Bunker Ilbenstadt


Useful Information

Location: Ilbenstadt.
North-east of Frankfurt, towards Gießen. A5 exit 16 Friedberg, B455 to Friedberg, B3 to Wöllstadt, B45 towards Heldenbergen. At the end of Ilbenstadt, turn right.
(50.272833, 8.808367)
Open: dates published by newsletter.
[2022]
Fee:  
Classification: SubterraneaSecret Bunker
Light: LightIncandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:  
Guided tours:  
Photography:  
Accessibility:  
Bibliography:  
Address:  
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

1965 Construction of bunker started.
05-MAY-1970 completed bunker handed over to the city Frankfurt.
1985 Bunker damaged by vandals.

Description

Bunker Ilbenstadt was originally planned as a section command post for civil defence and disaster control. Construction began in 1965; the client was the Federal Office for Civil Defence in Bonn. In 1970, the facility was handed over to the city of Frankfurt. As is usual for such bunkers, in the event of war one could have survived for 30 days completely independent of the outside world. For this purpose, it was equipped with its own power supply, which operated the facilities for water supply and the air-conditioning systems. These facilities were built in such a way that they would not have been disturbed by an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). There were sanitary areas, a medical area, a decontamination area and a kitchen. The facility was designed to accommodate 92 people.

Rather extraordinary was a break-in into the bunker in 1985. Burglars welded open the double-walled steel door and smashed furnishings worth 300,000 German Marks. A Kommando Jules Verne claimed responsibility for the crime, and slogans such as No safe place for the bigwigs and Civil defence = preparation for war were spray-painted on the wall. The occasion was the draft of a civil defence law with compulsory bunker construction and compulsory civilian service. The nonsense of such installations seems obvious nowadays, but during the Cold War the priorities were different. At that time, people complained that such bunkers were only available for 3.5 % of the citizens. Five years later, the Cold War was over.