This came to be a very intence and interesting trip as objects added on in late stage, summing up to six major sites in two days.
Five swedes gathered at Skavsta airport early on friday 16th to make the trip to Schönefeld airport in Berlin, where a rental car was picked up. With five in the car the backseatdrivers complained a little bit during the trips. Fortunatelly the longest trips where around an hour and not crossing the whole of Germany.
After just an hour after arrival i Germany we stood at the gates to objekt 16/5005, the never used headquarters for Stasi, the DDR secret police with it’s head Erich Mielke, who inside had a private room with a shower.
At the entrance to the secret site there was a high voltage fence and a guard house. Outside were baracks and houses for the personell outside the bunker complex.
Ouside the secret part the ordinary soldiers and personell lived. On this cold November morning it was colder in Germany then home in Sweden
The owner of the bunker and site have lifted the heavy concrete plates and are welcoming us down the hole!
Inside the bunker on the top level, looking back on the main entrance.
As in all 5000-series bunkers the main control room is the place to be.
Actung!
Main command room close to the Mielke quarters. The idea was to control the regional Stasi bunkers and staff from here.
And in his quarters the only private shower.
After our visit the bunker was selaed up again for the next visit in a few weeks. We drove off to 7001 for the next visit. 7001 was the HQ for some of the ministries in DDR and the civil defence. It was the main command post for that but also combined with garages for rescue vehicles. Therefore there are three bunkers that are linked together with a 160 meter spine system.
As well as within many of the 5000-series bunkers the main entrance was in the basement of one of the buildings. Inside the fence and up the ladder, through a few rooms, down the stairs we found the entrance to 7001.
One of the longer spines in the system.
In the junctions of the spine system florocent paint still worked to show you the way in an emergency
When entering the three bunker parts lights were present, a big change from the complete darkness in the entrance tunnels.
Beeing a civil defence site both sexes were present. The toilettes with not much cover and privacy.
The unique part of the sites being the garages. In two of the bunkers they ended in a huge garage with three blast protected doors to the outside
In one of the trailers the extraordinary mobile generator. It used a DDR made jet engine, from their fighter program that was scrapped – because the planes fell from the skies! The engine was instead used a generators. More on that tomorrow!
Everywhere there were remains from the days of use.
The third bunker beeing the command central it didn’t have the garage at the end but instead a command room. Beeing way into the bunker it was wetter then the other parts and with all the wooden furtinure the fungus was quite bad. The lenses on the cameras also got hit with the high degree of moisture.
Outside the two garages.
Leaving the area one of the ways the trucks could leave.
On to the last place for the day, arriving in the November darkness. The good with Garzau is that the entrance is in the bottom floor of a ordinary building. From there the next good thing with Garzau comes, a over 200 meter long access tunnel! Garzau was an organization- and byrocracycentre in the DDR, built between 1972 and 1975.
The very impressive entrance tunnel.
One of the few bunkers with the generators still intact. Note the small circular window in the back, to be able to view the generators from the plant room. As the generators were outside the gasprotected area the air could be contaminated, therefore visual inspection could be vital. This is a modern site with the generators standing on huge dampers, the whole floor is moving when you walk on it.
The plant room on the other side is attached to the roof.
The structure is on two levels.
The main controlroom.
Who left the china uncleaned??
Leaving the site we made a group-photo.
After these three major sites we went to our hotel for a quick check-in and than a nice evening meal in a nearby restaurant.
Saturday started with a good breakfast and then an hours drive through the forests of outer Berlin area to Kunersdorf objekt 17/448. This was the main communicationsbunker for the DDR army. Very similar to the 5002 site and as that is closed now this is the closest you can get to that. With over 20 communications masts on or very close to the site it could communicate with the whole of DDR, especially the 12 remote satellite transmittions centers that were controlled from here.
The owner of museum Kunersdorf.
This site opens up behind an ordinary door and have a earth cover above
Part of the command central on the upper floor.
The impressive cable intake to the site.
Control centre on bottom floor.
The stairway between the two floors. Also the well for the site under the floor.
Smoking allowed!
One of the emergency exits from both directions. I crawled through like a true submariner!
Part of the Garzau bunker.
From the blastdoor entrance and walking back the entrance tunnel.
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