Bunker in Braunschweig

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The bunkers in Braunschweig were built from November 1940, as the city of Braunschweig was classified as a particularly endangered area in the German Reich . Braunschweig was located in the middle of the industrial axis Salzgitter - Fallersleben ("City of the KdF-Wagens") and was developed by the Nazi regime into an important arms and research center.

background

Braunschweig was strategically located in relation to the new industrial sites near Fallersleben , the “ City of the KdF Wagons ” and the “ Reichswerke Hermann Göring ” in Salzgitter . The city had a large number of large industrial companies. As a result, the Braunschweig became an important target for the Allied air forces. In the period from August 17, 1940 to April 10, 1945, the city was bombed over 40 times. The fact that only around 2,900 fatalities were to be mourned in the course of these massive attacks is due to the large number of air raid shelters. The bunkers were built in accordance with the “Regulations for the Construction of Air Raid Bunkers ” set in July 1941 , in which the “ protective reinforcement ” developed in Braunschweig was stipulated as the only uniform type of reinforcement throughout the empire.

On October 31, 1940, the Lord Mayor of Brunswick, Wilhelm Hesse, placed the first building contract with a Brunswick construction company. Air raid shelters were to be built through these, which offered security against 300 kg bombs and were gas-tight. According to these specifications, 22 air raid shelters were built in the city. Another 10 were planned to protect against 1000 kg bombs. However, only 2 of these were completed. Since the beginning of 1944, the bunker systems had to absorb five times the number of people seeking protection when there was an alarm. Due to the location of Braunschweig on the route of the bombers to Berlin, alarms were given as a precautionary measure for all overflights. Sometimes people stayed in the overcrowded bunkers for several hours. The bombing raid on Braunschweig on October 15, 1944 was devastating, which resulted in a conflagration in the city center and the enclosure of the bunkers located there. As a result, the oxygen content of the breathing air within the gas-tight rooms became scarce. Since there was a risk that smoke gases could get inside through the ventilation openings, they were kept closed. The trapped could only be rescued by the fire brigade after more than 6 hours. This had set up water lanes with artificial sprinkling to soften the heat of the fire.

The bunkers that were built were supposed to offer shelter to around 27,000 people, but at times around five times as many people sought refuge there during the bombing. More than 1,000 foreign workers and prisoners of war were used to build the facilities, but they were not officially permitted to use them themselves.

Air defense measures

The targeted preparations for air raid protection in Germany began before the war began. When the first bombs fell over German cities, a nationwide bunker building program was developed, civil air protection measures were initiated and the air defense system expanded. Air raid shelters did not provide adequate protection for the civilian population, as they were neither bombproof nor gas-tight, nor could they offer adequate protection against the effects of fires. The Reichsluftschutzbund (RLB) also carried out training courses for the population, and the house communities were encouraged to provide an air raid guard, a first aid worker and a house fire brigade.

The camouflage measures, such as blackout, were insufficient to hide the location of the cities from the bombers. In Braunschweig, however, it was possible to protect a large part of the city's population during the heaviest attacks in 1944 by building numerous air raids.

