The walls of the bunker diagonally across from the Rhein-Main Congress Center in Wiesbaden are about two meters thick.

They gave local politicians the idea of ​​making the overgrown concrete block available to the city's youth bands as a rehearsal space.

The members of the South-East local advisory board said he would also be able to withstand Death Metal.

After all, the 350 square meter building was erected during World War II to withstand the Allied bombing raids.

There are also toilets and electricity.

In 1945 the city is said to have hoisted the white flag on the flat roof here as a sign of surrender.

Ewald Hetrodt

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung in Wiesbaden.

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In 1982, the facility was converted for civil protection.

In theory, more than 600 people could find space in 28 rooms.

In practice, however, the neighboring Ministry of Finance has deposited files here.

The State Office for Soil Management and Geoinformation also used some rooms as storage areas.

In the spring of 2009, the state rejected the idea of ​​offering the cube to Wiesbaden's up-and-coming bands as a soundproof place to stay.

Experts had determined that the heating system was not working and the roof was leaking.

An "unsurmountable obstacle" is the fact that there is no second escape route, it said.

But you couldn't tear down the bunker either.

It is under monument protection.

Originally 77 shelters in Hesse

With its history, the property is an example of the countless shelters in the republic that seemed superfluous at least since the fall of the Wall and the supposed end of the East-West conflict.

In 2007, the federal and state governments decided to no longer maintain such public shelters.

In September 2021, the Federal Agency for Real Estate Tasks was commissioned to separate it from use by civil defense and to manage it itself.

In Hesse, according to Interior Minister Peter Beuth (CDU), 77 such shelters with a total of almost 100,000 places were originally subject to civil protection.

62 have now been deconsecrated, 15 not yet.

Five of them are owned by the federal, state or local governments, and ten are privately owned.

As Beuth further reports, the Federal Agency for Real Estate Tasks asked the federal states, almost two weeks after Russia's attack on Ukraine, "for reasons of public safety and order and taking into account the interests of the owners" from disclosing further information on details of the systems.

The question of whether and, if so, how quickly the civil protection areas that still exist in Hesse can be made usable can only be answered in Berlin, explains Beuth.

Because the defense of the federal territory against attacks from outside and the protection of the civilian population is a core task of the federal government.

This also includes the provision of shelters.

In contrast, civil protection is the responsibility of the country.

It relies on around 23,000 volunteers in the rural districts and urban districts.

After extensive investments by the state, they have equipment that is more extensive than ever before, according to Beuth.

It is used in natural disasters such as floods, major fires and other serious emergencies.

"Financial effort" for crisis prevention

Against this background, the Federal Ministry of the Interior has announced to the federal states that it also wants to focus more closely on civil defense in the event of military threats, reports Beuth.

For an inventory, the Federal Agency for Real Estate Tasks from Hesse has now received the data on the 15 shelters that have not yet been dedicated.

She wants to gain concrete insights into the condition of the facilities through on-site inspections.

In principle, however, the Federal Institute reported that "the remaining systems are not ready for use, since the functional maintenance of public shelters was already discontinued in 2007".

For crisis prevention, Beuth demands a “financial effort” from the federal government.

He wants the siren support program to continue, from which Hesse recently received 6.4 million euros.

In addition, the federal government must adapt civil protection to the changed requirements, says Beuth.

This not only includes upgrading the warning infrastructure, but also a new concept for the shelters.