Just north of Berlin underneath an unassuming forest lies the remains of Objekt 5001, A Soviet bunker built in the late 70’s for Erich Honecker (The leader of the GDR).

After the wall fell the surface features were bulldozed and the bunker entrances filled in however for a short while in 2008 it was accessible and some trips were offered to interested parties, It is now completely inaccessible as all the entrances have been filled with concrete. There was talk at the time of it being opened as a museum but I’m doubtful that will ever happen.

The bunker is 3 stories deep, vast and some very impressive features that I personally have not seen or heard of in any other bunkers.

Several of the key area’s within the structure were sprung to absorb shockwaves from a Nuclear attack including security rooms but the main marvel is the 2-storey steel buildings within the bunker, picture in your mind an enormous steel portacabin with offices, medical rooms, communications etc. then imagine there are two of these that are separate to the concrete structure of the bunker with an airgap around them. These buildings within the bunker sat on Giant Nitrogen shock mounts, it is some incredibly impressive engineering.

Another interesting thing was the ability for us to get inside the blast cap where you could see how it was constructed, the layer of sand, the concrete rood and the air gap to absorb shock.

Apparently Honecker only visited the bunker once, he hated it and had no plans to return there.

Below are some photos from our visit in 2008.