High bunker systems

Location Occupancy Construction year Reuse coordinate
Old Bonehauerstrasse 813 1940/41 Civil protection bunker 52 ° 15 '38.5 "  N , 10 ° 31' 0.3"  E
Old scales 250 1940/41 Civil protection bunker 52 ° 16 '2.4 "  N , 10 ° 31' 7.7"  E
Bebelhof - Borsigstrasse 800 1941/42 demolished in February 2001 52 ° 14 '43.8 "  N , 10 ° 32' 14.3"  E
Bebelhof - Salzdahlumer Strasse 986 1940/41 listed residential building 52 ° 14 ′ 38.3 "  N , 10 ° 32 ′ 7"  E
Bockstwete 750 1941/42 Residential and commercial building 52 ° 16 '8.6 "  N , 10 ° 31" 30.9 "  E
Kaiserstrasse 642 1940/41 Civil protection bunker 52 ° 16 '10.9 "  N , 10 ° 31' 19.8"  E
Kalenwall - Bunker "Am Bahnhof" 428 1940/41 Commercial building 52 ° 15 '34.8 "  N , 10 ° 31' 4.7"  E
Kralenriede 500 1941/42 listed bunker system 52 ° 18 '16 "  N , 10 ° 32' 23.7"  E
Ludwigstrasse 236 1941/42 available 52 ° 16 '43.8 "  N , 10 ° 31' 23.4"  E
Madamenweg 1500 1941/42 Residential buildings 52 ° 15 '39.2 "  N , 10 ° 29' 50.3"  E
Melverode - Glogaustraße 350 1941/42 Converted to a residential building in 2010 52 ° 13 '39.9 "  N , 10 ° 31' 13.5"  E
Methfesselstrasse 1250 1941/42 listed residential building 52 ° 16 '37.5 "  N , 10 ° 32' 50.8"  E
Münzstrasse 400 1941/42 softened, vacant 52 ° 15 '48.9 "  N , 10 ° 31' 30.5"  E
Okerstrasse 944 1940/41 Foundation for high-rise 52 ° 16 '4.8 "  N , 10 ° 30' 56.6"  E
Rehnstoben - Bosselgraben 610 1940/41 Residential building 52 ° 16 ′ 8.1 ″  N , 10 ° 31 ′ 30.9 ″  E  ???
Ritterstrasse 840 1944 Residential building 52 ° 15 '39.8 "  N , 10 ° 31" 43.2 "  E
Rühme - Auerstrasse 650 1941/42 blown up and eliminated 52 ° 18 '34.8 "  N , 10 ° 31' 1.9"  E
bag 700 1940/41 demolished in November 2007 52 ° 15 '50.6 "  N , 10 ° 31' 17.5"  E
Factory air raid shelter
Bültenweg (Ferdinand Schacht) - - available 52 ° 16 '55.6 "  N , 10 ° 32" 19.9 "  E
Hafenstrasse 70 - available 52 ° 18 ′ 47.2 "  N , 10 ° 29 ′ 21.2"  E
Hamburger Strasse ( Schmalbach-Lubeca ) - - available 52 ° 16 '51.3 "  N , 10 ° 31' 3.7"  E
Vossenkamp (Libra plant) - - available 52 ° 16 '47 "  N , 10 ° 33' 2.6"  E
Hospital bunker
Celler Strasse (I) 1020 1941 to 1942 unused, available 52 ° 16 ′ 32 "  N , 10 ° 30 ′ 12.5"  E
Celler Strasse (II) 78 1941 to 1942 Part of the hospital 52 ° 16 '29.2 "  N , 10 ° 30' 6.8"  E
Holwedestrasse 230 1944 to 1945 Storage rooms and IT 52 ° 15 '54.5 "  N , 10 ° 30' 32.7"  E

Old Bonehauerstrasse

Bunker Old Bone Hauerstraße (2006)

During the November pogrom night on November 9, 1938, the Braunschweig synagogue was partially blown up and devastated. It was demolished in 1940 and an air raid shelter was built on the site. The bunker has four floors and was designed to accommodate around 820 people. During the air alarm, however, it was sometimes overcrowded with up to 4,000 people. The bunker was built in the course of the first construction program and was to be provided with a half-timbered facade facing the street in order to adapt it optically to the other buildings on Alte Kniehauerstraße. This measure should serve, among other things, for better camouflage.

From 1945 to 1963 the building served as an emergency shelter. In 1975 it was given a plaque on the occasion of the centenary consecration of the synagogue.

The bunker was expanded for civil air protection for disaster control . It serves to protect the population from the effects of fire (heat, smoke), from conventional weapons, from radioactive precipitation (fallout), and from biological and chemical weapons.

Old scales

The bunker was built between 1941 and 1942 and was supposed to protect 250 people. It is located near the Alte Waage half-timbered house and was converted into a disaster control bunker during the Cold War in the 1970s . This bunker provides seats and loungers for 625 people. It is equipped with simple folding seats , bed platforms and luggage racks, has sanitary facilities, a cooking facility and an ambulance as well as two ventilation systems against gas entry and chemical attacks. The planned length of stay is aimed at up to 10 days. The service water supply is provided by a well.

Bebelhof

Salzdahlumer Strasse - Bebelhof (2006)

The bunker on Salzdahlumer Straße in Bebelhof was built in 1941 for around 990 people. It could be used by an anti-aircraft position for the air defense, had 9 floors, an elevator, a building ceiling with a thickness of 1.60 m and 1.30 m thick outer walls.

After the end of the Second World War, window openings in the walls were blown and it was used as a residence for foreigners.

The lower part of the building has a neoclassical design with round arches, a surrounding frieze and large stone blocks. In 1999, condominiums with spacious balconies and business premises were set up in the former bunker.

The bunker on Borsigstrasse was built between 1941 and 1942 for around 800 people. It was demolished in 2001 and a supermarket was built here instead.

Bockstwete

The bunker was built between 1941 and 1942 to protect around 750 people.

After the end of the war it was softened and from 1948 Kurt Eichstätter converted it into the Hotel "Central". There were dance and variety events and artists like Chris Howland or Klaus Kinski stayed here. The “Barbarina Bar” was also located in this bunker. In the 1960s the hotel was closed. The building houses smaller shops and apartments.

Kaiserstrasse

Kaiserstrasse (2007)

The Kaiserstraße bunker is a multi-storey high-rise bunker that was supposed to offer protection to around 640 people in 98 rooms in the 1940s. It was built according to plans by Herman Flesche and was to have a half-timbered facade to make it look like an ordinary house. This can still be seen from the corbels. In addition, it should receive a gable roof to complete the camouflage.

