Zwingli high bunker

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Zwingli high bunker after being converted into a data center

The Zwingli-Hochbunker is a former air raid and nuclear bomb shelter in Bremen's Westend, Walle district .

Construction and use

The Zwingli-Hochbunker is one of the 171 bomb-proof air raid shelters that were built in Bremen until the end of the Second World War. The bunker was not officially released during the war, but was used by the population from 1944, including on the night of August 19, 1944 during the heaviest air raid that Bremen experienced. Around 500 bombers dropped 68 mine bombs, 2,323 high explosive bombs, 10,800 phosphorus and 108,000 stick incendiary bombs during the air strike . In report no. 27 of the fire brigade "West 2" of the Bremen fire brigade it says:

“Total loss - the main task was to save about 2000 people who were in the bunker, which was surrounded by fire. The fire engine managed to solve this task completely ... "

The people desperately endured many hours in the sea of ​​flames in the scorching heat, although the flames broke out of the pavement and liquid tar billowed in the gutter, as the Bremen fire brigade describes the night of the bombing.

post war period

At the time of the Cold War , the Zwingli high bunker was expanded into a nuclear shelter . According to inventory plans kept in the Bremen State Archives , the following systems were renewed or installed from 1967 to 1979:

  • Well system with water supply
  • Emergency generator
  • Air sand filter system
  • Air carbon filter
  • Ventilation system
  • Seating
  • beds
  • Toilet facilities
  • Decontamination showers
  • Tunnel as a front building
  • Electrical system
  • Public address system
  • Telephone system
  • Lock doors

After the cold war

After the fall of the Iron Curtain , the Zwingli high-level bunker was dismantled as the threat situation ceased to exist.

Use as a data center

In 2011 the federal government and Bremen sold the nuclear bunker to a Bremen company. This has expanded the bunker into a data center . Thanks to the concrete shell, the data center is protected from damage caused by plane crashes. The University of Bremen developed a concept to make the building project particularly energy-efficient. As part of the science project nordwest2050 , the most energy-efficient type of air conditioning for the data center was examined. As a result, a geothermal system was built in 2013 .

literature

Web links

Commons : Zwingli-Hochbunker  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Michael Foedrowitz: 1Bunker Worlds . Ch. Links Verlag , Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-86153-155-0 , p. 84 .
  2. ^ The bombing night of August 18/19, 1944. ( Memento of February 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), Radio Bremen homepage .
  3. 'The West is on fire.' Bremen fire brigade .
  4. VDI: Safety-related design

Coordinates: 53 ° 5 ′ 38 "  N , 8 ° 47 ′ 26"  E