Breisach (dpa / lsw) - In Breisach in southern Baden (Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district), a bunker built before the Second World War has to give way to flood protection. According to the Freiburg Regional Council, demolition work on the 250-ton structure began on Monday. The bunker is under monument protection. It is part of the "West Wall", which was built under National Socialist rule in the 1930s.
Adolf Hitler had the almost 650 km long "West Wall" - a network of bunkers, concrete gun positions and tank barriers - built between the Lower Rhine and the Swiss border as a fortification.
The monument protection has approved the demolition because of the flood prevention. So that the story is not forgotten, parts of the bunker will be preserved and erected nearby as a memorial together with an information board on the Nazi bulwark.
Where the bunker is now, Rhine water is to flow through a ditch into the future flood retention area of Breisach/Burkheim. This means that up to 6.5 million cubic meters of water can be retained. This contributes to flood protection for those downstream of the Rhine.
The functional maintenance of bunkers was discontinued nationwide in 2007. According to the Ministry of the Interior, there are currently no more operational shelters in Baden-Württemberg in which people could seek protection from air raids or in the event of a disaster. The Breisach bunker would also no longer be ready for use: According to the authorities, it has grown in the forest for over 80 years and has fallen into disrepair. Because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, bunker construction has again come into focus nationwide.
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