After the end of the war, parts of the bunker were rented out as storage rooms, while others were temporarily used as illegal living spaces. However, since it had neither enough windows nor other ventilation options, it was closed in 1960 by the housing department of the city of Braunschweig due to the risk of epidemics. The German Red Cross and the Federal Association for Self-Protection then used the bunker for training purposes.

In 1990 the bunker was converted for further use as a disaster control bunker. The former room division into individual cells was retained.

Kalenwall

Backside Kalenwall (2006)

The bunker on Kalenwall was also known as the bunker “at the train station” or as a bunker “on the Adolf-Hitler-Wall”. It should offer protection to around 430 people.

After the end of the war, it served as a "delousing center in Braunschweig" and as an emergency shelter for the homeless and refugees. It was rebuilt for civil purposes and for a while after further renovations in 1958 it housed, for example, the "Lido-Filmtheater", the first cinema of the post-war period, the "Lichtspieltheater Broadway" or the restaurant "Liro Dando". Nowadays there is a nightclub and a snack bar in the building.

The building was discussed in 2006 as a possible location for a house of science. The “Flamingo Rosso” trattoria has been on the roof since September 3, 2016, and the facade of the building was renovated at the same time.

Kralenriede

Kralenriede (2013)

The bunker in Kralenriede has three floors and gas locks , which should prevent the penetration of fire and poison gases. It was built on the Kralenriede 19 property between 1941 and 1942 under the direction of senior building officer Kurt Piepenschneider . It has a 1.40 meter thick ceiling made of iron-reinforced concrete. There were around 6 m² rooms with beds and wooden benches for those seeking protection. This served to provide better protection against possible bomb attacks. The ventilation and heating took place via air filter systems, which, however, did not provide sufficient fresh air if there was overcrowding. The bunker has been preserved almost in its original condition. The former instructions on how to behave are still legible and the phosphorescent orientation markings on walls and stairs still glow in some cases. It not only served to accommodate the civilian population, but also to protect the workers from the nearby Büssing NAG Flugmotoren GmbH (Nimo), where aircraft engines were produced. The admission of prisoners of war and forced laborers from the barrack camps in Kralenriede as well as foreigners and uniformed workers was excluded.

The bunker has been classified as a monument since 1996. The premises are partly used as storage rooms.

Ludwigstrasse

The bunker in Ludwigstrasse was supposed to provide protection for around 240 people.

Madamenweg

Madamenweg (2010)

At Madamenweg 130, a bunker was built by the Philipp Holzmann company between 1941 and 1942 based on a design by City Planning Director Kurt Piepenschneider . The facility was planned for 1,500 people with 1,200 beds and 300 seats. With its dimensions of 50 m length, 13 m width and five floors (basement, ground floor, 1st to 3rd floor), this air raid shelter was the largest facility in Braunschweig. A tower with a stepless ramp was added as a stairway for access and the faster distribution of those seeking protection on the individual floors. It also had secured access to the roof, which was accessed via an external wooden staircase. Until 1944, the air raid protection office of the Braunschweig police was located inside the bunker . The construction costs amounted to around 1.3 million Reichsmarks .

Until 1944, the management of the Braunschweig air defense was in specially furnished rooms in the bunker on Madamenweg. After the completion of the bunker on Nussberg, it moved to the new command bunker. In the last days of the war, the bunker was hit by a 30-tonne explosive bomb. As a result, the entire concrete structure was shaken, the power supply was interrupted and panic broke out inside. After the end of the war, the building initially served as an emergency shelter for displaced persons and for refugees from the areas of the Soviet-occupied zone. From autumn 1947 the bunker became permanent shelter for the homeless. In 1974 this residential accommodation was finally closed.

In 1984 the bunker was rebuilt, partition walls were removed and the rooms were redistributed. The old steel doors were replaced and the building received a modern ventilation system so that it could be used for civil defense. However, with the end of the Cold War, further expansion was discontinued. The building was later sold to an architect who wanted to furnish 20 residential units there. However, after initial preparatory work, the renovation was discontinued. The bunker got a new owner in 2002. The structural opening of the bunker outer wall was not closed again, as a result of which massive moisture attacked and partially damaged the interior of the building as well as ceiling parts, the masonry and the cellar in the following months and years. Now it should become a residential and commercial building. Commercial use of two floors of the bunker as a discotheque under the name "Bunker 26" ended with the start of further construction work, because since 2012 45 pure condominiums (now without shops) have been built there. For this purpose, large parts of the massive outer wall of the bunker were removed in order to attach windows and balcony doors. In December 2013, the construction work was completed and all apartments were handed over, the original building was expanded by two additional floors and an underground car park. The building now has an elevator.

