Hitler's Third Reich and World War II in the News is a daily edited review of WWII news, providing thought-provoking collection of hand-picked WW2 information.

WW2 category: Ruins & Bunkers of Third Reich  -- See latest WWII news here. See also 'D-Day tours', 'German WW2 militaria'>/a>, 'Berghof', 'Munich & Hitler', 'Berlin', 'Nazi Germany', 'Reichstag', 'Castles', 'WWII Tours', 'War bunkers'.

A guide to (Nazi) Germany's darkest places     spiegel.de :: 2009-10-24
Wewelsburg, SS leader Heinrich Himmler's nazi castle. --- Nazi Party Rally Grounds in Nuremberg. The backdrop for Leni Riefenstahl's documentary film "Triumph of the Will." --- Wannsee Conference House, where the Nazi leadership met in 1942 to discuss the Final Solution to the Jewish question. --- The Last Submarine: U-995 is the last surviving Type VII- C/41 submarine, and the mother of all German u-boats. --- Dachau Concentration Camp. The list of Nazi concentration and death camps is harrowing: Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Treblinka, Majdanek, Buchenwald... But for all of them, there was a model. And that model was Dachau, the first nazi camp, opened in March 1933.    

More travellers tour Hitler's HQ Wolfsschanze (Wolf's Lair) after the Valkyrie film     france24.com :: 2009-08-31
Lying overgrown in a Polish forest the ruined concrete bunkers is a chilling relic of the Third Reich. Adolf Hitler's "Wolfsschanze" (Wolf's Lair) has long drawn history buffs, but now tourist interest is up because of the Tom Cruise's WW2 movie "Valkyrie". Visitors have to use their imagination to paint a picture of the nazi site in its heyday, because the retreating Nazis blew it up in 1945. But a guided tour brings the historical site to life. "Hitler lived right here, in this bunker. He spent more than 800 days at the Wolfsschanze," says tour guide Jerzy Szynkowski. The bunker remains breathtaking, with its 6-metre-thick (20-foot-thick) walls and 8-metre (26-foot) roof.    

Vogelsang Castle Nazi college to become museum - Swastikas and Teutonic torch bearer     thenational.ae :: 2009-05-15
One of Germany's largest Nazi sites, a training college built to look like a castle, is being turned into a museum after emerging from a 60-year time warp that left it filled with Nazi symbols like a giant swastika laid into a floor and the towering figure of a Teutonic torch bearer. Dominated by a mediaeval-style keep, Vogelsang Castle overlooks wooded hills in the Eifel region. The Nazi party built it in the 1930s to create an elite of brainwashed and physically fit bureaucrats to run the Third Reich. The museum and visitor centre will be completed 2011, but guided tours of the site are available already.    

Nazi walking tours in Munich: Travelling to Germany to explore ruins of the Third Reich     spiegel.de :: 2009-04-23
3 tour guides are standing next to each other in Munich, but only one of them is doing well: Jeff Cox, who is offering "Third Reich Tour. Munich Walk Tours in English." The Third Reich in Munich. That means Hitler, Göring, Gestapo, SS. Cox soon has 18 tourists: Nazis always sell. One of the tourists is Alan Stark, who has read 7 Adolf Hitler biographies, but he still listens closely Cox's stories. Stark travelled to Germany for 6 days, so he has to focus on what's essential. Day 1: Nuremberg, the site of the Nazi party rallies. Day 2: Berchtesgaden, Hitler's mountain retreat. Day 3: Munich, Third Reich tour. Day 4: Bayreuth. "Parsifal," 5 hours of Wagner.     [WW2 Tours - History and Battlefields]

Third Reich walking tour of Munich - Where Adolf Hitler met Eva Braun     news.com.au :: 2009-02-03
Imagine being sat in the dentist's chair, mouth wide open, and the dentist starts to make chit-chat about his clinic. "This used to be the Nazi party headquarters... Come to think of it, this was where Hitler met Eva Braun." It would be a little disturbing. But the surgery at 50 Schellingstrasse, Munich, was once the studio of Adolf Hitler's personal photographer Hans Hoffman, and here the cash-strapped party had meetings. Eva Braun was Hoffman's assistant, and she caught Hitler's eye while climbing a ladder. Details like this make the Third Reich walking tour of Munich fascinating. The historical tour continues up to Konigsplatz...    

