Gisela news bunker

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Building in which the access to the Gisela news center is located

The bunkers of the Gisela intelligence center near the Hessian city ​​of Gießen were a bunker complex of the German Wehrmacht . The bunkers were operated by the Army High Command (OKH) and served, among other things, to coordinate military movements in the war against France and as a training center for intelligence workers .

Geographical location

The bunkers are located east-southeast of Gießen in a forest area in the southern part of the “Rivers Automeile” industrial park, which was converted from former barracks . The area is directly on the federal highway 457 and a driveway on the Gießener Ring (Autobahn A 485 ).

Building description and use

One of the numerous entrances to the bunker systems

From 1934, a new underground amplifier office with the code name “Gisela” was set up on the grounds of the “Verdun barracks” . A total of four staff bunkers with the code names V16 to V19 were also set up. Buildings V16 and V17 were combined under the term "Hansa I" and buildings V18 and V19 under the term "Hansa II". The four staff bunkers are therefore also referred to as the "Hansa bunkers". Access to the actual Gisela news bunker was via a fifth, separate building.

In addition to the uses already mentioned, the bunkers also housed workshops for repairing telecommunications equipment.

Each of the above-ground buildings had a floor plan of 36.20 meters × 16.39 meters and led several floors underground to protect against air attacks . The outer walls of the above-ground buildings had a wall thickness of 40-60 cm, whereas the wall thickness of the building core and that of the underground outer walls were 100 cm.

The external appearance of the four aboveground bunker buildings as well as the access to “Gisela” were based on the appearance of simple houses.

Use and research after 1945

Building "V18" of the Hansa II complex
Building "V19" of the Hansa II complex

On March 28, 1945, the German intelligence staff at the Verdun barracks withdrew. The US Army now moved into the area and used it as a reception camp for prisoners of war in the immediate post-war period . The barracks area was renamed "Rivers Barracks".

The underground bunker parts of the “Gisela” complex were flooded and probably also rendered unusable by explosions or fire. Indications of fire in the bunker systems were first received from dives by a Giessen diving club in 1992 in at least one of the flooded staff bunkers. The divers recognized suspended matter in the water, which was probably caused by fire. They also found cut cables and pipes as well as relics from days of war. It is not clear whether the German or US armed forces rendered the facilities unusable.

In 1993 a work group began pumping out the underground complex “Gisela” and carried out visits with groups of visitors.

The buildings of the “Hansa I” complex (V16 and V17) no longer exist today. The “V18” building today has the address “An der Automeile 18”, based on its original name. It houses offices for various companies and the Justus Liebig University in Giessen . The second basement is still under water today, while renovation work is being carried out on the first basement. The "V19" building is used by the Gießen Music and Art Association (MuK) for events and exhibitions. The access to the news bunker itself is now in a wooded area and is not open to the public.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Institute for Art Education at the Justus Liebig University in Gießen: Art in the Bunker. Site-specific art in the building of the MuK Gießen eV ( Memento from April 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), 2003, accessed on January 3, 2011
  2. ^ Bunker in Gießen ( Memento from December 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) on luftschutzbunker-wilhelmshaven.de, accessed on January 3, 2011

Web links

Commons : Gisela news bunker  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 34 ′ 16.8 ″  N , 8 ° 42 ′ 38.2 ″  E