Melverode

In 1942, a bunker for around 350 people was built in Melverode on Glogaustraße. This system, like the bunkers in the city area, should be externally adapted to the buildings in their vicinity. In the years 2012 to 2013, the conversion into apartments took place.

Methfesselstrasse

The bunker was built in 1940 and rebuilt for residential purposes in 2007, taking into account the monument protection regulations. In the course of the renovation, it received two elevators. An additional floor for penthouse apartments was installed on the roof, which is architecturally different from the building.

Münzstrasse

Former police bunker Münzstrasse

The three-storey bunker on Münzstraße was built by the Karl Schaare company from 1941. It was designed for around 400 people and mainly served to protect the police force. It was originally intended to be masked for camouflage purposes. The bunker had a bomb-proof roof hatch, which was intended for ventilation after an attack. On the final ceiling there are two more unreinforced floors in brick construction, in which there was an office wing with a separate staircase. The ground and upper floors were reserved for use by the police. They contained additional rooms that were equipped with radio and telecommunications technology. There was a basement level where there were rooms for the civilian population.

On April 12, 1945, the protocol of the handover of the city of Braunschweig in the Münzstrasse police bunker was signed by the acting mayor Erich Bockler and the acting police president Karl Stahl and the city was handed over to the American armed forces without a fight.

After the end of the war, the bunker was demolished between 1947 and 1948 and converted into an administrative building for the police in 1951. The operations center was located on the ground floor until the beginning of 1969. 15 cells were set up in the basement. The building has not been used since November 2002.

Okerstrasse

Okerstrasse (2006)

The double bunker on Okerstraße was built by the Karl Schaare company between 1940 and 1941 and provided protection for around 950 people. It is located directly on Neustadtmühlengraben, so that the access to the upper floor could only be reached via two bridges. The entrances to the basement were on the opposite side. The bunker is divided into two separate areas by a partition. The bunker had an emergency power supply and a ventilation system with heat exchangers and gas filters.

The building now forms the foundation of a residential high-rise that was built on it in 1952.

Rehnstoben

Bunker Rehnstoben in 2006

The Rehnstoben bunker , actually Inselwall / Bosselgraben, was built between 1940 and 1941 for around 610 people. At the end of the 1940s it was converted into a youth home, later there were initially workshops for life support and was then used as an administration and residential building.

Ritterstrasse

Ritterstrasse (2006)

The bunker on Ritterstrasse was completed in 1944. It was supposed to protect 840 people. He had a secure roof access, which was accessible via a wooden external staircase. After the end of the war, it was converted into a residential building in 1979.

Boast

Between 1941 and 1942 a bunker was built on Auerstraße in Rühme . It was blown up by the British occupation forces in 1947. The foundations of the bunker were not removed for reasons of cost, but covered with soil and covered with garages in 1954 when the debris was removed. In the air raid shelter Rühme there was a so-called pilot station, which took over the coordination of the external fire brigades to the operational areas of the city after the air raids. The bunker was designed to accommodate 625 people.

bag

Sack Bunker (2007)

The Bunker am Sack was built between 1940 and 1941. It should provide protection for around 700 people and was equipped with an additional roof entry for faster occupancy. Cantilever stones and concrete consoles indicate that the facade was originally to be clad with half-timbering and the roof entry was to be covered with a gable roof.

After the end of the war, the building was softened in 1948, windows were opened and in 1949 it was opened for commercial use. The “Tabu” bar opened in the basement.

In 2008 the two-storey building was demolished by the Sperling company.

Factory air raid systems

The Reichsgruppe Industrie was responsible for the organization of the factory air raid protection. All of the larger industrial companies in Braunschweig had put in place protective measures for their employees and, in some cases, for the production facilities and material supplies in order to avoid production downtimes. In addition, there were around ten works fire brigade units that were equipped with their own fire engines and also had an air raid warning system. For some important industrial companies there were in-house bunker systems, such as an angle tower in the Büssing NAG factory, smaller bunkers at the Schacht roofing felt factory, the Schmalbach Lubeca factory, the Franke & Heidecke optical workshop , the Telge & Eppers construction company or the Libra factory, in which large scales and machines were manufactured.

Hospital bunker

Operating theater bunker Celler Strasse 1 (2014)

The city's hospitals should also be equipped with bunkers or medical tunnels. These should in particular serve to maintain medical care in special operating bunkers during an air raid. There were high bunkers in "Holwedestrasse" and in "Celler Strasse". In December 1941 it was decided that a maximum of one hospital bunker should be built out of 15 people bunkers to be built. The occupancy was limited to around 490 beds per 1000 patients. The operation bunker was to be equipped with two operating theaters and the hospital in Celler Strasse also had an elevator for faster transport of the beds. In 1941 it was connected to the air warning center. In order to avoid infection among the patients, there were special locks for infected people, who were housed in separate rooms (infection bunker, Celler Straße 2), and gender-specific spatial separation was maintained. The operating room bunker (Celler Strasse 1) was the largest hospital bunker and was intended to provide protection for 1000 people. It is divided into five floors where the patients could be accommodated, there were also two operating theaters, a delivery room and rooms for the nurses and doctors. There were storage rooms for laundry and bandages, a kitchen, filter rooms for fresh air and separate sanitary facilities for women and men on each floor.

