration. Preventing any form of communication was part of the treatment, so most cells for newly arrested people were for one person only. To isolate those arrested even more, when moving from the cell to the interrogation rooms and back the wardens observed special red and green lights, telling when there was somebody else in the corridors. This way the inmate would not see anybody except for the warden and the officer who interrogated him during all his or her stay in the prison.

Padded cells with straitjackets like in asylums were used in the process of extorting confessions, when the inmates were treated with drugs causing hallucinations and loss of physical control. These can be seen in the basement of one of the buildings.

Berlin Hohenschönhausen Stasi Remand Prison

Also visible are some cells with open top for spending half a hour per day in open air.

An interesting item presented in the exhibition is a minivan that was used for taking people quietly to the prison. The appearance and markings are those of a normal cargo van for transporting goods, whereas the interior is structured with micro-cells for arrested people.

Berlin Hohenschönhausen Stasi Remand Prison

Interrogation rooms are aligned on a corridor, and are extremely essential, featuring a shabby furniture. Greasy traces on the wallpaper and the smell of old fake leather heated by the sun is make the original atmosphere come alive.

Berlin Hohenschönhausen Stasi Remand Prison

A further wing is where a clinic for inmates was located. The clinic was of good level, with much technical instrumentation to manage several regular or emergency situations. The office of the director of this wing is another example of pure East German design. Most notably, the once omnipotent Erich Mielke appears to have been interned here following his arrest after 1989.

Berlin Hohenschönhausen Stasi Remand Prison

A one-of-a-kind exhibit is a railway truck for inmates. Besides the rather uncomfortable compartment design, with small chairs in a very little space, this transport was made really inhumane through the lack of air conditioning, the windows with bars and even a white glass, which deliberately created disorientation. These trains were artificially put on the lowest priority, so as to make traveling a painstaking experience for inmates.

Berlin Hohenschönhausen Stasi Remand Prison

The memorial is not central, so only those really interested in the history of the GDR, and of East Berlin and the STASI usually come here. Nonetheless, it is managed like a good level international museum, with guided tours, facilities for groups and a serious bookshop. Before taking the tour you are offered a movie telling the history of the prison in brief and showing the testimonies of former inmates. All in all a very interesting – and instructive – experience, surely worth a detour from the more touristic districts.

After visiting the prison, you may have a look around to the other buildings in this citadel. You can find a map in a cheap but interesting booklet they sell in the bookshop (‘The prohibited district’, by Erler and Knabe).

Getting there and moving around

The correct address of the prison building is Genslerstraße 66, Berlin. You can reach it easily by car. The neighborhood is primarily residential and not central, so parking won’t be a problem. If you have not a car, you can arrive conveniently with the tram line M5 from the most central districts. The correct stop is Werneuchener Strasse, and from there it’s about 0.4 miles to the gate of the prison. Website here.

STASI Prison Lindenstrasse, Potsdam

Behind an elegant façade like many others you can find in central Potsdam there is a prison comparable in size to the ‘main’ prison in Berlin Hohenschönhausen described above, and mostly unknown to the general public crowding this small and beautiful historical town.

This building was used as a prison by the Kaiser, the Nazis, the Soviets and finally the GDR. It was renovated and modified in many stages during its long history, and during WWII under the Nazi rule, some sections of the courthouse in central Berlin were transferred here, when the original buildings of the Nazi courthouse got damaged as a result of Allied air raids.

Potsdam Lindenstrasse Stasi Prison Courthouse

Differently from Hohenschönhausen, the prison in Potsdam is not part of a ‘citadel’, even though the KGB headquarters in the GDR were not far – actually they can be found close to Schloss Cecilienhof, Potsdam, now partly converted to luxury apartments and villas.

Another difference with respect to Hohenschönhausen is the style of the building, which dates back to older times. This is reflected in the plan and in many details of the construction, which at least from the exterior is very elegant.

Potsdam Lindenstrasse Stasi Prison Courthouse

Inside you can find Soviet cells in the basement – also here the most inhumane – and other cells packed along narrow corridors on several floors. In the inner courtyard there is a central block of open top cells for ‘recreation’, and traces of the original cameras and surveillance systems.

Potsdam Lindenstrasse Stasi Prison Courthouse

Something you may appreciate is the fact that you can visit the place on your own. Paneling with data or telling the stories of former inmates are totally in German, but you are given a leaflet with explanations and a map of the place at the entrance. Also a few original interrogation rooms have been preserved and can be seen.

Potsdam Lindenstrasse Stasi Prison Courthouse

The entry price is very reduced, so visiting is of course a must for the committed tourist, and interesting also for the general public. The place is ‘mimetic’ and not much advertised, so you won’t find the usual flocks of visitors, unlike the royal estates in Potsdam… Much recommended.

Getting there and moving around

The precise address is Lindenstrasse 54, Potsdam. It is in central Potsdam, so you may park at your convenience for visiting the district and have a stop there if you like. Similarly, if you are coming with the public transport system just go to the central district and walk to the place. Website here.

STASI Pre-Trial Prison, Rostock

Similarly to the prison in Potsdam, the anonymity of the façade of this building in central Rostock, placed to the back of a section of the courthouse still working today, is really deceiving. A prison capable of hosting more than 100 inmates can be reached today via a small door leading mainly to the offices of the faculty of the local university. Once inside the building you will notice a worrying fence on the side of the stairs going to the first floor, where you can get access to the prison.

Rostock Stasi Remand Prison

Besides the many cells, it is possible to find a very interesting exhibition on the history of the GDR and of the STASI, with much data and stories from the time. Also many artifacts can be found, like spy gear, rags for preserving the odor of inmates for watchdogs to make capture easier, state bonds used to pay informers, and more.

