Westwall Museum Irrel
The Westwall Museum Irrel is located near the German- Luxembourg border in the Eifel . It is housed in a bunker of the former west wall , the Katzenkopf tank factory , which was built from 1937 to 1939. The bunker with the museum is on the territory of the municipality of Irrel and has been open to visitors since 1979. Together with other tank factories , the "Katzenkopf tank factory" was built to secure the main route between Cologne and Luxembourg . It is the northernmost armored plant on the west wall.
The armored works differ from other of the approximately 15,000 built fortifications of the west wall by the armored dome and their wall thickness of at least 1.0 m. 32 examples of such systems were erected in thickness "B" with outer walls made of reinforced concrete up to 2 m thick. As a further of these so-called "B-Werke", after the "Panzerwerk Katzenkopf", from 2006 the B-Werk Besseringen in Saarland was made accessible to visitors.
The above-ground part of the armored plant was blown up in 1947 and the remains were then filled in. In July 1976, the excavation of the former bunker began, with the main work being done by the Irrel volunteer fire brigade. The Westwall Museum has been set up on three accessible floors since 1979 and shows pictures and weapons from around the Second World War . The museum is only open for individual visits on Sundays and public holidays (in the summer months).
Web links
- www.westwallmuseum-irrel.de Official website of the Westwallmuseum Irrel
- Detailed photo documentation of the museum
Coordinates: 49 ° 51 ′ 5.6 " N , 6 ° 27 ′ 12.8" E