Bunker Wünsdorf Zeppelin
The Wünsdorf Zeppelin bunker was a bunker built near the Brandenburg town of Wünsdorf at the end of the 1930s by the Deutsche Reichspost on behalf of the Wehrmacht High Command . After the Second World War it was used by the Group of the Soviet Armed Forces in Germany (GSSD).
construction
The bunker was built between 1937 and 1939 in the area of the so-called Zossen main camp as a Zeppelin news center or as Amt 500 (postal code) in Wünsdorf. The structure consisted of a two-story longitudinal structure 117 × 22 m and a 57 × 40 m three-story extension. Originally a north and a west tunnel (each about 150 m) with one end structure each were planned for access. After several project changes, a third access was added in 1938, the so-called Reichspost building - which can be driven by light trucks - directly above the extension with a staircase and a freight elevator . The bunker was connected to Maybach I, the headquarters of the Army High Command, disguised as a country house settlement with 12 bunker houses, via a third, the so-called Südstollen .
Use until 1945
Trial operations began in May 1939 at the Zeppelin news center, which entered the hot phase on August 25 when the Army High Command, who had moved from Berlin to Zossen , arrived . By then, all telecommunications connections prepared for the attack on Poland had been switched to the control center. From then on, the camouflage designation Zeppelin, originally intended only for the news bunker, became common for the entire complex of the command post. Regardless of the fact that the headquarters briefly conducted army operations on the western front in May 1940 and for more than three years from June 1941 in the OKH Mauerwald , the Zeppelin remained the most important, largest and at that time most modern telecommunications node in the communication system of the entire duration of the Second World War Wehrmacht. The rapid occupation of Zossen-Wünsdorf in April 1945 meant that the telecommunications bunker and its telecommunications systems fell largely undamaged into the hands of the Red Army .
Use after 1945
While in 1946 the staff bunkers of the High Command of the Army Maybach I and Maybach II were blown up after being dismantled , the bunkered former Zeppelin news center was largely spared. After the expansion of its facilities and facilities, the building was left to its fate , which resulted in the lower parts being flooded by groundwater .
With the dissolution of the Soviet Control Commission in June 1953, the scope of duties of the High Command of the Soviet Occupation Forces , which was moved from Potsdam to Wünsdorf in 1946 - now as the High Command of the Group of Soviet Armed Forces in Germany (GSSD) - was expanded considerably. Zossen-Wünsdorf became a restricted area and, as the seat of the high command, developed into the largest garrison of the Soviet troops in the GDR . At the end of the 1950s - after the flooded structure had dried out - extensive renovation work began on the former German news bunker into a protected command post for the GSSD High Command, which continued until the mid-1960s. Originally only built to be gas-safe, the bunker should now withstand the effects of nuclear weapons. While maintaining the overall floor plan, z. B. installed several locks and created numerous smaller workrooms for the staff departments of the high command from the large halls of the telecommunications systems once installed there . The destroyed western end structure was replaced by a provisional access structure, making the western tunnel usable again. The north tunnel and the main entrance above the bunker extension were also restored. Parts of the building were converted and furnished to become the Ranet intelligence center, which was under the jurisdiction of a Soviet intelligence brigade . The Ranet news center was firmly integrated in the NVA's news system. It operated all types of connections to the main intelligence center of the Ministry for National Defense of the GDR. With the withdrawal of the last troops from the territory of the GDR, Ranet also ceased operations. Beginning in October 1992, the headquarters was dismantled and the technology moved back to the Soviet Union .
Use after 1990
After the withdrawal of the last troops of the GSSD or western group of troops , as the GSSD had been called from 1988, from Wünsdorf in 1994, extensive renovation work began, supported by the State of Brandenburg . Former barracks buildings were renewed, redesigned and expanded into modern residential units . The forest town was created with the former trunk road 96, which is now freely accessible again, and then federal road 96.
In 1998, not far from the bunker complex, Germany's first book town was opened, from which the name Book and Bunker City Wünsdorf results. In three large antiquarian bookshops , 350,000 old books from all areas of knowledge and collection invite you to find and buy. The bunker systems are now managed by Bücherstadt-Tourismus GmbH and shown to visitors on guided tours. Further sights are the Garrison Museum Wünsdorf, which depicts German military history on site. On September 1, 2009, a museum on the history of the GSSD was opened, which brings the 49-year history of the Soviet troops in Germany closer to the visitors.
photos
- Ranet bunker
Control passage to the intelligence unit "RANET"
Headquarters of the "RANET" intelligence unit
Gas and pressure door at the entrance to the bunker
Entrance to the "RANET" bunker
Nordstollen final structure
West tunnel final structure
Air intake duct of the bunker
House 2 of the "Maybach settlement 1"
literature
- Hans Georg Kampe: 90 years of military history Zossen-Wünsdorf , computer presentation
- Hans Georg Kampe: The news force of the army and the German Reichspost from 1830 to 1945 , non-fiction book
- Hans Georg Kampe: Military history sheets from Zeppelin to the railway troops, brochures
Web links
- Book town of Wünsdorf
- Wünsdorf at www.bunker-anlagen.de
- Historical development of the Zossen-Wünsdorf military area
- "Ranet" message center
- Opening of the "Red Star" museum
Coordinates: 52 ° 11 ′ 43.5 " N , 13 ° 28 ′ 22.6" E