Rostock Stasi Remand Prison

The main function of the prison was that of keeping those arrested for interrogation until they were sentenced. More than 4000 people spent some time in this prison, mainly for ideological crimes, in the years of the GDR.

Rostock Stasi Remand Prison

The place can be visited for free with an audio guide also in English. Some parts, including the open-top cells outside and the rigor cells in the basement can be visited only in a guided tour – as far as I understood, these are offered in German only.

Rostock Stasi Remand Prison

On the top floor you can see an interesting exhibition on people who escaped or tried to flee the GDR by sea.

Getting there and moving around

Centrally located in Rostock – a lively city on the coast of the Baltic Sea – at a walking distance from Rosengarten. If you are moving by car, you can park on Hermannstrasse, and reach the door to the back of the courthouse block (opposite a small market). The door is heavy, so press it hard, it may be open even if it looks closed. Website here.

STASI Maximum Security Prison ‘Bautzen II’, Bautzen

Originally designed as a pre-trial and short-term court jail by the local government, the prison of Bautzen II was erected under the Kaiser to the back of the courthouse in the homonym town in the southeastern corner of Saxony, today very close to the border with both Poland and the Czech Republic. A larger penitentiary, named Bautzen I and originally conceived as a juvenile jail, was built around the same time in town.

With the advent of the Nazi dictatorship, both facilities began to be exploited for the prosecution of political dissidents, or to isolate elements of ‘inferior races’. Violence, intimidation and extorted confessions began to be the rule. Both branches of the prison of Bautzen fell under Stalin’s control at the end of WWII, and this corresponded to an exceptional increase in the number of inmates, which included a substantial share of former Nazi staff and opponents of the Soviet regime.

After the creation of the GDR, the facilities in Bautzen went on working as primary centers for the confinement of political prisoners, together making for possibly the largest detention center in the country. The smaller jail of Bautzen II, with slightly more than 200 single cells, was turned into a maximum security prison intended for the most dangerous ‘subversive elements’ of the whole state. While Bautzen I is still an active state prison of todays Federal Germany, Bautzen II has been opened to the public as a memorial.

The dreary access from outside is through three gates, and this adds to the perception of the place as really ‘no hope’.

Bautzen II Maximum Security GDR Prison

Similarly to the prison in Potsdam (see above), Bautzen II can be toured on a self-guided basis, without a group. Most parts of the prison are opened, and several cells can be accessed.

Bautzen II Maximum Security GDR Prison

Some of the cells retain the original furniture, even shabbier than the usual communist standard. The metal staircase in the middle of the prison building allows to better appreciate the size.

Bautzen II Maximum Security GDR Prison

Besides rigor cells with additional bars and an incredibly small walkable area, some groups of cells are separated from others, with armored doors splitting the corridors in contiguous isolated sections. This was possibly a special feature of this maximum security prison. You can experience an unreal silence when sitting in a cell closing both the doors of the corridor and of the cell.

Bautzen II Maximum Security GDR Prison

There are also some ‘common areas’ for inmates to work and stay, and an external courtyard divided in sectors, to allow inmates to spend some time open air, but without the chance to meet or see each other.

Bautzen II Maximum Security GDR Prison

Getting there and moving around

The prison of Bautzen II is open as a national monument, a website with full information about visiting is here. I noticed that there are descriptions in German only throughout the prison, so you would better go prepared at least on the history of the place – starting for instance from the website – to get the most from your visit. The location is Waigangstrasse 8a, which is behind the courthouse of Bautzen, 0.8 miles to the east of the historical town center, conveniently reachable walking from the railway station and also by car. The area around the courthouse is mainly residential and parking can be found easily. Bautzen I is still today an active regular detention facility and cannot be visited.

A vital center of the Sorbs, an etnic group of Saxony and Brandenburg recognized by the German Federal Government, the town of Bautzen is nice to visit and rich of historical content. It is about 45 miles east of Dresden, and bolsters a picturesque, perfectly refurbished town center with medieval to baroque architectural elements.

STASI Headquarters, Dresden

The STASI headquarters and prison in Dresden have been developed starting 1945, originally as a prison for the Soviet NKVD (later KGB), on the premises of a former factory not far from the river Elbe and the historical district of the town – which would lay destroyed for decades following air raids in WWII. Similar to the prison in Lindenstrasse, Potsdam (see above), the underground floor of the former factory building was turned into a prison, with provision for a number of very basic cells typical to Stalin’s era, aligned on a narrow corridor.

Until the facility was handed over to the newly-formed GDR in 1952, the Soviets interned here mostly German citizens accused of cooperation with the defunct Nazi regime, as well as subversive elements, unfriendly with the Soviet controlling forces. As usual within a dictatorship, indictment was largely arbitrary and sentences extremely harsh – following arrest, most people were deported to forced labor camps of the Gulag system in the USSR, some were brought to Moscow to be hanged, and many were sent to provisional camps established in the ‘Soviet occupation zone’, later to become the territory of the GDR.

In this part of the exhibition it is possible to step in most of the cells, very small and essential.

Memorial Bautzner Strasse, Dresden – KGB/STASI prison and headquarters, Dresden, GDR

A room is dedicated to the Gulag system, whereas another is a memorial for those taken to the Dresden prison and who reportedly did not survive the ordeal of the Soviet detention system, or where sentenced to death on the base of political reasons.

Memorial Bautzner Strasse, Dresden – KGB/STASI prison and headquarters, Dresden, GDR

Also visible are some service rooms, like the bathrooms and rooms for the guards.

Memorial Bautzner Strasse, Dresden – KGB/STASI prison and headquarters, Dresden, GDR

Along the corridor an emergency cable could be pressed by the guards at any time when in distress, triggering an alarm. From this part of the prison it was possible to access a inner courtyard.