After the end of the war, the bunker was used for medical care as the hospital building was badly damaged. The former “infection bunker” was converted and integrated into the hospital. There was also a “pharmacy bunker” that has also been preserved.

The bunker in "Holwedestrasse" was built between 1943 and 1944 and was supposed to provide protection for around 203 people. It is used as a storage room and to accommodate the hospital's IT systems.

Deep bunker systems and air raid tunnels

In addition to the underground bunkers, two bomb-proof public air raid tunnels with a total capacity of 11,000 shelters were built in the city of Braunschweig . One of them (1000 seats) was located in what was then Windmühlenberg in the south-eastern area of ​​the city ​​center and the second in the eastern slopes of the Nussberg within the Braunschweig city park .

Location Occupancy Construction year Reuse coordinate
Frankfurter Strasse (garden city) - underground bunker - - inaccessible -
Mascherode - air raid shelter - from 1944 spilled 52 ° 13 '12.4 "  N , 10 ° 34' 2.7"  E
Nussberg (district command post, police tunnel) - underground bunker - 1944 blown up 52 ° 16 '14.6 "  N , 10 ° 33' 21.2"  E
Nussberg - air raid shelter 10,000 1944 inaccessible, buried 52 ° 16 '13.9 "  N , 10 ° 33' 30.7"  E
Petritorwall - underground bunker 208 1940/41 Civil protection bunker 52 ° 16 '2.2 "  N , 10 ° 30' 49.1"  E
Salzdahlumer Straße (Südstadt) - air raid shelter around 600 1944/45 spilled -
Windmühlenberg - air raid shelter 1000 - tore off 52 ° 15 '29.1 "  N , 10 ° 31' 40.5"  E
Factory air raid shelter
Bevenroder Straße (Schrott Wagner) - underground bunker - - demolished in January 2006 52 ° 17 '9.7 "  N , 10 ° 33' 50"  E
Büchnerstrasse (Jödebrunnen) - underground bunker - - - -
Frankfurter Strasse (Karges & Hammer) - underground bunker - - demolished in February 2003 52 ° 15 '2.2 "  N , 10 ° 30' 38.9"  E
Salzdahlumer Straße (Franke & Heidecke) - underground bunker - 1943 - 52 ° 14 '34.6 "  N , 10 ° 32' 6.6"  E
Reichsbahn bunker systems
Borsigstraße (railway embankment) - air raid protection tunnel 500 - accessible -
Central station I - underground bunker 250 1942 storage room -
Central Station II - underground bunker 650 1942 backfilled -
Southwest Central Station - underground bunker 250 - - -

Frankfurter Strasse

The bunker on Frankfurter Strasse in the garden city is inaccessible.

Mascherode

In Mascherode , after a bombing on January 30, 1944, it was decided to build an air raid shelter, as the splinter ditches created by the local residents did not offer sufficient protection. The 1.90 m high tunnel was driven into the rock made of marl on the bottom of a nearby limestone quarry and stiffened with square timbers and boards. The entrance was staggered to reduce the penetration of splinters. Smaller side rooms were created from the main gallery, in which there were permanently assigned benches for the individual families. Further tunnels were then built, one of which was used as a shelter for the Scholkemeier farm, and two more took in families of refugees.

Nussberg

Viewing platform on the former bunker

The bunker system on the western slope of the Nussberg served as a "district command post" for the air raid protection line and as a central point for air surveillance, as the city could be overlooked from here. Inside the bunker were the so-called "party bunker" and the "police bunker". On the opposite side of the thing site there was an air raid shelter. This was mostly built by prisoners of war and inmates of labor education camp 21 from Salzgitter-Hallendorf. A tunnel system was driven into the ridge between the " Franzschen Feld " and the "Thingplatz" in continuous use .

Berthold Heilig was the commander in chief of these facilities. On the one hand, they served to maintain the ability of the party and police leadership to work, and on the other hand, in the event of a failure of the Gau command center in Hanover, the radio messages were to be taken over from there by the Braunschweiger wire radio. There was also a station for radio announcements, the central trigger point for the city's air raid sirens and a station for the fire brigade. An approximately 90 m long escape tunnel ran from the “police bunker” in a northerly direction. For the urban population of the eastern areas, there were air raid tunnels in the southeastern part of the Nussberg with a capacity for 1000 people, around 600 meters long and 4.5 meters wide.

