Strausberg (DE)

FORTE CULTURA Station: Kulturbunker Strausberg (DE)

GDR telecommunications bunker - Cold War memorial site

"Communication connects - friendship unites"

From 1984, the old GDR post bunker was the hub and interface of all public and secret telephone and telex networks in the GDR in Strausberg. Close to the then Ministry of National Defence and the GDR Air Force/Air Defence Staff, a bunkered control centre was created for the party leadership and the most important military command centres. In addition, the 8500 m² underground facility with around 200 rooms was designed as an emergency headquarters for the GDR Minister of Post and Telecommunications and his staff.

With the end of the GDR, the building lost its military function and after temporary use by the German Armed Forces, years of decay, misappropriation and extensive destruction followed. Since 2018, the non-profit organisation Orte der Geschichte e.V. has been working hard to make the former Strausberg post bunker accessible to the public again. Under the motto „Communication connects - friendship unites“, the once secret and strictly sealed-off building is to become an extracurricular learning and educational centre as well as a lively place for encounters and cultural exchange.

It clearly shows how highly developed engineering skills were used to create shelters that were designed solely to provide enough time to organise a counter-attack in the event of a nuclear attack. As a class B bunker, hermetisation within the bunker was only guaranteed for a maximum of 24 hours. After that, the air would be contaminated and survival would only be possible to a limited extent.

Today, the site stands as a relic of the division of Germany and as a cautionary symbol of the surveillance, high-security thinking and technological control endeavours of bygone eras. The Orte der Geschichte e.V. association will give guided tours of the monument on request.

Get to know the Kulturbunker Strausberg know:

The Strausberg post office bunker was a Nuclear bunker of the Cold War in the former GDR.

Strausberg culture bunker

Built between 1979 and 1984, the post bunker served to protect and maintain state telecommunications structures in the former GDR. Its purpose was to maintain communication even in the event of war or disaster.

It was one of the most modern bunkers in the GDR and guaranteed the highest security standards against external attacks. Numerous features such as the Faraday cage design to protect the communication technology from electromagnetic impulses, sprung floors in rooms with sensitive technology and self-sufficient water, energy and air supplies ensured that the bunker could function in an emergency.

Today it is not a normal bunker museum, but Culture bunker. Meeting point, educational and meeting place for those interested in history and the curious with an underground area of approx. 10,000 square metres and 70 x 70 metres on 2 underground floors and Europe's longest Gallery tunnel.

Culture bunker

Gallery tunnel

The approximately 300-metre-long access tunnel was turned into a „Gallery tunnel“, making it the longest underground gallery tunnel in Europe.

Two exhibitions in the gallery tunnel invite you to visit the Kulturbunker Strausberg.

The exhibition „Voll der Osten. Life in the GDR“, a photo exhibition by Harald Hauswald and texts by Dr Stefan Wolle, was sponsored by the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship. Accompanying didactic materials offer the opportunity to engage with the exhibition both in and out of school. The free accompanying material with three introductory modules (one of which is in easy language) and five worksheets is available for download.

The second current exhibition „25 Years of the Withdrawal of the Western Group of Troops (WGT) from Brandenburg“ shows photographs of the vacated properties of the Soviet armed forces and was funded by the Brandenburg State Centre for Political Education.

Old Post Office Cultural Centre„

The Kulturbunker Strausberg is located on the site of the old post office in Strausberg. Surrounded by forest, a neighbourhood with a diverse, creative and committed cultural life is developing here. The old waterworks has become a theatre stage for the „Other World“, while the „Schmorpost“ restaurant in the gate building of the site provides food and drink. Regional and ecologically sustainable is the motto in the neighbourhood. In addition to ecological furniture design from our own forest, beekeeping, forest experiences, seminars and workshops, space has been created for rehearsal rooms, studios and lots of new things.

Places of History e.V.

The Kulturbunker Strausberg is run by the association Orte der Geschichte e.V. (Places of History). In addition to the Strausberg site, the association also organises excursions and events at other relics of the Second World War and the Cold War, particularly in Brandenburg and Eastern Europe. In addition, the association's chairman Martin Kaule is a tour operator specialising in photo and adventure tours worldwide and an accomplished author. Discover his diverse offers to very special places.

Places of History e.V.

Martin Kaule Travelling

History

The Strausberg post bunker was one of the few bunkers in the GDR with the second-highest protection class (SK B). It was intended to fulfil a dual function in an emergency. On the one hand, it served as a hub between the GDR's various telecommunications networks and, on the other, as a bunkered command centre for the GDR's Minister of Post and Telecommunications. After reunification, some areas of the bunker facility were briefly operated by the Bundeswehr. In 1995, the underground facility was dismantled and finally abandoned. Illegal use, looting and arson devastated the bunker. This was followed by the closure of the facility for more than 20 years. The Orte der Geschichte e.V. association began the painstaking task of making this historic site usable again in 2018. After the opening in autumn 2019, it is currently not possible to visit. However, from 2021, the cultural bunker is to be further developed into an extracurricular learning and educational centre for the region.

Architecture

Completed in 1984, the bunker is one of the most modern protective structures in the GDR with the second-highest bunker protection class (SK B). The underground telecommunications bunker has two usable floors and an intermediate floor with a total area of approx. 70 x 70 metres. The area of around 10,000 square metres is spread over almost 200 rooms and more than a kilometre of tunnels and corridors. These are gradually being made accessible again. From 1984, two thirds of the bunker was in continuous operation as a hub and interface for all public and secret telephone and telex networks in the GDR. Around a third of the rooms served as the command bunker of the Minister for Post and Telecommunications in the event of war. The bunker was initially taken over by the Bundeswehr, but was dismantled in 1995 and finally abandoned.

Elbe hiking and cycling trail

Strausberg - the green lakeside town on the outskirts of Berlin has a lot to offer. North-east of Berlin, the town lies in the middle of the wooded and water-rich landscape of the Barnim.
Numerous cycling and hiking trails make Strausberg an attractive destination for active tourism and invite you to go on excursions around the Straussee lake or in the Märkische Schweiz nature park. The largest part of the old Strausberg post office site, under which the Strausberg culture bunker is wooded and is used sustainably for ecological forestry and timber management with its own wood workshop and apiary by the »Kulturquartier Altes Postgelände« project. The Strausberg culture bunker and the Altes Postgelände cultural quarter are located near the ZR1 feeder road (European cycle route R1) to the Märkische Schweiz Nature Park.