Memorial Bautzner Strasse, Dresden – KGB/STASI prison and headquarters, Dresden, GDR

Concurrently with the handing-over to the STASI, the facility was expanded, with offices and a modern multi-storey prison building.

Access for those arrested was via an inconspicuous wooden gate. An apparently innocent cargo van was employed for arrests. It can be checked out and it reveals provision for several segregated micro-cells inside. Once disembarked from the van, some prisoners may have had to wait for the prison check-in process inside mini-cells. Temperature in this area used to be – and still is – terribly hot in the summer.

Memorial Bautzner Strasse, Dresden – KGB/STASI prison and headquarters, Dresden, GDR

Once inside, prisoners had to undress and undergo an accurate inspection in the check-in room. They were photographed for records in a special room, where they sat on a chair which was moved by the camera operator to obtain portraits at specific angles. Then prisoners were assigned dresses and slippers for their stay.

Memorial Bautzner Strasse, Dresden – KGB/STASI prison and headquarters, Dresden, GDR

This prison acted as a remand (i.e. pre-trial) prison, with 44 cells on 4 levels.

Memorial Bautzner Strasse, Dresden – KGB/STASI prison and headquarters, Dresden, GDR

Cells were for one, two or three people. Single cells were not customary from the 1970s on, except for rigor cells.

Memorial Bautzner Strasse, Dresden – KGB/STASI prison and headquarters, Dresden, GDR

An example of the latter can be seen, with a small chair bolted to the ground and no windows. A special cell was that for writing letters, something that was possible only at prescribed intervals (e.g. once per week) and in this special room – obviously, all communications were checked and censored by the STASI. This cell features a small table, a chair, and a lavatory.

Memorial Bautzner Strasse, Dresden – KGB/STASI prison and headquarters, Dresden, GDR

An uncommonly ‘comfortable’ cell was employed for foreign prisoners, who included those who had tried to help GDR citizens in their escape attempt, and who for some reason had got caught by the STASI. These cells had a window allowing a view of the sky – not possible through the special windows of regular cells – and a larger iron bed, instead of a narrow wooden berth.

Memorial Bautzner Strasse, Dresden – KGB/STASI prison and headquarters, Dresden, GDR

Separated boxes in a walled courtyard outside were employed for letting the prisoners spend some minutes per day in the open air.

Memorial Bautzner Strasse, Dresden – KGB/STASI prison and headquarters, Dresden, GDR

Walking the prison building you may notice that most of it is still original, including the purely-GDR linoleum floor, and the alarm system. The heavy curtains make the building dark and oppressing. The temperature in the summer is also very hot. The building is very silent, much resembling the original asylum-like feeling.

Memorial Bautzner Strasse, Dresden – KGB/STASI prison and headquarters, Dresden, GDR

A routine operation in a remand prison was interrogation of the prisoners. Prisoners were insistently interrogated by STASI staff before formalizing an indictment. For the purpose, they were taken to the top floor of the building, along a few flights of stairs, up to the the interrogation rooms. Interestingly, the door giving access to this ‘bureaucratic’ part of the facility still bear seals (now reopened), put in the days of the revolution following the demolition of the wall in Berlin in 1989. The offices of the STASI, with material and archives, were sealed for criminal investigation.

Memorial Bautzner Strasse, Dresden – KGB/STASI prison and headquarters, Dresden, GDR

Today, in this area a few original relics from the STASI operations can be found, like photographic film, nominal folders, stamps, keys, etc.

Memorial Bautzner Strasse, Dresden – KGB/STASI prison and headquarters, Dresden, GDR

One interrogation room is still visible, whereas many others have been converted and are today employed for thematic workshops by the organization running the memorial.

Memorial Bautzner Strasse, Dresden – KGB/STASI prison and headquarters, Dresden, GDR

As of 2023, the memorial is undergoing restoration, with the reopening of a larger part of the offices planned soon. Momentarily, it is possible to see the original grand auditorium of the STASI, a full-scale theater, with a typical GDR decor and even an original audiovisual apparatus. It is hard to imagine what kind of people could attend some symposium in an elegant room like this, just 50 ft away from prisoners confined in cells, non-criminals confined mostly only because suspected of having some arbitrarily-defined ‘subversive ideas’.

Memorial Bautzner Strasse, Dresden – KGB/STASI prison and headquarters, Dresden, GDR

The quarters of the old NKVD prison are linked to the more modern prison building by a long underground corridor.

Memorial Bautzner Strasse, Dresden – KGB/STASI prison and headquarters, Dresden, GDR

Getting there and moving around

The former STASI headquarter in Dresden is run as a memorial by a very active society, supported by various preservation bodies and associations. A professional website with much information, including a leaflet with a description of your visit in English, can be found here. A visit may easily take 1.5-2 hours for an interested subject. Many parts of the facility are accurately preserved and make for a very evocative memento. Furthermore, permanent and temporary exhibitions add to the experience and documentary value.

Visiting is possible on a self-guided basis, with explanatory booklets in many languages including English lent for the duration of your visit.

The memorial is located northeast of the historical district of Dresden, right on the northern bank of the river Elbe. The exact address is Bautzner Straße 112a, 01099 Dresden. However, access by car to the inside parking is possible only at these coordinates, (51.06688926262786, 13.782718227181237). Since access is from a major road where a U-turn is impossible, and the entrance to the parking is somewhat ahead of the official address, it is worth employing these coordinates for your nav, otherwise you might be missing the entrance to the parking, being forced to a pretty long tour of ‘one ways’ and ‘no turns’ before you get back to your intended destination.