The underground parts of the facility were in use until shortly before the end of the war and were destroyed on April 11, 1945 by an explosion inside. The above-ground part, the so-called observation bunker, was to be blown up on May 19, 1948 by British pioneers. The eastern half was broken off and overturned. The resulting rubble was only removed by the Federal Border Police in April 1959. The western part, which was only slightly damaged, serves as a lookout point. The former heavily concreted entrance structures were sealed to prevent unauthorized persons from entering the bunker.

Petritorwall

The bunker on Petritorwall was built between 1940 and 1941 for around 210 people. After the end of the war, it was converted for further use as a disaster control system.

Südstadt

The air raid shelter in the southern part of the city was built between 1944 and 1945. It should offer protection to around 600 people. After the end of the war it was backfilled.

Windmühlenberg

The air raid shelter on the former Windmühlenberg was supposed to offer protection to around 1000 people and was used as a warehouse for fresh vegetables after the end of the war. The Windmühlenberg and the tunnels in it were partially demolished and removed between 1959 and 1960 when the John F. Kennedy Square was built.

Total capacities

There were nine public air raid shelters and 24 public bunkers with around 30,000 shelters, which in 1944 were reserved for the city's 170,000 residents. The space in these protective structures was sometimes occupied by four to five times the number of people seeking protection during the war. So a large part of the inhabitants of Braunschweig came under them. Forced laborers, prisoners of war and people with Jewish relatives were not allowed in and were exposed to the attacks without protection. Therefore, entry into the shelters was only possible upon presentation of a special ID.

Type of protection system Intended occupancy (estimated values)
Public bunkers around 12,650
Public underground bunkers around 1000
Public air raid tunnels more than 11,000
Factory air raid systems more than 500
Hospital bunker at least 1,400
Reichsbahn protection systems (including air raid tunnels) at least 1,880
Public air raid shelter 3,400
Private air raid shelters (without air raid shelter) more than 200
Total number of shelters at least 32,000

Air-raid anti-fragmentation cells

Two one-man bunkers in the Braunschweig harbor

In addition to the large air raid bunkers, there were smaller bunkers, such as the splinter protection cells, also known as one-man bunkers, air raid protection cells or special observation bunkers. These mostly tubular shelters were supposed to protect up to three people from flying bomb or grenade fragments and were officially called “air raid protection cell”. They were firmly anchored in the ground and primarily served to protect the fire guards in the event of a bomb alarm.

One-man bunker
The protective cells partially served as a temporary measure when there were no protective structures or were available to workers whose activities did not allow them to leave their workplaces. This included, for example, employees of the Reichsbahn or in electrical switching stations. Another use was as protection for the guards in labor, prisoner of war or concentration camps. However, these small bunkers did not offer reliable protection against direct bomb hits or near explosions. Many of the splinter protection points therefore also had an emergency exit hatch. These bunkers were initially made from around 40 mm thick steel, later increasingly from rammed or reinforced concrete. In 1943, uniform manufacturing guidelines were issued for the first time, in which the dimensions, the building materials to be used, the construction and the marking were specified.
Observation bunker
The task of the people in these bunkers or “fire watch stands” was to provide the fire-fighting and rescue troops with targeted information so that fires could be extinguished quickly or those buried could be salvaged. They usually had a round shape that narrowed towards the top and resembled a sugar loaf . The dimensions were around 1 m in diameter and 2 m in height. They were mostly made of 20 cm thick iron-reinforced concrete. They had an access hatch that could be closed by a steel door and viewing slits.

Exhibition 2004

In addition to the 24 public bunkers that were built in Braunschweig between 1940 and 1944, there was an exhibition in the City Museum in 2004, which was held in the old town hall under the heading “Places of survival. Bunker in Braunschweig 1940–2004 ”took place. The documentation showed the places where the Braunschweig residents survived the bombing of the Second World War, but also the later use of the buildings when the living space was destroyed. After the end of the war, the bunker systems were initially to be destroyed or largely made unusable. However, since most of the city buildings were no longer habitable, the bunkers were used as emergency shelters or refugee homes. The bunker hotel "Central" offered rooms with and without windows. The bunker systems on Alte Kniehauerstraße, Alten Waage and Kaiserstraße continued to be used for civil defense.