Berlin to turn Tempelhof airport into park after years of debate     telegraph.co.uk :: 2008-11-27
Berlin's government will spend 61 million euros converting the Tempelhof airport into a garden in central Berlin which, at 1 square mile, will be just under the size of New York's Central Park. Spokesman Marko Rosteck said the monolithic limestone terminal, designed by Ernst Sagebiel, will be saved. The site was originally a military training ground, and in 1909 American flight pioneer Orville Wright used it for aviation experiments. The debate over Tempelhof's future was heated and continued up to the moment the loss-making airport was shut down on Oct 31, 2008.     [Ruins & Bunkers of Third Reich]

Makeover planned for gigantic "strength through joy" complex on the island of Ruegen     haaretz.com :: 2008-11-21
The windows are broken and the roof is leaking, but otherwise the gigantic steel and concrete structure has lasted unscathed. The complex in the Baltic Sea resort of Prora on the island of Ruegen was part of Adolf Hitler's "Strength Through Joy" program to keep Germans healthy. It was to house 20,000 persons in 8,000 rooms. Work on the complex, which began in 1936, slowed in 1939 and was halted in 1943. The only Germans to live in there were refugees fleeing the Soviet Red Army. After German reunification it was seized by the federal government, which is now - after years of wondering what to do with it - launching a project to turn the site into a holiday complex.    

Flak towers and U bahn photos - thread at Axis History Forum     forum.axishistory.com :: 2008-11-17
As the Allied bombing offensive against Nazi Germany escalated in 1942, the Nazis reacted by developing new air defence systems for cities. In Berlin, Hamburg and Vienna, they built massive concrete towers called flaktowers (flaktürme) as platforms for anti-aircraft guns. The towers were grouped in pairs, each consisting of a G-Tower (Gefechtturm, Combat Tower), and an L-Tower (Leitturm, Lead Tower). There were 3 pairs of towers in Berlin, 3 in Vienna and 2 in Hamburg. Today the flaktowers still loom over Vienna and Hamburg, less so in Berlin since the only standing tower is in a large park and is partly hidden by trees.    

Huge tunnels show Adolf Hitler's megalomaniac vision for nazi capital Germania     reuters.com :: 2008-08-26
Three vast tunnels were opened under Berlin, offering a glimpse of Adolf Hitler's vision for the capital of Nazi Germany. The tunnels were built in 1938 as part of a transport network beneath a series of buildings designed by Nazi architect Albert Speer. The overground plans included boulevards, huge buildings, and the 290-metre high Great Hall. Hitler called the concept "Berlin - the capital of the world." "The tunnels... were part of Speer's grand plans, what we now call 'Germania'," said historian Dietmar Arnold, head of the Berlin Underground Association and bunker tour guide, who took journalists on a rare visit into the dank tunnels.    

Touring Berlin's endangered bunkers and underworld     thelocal.de :: 2008-08-23
Berlin's greatest tourist attraction is the one that's not there: the Führerbunker where Adolf Hitler spent his final days. A tour guide told: "If I could sell tickets to that thing, I'd charge 100 euros a ticket and... hundreds of people would line up..." If you're interested in getting underground you should soon, as limited budgets may soon claim several of the bunkers. --- Deep underneath Gesundbrunnen train station tour guide Brito Morales, who leads tours for Berlin Underworlds, warns: "Don't touch the paint, it's toxic. This bunker only offered the illusion of protection. To save on building costs, the Nazis only built the walls 120cm thick."    

Rescuing Berlin's most famous WW2 ruin - The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church     dw-world.de :: 2008-08-18
West Berlin's most famous landmark and a touching reminder of the WW2 horrors is threatened by collapse - because of traffic vibration. When the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was put down by a British bombing raid all that remained was its ruined tower. Still, Berliners resisted plans to demolish the badly shattered belfry, which rises nearly 70 meters over the city. The spire of the church, built in 1895 by Kaiser Wilhelm II to honor his grandfather Kaiser Wilhelm I, is nicknamed "Hollow Tooth" and saved for posterity. Charles Jeffrey Gray, a British pilot who bombed Nazi Germany, was one of the first to call for the rescue of the famous wartime ruin.    