Memorial ‘In der Runden Ecke’ – STASI Headquarters, Leipzig

Similar to its cousin in Berlin-Lichtenberg, the former headquarters of the STASI in Leipzig has been opened as a memorial. In this case, the building was not made on purpose, but converted from a pre-existing one. A decorated, elegant palace in the city center was chosen for the local brain of the repressive apparatus. The building features an angled facade, since the name ‘on the round corner’ – ‘in der Runden Ecke’ in German.

The entrance hall to the former headquarters has retained much of its original appearance.

Memorial ‘in der Runden Ecke’ – Former STASI Headquarters, Leipzig, GDR

The main part of the exhibition is immediately reached through the original reception office, which has been left willingly untouched since the pre-1989 era – including now dead CC-cameras, and two elaborated majolica murals with emblems of the STASI and some decorations.

Memorial ‘in der Runden Ecke’ – Former STASI Headquarters, Leipzig, GDR

The exhibition takes the ground floor of a wing of the building, i.e. only a small part of the original site. The office of a clerk has been mothballed preserving at most its original, shabby appearance, with a portrait of Honecker.

Memorial ‘in der Runden Ecke’ – Former STASI Headquarters, Leipzig, GDR

In an adjacent room, many rigs for covert mail and communication interception and inspection activities are displayed. These range from steam-pumping envelope openers, to fake postal stamps from Federal Germany, or even from abroad (to send false communications), and even fancier machines for reproducing signatures, looking inside parcels, etc. – every design betraying a really paranoid attention to details, and a true waste of exceptional engineering abilities.

Memorial ‘in der Runden Ecke’ – Former STASI Headquarters, Leipzig, GDR

A complete cell and photo studio – for mugshots – from the now demolished STASI prison in Leipzig has been spared for this exhibition, not much dissimilar from others on this web page (see above).

Memorial ‘in der Runden Ecke’ – Former STASI Headquarters, Leipzig, GDR

More artifacts on display include audio and image gathering stuff, ranging from micro cameras and recorders, to exceptionally compact, high-precision zoom lenses. Archived rags with the smell of repression victims in case of escape – for dogs – are another specimen from the STASI crazy inventory.

Memorial ‘in der Runden Ecke’ – Former STASI Headquarters, Leipzig, GDR

A room is devoted to the STASI huge paper archive, and to the silly, titanic effort to destroy the evidence of years of illegal spying activity as quick as possible, following the re-opening of the border. The solidified slime obtained from paper fragments is on display. Some very evocative pictures show the immense Leipzig archive and its conspicuous remains after the destruction attempt.

Memorial ‘in der Runden Ecke’ – Former STASI Headquarters, Leipzig, GDR

Two more rooms tell about the immediate post-WWII history in Leipzig, with pictures from 1945 with Nazi officials who committed suicide, as well as from the first stage of Allied occupation and Soviet administration – before the GDR was founded.

Memorial ‘in der Runden Ecke’ – Former STASI Headquarters, Leipzig, GDR

An interesting collection of artifacts concerning the Soviet-GDR friendship and alliance is really evocative of a luckily bygone era.

Memorial ‘in der Runden Ecke’ – Former STASI Headquarters, Leipzig, GDR

Finally, the corridor is full of interesting pictures, telling about the disinformation role of the STASI, border patrolling, and many other businesses this overpowered criminal organization was in charge of.

Memorial ‘in der Runden Ecke’ – Former STASI Headquarters, Leipzig, GDR

The building is today also seat for an agency managing the old STASI archive for historical purposes. Furthermore, the first floor and the elegant stairs leading to the top can be toured, with some display cases showing attractive Soviet-era artifacts.

Memorial ‘in der Runden Ecke’ – Former STASI Headquarters, Leipzig, GDR

The first floor in particular must have been an official meeting/reception area, or a director’s office. Part of the original furniture is still there, including a mural with the head of Dzerzhinsky, the founder of the Soviet Ceka back in Lenin’s time, and an inspirational figure for all fanatics of ‘state security’ in the communist world – an activity which was a synonym for violent prosecution of free will.

Memorial ‘in der Runden Ecke’ – Former STASI Headquarters, Leipzig, GDR

Getting there and moving around

The memorial is on the border of the pedestrian area in Leipzig city center. It is modestly publicized, but thanks to its accessibility, it might be easily included in a standard visit to historical Leipzig, and it is significantly populated by tourists. Entrance is free of charge, and its professional website is here. Despite the small size, for an interested subject visiting might take 2 hours or more. Free pictures are allowed, and an audio guide in English allows to get much from the visit even for people not speaking German.

STASI Bunker, Machern

The bunker in Machern is an underground facility built for the STASI in 1968-72 as an emergency headquarter, for keeping the chain of command and coordinate operations in case of a potential crisis. It represents a specimen of the level of commitment of the GDR government with respect to the preservation of control, and a witness of the huge budget made available to this particular ministry, inextricably linked to the government itself and pivotal in the survival of the oppressive GDR communist regime over its entire life span.

The crisis in Prague in 1968 possibly triggered the build up of a similar underground network by the STASI, which customarily operated in secrecy. The very existence of the bunker, located some 30 minutes driving from central Leipzig, was unknown to most. The inconspicuous visible part of the facility was deceived in one of the lots in a district of free-time homes for employees of a public company. It was discovered only following the 1989 revolution and the abolition of the STASI.

Compared to underground military installations, either of the NVA or the Red Army, the bunker is rather compact. However, it had provisions for about 100 staff in case of crisis, with a moderate ability to resist military-level attacks, including facing a nuclear war scenario.

The visit starts by accessing the grounds, where an unassuming little country villa of the GDR can be found, which acts as a check-in point, and as a ticket office.