literature

  • Reinhard Bein : Contemporary witnesses made of stone. Volume 1. Braunschweig 1930–1945. Döring, Braunschweig 1997, ISBN 3-925268-19-7 .
  • Braunschweiger Zeitung (ed.): The bomb night. The air war 60 years ago. Special issue No. 10, Braunschweig 2004, OCLC 249685464 .
  • Braunschweiger Zeitung (ed.): End of the war. Braunschweig 2005.
  • Wolfgang Ernst: Places of survival - Bunker in Braunschweig. From planning to the present. In: Braunschweiger workpieces. Volume 108. Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2006, ISBN 3-937664-42-4 .
  • Michael Foedrowitz : Bunker Worlds: Air Raid Systems in Northern Germany. Ch. Links, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-86153-155-0 .
  • Michael Foedrowitz: One-man bunker, fragmentation protection structures and fire watch stations. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-613-02748-0 .
  • Peace Center Braunschweig e. V. (Ed.): Braunschweig in the bombing war. 50 years later. Dedicated to the victims of the war. Volume 1: Documents for the exhibition September 30 - October 31, 1993. Braunschweig 1994.
  • Peace Center Braunschweig e. V. (Ed.): Braunschweig in the bombing war. 50 years later. Dedicated to the victims of the war. Volume 2: Documents from contemporary witnesses: "Bombs on Braunschweig". State Museum September 11 - October 16, 1994, Braunschweig 1994.
  • Peace Center Braunschweig e. V. (Ed.): Braunschweig in the bombing war. 50 years later. Dedicated to the victims of the war. Volume 3: Documents from the Memorial Night October 14/15, 1994: “The Gerloff Reports”. Braunschweig 1994.
  • Peace Center Braunschweig e. V. (Hrsg.): Braunschweig in the Second World War. Documents of destruction - zero hour - new beginning. In: Working reports from the Braunschweig Municipal Museum. No. 65.Braunschweig 1994.
  • Eckart Grote: Braunschweig in the air war. Allied film, photo and operational reports from the US Air Force / British Royal Air Force from 1944/1945 as documents relating to the history of the city. Braunschweig 1983, ISBN 3-924342-00-8 .
  • Eckart Grote: Target Brunswick 1943-1945. Air raid target Braunschweig - documents of destruction. Braunschweig 1994, ISBN 3-9803243-2-X .
  • Anja Hesse, Annette Boldt-Stülzebach (eds.): The night when the bombs fell. Contemporary witnesses remember the 14./15. October 1944. Johann Heinrich Meyer Verlag, Braunschweig 2010, ISBN 978-3-926701-80-0 .
  • Peter Neumann: Braunschweig as a bomb target. From records from 1944 and 1945. In: Braunschweigisches Jahrbuch. Volume 65, Braunschweig 1984.
  • Ulrich Oertel: Police and party bunkers in Braunschweig and Salzgitter. The air raid command posts in the air raid shelter 1st order Braunschweig. Salzgitter 2008, ISBN 978-3-00-023674-7 .
  • Rudolf Prescher : The red rooster over Braunschweig. Air protection measures and aerial warfare events in the city of Braunschweig 1927 to 1945 (= Braunschweiger Werkstücke. 18). Orphanage printing house, Braunschweig 1955, OCLC 258757896 .
  • Eckhard Schimpf : At night when the Christmas trees came. A normal Braunschweig childhood in the chaos of the war and the post-war period. Braunschweig 1998.
  • Günter KP Starke: The Braunschweig Inferno and the time after. 4th expanded edition, Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2002, ISBN 3-930292-58-0 .
  • Bernhild Vögel, Martin Schmidt-Zimmermann: … and in Braunschweig? Materials and tips for exploring the city 1930–1945. 2nd updated edition, published by the Braunschweig Youth Ring, Braunschweig 1996, ISBN 3-9801592-1-3 .
  • Burchardt Warnecke: The Brunswick Nussberg and its surroundings. A piece of city history from the east of the city of Braunschweig. 6th extended edition, Appelhans, Braunschweig 2002, ISBN 3-930292-53-X .
  • Helmut Weihsmann : Building under the swastika. Architecture of doom. Promedia Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Vienna 1998, ISBN 3-85371-113-8 .
  • Silke Wenk : Places of remembrance made of concrete. Bunkers in cities and landscapes. Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-86153-254-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The air raid shelter in Braunschweig on braunschweig.de, accessed on October 5, 2013.
  2. ^ Period of National Socialism. City of Braunschweig, accessed on August 28, 2019 .
  3. ^ Wolfgang Ernst: The air raid shelter in Braunschweig. City of Braunschweig, accessed on August 28, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b c From the place of survival to the cabaret bar ( Memento from October 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 5.8 MB, p. 10) on neue-braunschweiger.de, accessed on October 12, 2013.