Nazi bunkers surface in Denmark - Filled with beds, boots, stamps featuring Hitler     dailymail.co.uk :: 2008-08-03
Tommy Cassoe looks like a Indiana Jones as he crawls out of a WWII bunker buried under the sand, one of 7,000 the Nazis built along Denmark's western shores. 4 Nazi bunkers, buried under the dunes of Houvig since 1945, were discovered by 9yo boys after a fierce storm. "What's so fantastic is that we found them completely furnished with... the personal effects of the soldiers who lived inside," says Jens Andersen, the curator of the Hanstholm museum that focuses in Nazi fortifications. Archaeologists raced to the scene to empty the bunkers of boots, socks, badges, bottles, books, inkpots, stamps featuring Hitler, medicines, keys, hammers and other objects.     [Bunkers - Underground military fortifications]

A group campaigns to reopen long abandoned Vienna's Nazi flak towers     newstatesman.com :: 2008-08-01
Everyone in Vienna knows about the Flaktürme, flak towers, the huge gun emplacements built 1942-1945 by decree of Adolf Hitler to repel Allied air raids. All 6 of these concrete titans survive at the heart of a baroque city. Yet the flak towers do not exist in "official" Vienna - other than a brief mention in guidebooks. Angered by the denial over the towers, a group of architectural historians wants that the truth about the monsters (one of the biggest groups of concrete structures in Europe) is told. Designed by Fried rich Tamms, who designed much of the Nazi Germany's autobahn system, Hitler had planned them to be clad in marble after the victory of the Reich.     [Ruins & Bunkers of Third Reich]

The Reich Underground - One of the most massive construction projects by humankind     spiegeltvdistribution :: 2008-06-04
It was one of the most massive construction projects ever attempted. Late in World War II, the Nazis set up a plan to shelter armaments factories from the allied bombs - by relocating them in underground labyrinths. Many of the half-built nazi-tunnels have been long-forgotten. With unreleased film material and exclusive interviews, the story of the Underground Reich is reconstructed when the Nazis leaders still hoped that the miracle weapons would bring Third Reich final victory. The film shows the horrors faced by forced laborers, and how a team explores the awesome underground worlds.    

Nazi fortress overlooking the strategic port of Cherbourg to be museum     telegraph :: 2008-05-25
A fortress described as a "treasure trove of Nazi memorabilia" is to be opened as a museum in France. The complex was a nerve centre of German resistance after D-Day. 200 soldiers lived inside the fort, which was linked by 2,000 ft of corridors to 4 gun batteries aimed at the English Channel 300 ft below. During the bitter hand-to-hand combat that took place after the Allied landings on June 6, 1944, the troops set up so fierce resistance that they held out for 3 weeks. Adolf Hitler was so impressed that, even after the fort's surrender, its commander Rear Admiral Walter Hennecke was granted a Knight's Cross.     [Bunkers - Underground military fortifications]

Giant Berlin bunker, designed by Albert Speer in 1942, turned into a gallery     independent :: 2008-04-26
Adolf Hitler's architect built it to enable thousands to survive for Nazi Germany's "final victory" - but now the last huge (virtually indestructible) air-raid shelter still standing in Berlin has been reopened as an art gallery. The fortress-like building on Reinhardtstrasse is still marked with WWII bullet holes. It was constructed by the Nazi architect Albert Speer in 1942 and used to shelter 2,000 people each night from Allied bombing raids. After being left empty for years, the 5-storey, 120-room complex was reopened as a private gallery containing 80 contemporary works by 57 artists.     [Ruins & Bunkers of Third Reich]

Third Reich U-boat base Valentin for sale - The largest existing Nazi bunker     timesonline :: 2008-03-19
Built by slave labourers, the vast concrete complex known as Valentin near Bremen is for sale - to anyone needing a building with 7m-thick walls. Nazi Germany's submarine factory is the largest surviving bunker from the Third Reich. The price is not clear but officials say that they could be adapting, because the place has become a millstone with its upkeep cost of 800,000 EURs a year. Adolf Hitler, worried that Nazi Germany was losing the edge in the war for the sea lanes, ordered the construction of the factory with the aim of building a new U-boat, the advanced XXI model, every 56 hours.    

Part of the largest building the Nazis ever began to build is to reopen     spiegel :: 2008-03-07
It was the biggest building project ever begun by the Nazis, but it was never finished. Now part of Nuremberg's Congress Hall is reopening: as a concert venue. The huge oval-shaped building, planned in the typical Nazi neo-Classicist style, was modeled on Rome's Colosseum, and the foundation stone was laid in 1935. After the end of WWII, the city of Nuremberg preserved the ruins as a reminder of the dangers of fascism. The structure is part of the Nazi Party Rally Grounds where Hitler, during the 1930s, held massive nazi parades, memorialized in Leni Riefenstahl's film "Triumph of the Will."    

