Bunker am Kap Arkona

Führungsbunker Volksmarine

Useful Information

Location:	Kap Arkona, Rügen
Open:	Arkona Bunker: DEC to OCT daily 11-17. NVA-Bunker: All year daily 12-16, last tour 15, tours hourly on the hour. [2010]
Fee:	Arkona-Bunker: free. NVA-Bunker: Adults EUR 5. Kap Arkona Karte: Adults EUR 10. [2010]
Classification:	Secret Bunker
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
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As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1979	start of construction of the NVA-Bunker.
1985	NVA-Bunker published in book.
1986	NVA-Bunker completed.
03-OCT-1990	NVA-Bunker closed.

Description

The Kap Arkona (Arkona cape) is ofen called the northernmost place of Rügen island. Actually this is not exactly true, the Gellort is the northernmost point, located about one kilometer to the northwest. The island Rügen is made of soft, white, Cretaceous chalk. It was formerly used for writing of chalkboards. The soft rock is easily eroded by the sea and forms a white cliff line, similar to the famous White Cliffs of Dover. Cape Arkona is one of the most popular tourist destinations on Rügen island with some 800,000 visitors per year.

This page is dedicated to the two bunkers which are located at this famous spot. The smaller one is also the older one, built during the German Reich. It is generally called Arkona-Bunker. The bigger one was built was started in 1979 and completed in 1986, was built by the East German army, the Nationale Volks Armee (NVA, National Peoples Army). It is named NVA-Bunker and was the command post of the 6th flotilla of the Volksmarine (Peoples Marine) and the Vereinigten Ostseeflotte (VOF, United Baltic Sea Fleet). Both bunkers were sold after the end of Eastern Germany and they were purchased by the village Putgarten. After renovation both bunkers were opened to the public. The Arkona-Bunker contains an art gallery, the NVA-Bunker an exhibition about the Volksmarine.

The NVA-Bunker was secretly built since 1979, but in 1985, still during the cold war, it become known. So it was rendered useless before it was even completed in 1986. The leak was the book Soldaten des Volkes (soldiers of the people) published for the 30th anniversary of the Nationale Volksarmee. The first edition contained an aerial view of Kap Arkona showing the open pit of the bunker. The book was recalled after three days, the second edition did not contain the picture any more.

The bunker was nevertheless put to use, but it was operated only three or four times per year for two or three days during maneuvers of the United Baltic Sea Fleet or the Peoples Marine. The rest of the year the bunker was manned by only four soldiers.

The bunker has a main passage with two entrances, from which numerous autarchic bunkers branch off. Each of them is a socalled Fertigteil-Bunker (FB, prefabricated member bunker) which was constructed by prefabricated concrete slabs. There are three large bunkers of type FB-75 and nine small bunkers of type FB-3. The bigger kind has two levels, sleeping quarters and a second exit. The bunkers are covered by only three to five meters earth.