Reichsbahnbunker Friedrichstrasse

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The Reichsbahnbunker Friedrichstrasse
Floor plan of the bunker

Former Reichsbahnbunker Friedrichstrasse in Albrechtstraße on the corner Reinhardt street in central Berlin , close to Station Berlin Friedrichstrasse is under monument protection standing air-raid shelter .

history

1943-1949

National Socialist authorities had it built in 1943 by forced laborers for up to 2500 passengers on the Reichsbahn . The building was designed in 1942 by Karl Bonatz , Paul Bonatz's younger brother .

The symmetrical and square building is 18 meters high and has a floor area of ​​1000 m². The reinforced concrete walls, which are up to three meters thick, encompass around 120 rooms on five floors that were designed to accommodate 2000 people. At the beginning of May 1945 the Red Army occupied the bunker. The neighboring house and probably also the bunker used the Soviet secret service NKVD as a remand prison until December 1949 . Both buildings were taken over by the GDR Ministry for State Security in 1950 . A further use of the bunker as a prison has not been proven.

1950s to 1990s

From 1951 at the latest, the bunker served as a textile store and from 1957 onwards it was used as a storage room for dried and tropical fruits from Cuba by the “state-owned fruit and vegetable potato business”. The population therefore called the building “banana bunker”. For this use, additional openings were made on the back of the building. After the reunification, the federal government bought the building and it stood empty for a few years.

Use as a club bunker

In April 1992, the artist and tenant Werner Vollert expanded the bunker into a techno club . Hardcore Tekkno , Gabber , Hardtrance , House and Breakbeat parties were held regularly on the four levels . In the summer of 1992, WolleXDP organized its Hart House series on two floors, from which the CD compilation Bunker One was created. Other resident DJs included Tanith , Roose, DJ Clé and Rok . In addition, the first Snax events took place in the bunker , the organizers of which later opened the Ostgut and Berghain clubs . In the garden of the area there was also the Red Cross Club , in which fetish and SM events took place. Due to a warning from the German Red Cross , it was later renamed the Ex-Kreuz-Club .

After a raid in 1995, operations did not have to be stopped, but could only take place at irregular intervals. In 1996, due to another raid, after which building requirements that could not be implemented were imposed on the operators, the club was closed prematurely shortly before the final party. The lease with the regional finance directorate would have expired in 1997. The Fuckparade viewed the action of the authorities against the semi-legal club as a measure of repression against alternative subculture and always started its route in front of the bunker until 2004.

In 2001, Nippon Development Corporation GmbH bought the building from the federal government.

Use as an exhibition space for contemporary art

In 2003 the bunker was acquired by the Wuppertal collector Christian Boros , who shows his contemporary works of art in it. He built a penthouse on the roof of the building . The design comes from the Berlin office Realarchitektur. The complete renovation was completed in 2007. Interested parties can visit the Boros Collection by prior arrangement.

literature

  • Holger Happel: Bunker in Berlin. Evidence of the Second World War . 1st edition. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-86153-830-1 .
  • Nancy von Bunker: The Ticker Lady . Ullstein, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-548-31201-2 .
  • Matthias Donath: Architecture in Berlin 1933–1945: a city guide . Ed .: Landesdenkmalamt Berlin. Lukas, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-936872-26-0 , pp. 72 f .

Web links

Commons : Bunker (Berlin)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.rbb-online.de/30favoriten/archiv/30_geheimnisvolle/ehemaliger_reichsbahnbunker.html at rbb-online.de accessed on June 6, 2013.
  2. ↑ http://www.architonic.com/de/ntsht/unverwstliche-erinnerung/7000096 , accessed on June 6, 2013.
  3. ↑ Christian Boros opened his Berlin Bunker in artnet accessed on June 9, 2013.
  4. ↑ Peter Erler: "GPU basement". Detention centers and remand prisons of the Soviet secret services in Berlin (1945–1949) . Association of the Persecuted by Stalinists, Landesverband Berlin, Berlin 2005, p. 51f.
  5. ↑ Art in the banana bunker. Saarbrücker Zeitung , accessed on June 6, 2013.
  6. ^ History of the bunker. Timeline bunker. ( PDF file )
  7. ^ BDSM-Berlin eV: A Brief History of Sadomasochism in Berlin ( Memento from October 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ^ Ex-Kreuz-Club in: A bunker party dictator turns 50 , BZ of March 29, 2010
  9. ↑ Visit - Info. Retrieved from the Boros Collection website on January 11, 2016.

Coordinates: 52 ° 31 '25 "  N , 13 ° 23' 2"  E