From Nazi Military Court to Posh Apartments - Third Reich ruins     spiegel :: 2008-01-29
Adolf Hitler's military courts were infamous for their liberal use of the death penalty. Now, a Berlin courthouse where Nazi judges sentenced Third Reich dissidents has been converted to an apartment building. From 1936 to the middle of World War II, it housed one of Nazi Germany's military courts. From their bench in the building, Nazi judges sentenced over 1,400 conscientious objectors and resistance fighters to die, including members of "Rote Kapelle" (Red Orchestra). "This project shows an incomprehensible forgetfulness ... when it comes to the past," says Manfred Krause, of the Forum Justizgeschichte, a group focusing in the misdeeds of Nazi courts.    

Selling off a former military airfield built by Adolf Hitler     iht :: 2007-10-18
A former military airfield in eastern Germany, built by the Nazis and used as a Cold War base, is about to get a new owner. Investors had until Friday to submit bid proposals for Cottbus-Drewitz Airfield, 100km southeast of Berlin. The site may be turned into an air freight hub - That is what happened to Parchim Airport, another military airfield in eastern Germany. The airfield was carved out of a pine forest as Nazi Germany went to war in 1939, says Klaus-Peter Siegel, who runs a museum documenting the airport's history. Under the Nazis, it was used as a pilot-training school by Luftwaffe. After World War II, the Communist regime flew MiG fighter jets from the base.    

Nazi-era Berlin church for sale: Decorated with Nazi-style carvings     earthtimes :: 2007-09-28
The Martin Luther Memorial Church in Berlin, decorated with Nazi-style carvings, is up for sale after being closed for 3 years. Consecrated in 1933, the year that Adolf Hitler seized power, the church has proved an embarrassment for more than 50 years. Reliefs include German soldiers among the groups of Christ's followers. A chandelier shaped like an iron cross, a German military symbol, lights the entrance. Even the figure of Christ on the cross bears the face of a victorious Aryan. Built 1933-1935, the church's interior decoration was notably Nazi in style, its triumphant chancel arch decorated with 800 terracotta reliefs containing Nazi symbols.    

Vogelsang castle to Become Museum - Photos of Nazi elite school     spiegel :: 2007-07-25
A forgotten monument to Adolf Hitler's ideology: Vogelsang National Socialist Castle - built in the 1930s to train a new Nazi elite. Once vacated by the Belgian army, it now sheds light on the brainwashing that churned out a generation of fanatics. "NS-Ordensburg Vogelsang" is an arrangement of barracks, community halls and sports arenas hugging a steep slope down to a scenic reservoir. It was built 1934-1936, in the style of a medieval castle, to give Nazi party members a solid grounding in the superiority of the German race and its need for "Lebensraum" in the east. Little is known about the students who attended Vogelsang because records were destroyed.    

What the Nazis planned beneath Devil's Mountain - Berlin Teufelsberg     monstersandcritics :: 2007-06-28
After WWII Teufelsberg became the loftiest man-made hilltop in Berlin, when 16 million square metres of rubble from the nazi capital were dumped there. In 1937, Adolf Hitler showed up there to lay the foundation stone for a huge military academy designed by Albert Speer. The existence of the Teufelsberg military academy was forgotten until the Association of Berlin Underworlds discovered documents relating to it. The organization has announced plans to dig into the mountain to find the "last undiscovered secret that underground Berlin has to offer." Dietmar Arnold is convinced most of the military school is intact, despite post-war blow up efforts.    

Berlin bunker expers found Nazi military academy in Teufelsberg     guardian :: 2007-06-19
Experts in Berlin's WWII bunkers have discovered a forgotten Nazi military school designed by Nazi architect Albert Speer. It's buried under a man-made hill in the Teufelsberg (Devil's Mountain), a 116-metre-high mound which was constructed from the 26m cubic metres of the wartime rubble. The unfinished building, for which Adolf Hitler laid the foundation stone in 1937, was meant to become part of Germania, the huge capital of the 1,000-Year Reich. The British occupation forces planned to turn the building into their headquarters, until it proved too difficult. Instead, half of Berlin's rubble was poured on top and so the Teufelsberg was born.    

