How bunkers were turned into cultural centers

The almost 40-meter-high (131-foot-high) former flak tower in the district of St. Pauli houses media companies, artists and creatives, as well as the popular club Uebel & Gefährlich. In the last few years, five more floors have been added, and soon a hotel will open there. The flagship project for a green city features an exterior stairway winding up to the roof, planted with trees and shrubs.

The 25-meter-high (82-foot-high) bunker covered with giant murals is an eye-catcher. It was built in 1942 to provide protection from air raids for employees and patients of the Diakonissen Hospital, as well as local residents. Later, it served as a clinic and a shelter against nuclear bombs. In 2021, a cultural association bought it, and soon clubs, studios and a permanent exhibition will move in.

Six gigantic flak towers were used by the city of Vienna during World War II for defense and shelter from air raids. The most famous among them is the flak tower in Esterhazy Park. It houses the Aqua Terra Zoo, one of Vienna's three zoos. More than 10,000 animals live there in freshwater and saltwater aquariums. In addition, the flak tower museum is housed on two floors.

In 1991, as part of the Vienna Festival, American artist Lawrence Weiner created the installation "Smashed to Pieces (in the still of the night)" as a temporary work of art on the roof of the bunker. During the expansion of the Aqua Terra Zoo, the installation was painted over.

Like other air raid shelters, this church-shaped structure was built by forced laborers, prisoners of war and concentration camp prisoners. Listed as a historic monument in 1980, it was renovated a few years later and has been managed by the Kulturbunker Mülheim association since 1991. It houses studio spaces, music rehearsal rooms and seminar rooms, and also features concerts.

In an air raid shelter on the site of the former railway terminus Anhalter Bahnhof, the Berlin Story Bunker allows visitors to immerse themselves in the history of the city. The main focus of the museum is the Third Reich; there are various special exhibitions, including "Hitler. How could it happen," and another space dedicated to Germany's postwar history.

In a residential area in Wünsdorf-Waldstadt, about 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) south of Berlin, stands an unusual pointy bunker. Such bunkers are nicknamed "concrete cigars." Wünsdorf — dubbed the "bunker and book city" — also houses a garrison museum, which revisits the city's history as a military training base in imperial times. After World War II, Soviet soldiers were stationed there as well.

During World War II, the German occupying forces built large bunkers for coastal defense in Blavand, Denmark. The facilities were to be equipped with 38-centimeter guns from the sunken battleship Tirpitz. The construction was never completed. In 2017, a new museum building was opened at the site. In addition to the history of the bunker, it also deals with other regional topics.

Many coastline vacationers in France are familiar with the sight of bunkers half-sunk in the sand. This was once the Atlantic Wall, a fortified line along the coast built by the German army during its occupation of France during World War II. Today, they are used as a meeting place, wind-protected fireplaces and, above all, for graffiti. This bunker stands near Benerville-sur-Mer in Normandy.