  5. ↑ Gerd Biegel, Peter Former: Bombs on Braunschweig. In: Publications of the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum. 77. Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum, Braunschweig 1994, p. 10, OCLC 231633929 .
  6. ↑ Reinhard Bein: Zeitzeichen: Stadt und Land Braunschweig 1930–1945. Döring, Braunschweig 2000, ISBN 3-925268-21-9 , p. 216.
  7. ↑ Damage map with the location of the bunkers in the Braunschweig urban area (as of May 1945) on vernetztes-gedaechtnis.de, accessed on October 18, 2013.
  8. ↑ a b c d e f Introduction and list of structures on amaot.de, accessed on April 3, 2018.
  9. ↑ The bunker Alte Kniehauerstraße on amaot.de, accessed on April 3, 2018.
  10. ^ Location of the synagogue on braunschweig.de, accessed on October 6, 2013.
  11. ↑ The Alte Waage bunker on amaot.de, accessed on April 3, 2018.
  12. ↑ The Bebelhof bunker on vernetztes-gedaechtnis.de, accessed on October 6, 2013.
  13. ↑ The Bebelhof on braunschweig.de, accessed on October 6, 2013.
  14. ↑ a b c d Re- use of the bunkers on amaot.de, accessed on April 3, 2018.
  15. ^ Bunker: displaced contemporary witnesses vernetztes-gedaechtnis.de, accessed on October 6, 2013.
  16. ↑ The bomb shelter Kaiserstraße on stuecksicht.de, accessed October 6, 2013.
  17. ↑ The Kaiserstraße bunker on vernetztes-gedaechtnis.de, accessed on October 6, 2013.
  18. ↑ The Kalenwall bunker on vernetztes-gedaechtnis.de, accessed on October 6, 2013.
  19. ↑ Harald Duin (April 7, 2006): Shiny appearance on Kalenwall on braunschweiger-zeitung.de, accessed on October 6, 2013 (subject to a charge).
  20. ↑ Falk-Martin Drescher: Flamingo Rosso: Italian cuisine above the roofs of Braunschweig. In: szene38.de. Retrieved August 30, 2016 .
  21. ↑ The Kralenriede bunker on amaot.de, accessed on April 3, 2018.
  22. ↑ The Madamenweg Bunker on amaot.de, accessed on October 5, 2013.
  23. ↑ Construction work on the Madamenweg bunker (PDF; 1.9 MB) on braunschweig.de, accessed on October 5, 2013.
  24. ↑ How an old bunker becomes a residential building on braunschweiger-zeitung.de, accessed on October 5, 2013 (subject to a charge).
  25. ↑ a b Reinhard Bein: Contemporary witnesses made of stone. Volume 1. Braunschweig 1930–1945. Döring, Braunschweig 1997, ISBN 3-925268-19-7 , p. 95.
  26. ↑ Braunschweig: Living in the World War Bunker on braunschweiger-zeitung.de, accessed on October 6, 2013 (subject to a charge).
  27. ^ Braunschweig Methfesselstraße, increase of a bunker on burkhardt-schumacher.de
  28. ↑ The Münzstraße bunker on amaot.de, accessed on April 3, 2018.
  29. ↑ Braunschweig, Bunker Okerstraße ( memento from December 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) on vergierter-geschichte.blogspot.de
  30. ↑ Braunschweig's bunkers on kotopoulis.de, accessed on October 12, 2013.
  31. ↑ History and description of the area ( Memento of January 11, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF) on ratsinfo.braunschweig.de, accessed on October 12, 2013.
  32. ^ Chronicle of Rühme ( memento of December 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) on bs-ruehme.de, accessed on October 11, 2013.
  33. ↑ Chronicle of the Volunteer Fire Brigade Rühme on ruehme.fwsbs.de, accessed on October 11, 2013.
  34. ↑ The Bunker Sack on vernetztes-gedaechtnis.de, accessed on October 6, 2013.
  35. ↑ Excavator eats its way through almost three meters thick bunker ceiling on braunschweiger-zeitung.de (subject to charge)
  36. ↑ Rudolf Prescher: The red rooster over Braunschweig. Air protection measures and aerial warfare events in the city of Braunschweig from 1927 to 1945. p. 47.
  37. ↑ The OP-Bunker Celler Straße on amaot.de
    The large OP-Bunker in Braunschweig ( Memento from December 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) on forget-geschichte.blogspot.de, accessed on October 15, 2013.
  38. ↑ a b Rudolf Prescher: The red cock over Braunschweig. Air raid protection measures and aerial warfare events in the city of Braunschweig from 1927 to 1945. p. 29.
  39. ↑ Experienced war events in Mascherode (PDF; 213 kB) on braunschweig.de, accessed on October 11, 2013.
  40. ↑ a b The district command post on vernetztes-gedaechtnis.de, accessed on October 5, 2013.
  41. ↑ a b The " District Command " on Nussberg on amaot.de, accessed on April 3, 2018.
  42. ↑ Nußberg - Location of the bunker and the tunnels on braunschweig.de, accessed on October 15, 2013.
  43. ↑ News about the “survival varieties” on braunschweiger-zeitung.de, accessed on October 11, 2013 (subject to a charge).
  44. ↑ Splinter protection cells and one-man bunker in Braunschweig port (photo) on amaot.de, accessed on April 4, 2018.