Hey guys,
A few weeks ago, I took my German readers to the Reinberg, a small mountain close to my hometown. The Reinberg is not only a nice place for a run, it has also some historic places from the darkest times of our country - World War 2. Bunkers, air raid tunnels and lost places - this is where I will take you today.
The old brick factory
What you can see on the above picture belongs to an old brick factory called "Würzburger", where the huge amounts of clay the Reinberg offers were made to bricks in the past. The buildings have not been used for many decades - but they still make up for some great foto motives, especially the oldest building which remains completely untouched in the middle of the woods.
As far as I know, the bricks were pressed in the huge press you can see on the first two pictures following. Afterwards they were put on a conveyor an transported down the mountain to the huge hall. There the bricks were waiting for trains to transport them to their final destinations.
The huge hall on the picture following is the only part of the old factory that is still in use for storage purposes today.
The tunnels for air raid protection
Since material for buildings and infrastructure is especially important in times of war, the workes of the brick factory always where in fear of being attacked by the Allies. Therefore a huge tunnel system was planned to be built into the mountain by the owners of the company in order to protect their workes. Even though they have not been closed on purpose, they get buried and destroyed by nature with time. But if you keep your eyes open, you will still spot a few entries like the one on this picture:
Of course I got down there to take a closer look. Sadly the entrance was buried with stone after a few meters and there was not much to explore there.
But this was only one of many entries, the best was yet to come.
The "Monsterbunker"
Close to the buildings of the brick factory I have shown you above, the entrance to the biggest bunker of the mountain is standing right there in the middle of the woods. The so called "Monsterbunker" refers to it's size which is quite impressive.
And fortunately, the main entrance of the Monsterbunker is still open and armed with two strong flashlights and my friend @weitblicker, I was able to explore the inside of this tunnel system. As you can see on the pictures down below, there were some weird walls built into the inside of the tunnel after a few meters. Those were of course not built there by accident but rather for protection against compression caused by bombs thrown at the tunnel entrance. After those two "pressure-breakers", the frame of a door was visible. And even though some people sprayed "Stop here!" on the wall, we of course didn't ;)
The following tunnnel system is built up in the shape of a rectangle approximately 30x10 meters big. There are a few dead ends which seem as if there should have been built an even bigger system if there would have been more time. What they already managed to build where more entrances. Besides the main entrance shown above, there are two more entrances hidden in the woods. Even though their condition is way worse than the main entrances one, you are still able to enter and leave the tunnel system through them.
Both of those were connected to the main tunnel system via extra tunnels of around 10 meters length. And while both of them could be secured with massived doors, at least one had pressure-breakers as well. The second entrance is located at the end of a really small valley, so probably no pressure-breakers where needed there. And even though the parts of the doors that are still there can't be used anymore, they still look cool on pictures I think.
Other bunkers
Of course the brick factory was not the only local company that wanted to protect their workers from the allied air raids. According to rumours, there are up to 18 different bunkers and tunnel systems. However many of them are already closed and/or are on private properties and not accessible for me. Some of them even serve as a storage rooms for vine as far as I know. Here are two more I found - but they also have been closed:
When the warmer months are over and the leafs are falling of the plants and trees, I will probably be able to spot more of those entrances in the future. If so, I will let you all know.
Closing Remarks
Even though those places are fascinating and the pictures you can take there are stunning, we should never forget why those buildings have been built and what dark times those are from. That is why I want to close this post with a picture from a memorial built in the city of Wels, which shall remind ourselves and the following generations of all the cruelties and crimes inflicted to millions in World War 2.
Greets,
Martin
If you want to enjoy the pictures in full resolution, just click on them. All pictures of this post have been taken by myself with my iPhoneX. Please ask before using them.