Authorities check Söder's bomb bunker - and make a devastating verdict

Created: 05/13/2022, 11:00 am

By: Volker Ufertinger

No protection, no comfort: the bunker under the fire brigade school in Geretsried cannot be reactivated.

© Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss

Because of the Ukraine war, the government is considering reactivating former bunkers.

This is not possible in Geretsried, where the Bavarian state government should go.

Geretsried

– In view of the war in Ukraine and its possible expansion, the Federal Ministry of the Interior has arranged for a revision of German bunkers.

500 out of 2000 are in Bavaria.

One of them is relatively well known: the bunker under the fire brigade school in Geretsried, to which the Bavarian state government should have retreated in the event of a nuclear attack.

But he wouldn't help at the moment.

"The bunker system is not ready for operation," says headmaster René Mühlberger.

(By the way: everything from the region is now also available in our regular Wolfratshausen-Geretsried newsletter.)

The State Chancellery only made it public in 2011 that the Geretsried bunker was intended for this purpose - at a time when nobody thought of ever needing bomb and rocket-proof rooms again.

So it came out that during the Cold War, when a disaster control school was housed on Sudetenstrasse, in the worst of all cases the prime minister and a small government team were supposed to take shelter there.

Geretsried: The bunker was once a temporary solution

The shelter designed for 178 people would not have offered the nobles any comfort: There was electricity and telephone, washing facilities and fold-out bunks on the walls.

An air filter system should protect the 200 square meter interior from radioactive radiation.

Of course, the proximity to the state capital also spoke in favor of Geretsried as a refuge: government representatives could have been there in 45 minutes to continue official business.

However: The system was not intended for weeks of continuous operation.

The concrete walls were too thin, the common rooms too bare, and the showers had to be operated with hand pumps.

That is why the state government has been planning a really safe nuclear bunker since 1964.

But first there was no money, then the Cold War was over.

In 1995 the disaster control school became the Geretsried State Fire Brigade School.

Bunker in Geretsried: No chance against modern weapons technology

The shortcoming from that time has remained, the bunker could not fulfill its purpose.

"It would offer little protection against modern weapons technology," says Mühlberger.

That's why he's not only not reactivated.

Rather, there are plans to demolish it.

"The bunker system is in the basement of our farm building, which is to be replaced by a new building by 2025/26," says the headmaster.

Then the bunker will probably also be removed.

At least that's the plan.

"However, a final assessment is still pending."

You can find even more current news from the region around Wolfratshausen at Merkur.de/Wolfratshausen.