Bunker Hagen

Useful Information

Location:	Bergstraße 98, 58095 Hagen. (51.357948, 7.465832)
Open:	All year Sat, Sun. Online booking mandatory. [2024]
Fee:	complicated. [2024]
Classification:	World War II Bunker
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:	Ar=3.500 m².
Guided tours:	D=60-90 min.
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Bunker Hagen, Bergstraße 98, 58095 Hagen, Tel: +49-2331-4893855. 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

10-OCT-1940	Führer-Sofortprogramm (Führer Immediate Programme) for the planning and construction of air raid shelters on the basis of a Führer order.
1940	Bunker construction started.
1942	Bunker completed.
1948	Hotel opened in the bunker.
08-SEP-2013	Bunker Museum Hagen opened.
2016	Café opened.

Description

The Bunker Hagen (Hagen bunker) is a so-called Hochbunker (high bunker), a german term meaning it was built above the ground. The English translation is "high-rise" bunkers or blockhouses. As there was no protection provided by a layer of earth or rock, the walls had to be made of concrete several metres thick. Such structures are relatively rare and were only built in cities when there were no alternatives. A total of 7 such bunkers were built in the city of Hagen, and 15 in the surrounding Hagen Gau area. However, there were also 160 underground air raid shelters in Hagen alone. Construction of bunker 15/HAG/5 in Bergstraße began in the winter of 1940/41 according to plans by Hagen architect Phillipp Röll as part of the Führer's immediate action programme. Hagen was an important railway junction and weapon industry town, which made the city a target for Allied bombers. By the end of the war, around 72% of the city had been destroyed, the city centre almost 100%. The increasing destruction meant that many people became homeless, so from 1943 small chambers measuring 2 × 3 metres were rented out in the bunker for one family each. The bunker has five floors, four above ground and one below. Each floor measures 35 x 20 metres, i.e. 700 m², giving the bunker a total floor area of 3,500 m². It was intended to provide shelter for around 1,200 people in 132 rooms, but up to 3,000 people were actually in the bunker during air raids. However, there was a major design flaw: the bunker walls were massive enough for the 1940 250 kg bombs, but by the time the bunker was completed, 2,000 kg bombs had already been used. It is pure luck that the bunker was never actually hit directly, most of the people inside would have died.

The bunker is referred to as a ‘luxury bunker’, which alludes to the fact that the bunker was built with infrastructure. Normal air raid shelters were simply a cellar room with a single light bulb, fitted with a sturdy door and a few wooden benches. This bunker had a heating system, emergency kitchen, first-aid room and its own well, and even an emergency power generator and a ventilation system with a filter system against gas attacks. This was partly because the bunker had no windows, and with so many inhabitants, ventilation was, of course, essential. Secondly, a slight overpressure was created to prevent the gas from entering in the event of a poison gas attack. And four toilets per floor with 1,000 permanent residents can hardly be described as a luxury. The heating system was probably superfluous, the bunker warmed itself up through the body heat of the residents, and during an air raid, when the bunker was full, the temperature could reach 28 °C.

Even after the war, the bunker continued to be used as emergency accommodation for people who had been bombed out. When residents started to move out after two years, the vacated space was used for other purposes. From 1948, the bunker was used as a hotel, the Hotel Stadt Hagen had a renowned bar called Jägers Gute Stuben but not a single window. There were several shops, a hairdresser, a jazz club, a driving school and a pub. The last residents only moved out in the 1950s. Later, the VfL Eintracht Hagen handball club, a shooting club and the La Famiglia games club had their clubhouse here. To this day, the bunker still houses the props store of the Hagen City Theatre, which is located on the other side of the inner courtyard.

The bunker now houses a private bunker museum run by Michaela and Gottfried Beiderbeck. They are supported by the ‘Never Again War’ association. Many parts of the exhibition are interactive, films are shown, and air raids are simulated. Overall, you get the impression that the whole thing is somewhat heavily weighted towards such events. However, the exhibition is very large and worth seeing, and also covers rather unusual topics such as toys under National Socialism and the psychology of propaganda leaflets. There are also changing special exhibitions on art and contemporary history.

Bunker time travel with air raid alarm is a guided tour in which an air raid alarm is simulated and you can experience how people perceived the bunker at the time. The post-war use of the bunker and its technical infrastructure are then presented.
Bunker time travel with historical luxury bunker tour is more or less the same tour, but without the air raid alarm, instead many collections are presented, such as the large leaflet exhibition on psychological warfare.
Hitler's invasion of the nursery is a toy museum, which is also located in the bunker. The focus is on Nazi war toys, Nazi school books and swastika cut-outs.
Darkness in the bunker with air raid warning is a dark tour of the bunker with air raid warning, oppressive and authentic. The tour takes place with torches.
In the bunker game, questions have to be answered by carefully observing the rooms, technology, showcases and posters.
The tour of the war museum is one of the few tours without a guide, you are given a map and can move around freely.
The tour of the post-war period focuses on the use of the building after the war.

We find it extremely difficult to rate this bunker. On the one hand, the bunker itself is extraordinary and the exhibition is really great. In particular, the bilingual labelling in German and English is still rare in Germany and highly commendable. On the other hand, the tendency towards sound effects, events and games is rather irritating. It is significant that the tickets are also resold by Jochen Schweizer GmbH, a German operator of extreme sports events. The large number of guided tours, some of which hardly differ from one another, is also curious. Added to this is the amateurish website, which, although graphically in keeping with the latest fashion, provides practically no information. Neither the history of the bunker nor the opening times are given, not even the location and how to get there is explained. And it is not available in English, unlike the actual museum. In fact, the website merely consists of a multitude of links to the online booking system. Unfortunately, it's good on the front and bad on the back: despite the modern one-pager design, buying tickets doesn't work on Firefox or Chrome without massive glitches. Pages are not displayed, when you are about to click a button, content is reloaded, and the button slips away, after the click nothing happens for a minute and other similar problems. There is even a virtual tour, but it costs an entrance fee, and when we tried to buy it, it was added to the shopping basket, but the shopping basket was empty afterwards. It leaves a bland aftertaste.