Berlin is a city with a rich and complex history, much of which is hidden beneath its modern streets. While many monuments commemorate key historical events, a more somber and fascinating layer of the past lies in its network of underground bunkers. The structures, which were originally constructed to withstand the destruction of war, have since been repurposed for various uses, including art galleries and fruit storage facilities (at least this was the case in the 1950s). In Berlin, exploring these bunkers is a unique way to connect with the city’s troubled 20th century.
Many years ago, I decided to write an article about the Berlin bunkers that I discovered around town while I was cycling. And the BBC video below caught my eye during a lazy Sunday afternoon watching TV, and I needed to share it here due to my previous article on the topic. I think they fit quite well together.
Unveiling Berlin’s Hidden Past: A Guide to Its Bunkers straight from YouTube
One such site, a secret command post located a bit outside Berlin, next to a city called Zossen, was once the nerve center for the German army during World War II. Disguised as a quaint settlement of farmhouses, its true purpose was concealed by 11 bunker-like structures interconnected by a vast, two-level underground complex. After the war, its role shifted, and it was used by the Soviets starting in the mid-1950s.
I visited this series of bunkers back in 2014 and wrote a long article about the Wünsdorf Bunkers.
Another of the city’s unique underground structures is called in the video “Mother and Children Bunker.” Found beneath the area between Mitte and Kreuzberg, where the Berlin Wall still leaves its scar, this shelter was part of a pre-WWI subway line that was never finished.
During the war, a portion of the tunnel was converted into a shelter with small rooms specifically designed to protect mothers and their children. This tunnel contains a brick and steel wall that was once a component of the infamous Berlin Wall, which divided East and West Berlin. This wall serves as a reminder of the city’s division even in the underground, beneath the city streets.
In the heart of the city lies a more curious example: the so-called “Banana Bunker.” Its initial purpose was to be a disguised fortress, but its postwar use was far less menacing. In the 1950s, GDR authorities used it as a storage facility for fruit, giving it its memorable nickname.
Later, in 1992, it briefly became a club before a private owner purchased it in 1995 and transformed it into a personal art space, showing how these former strongholds have been creatively repurposed. This is where the Boros Collection can be seen today.
There’s a bunker in Kreuzberg, next to the Sudstern U-Bahn, with a history that goes back even further. Originally a gas storage facility from the late 19th century, this circular, six-level structure with over 770 rooms was a major public shelter during the war.
After its use as a refuge, it served as a prison before apartments were eventually built on top of the structure, burying its original purpose beneath modern life. Today it can be visited with Berlin Unterwelten.
Perhaps the most historically significant of these structures is the Führerbunker. It used to be located under what is now a car park; this was the final refuge of Adolf Hitler as the war neared its end. It was in this bunker on April 30, 1945, that Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide, an event that marked the end of World War II in Europe.
In the 1980s, the entire complex, or what remained of it, was destroyed to make the foundations of the buildings in the area. Currently, the bunker is undetectable. And the car park functions as a deliberate monument to prevent the site from becoming a destination for neo-Nazis.
These bunkers in Berlin stand as silent witnesses to the city’s past, each with a unique story of survival, adaptation, and transformation. They show the deep history of Berlin in a way that is both powerful and often sobering.
If you are curious about bunkers in Berlin, I have some articles for you, like one on the Döberitz Heide Bunkers, or one on Flugplatz Brand and its bunkers and barracks. And, lastly, the abandoned and destroyed bunkers called Lager Koralle.
