After the end of the Cold War, Germany and Switzerland massively scaled back their civil defense.

After a federal and state decision in 2007, civil defense bunkers were no longer maintained, sirens were shut down and early warning systems were neglected.

The once public shelters are now mostly privately owned or belong to municipalities, most of which have been reversed.

According to federal and state politicians, the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley and the corona pandemic have already shown that civil protection must be improved.

Heike Schmoll

Political correspondent in Berlin, responsible for “Bildungswelten”.

  • Follow I follow

Russia's war against Ukraine has now also persuaded Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) to immediately end the dismantling of existing protective facilities and to expand civil protection again.

"The turning point that we are experiencing as a result of the war requires that we have to significantly strengthen protection against military threats," Faeser told "Welt am Sonntag" and announced more money for the Federal Office for Population Assistance and Disaster Control (BBK).

It is unclear whether the BBK will also act and be equipped as a central office for crisis management in the future.

The BBK points out on its website that subway stations, underground car parks in urban areas and basement rooms in solid construction can offer protection against blast waves, dangerous flying debris and fragments and - to a limited extent - against radioactive radiation.

The structure of buildings should therefore be strengthened, said Faeser.

In the 2022 budget, almost an additional 20 million euros are currently earmarked for the BBK, a total of 271 million euros, about half of which is for personnel and administrative expenses.

The public should also be more careful

BBK President Armin Schuster said that "five billion euros over the next five years for the protection of the population would be a good start".

This area has not been the focus for decades, but now the Ukraine war "makes us aware that we have to change this right now".

Schuster also called on the population to take more precautions and stock up on food and water supplies.

According to Faeser, further budgetary funds for civil protection have been requested.

The federal government has already provided 88 million euros for the reconstruction of the sirens that have been dismantled over the past decades.

The program is already running, "but we are not even remotely finished with it as far as nationwide coverage is concerned," said the minister.

In addition, more supplies would have to be stocked up for crisis situations, especially medical equipment, protective clothing, masks and medicines.

These demands were also found in the national pandemic plans of the Robert Koch Institute, which were last revised in 2017 with a view to an influenza pandemic, but hardly played a role in political contexts.

According to the Interior Ministry, there are currently 599 public shelters with space for a total of half a million people.

1400 shelters have already been reversed.

Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) therefore called on the federal government to strengthen civil protection through "considerable investments".

In addition to the Ukraine war, he also mentioned storms or hacker attacks on critical infrastructure that should be prevented.

As chairman of the conference of interior ministers, he wants to make strengthening civil protection a priority at the joint meetings this year.

The expansion of a nationwide siren network and the introduction of the cell broadcast mobile service, with which warnings can be sent to all recipients in a radio cell, must be "tackled with high priority".

He considers the federal siren support program to be an important step, but far from sufficient.

"This must therefore be significantly increased financially and extended in terms of time,

The parliamentary director of the Greens parliamentary group, Irene Mihalic, said that civil protection had been neglected and was also neglected in the current debates.

"Now is the time to correct this mistake and to massively and permanently strengthen civil protection."

A "substantial strengthening of civil defense is not available for free," said Mihalic.