Ronald Lauder wants to save Berlin's Tempelhof Airport     independent :: 2007-02-22
Rescuing Adolf Hitler's Berlin airport for posterity might seem an unlikely goal for Ronald Lauder. But he's heading a last-ditch attempt to prevent closure of Berlin's Nazi-built Tempelhof. His suggestion is for a 350m project to turn the relic of fascist architecture into a luxury fly-in beauty clinic. With its 900m curved, stone terminal building, Tempelhof was once Europe's largest airport and a mammoth status symbol for the Third Reich. Its place in history was assured during the Berlin Airlift in 1948. Its almost superhuman scale prompted British architect Norman Foster to dub it "the mother of all airports".    

Kaliningrad Wants Its Castle Back - Movement to rebuild city center     spiegel :: 2007-02-03
For years Kaliningrad has been allowed to decay as a forgotten Russian enclave surrounded by Europe. It's not uncommon for elderly East Prussians to break into tears when they see to what depths their city of birth has sunk to. The destruction of the former pearl on the Pregel River by the bombs of World War II was immense. Indeed, Kaliningrad, once known as Königsberg, became a symbol not just of loss, but also of the destruction, of homeland. 30 divisions and two air fleets of the Red Army attacked the city during the final battle in April 1945, remembers Otto Lasch, the German Wehrmacht's commander in Königsberg at the time.    

Buildings in the Berlin underground     berlinerunterwelten :: 2006-12-31
Berlin's Olympic Stadium, AEG-Test tunnel, Spree tunnel Stralau, Axis crossing Tiergarten, Gasometerbunker Fichtestraße (The Fichtebunker in Kreuzberg is the only surviving large bunker of its kind in Germany), Potsdamer Platz, The Tempelhof airport (planned by the architect Ernst Sagebiel and built 1937-1941. At the time of its completion, it was the worlds second largest building, featuring extensive subterranean installations. The airport was part of Albert Speer's plans for the German capital. According to Hitler's ideas, Berlin was to become the capital of Europe and be renamed 'Germania' by 1950.    

Mussolini's historic Roman villa restored to glory     timesonline.co.uk :: 2006-12-27
The historic villa that was the home of Benito Mussolini when he was the Duce of Italy has been reopened to the public after 30 years of restoration. The 9 buildings and gardens of the Villa Torlonia, which were built in the 19th century by the Torlonia princes, will now house an art museum dedicated to the Roman school of 20th-century painting. The villa was taken over by Allied occupying forces at the end of World War 2 and was occupied by the Anglo-American military command, whose soldiers did damage to the decor. It later suffered years of neglect, becoming a haven for vandals, as Mussolini's legacy remained controversial.    

Former Nazi Elite School to Become Tourist Attraction     dw-world :: 2006-12-17
The Nazis used the space for a political and military training facility. Soon tourists will be able to spend their vacation there. The state government decided to back the development of the former Nazi elite school "Vogelsang" into a tourist destination. Not all of the state officials agreed with the decision to transform the former Nazi school into a tourist attraction. During the Third Reich, the Nazis built three such elite educational centers. The "Vogelsang" facility was first used for political and military training before it was taken over by the Wehrmacht, the Nazi army, in 1939.    

Historic Tempelhof - An Uncertain Future for Hitler's Airport     spiegel :: 2006-12-16
A monument to Nazi ambitions that became a symbol of hope during the Cold War: Tempelhof is one of the world's most storied airports. But its history won't be enough to save it from closure. Plans are afoot to turn it into a luxury clinic. The intent was to wow visitors to the new Third Reich capital of Germania. Monumental Tempelhof Airport was to be a statement of Nazi Germany greatness, but the dream of Germania collapsed along with the smoking ruins of Berlin. Tempelhof is Europe's largest stand-alone structure: 8 stories high, with another 3 below ground, it is 3.23 million square feet. The semi-oval columns and über-vaulted ceilings are typical style loved by Nazis.    

Ruegen - Unused Nazi Baltic island resort is finally opening     newkerala :: 2006-10-28
The former Nazi resort of Prora on the Baltic island of Ruegen is opening 70 years after it was commissioned by Adolf Hitler. Designed by architect Albert Speer, the 8 storey concrete building with 10000 rooms was planned as part of the Nazi party's "Strength Through Joy" programme - meant to offer Storm troopers and party members brainwashing and fun in the Sun. After the war, the Russians tried to destroy it by dynamite, but they ran out of explosives. Behind the Iron Curtain, it was forgotten after the East Germany removed it from all maps and the area became a covert training ground for Soviet tanks and the Spetsnaz.    

