Secret Bunker of the State Security S.

The cellar of the building is especially interesting; you can see an earth fill on the cellar walls, a crawl space as an emergency exit and cellar windows secured by gas-tight hatches. Inside the cellar is a large room that was probably once intended to house a bowling alley and could also be converted into a shelter. By GDR standards, the multi-purpose building was of a high standard: among other things, a sauna and air conditioning units were planned for the premises. An elevator has already been installed, as has underfloor heating.

Behind the multi-purpose building is an inconspicuous lightweight garage of the type G-18, a reuse project of the VEB ZEKB (Volkseigener Betrieb Zentrales Entwurfs- und Konstruktionsbüro, People Owned Company Central Design and Construction Office). Inside is a masonry “house within a house” construction in the southern part. It leads to the mouth of a 65 m long access tunnel consisting of 20/V frame elements known from the 1/15/V2 bunker type. This tunnel leads into the right half of a connecting corridor of the same bunker type. There is no access staircase on the right-hand side of the connecting corridor, but one on the left-hand side leads up through two gas-tight pressure doors to the area behind the lightweight garage.

At first glance, the bunker itself appears to be an unfinished bunker of the aforementioned type. What is striking is that a rudimentary lighting installation is already in place. The left wing otherwise appears to correspond to the usual type construction in its most recent version and to a certain stage of construction. The tank system for the emergency power systems has already been installed here, as have the two water storage tanks in aisle 8. All gas-tight doors and pressure doors have already been installed. In front of the sanitary aisle (aisle 10) there is a fan heater and a building distributor.

The right wing, on the other hand, has a few oddities. The 20/V frame elements no longer appear to have been erected with particular care. There is no access door to the airlock, the walls of the tank farm and the wall between the generator tunnel and corridor 20, so that you can walk straight into the actual protective core area of the structure.

The missing walls were replaced by the steel frame constructions made of U-beams usually used for the main corridors in this type of bunker. Not visible to the naked eye but measurable: contrary to the project, the room galleries on this side are only 13.3 meters long instead of the usual 14.03 meters. One 20/V frame element is missing per gallery.

The unfinished building described here is the last alternative command post planned by the MfS (Ministry for State Security) for the central service units and district administrations - the planned alternative command post for the Head of the Rear Services Administration (Verwaltung Rückwärtige Dienste, VRD) and his staff.

The protective building project is the 27th and at the same time the most modern version of the reuse project 1/15. The concept for this project began as early as 1981. The working group of the head of the VRD and the working group of the minister responsible for special construction at the MfS, Department of Special Construction worked out this concept together.

Initially, the designation “Mehrzweckobjekt” (Multi-Purpose Object) or “MZO” was used as a designation, later the designation “MZO Waldlager”. The protective structure was initially given the project name “M 83”, and later the name of the entire project: “RD 85”. The site first had to be acquired by the MfS, as it had previously only been woodland.

The estimated construction costs amounted to 13 million marks, of which 8 million marks were for the protective structure.

Construction of the bunker began in 1987. The two water tanks, the fuel tank for the generator and the three emergency power systems of the left wing were already installed during the erection of the concrete frame elements, as prescribed in the assembly instructions for this type of bunker.

On February 26, 1988, the Minister for State Security held an official meeting with the Minister's working group. Following an internal audit, it was recognized that the Special Construction Department had a disastrous material and personnel balance. The department was then dissolved and the special construction division reintegrated into the minister's working group. The minister's order was issued that the MfS service units were to be led from their stationary objects in the event of tension.

All plans for alternative command posts were then stopped. This also had far-reaching consequences for the RD 85 project: in August 1988, the head of the Rear Services Administration decided to stop the further expansion of the bunker as a command post. At this time, the shell of the left-hand core area, the central corridor of the right-hand half and the left-hand airlock annex had been completed, but without the connecting corridor. 20 employees were now to carry out the following work within 4 months: The structure was to be completed and the bunker was to be used as a storage bunker for rations. In addition to the interior fittings, all ventilation, electrical and communications technology was to be removed. The “MZO Waldlager” was to be completed and used as a vacation home for MfS employees.

The 3 emergency power supply systems in the left wing were then removed and returned. Some of the 20/V frame elements that had already been delivered were transported back to the Freienbrink VRD object in order to build a loading ramp for a coal storage area. This also resulted in the shorter room tunnels of the right wing and the antenna shaft, which was too short. The aforementioned missing walls in the right lock porch resulted from the creation of a transport access into the structure for the intended storage purposes. The inaccurate assembly of the entire right wing of the bunker was probably due to the fact that this structure had become virtually superfluous. 

The connection of the 65 m long access tunnel to the connecting corridor was moved to the left by 7 20/V frame elements (equivalent to 4.2 m). The work was obviously not completed until the political change and the dissolution of the MfS/AfNS, the right wing is largely missing the paintwork, some of the gas-tight doors have not yet been installed, and the lighting installation has not yet been completed.

After the dissolution of the Office for National Security, the entire property was initially taken over by the Federal Agency for Real Estate, then handed over to the district and sold to a private individual at the beginning of the new millennium. The multi-purpose building was apparently used by a company for some time. The bunker was no longer used, and the tunnel between the bunker, which was accessible from the outside, and the camouflage hall was secured until 2010. Since then, the building has been abandoned and neglected, with sprayers, scrap metal thieves and vandals wreaking havoc. Most of the buildings look ready for demolition. The bunker itself and the camouflage hall have been used as a party venue at least once.

Source: Untergrund Brandenburg

Visited: August 12, 2020

Location: Undisclosed, Germany

Status: Abandoned