STASI Bunker Machern – Nuclear-proof intelligence headquarters near Leipzig, GDR

Soon you may notice the presence of unusual gear on the premises. These include houses and training gear for dogs, cables for allowing leashed watchdogs along a pre-assigned watch pattern, a concrete sentry box, fire extinguishing gear, piles of fuel barrels, a deck for repairing vehicles, and a rather big grey hangar.

STASI Bunker Machern – Nuclear-proof intelligence headquarters near Leipzig, GDR

The latter hides the blast-proof double entrance to the underground bunker. Before stepping in however, it is possible to check out an impressive amount of spare parts aligned on shelves, with literally tons of interesting military-grade material – most of them clearly marked as Soviet manufacture. Many mystery boxes with writing in Russian can be seen. Rolls of barbed wire, metal nets, camo blankets, and other material for sealing and deception can be seen together with more technical material, including technical instrumentation.

STASI Bunker Machern – Nuclear-proof intelligence headquarters near Leipzig, GDR

A small collection of memorabilia from the STASI years is shown on site, as well as a permanent exhibition with technical schemes and organization details.

STASI Bunker Machern – Nuclear-proof intelligence headquarters near Leipzig, GDR

Access to the underground bunker is via a horizontal armored door and through a long flight of stairs. An airlock with two tight doors was installed for making the place blast-proof and seal it in case of nuclear attack.

STASI Bunker Machern – Nuclear-proof intelligence headquarters near Leipzig, GDR

Dosimeters and showers for decontamination can be found close to the entrances – there are two of them, both inside the same hangar.

STASI Bunker Machern – Nuclear-proof intelligence headquarters near Leipzig, GDR

The bunker was mainly intended as an intelligence center for crisis management. The flow information was guaranteed by a number of communication systems and facilities. Manned stations can still be seen in a number.

STASI Bunker Machern – Nuclear-proof intelligence headquarters near Leipzig, GDR

Beside communication facilities, the bunker features sleeping quarters for the STASI staff, a kitchen/canteen area, and a few offices and private quarters for the decision-makers – senior STASI officers. These offices offer a reasonable level of comfort, typical to the the bunkers from the era (see for instance Kossa and the Polish headquarters near Wolin, but a similar level of comfort could be encountered also on the western side of the Iron Curtain, like here in Britain).

STASI Bunker Machern – Nuclear-proof intelligence headquarters near Leipzig, GDR

The bunker is built mainly around a square corridor, with an array of long and narrow rooms, each dedicated to a specific function.

STASI Bunker Machern – Nuclear-proof intelligence headquarters near Leipzig, GDR

Soviet material can be found everywhere, including air filters and heaters.

Different from the previous sites bound to the grim and disturbing history of the STASI and of the communist-led repression in the GDR, this bunker offers an interesting perspective into the para-military domestic activity of this former backbone of the single-party government of that country.

Getting there and moving around

The STASI bunker-museum in Machern is a branch of the STASI memorial in Leipzig (see above). An updated web page on this bunker can be found in the German version of the website of the Leipzig memorial (here), with updated information on the planned dates for a visit. The bunker is regularly open only on a few dates over the year, which are published in advance.

The visit allows to access the grounds, where explanatory panels are available in German, as well as the storage hangar and bunker. In the hangar, visitors are offered a short introductory video (in German). Afterwards, it is possible to visit the hangar and the bunker on a self-guided basis. Reservation is not required, but access is regulated on site by gathering visitors to form small groups, who are admitted to the bunker one by one to avoid overcrowding. Time in the bunker is more than enough to check-out the items on display, taking all the pictures. In all, a visit to this installation may take about 1 hour once on site.

Please note that they accept only cash for the ticket.

The location is in the countryside, about 10 miles northeast of Leipzig along the road B6. It is easy to reach only with a car or similar. There is a large parking there (51.376119908957726, 12.633996194227596), also serving the nature recreation area around. The entrance to the bunker can be reached from the parking with a .5 miles walk along a local road here (51.37857212168658, 12.644452664748663). No parking is possible on that road. Please note that the position corresponding to the bunker marked on Google Maps is largely inaccurate.

The bunker is located very close to the former Soviet base of Brandis/Waldpolenz (see here).

KGB Prison and Headquarters, Potsdam

This memorial is strictly speaking an outlier in this chapter, since it was never a STASI facility. Since their arrival in late April 1945, the Soviets installed a major intelligence and counter-intelligence center in Potsdam. An entire district was severed from the rest of this fashionable imperial town – which had fallen in the hands of the Soviets and later in the GDR. Its perimeter was fenced, the area provided with a guarded gate, and interdicted to everybody except authorized Soviet staff.

In it there were residential buildings, as well as central offices of the secret intelligence and security services of the Soviet Union in the heart of the GDR, and immediately on the border with West Berlin.

Today this exclusive residential area has been returned to its original function, except for a memorial, which has been prepared in the former prison originally built by the Soviets in a pre-existing, relatively little and unassuming building.

The Soviet secret services employed the prison from 1945 to the early 1950s as a remand prison for former Nazi collaborators, but also for German citizens considered dangerous or unreliable for the Soviet system. They were typically sentenced to years of forced labors and deported to the Gulag systems. When the STASI was created and took over the surveillance of GDR citizens, this prison was employed primarily for Soviet citizens considered as dissidents, including military staff. It is estimated that the Soviet population in the GDR totalled half million people in the late 1980s, therefore surveillance was not an easy task for the Soviets, requiring a dedicate apparatus with its own facilities.

The citadel and the prison in it went on operating until 1994, among the latest facilities to be relinquished by the then-Russian government.