Hitler Room at Volkstheater - Part of Third Reich architecture     ejpress :: 2006-10-06
The controversial "Hitler Room" at Vienna's Volkstheater that was awarded cultural-heritage status as part of an project to protect Third Reich architecture is to be turned into a discussion area. The room was constructed in honour of Hitler, and in 1939 the theatre was turned into a place for loyal Nazis to enjoy plays as part of the party's Kraft-durch-Freude (Strength-through-Joy) programme. Vienna's city council has ordered a survey of all buildings dating back to the Nazi period, ranging from those that Hitler ordered built to the place where he once lived as a struggling artist.     [Nazi Architecture]

Munich: Stronghold of the Nazi party - Hunting lost Nazi sites     latimes.com :: 2006-07-30
Nazi past lingers in Munich: the birthplace and stronghold of the National Socialist party. As a boy Von Halasz found a picture of his grandfather in a WWII SS uniform. Curiosity led him wrote "Hunting Nazis in Munich," a book on lost sites tied with Adolf Hitler: The meeting place for the Thule Society, considered a precursor of the Nazi party. The house where Adolf Hitler stayed when he arrived in 1913, the site of the beer hall where the SS was founded, the room where the Nazi party proclaimed its 25-point program. Munich's beer hall culture helped the Nazi party take shape: At the Hofbräuhaus on Feb. 24, 1920, Hitler gave a 2 1/2 -hour speech to 2,000 supporters.     [Ruins & Bunkers of Third Reich]

Third Reich era Aryan statues fuel controversy in Berlin     expatica :: 2006-05-31
Article no longer available from the original source.
Nazi-era statues depicting muscular, Aryan supermen at a stadium in Berlin, where the World Cup final will be played, fuelled a bitter controversy less than two weeks before the games open. Lea Rosh said the six-metre-high stone statues had "to at least be covered up. Breker was a big Nazi - it's bad enough that the sculptures are on any sort of public display." The sculptures by Third Reich artists, including Arno Breker, are still on display at the Olympic Stadium used by Adolf Hitler for the 1936 Olympic Games. Writer Ralph Giordano said merely covering up the Nazi statues was not enough: "They should be removed and destroyed."     [WW2 Art and Paintings]

Munich government buildings adorned with swastikas     ynetnews :: 2006-05-09
61 years after the fall of Nazi Germany and the end of World War II there are still swastikas that adorn a central government building in Munich. Swastikas are displayed on a building that houses the economic, infrastructure and technology departments of the state of Bavaria. It is the most important government building of the southern state, in which the Nazi party began its way during the 1920's. The massive building with a facade stretching 250 meters (820 feet) was built between the years 1936-1938 and was used during the Second World War to house headquarters of the Luftwaffe - the German Air Force.     [Ruins & Bunkers of Third Reich]

Embarking on Hitler's trail in Munich     deccanherald :: 2006-03-26
Konigsplatz, in Munich, was Hitler's favourite parade ground, a place to mass and strut helmeted troops in uniforms, military bands and swastika flags. Munich is intimately connected with Adolf Hitler's youth and his life as a Nazi leader. Places in Munich associated with Hitler are quite popular with tourist. Visitors are curious to know where he lived, the restaurants he frequented, places where he delivered his fiery speeches, the place where the historic but failed political coup (the Putsch) took place and his Munich headquarters. In his autobiography, Mein Kamph, Hitler writes fondly about Munich.     [Munich & Hitler - Nazi Party Stronghold]

Mussolini's villa, secret bunker go on display     seattletimes :: 2006-03-22
Villa Torlonia, the 19th-century Villa of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, opens to the public for the first time, allowing visitors to see his elegant frescoes, intricate chandeliers and his hidden bunkers and anti-gas chamber. Mussolini, who lived lavishly and entertained guests at the Rome residence, built the underground chambers to protect himself and his family from possible air raids. Mussolini dug the bunker 23 feet deep, burying a 10-foot thick concrete box with bare cylindrical corridors and multiple escape routes.     [Bunkers - Underground military fortifications]

