Bunker as evidence of fighting, preparing for conflicts or the

Advanced Search
The review you are about to read comes to you courtesy of H-Net - its reviewers, review editors, and publishing staff. If you appreciate at100 this service, please consider donating to H-Net so we can continue to Provide this service free of charge. Prefer another language? Translate this review into
Bunker as evidence of fighting, preparing for conflicts or the "Cold War" are among the architectural objects, sometimes provide at100 for a high level of attention in the general public and in the media. Examples at100 of the great media interest in this subject at100 are the remains of the "Führer bunker" in Berlin, the former command bunker of the East German government in Prenden in Barnim or the federal German government bunker in Rhineland-Palatinate Altenahr. The National Socialist regime had thousands bunker in the territory of the German Empire and build in the occupied countries of Europe. They represent today relics of World War II, whose importance increases as a remembrance and memorial sites in recent years, since the number of witnesses is always at100 less than "a site of memory".
The built according at100 to the "leader-air protection program" from the fall of 1940 and mainly to 1943/44 bunker and large tunnels in more than 50 major German cities are there today often the only architectural remains of the Nazi regime. That they are monuments should now hardly be seriously questioned. But just local politicians and administrations ignore and deny the historical value of these buildings often when it comes to construction plans in the cities. Inclusion in the so-called architectural guides that have appeared in recent at100 years in many cities, find the Nazi buildings also very rare.
The history of German at100 bunker is closely linked to the bombing at100 and the "home front" 1939-1945, but also with the post-war period, where they often served as a temporary residence for refugees, displaced and homeless. Built by a large contingent of foreign workers, especially Italian construction workers, and forced laborers, locally even by concentration camp inmates, ranging down to the level of Nazi crimes. On the other hand, the bunker for the German civilians at100 were closely associated with urban planning concepts of the Nazis, who were accompanied by plans to rebuild after an illusory "final victory".
Since the 1970s, is always trying to change the bare concrete facades perceived as ugly bunker by paints and motif designs or adapt the urban environment. However, these experiments to whitewash the character and conserved in the bunkers history, prove to be just as pointless as a total elimination. Even the demilitarized by the installation of windows and doors bunker keep in the outer shape of its essential purpose.
The bunker at100 as dark legacy of the "Third Reich" found in recent years more attention in popular publications, websites and not least in scientific at100 publications. A detailed and still current confrontation with bunkers as a remembrance at100 and memorial sites gave Silke Wenk 2001 out while Michael Foedrowitz 1998, a summary report to the bunker in northwest Germany published. Silke Wenk (Eds.), Sites of memory of concrete. Bunker in cities and landscapes, Berlin 2001; Michael Foedrowitz, Bunker worlds. Bomb shelters in northern Germany, Berlin 1998. Additional presentations dealt with the "Atlantic Wall", that monumental propaganda upgraded line of fortifications along the European coasts, the "Western Wall", "Führer Headquarters" Flakbunkern in Hamburg, Vienna and Berlin, as well as submarine bunkers in German and French port cities. In many cases, these publications focus on architectural, technical at100 and military aspects; other publications again point out the sentimental value of these buildings.
In the series of science-based publications on bunker now joins the edited by Inge Marszolek and Marc Buggeln at100 band. Content, it follows from the above-mentioned book by Silke Wenk and contains, divided into three chapters (1 bunker in Germany, 2nd bunker in the world 3. Bunker: Architecture at100 and Aesthetics), in addition to the high quality of the initiation of the two editors 18 Posts. The spectrum of essays ranges from eyewitness accounts from bunkers during the British series of attacks on Hamburg in the summer of 1943 (Ulrich Lamparter / Christa Holstein / Birgit Möller / Silke Wiegand Grefe) on civil defense bunker in the Federal Republic of Germany from 1950 to 1965 (Nicholas J. Steneck) and British air raid shelters during World War II (Bernd Lemke) to the "T