The largely arbitrary indictment and sentencing of German citizens interned in this prison by the inhumane bureaucratic Soviet government of the years of Stalin indeed made many victims. Therefore, this place is primarily a memorial.

The shabbiness of the entire construction, typical to Soviet KGB prisons (see for instance here) is really striking. The visits starts on the first floor, where a number of cells can be seen. A rigor cell can be recognized by the lack of any light or ventilation. The ground was typically flooded with cold water, and the walls are covered in rough plaster, so that the prisoner could not sit on the ground nor lean against the wall.

KGB Prison and Headquarter, Potsdam – Memorial Leistikowstraße

On the top floor, former interrogation rooms today host a very interesting exhibition, with rich and detailed information in multiple languages including Russian and English. They cover the activity of Soviet secret services in the ‘Soviet occupation zone’, and later in the GDR and the Soviet enclaves in it. The brutal treatment reserved to many Germans, typically in the immediate post-WWII years under Stalin’s rule, is witnessed through striking documents, accounts and photographs. Among those sentenced to death were even schoolboys who did not want to learn Russian.

KGB Prison and Headquarter, Potsdam – Memorial Leistikowstraße

A focus is put on the structure of the law system of the communist dictatorship in the USSR, as well as on the mechanism of interrogations – including accounts of Soviet defectors.

KGB Prison and Headquarter, Potsdam – Memorial Leistikowstraße

Original memorabilia from the place include coats, special armbands for the staff authorized to enter the citadel, as well as original documents from the various ages of operation of the place.

KGB Prison and Headquarter, Potsdam – Memorial Leistikowstraße

In the basement are group cells intended for many people on their way to deportation. Graffiti from inmates can still be seen in the plaster.

KGB Prison and Headquarter, Potsdam – Memorial Leistikowstraße

A rigor cell which did not allow standing is also part of the exhibition.

A memorial to the victims of Soviet hardship has been installed on a side wall, whereas a modern visitor center completes the exhibition.

KGB Prison and Headquarter, Potsdam – Memorial Leistikowstraße

A thematic walk in the former Soviet citadel highlights through explanatory panels the original function of some of these buildings. Now returned to their original imperial splendor, they carry unsuspected grim memories of the communist era. Among the most notable features is the relic of a former small monument. Looking carefully, some of the houses still bear numbers on the facade according to the Soviet-style numbering of town blocks.

KGB Prison and Headquarter, Potsdam – Memorial Leistikowstraße

Getting there and moving around

The memorial is called Gedenk‑ und Begegnungsstätte Leistikowstraße Potsdam, and its professionally-run website is here. The address is Leistikowstraße 1 – 14469 Potsdam. Many parking opportunities on site. Reaching is easy also with public transport from Berlin. The prison is very close to the Cecilienhof palace.

The visit is on a self-guided basis, with much information available through the website, including options for smartphone-guided tour to the prison and to the former citadel. The permanent exhibition (in many languages) is rich and interesting, a detailed visit to the prison and exhibition may take up to 1 hour 15 minutes. A walk in the former Soviet citadel, today very enjoyable, may add 30-40 minutes for the more committed visitor.

The Atlantic Wall – Off the Beaten Track

September 11, 2016October 19, 2019 CarloRLeave a comment

Soon after gaining control over French territory in early summer 1940 and after the unsuccessful battle in the sky against Britain the following autumn, having successfully occupied all Nations in continental western Europe, Hitler’s military command decided to fortify the sea border on the Atlantic coast of the Third Reich.

At that time, this meant developing existing strongpoints and building many others anew along a shoreline extending from Norway all the way to the border between France and Spain, thus encompassing the western coasts of Norway, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium and France.

The detailed preparation of this pharaonic project – the ‘Atlantic Wall’ – and its realization were commissioned by the government to the ‘Organization Todt’, a paramilitary organization led by Fritz Todt, and following his death by the minister of armaments Albert Speer.

Thanks to millions of tons of concrete, to forced labor – in the form of forced cooperation of the local skilled workers in the respective Countries -, and to often reconditioned cannons transferred from other fronts and older WWI forts, either original German or captured in occupied territories, tens of fortified bunkers for coastal defense of many sizes began to appear on the Atlantic coast and reached operational state between 1940 and 1944.

The proximity of the coast to undefeated Britain made the areas of southern Belgium and of the French Pas-de-Calais and northern Normandy the most fortified of all. Some among the most monstrous pieces of artillery ever deployed were installed in this sector, where it was expected that an invasion of the Reich would take place sooner or later. These batteries were operated by troops of either the German Army or Navy.

Comparatively less fortified, the coast of Normandy was that actually attacked in June 1944. Even though the German command knew an attack was imminent at that time, the preparation of the D-Day included deceptive side-operations, which successfully misled the Germans, who could not know exactly the point of the Allied invasion until little before the fateful dawn of June 6th.

Today, many of the coastal batteries in the area of the beaches of the D-Day, which played an active part trying to interfere with the Allied operations, are obviously national monuments and can be visited very easily.

On the other hand, the majority of the batteries of the Atlantic Wall, scattered along a very long coastline, have slipped into oblivion.

In France, many of the strongpoints close to the coasts and shores of the Pas-de-Calais are still there, derelict and often covered in graffiti, a very common sight along the coastline. More inland batteries and installations, including storage bunkers and service buildings, lie on private land, hence they are not publicly accessible (in theory…). In Belgium, much of what remained was willingly dismantled, leaving only a few sites open to the public as museums. And so on.

Even though the Atlantic Wall was an excessively ambitious project and remained a largely unfinished work, some of the completed installations are unusual and very interesting from the viewpoint of engineering. Thanks also to the many murals, inexplicably not preserved, dating back to the years of the Nazi occupation, exploration of many of these abandoned sites can be rewarding and a very interesting way to spend some time in these regions.