Aryans on the Altar; Swastikas on the Church Bells     spiegel :: 2006-03-16
A Protestant parish in Berlin has grabbed an ethical dilemma by the horns with an appeal for funds to save Germany's last Nazi era church. The building's interior is full of Third Reich symbols. The aim is to turn it into a place of remembrance. The stark entrance hall is lit by a black chandelier in the shape of an iron cross. The pulpit has a wooden carving of a muscular Jesus leading a helmeted Wehrmacht soldier and surrounded by an Aryan family. The baptismal font is guarded by a wooden statue of a stormtrooper from Adolf Hitler's paramilitary Sturmabteilung (SA) unit clutching his cap.     [Ruins & Bunkers of Third Reich]

In the bowels of Berlin's past - Nazi-era bunkers     aljazeera :: 2006-03-13
Article no longer available from the original source.
Under modern buildings shooting skywards from Berlin's avenues and squares, the layered history of the city is being unpeeled by historians and archaeologists - with sometimes controversial results. From Nazi-era bunkers to Cold War nuclear fallout shelters, underground Berlin is now breaking surface - and serving as a growing tourist attraction. "Every time, the numbers we show round are growing," says Michael Foedrowitz, a historian and consultant with the Berliner Unterwelten, a group of historians, archaeologists and urbanists which has been opening up underground Berlin to visitors.    

Finally Filling a Vacant Lot Ravaged by Tides of Terror     concordia :: 2006-02-08
During the Nazi era the site was the headquarters of the Gestapo, perhaps the most dreaded of Hitler's secret police. Berlin took a long while to figure out what to do with the spot where top Nazis like Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich had their offices. It has always been a worrisome task for the Germans to construct places dedicated to portraying the Nazis, in part because of the fear that they could turn into pilgrimage sites for neo-Nazis. The places most closely identified with Hitler, his chancellery on Wilhelmstrasse and the famous underground bunker, are destroyed and unmarked. Most Berliners do not even know where they were.    

Plans for Nazi secret police museum at former SS HQ in Berlin     expatica :: 2006-01-26
A museum documenting crimes of the Nazi SS will be built at the ruins of the Third Reich's secret police headquarters in Berlin based on designs of local architects. Located in central Berlin, the bombed-out ruins of the former SS buildings have been excavated and preserved as a grim reminder of Third Reich crimes. From 1933 to 1945 the SS leadership set up headquarters and based a notorious Gestapo prison at the Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse site. SS leader Heinrich Himmler worked from the complex and this was where key decisions were made on persecuting political opponents. It was also used to assemble the notorious Special Police Units (Einsatzgruppen).    

Hidden for 60 years: the Nazi beach bunker found by Briton     guardian.co.uk :: 2006-01-24
A secret underground military complex abandoned by the Nazis as allied forces stormed Normandy after D-day has been found by an English amateur historian. He came across the series of bunkers that had lain untouched for more than 60 years after buying a second world war map from an old American soldier. Armed with his map he visited the area near the Normandy beaches of Utah and Omaha, where he found the entrance to the military complex hidden under bramble bushes. He was astonished to discover a labyrinth of bunkers, control rooms and equipment abandoned by the Germans.    

Vogelsang Castle: In the Shadow of the Third Reich     Deutsche Welle :: 2006-01-03
Since the US Army occupied Burg Vogelsang, one of the Nazi's four elite schools, in 1945 hardly a civilian has had a chance to see it. Young men were molded into Nazi leaders of the future at Vogelsang Castle in the Rhineland. The complex is the best maintained example of Third Reich architecture in Germany, and since Jan. 1 it's open to the public. For now though, security guards patrol the grounds to prevent former Nazis and neo-Nazis from making "pilgrimages" to the Third Reich's old school.    

On Hitler's Mountain - A Picturesque Alpine Village In Bavaria     scotsman :: 2006-01-02
Irmgard Hunt spent her early years in Berchtesgaden. In 1934, Hunt's parents, who "praised Hitler for saving Germany", settled in the area. As a very young child, Hunt was taken to see the summit, the Obersalzberg, where Hitler had reconstructed a modest summer cottage into a massive luxury residence named "The Berghof". On that day she posed upon Hitler's knee for a photograph. Her childhood was played out against the backdrop of Nazi headquarters, separated only by a fence from the house where she lived. From the windows of their school, the children could glance up to the top of the mountain and view the Eagle's Nest, a 'fantasy building'.     [Eagle`s Nest: Berghof - Obersalzberg]

