Deutsches Bunkermuseum


Useful Information

Location: In Schweinfurt, opposite the ZF plant.
Open: Only after appointment.
All year Mon-Fri 18:30, Sat, Sun, Hol all day.
[2020]
Fee: Per Group (10-40) EUR 80.
[2020]
Classification: SubterraneaWorld War II Bunker SubterraneaSecret Bunker
Light: LightIncandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours: D=90min
Photography: allowed
Accessibility: not wheelchair accessible except ground floor
Bibliography:
Address: Deutsches Bunkermuseum, Ernst-Sachs-Straße 73, 97424 Schweinfurt, Tel: +49-172-6524537. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1941 Fichtel-und-Sachs-Bunker erected.
1983 bunker renovated and secured against atomic, biolological and chemical warfare.
2014 bunker museum opened to the public.

Description

The Deutsches Bunkermuseum (German Bunker Museum) is located inside a World War II bunker named A8, which is called Fichtel-und-Sachs-Bunker by the locals. Fichtel & Sachs was a middle sized company in Schweinfurt which existed since the end of the 19th century and produced various parts and motors for vehicles. It is famous for bicycle technology, for example the torpedo freewheel hub. During the war they produced armour products and so they were regularly bombed by the Allies. The bunker was erected in front of the plant and was intended as an air raid shelter for the employees. After the war it was decommissioned, but with 3 m thick walls it was so massive it could not be destroyed.

Quite exceptional is that the bunker was refurbished in 1983, during the Cold War as an ABC-Bunker, the old term for weapons of mass destruction or CBRN warfare. As it is a Hochbunker, which means a bunker on the surface not underground, it was not exactly a SubterraneaSecret Bunker, but you could call it a blockhouse. With the end of the Cold War a few years later it became obsolete. It is obviously the ideal place for a bunker museum.

showcaves.com lists underground sites, including underground bunkers. We made an exception for this bunker as it is an important site and probably the best exhibition on both World War II air raid shelters and Cold War bunkers. There is a vast exhibition on air protection and civil defense. They also offer adventure tours including a simulated air raid.