The following photographs were taken exploring some installations of the Atlantic Wall along the coast of northern Normandy and Pas-de-Calais, France, in August 2016.

Navigate this post – Click on links to scroll

Fécamp
Dieppe
‘Friedrich August’ battery – Wimille
‘Todt’ battery – Audinghen
Calais
‘Oldenburg’ and ‘Waldam’ batteries – Calais

Fécamp

The garrison here operated a Würzburg Riese radar, of which the fork-shaped concrete base remains today, plus optical distance measurement devices. Entering the bunkers is not possible, the gates are locked.

Fécamp Atlantic Wall

Walking north on top of the shore, towards a horrible, really misplaced wind farm, it is possible to spot more measurement stations, with a characteristic bulged roof, a round shaped plant and a very thin observation slot. Going in is generally possible at your own risk – wild brambles obstruct the entrance.

Fécamp Atlantic Wall

Close to the road running along the coastline more demolished bunkers can be spotted, but they are out of reach, too close to the wind turbines and beyond a guarded perimeter.

Fécamp Atlantic Wall

Getting there and moving around

A car park can be found on top of the cliff north of the center of Fécamp, close to a small church. The area can be toured with a pleasant walk along the coastline on top of the cliff.

Dieppe

In the garden you can reach in the premises of the castle of Dieppe it is possible to spot the former entrance to the service tunnels of the local coastal fortifications. The gates are locked. Also a small bunker for a light cannon can be found nearby.

Dieppe Atlantic Wall

On top of the cliff besides the castle an armored metal observation post can be easily found. From there moving south along the road on top of the cliff you pass a totally inaccessible former battery besides a small parking area – the doors have been bricked up. Farther south another concrete observation bunker can be found, this time accessible with the usual precautions – it is very close to the rim.

Dieppe Atlantic Wall

Getting there and moving around

Reaching the castle is possible from the city center or from a dedicated parking. The top of the cliff with the metal observation post is a popular panorama point with a parking nearby. The concrete observation bunker can be reached with a narrow path with little difficulty – pay attention to the usual brambles and nettles.

‘Friedrich August’ Battery – Wimille

Little remains of this once huge battery with 305 mm naval cannons, operated by the Navy. The area has been converted for industrial production. One of the remaining bunkers, partly destroyed but still very large and imposing, can be spotted from the distance close to a factory on top of a hill, driving along Route de la Menandelle, Wimille.

Friedrich August Wimille Atlantic Wall

The area is reportedly rich of remains of the Wall, including headquarters of the German admiralty, but all are on private grounds – not just pastures or vineyards, but fenced private gardens. I spent a couple of hours trying to get close to them without success.

All in all, it is much easier and more rewarding moving along the beaches in the area, where you can surely find some interesting remains.

Getting there and moving around

Unless you have some sort of permission and you are going with a local guide, don’t waste time leaving your car, just drive uphill along Route de la Menandelle, Wimille. You will see the battery to your right in the distance.

‘Todt’ Battery – Audinghen

One of the best museums on the mighty batteries of the Pas-de-Calais has been created in one of the towers of the famous ‘Todt’ battery. This museum (Musee du Mur de l’Atlantique, wbesite here) is surely worth a visit to find an explanation of the working procedures of the battery, its history, and also for the pieces of artillery preserved here, including Europe’s only surviving ‘Leopold’ railway cannon.

Todt Battery Atlantic Wall

A less visited place nearby the museum is the former N.4 tower of the same ‘Todt’ battery. This is totally abandoned and unfortunately the ubiquitous writers hit very hard with their ignorant spoiling. Nonetheless, in the almost total darkness – you will need at least an iPhone torch for moving around – of some of the former shell storage and service rooms many substantial traces of original Nazi murals can be seen still today – much larger and more interesting than those you can find in the museum.

Todt Battery Atlantic Wall

Besides the service road, you can explore the firing chamber and the support platform of the cannon with the concrete platform of the main metal pivot still in place.

Todt Battery Atlantic Wall

Getting there and moving around

Reaching the abandoned tower N.4 is easy from the museum. From the round about where D940 and D191 cross you will find the museum leaving D940 close by along a road called La Sence. Leaving the museum to your right, keep driving along La Sence. You will come to a T-shaped crossing, where you need to turn left. The road will start to descend downhill, and you will find a convenient parking area to the left just before reaching D940. Leave your car here. Leaving the parking from the main gate by foot, turn right on the road you just came from, and soon after take an unpaved service road to the left, in the direction of the sea. Follow this road until it turns left – about .15 miles later. You can spot the tower partly hidden by the trees.

The tower has a shape very similar to that of the one you can visit in the museum, so you may already have an idea of the plan of the site. Anyway, an entrance can be found on the eastern side – i.e. the back side – of the tower. The murals can be found on the lower floor, so no climbing is strictly needed. The ground is extremely muddy and slippery, so carefully choose your shoes. The rooms are almost totally dark, so you will need at least a small torch and good flash or a tripod for your camera.

You can also walk around on the outside to the front of the tower. Entering from there is very difficult, the level of the ground inside being much lower than that on the outside.

Calais

This unattractive port town is home to many installations connected with the Atlantic Wall. The beaches to the south of the town are crowded with cannon and observation bunkers, which are ‘gently’ moving with time from the original elevated positions to a lower level close to the water.

Calais Atlantic Wall

On a large abandoned area which was once a huge car park – possibly for embarking cars going over the Channel to England – to the west of the city centre it is possible to spot an armored tunnel/shelter for storing a railway cannon.

Calais Atlantic Wall

Getting there and moving around

The installations on the western beaches of Calais can be reached and walked very easily. Just park your car in one of the parking areas for people going to the beach and go by foot.