Adolf Hitler's gigantic holiday camp at Ruegen to become a resort     Mirror :: 2005-12-05
A Holiday camp built by Adolf Hitler as the biggest in the world is finally to open... nearly 70 years on. The complex - 4 miles long, 6 storeys high with 10,000 rooms - was finished in 1936 to provide seaside breaks for 20,000 families. It never opened because of the start of World War II. Later, the East German government used it as a training barracks for officers. After the Berlin Wall fell, it was a giant memorial with museums.     [Ruins & Bunkers of Third Reich]

Hitler's dosshouse saved as warning to future generations     telegraph.co.uk :: 2005-11-13
Austria has vetoed moves to turn the Vienna dosshouse where Adolf Hitler once lived into a hotel as part of a new drive to preserve Nazi-era buildings as cultural monuments. Until now such landmarks as the Meldemann Strasse homeless hostel, where Hitler stayed as a penniless painter, were deliberately exempted from conservation orders. But heritage chiefs now want them retained as sombre warnings to future generations.    

Cathedral hit by RAF is rebuilt     Guardian :: 2005-11-01
It was regarded as the finest baroque building north of the Alps. But on the night of February 13 1945, the RAF reduced Dresden's 18th-century cathedral to rubble in an air raid that killed at least 35,000 people. For the next 45 years, Dresden residents knew the church as a huge mound of rubble flanked by two jagged walls. It was only with the fall of the Berlin Wall that locals began a campaign to get it reconstructed culminating, after a decade of building, in a ceremony yesterday to mark its reopening.     [WW2 Bombing of Dresden & Hamburg - Ruins]

The Eagle's Nest: Nazism, Totalitarianism, Tourism     VersusMag :: 2005-10-28
Perched high atop an alpine peak, near the Bavarian town of Berchtesgaden, is one of the most famous houses in the world. The Eagle's Nest - Adolf Hitler's personal mountain retreat - sits amid swirling clouds and affords a breathtaking view of the picturesque countryside and the Königsee, a pristine alpine lake famous for its placid surface. It was here that the Führer contemplated many of the Third Reich's most heinous crimes; it was here that he intimidated foreign heads of state to accede to his megalomaniacal whims. And it is here that tourists flock every year, anxious to experience natural grandeur and to contemplate the history of the place.     [Ruins & Bunkers of Third Reich]

Secrets of Nazi terror - an underground labour camp and vanished treasures     Guardian :: 2005-10-25
Trawl through Stasi archives stumbles across records of hidden horrors and hidden treasures. A retired pit foreman Horst Bringezu stumbled on evidence while researching a local history of the mining industry. Documents revealed that some 1,500 prisoners worked among its vaults; many died. They also revealed that the SS had used the secret tunnels linking two mine shafts to store rare books, priceless paintings and letters by Goethe - all now vanished.     [Nazi gold & Hidden WWII treasures]

Hitler`s mountain retreat now a luxury hotel     expatica.com :: 2005-07-27
A controversial new luxury hotel and spa has opened on the site of Adolf Hitler's retreat in the German Alps. The new hotel, the Intercontinental Resort Berchtesgaden, is located on the Obersalzberg mountaintop. Hitler's "Eagles Nest" above the town of Berchtesgaden served as a part-time seat of government where he and other Nazi leaders often met to plan Germany's assault on Europe and the Holocaust.     [Eagle`s Nest: Berghof - Obersalzberg]

History tours: Germany turns the relics of its Nazi past over to tourism     telegraph.co.uk :: 2001-02-11
Lately many sites of importance in the Third Reich have become tourist magnets. In Ravensbruck, 8 of the 23 former SS guardhouses will be converted to cater. Thousands of people traipsed through a museum carved in the air-raid tunnels of the mountain at Berchtesgaden where Adolf Hitler had his summer residence Eagle's Nest. In the forests of Karinhall, the country seat of Hermann Goering, amateur treasure hunters rake the ground each weekend for lost artefacts. For every foot of building above ground in Berlin, there are three below; secret tunnels and bunkers begun when Hitler came to power in 1933.     [Ruins & Bunkers of Third Reich]

See also:
'D-Day tours'
'German WW2 militaria'>/a>
'Berghof'
'Munich & Hitler'
'Berlin'
'Nazi Germany'
'Reichstag'
'Castles'
'WWII Tours'
'War bunkers'.

Although the articles linked from Adolf Hitler's Third Reich 1933-1945 and World War II in the News are reviewed and specially selected, they do not necessarily represent the views of the editor, who is not responsible for the content of any external sites. This service is © Joni Nuutinen 2005-2009. All rights reserved.