Westwallmuseum Sinz

Useful Information

Location:	Kreuzweilerstrasse, 66706 Perl. (49.5355363, 6.4322032)
Open:	All year 1st Sun 14-17. [2023]
Fee:	Adults EUR 1, Children (7-16) EUR 0.50, Children (0-6) frei, Students EUR 0.50, Disabled EUR 0.50, Apprentices EUR 0.50, Seniors EUR 0.50. Groups: Adults EUR 0.50. [2023]
Classification:	World War II Bunker Westwall
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	yes
Bibliography:
Address:	Westwallmuseum Sinz, c/o Sebastian Kirch, Kreuzweilerstrasse, 66706 Perl, Tel: +49-6867-761. E-mail:
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

1940	built in the final phase of the so-called Westwall construction.

Description

The Westwallmuseum Sinz is located in a restored Westwall bunker, a Regelbau 501 (standard building 501) for 14 men. It was built in 1940 on the outskirts of Sinz on the road to Kreuzweiler. Its task was to prevent an enemy attack between the Moselle and Saar rivers on the towns of Konz and Trier to the north. The so-called Orscholz Riegel runs between the Moselle at Nennig on the border with Luxembourg and Orscholz at the Saar bend. It is located in front of the actual Siegfried Line.

The bunker was not built for defence purposes, as the Nazis liked to publicise. It served to secure the southern flank of the invasion of the Benelux countries and the war against France in May 1940, protecting the Wehrmacht's supply routes against French counter-attacks. For the population, this meant a serious break in the community with its neighbours in Luxembourg and France. They experienced the war even more directly than people in other parts of Germany. They were evacuated at the beginning and end of the war. There were frequent deaths from mines and low-flying aircraft attacks while working in the fields. Around 70,000 mines were laid in the municipality. Houses, farms and valuable farmland were damaged or destroyed by the fierce, month-long battles in the winter of 1944/45. However, according to contemporary witnesses, the residents of Kreuzweilerstraße were allowed to use the bunker as an air raid shelter during the war years. Between autumn 1944 and February 1945, the entrance courtyard of the bunker was used as a grenade launcher position.

In the post-war period, the French occupation removed a large part of the bunker facilities of the former Orscholzriegel by blowing them up. Bunker R53 was not blown up, however, as otherwise the neighbouring houses in Kreuzweilerstraße would have been damaged. Remaining mines and ammunition remnants posed a deadly danger to the civilian population until the 1950s. Many children were among the victims of mine and ammunition accidents. The bunker was then covered with earth in the 1960s. Only part of the wing wall on the road and part of the ceiling edge remained visible.

The bunker was purchased by Sebastian Kirch from Besch at the end of 1997, so it is now privately owned. He has authentically restored it and turned it into a bunker museum. Today, the bunker is restored to its original and functional state. In addition, there is documentation and information on contemporary history.

Unfortunately, the current opening times cannot be determined. The information on the Internet is contradictory. We have provided the last known opening times, but suspect that the bunker has been closed since the restrictions imposed during the pandemic. It has probably not yet been reopened.