The tunnel/shelter cannot be reached, it is in an abandoned parking which nonetheless is private property (many signs and fences in place). You can photograph it with a zoom lens parking your car in front of the cemetery on Avenue Pierre de Coubertin, or in front of one of the gates of the area on Rue d’Asfeld. No walking is needed.

‘Oldenburg’ and ‘Waldam’ Batteries – Calais

Among the most remarkable remains of the Atlantic Wall, these two batteries are located close to the beaches east of central Calais.

Calais Oldenburg Battery Atlantic Wall

The two huge towers of the ‘Oldenburg’ battery used to host heavy naval cannons and were operated by the German Navy. Today the cannons are gone, but the huge concrete bunkers are still there. Also a one-of-a-kind bunker hospital can be spotted nearby.

The installations are totally derelict, and unfortunately the area is today on the border of a guarded and overcrowded refugee camp, so you don’t feel very safe when moving around – small groups of young immigrants ‘escaping’ their camp and without much to do will probably find and stare at you – and at your belongings. Try to avoid misunderstandings, but be ready to defend yourself. On the plus side, Calais center is populated by much Police, clearly aware of the exceptional condition of the town in these days.

Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall

The ‘Waldam’ battery besides is placed farther east with respect to ‘Oldenburg’, in the territory of Le Fort Verd. Here besides the ‘usual’ intermediate size bunkers for cannons you can spot an interesting piece of engineering, in the form of a concrete bunker capable of revolving around a pin. At least one exemplar is still in relatively good shape. Also a very unusual observation tower for aiming equipment can be spotted nearby.

Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall

Exploring the site can be done with no official restriction, but the area is mainly for bird hunting, so be careful not to interfere with hunting-related activities. Accessing the totally derelict bunkers is possible if you go prepared to face wild vegetation, brambles and nettles. Immigrants do not go far from their base camp, so you have very low chance to find them if you move in the area of the ‘Waldam’ battery.

Calais Waldam Battery Atlantic Wall

As usual in the area, ship-arresting devices, once standing half submerged on the beach, can be spotted around, often used as posts for roadsigns or for marking road corners.

Getting there and moving around

As already pointed out, Calais is not only unpleasant as usual for a mainly commercial port town, but it is also living a particularly bad moment, being overcrowded with immigrants posing some security problem. Fearing for my car I elected to park close to the beach way east of the ‘Oldenburg’ battery and of the refugee camp. A convenient parking used by some friendly hunters and local traffic can be found between Le Fort Verd and Les Hemmes de Marck. When driving east towards the latter (along Rue Jean Bart), turn left on a public unpaved road with no signs pointing straight to the coastline. The road turns sharply left towards Calais at some point, and you find a prohibition sign telling not to go further, and a good parking with some information panels. You can park there.

For reaching the ‘Waldam’ battery I would suggest using Google Maps or something similar on your phone – coverage is very strong. This is to avoid wasting time on dead-end passages between the countless ponds and puddles in the area.

The road you can’t drive on going west (Digue Taaf) will lead you back to the ‘Oldenburg’ battery. For reaching the ‘Waldam’ battery you will need to move north of the road, in the hunting area between the road and the beach.

From the parking to the ‘Oldenburg’ battery is about 1.5 miles one-way. Touring the area is a physically requiring task not only for the distance, but for you have to find your way on uneven terrain, with fields of brambles and nettles. You can have much fun if you like exploring and you go prepared, only don’t forget to bring some water and snacks – you are on a beach after all, so it will be hot and you will be totally exposed to sunlight.

Quick historical facts

World War II

Soviet Occupation

The Cold War

Navigate this post – Clicks on links to scroll

Sights

Bornholm’s Defence Museum, Rønne

Getting there and visiting

Bornholm’s Museum, Rønne

Getting there and visiting

Bornholm’s Tower, Nexø

Getting there and visiting

Bornholm’s Technical Collection, Allinge

Getting there and visiting

Soviet War Cemetery, Allinge-Sandvig

Getting there and visiting

German coastal gun site, Dueodde

Getting there and moving around

Share this:

Sights

Navigate this post – Click on links to scroll

Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker

History

A tour of the bunker

Ground floor

Underground floor

Getting there and visiting

York Cold War Bunker

Getting there and visiting

Share this:

Navigate this post – Click on links to scroll

Sights

Sighet Prison, Sighetu Marmatiei

Visiting

Museum of the Communist Consumer, Timisoara

Visiting

Museum of Communism, Hunedoara

Visiting

Ceausescu Trial and Shooting Place, Targoviste

Visiting

Share this:

A quick historical overview

About this post

Sights

Map

Navigate this post – Click on links to scroll

Blavand – Shore Battery & Military Area

Getting there and moving around

Blavand – ‘Tirpitz’ Coastal Guns

Getting there and moving around

Stauning Battery

Getting there and moving around

Sondervig

Getting there and moving around

Thyboron

Getting there and moving around

Extra feature – Sea War Museum, Thyboron

Getting there and moving around

Agger

Getting there and moving around

Hanstholm

Getting there and moving around

Hirtshals

Getting there and moving around

Skagen

Getting there and moving around

Bangsbo

Getting there and moving around

Share this:

A Travel Guide to COLD WAR SITES in EAST GERMANY

Second Edition - 2024

Navigate this post – Click on links to scroll

STASI Headquarters, Berlin-Lichtenberg

Getting there and moving around

STASI Prison and Restricted Area, Berlin-Hohenschönhausen

Getting there and moving around

STASI Prison Lindenstrasse, Potsdam

Getting there and moving around

STASI Pre-Trial Prison, Rostock

Getting there and moving around