Berliner Unterwelten e.V.

Description

In Berlin, Verein Berliner Unterwelten e. V. has been devoted since 1997 to the research, documentation and preservation of the city’s built underground. Its focus is on disused subterranean facilities such as bunkers, large cellar spaces and various tunnels — including utility, waste and escape tunnels. Members carry out repair, restoration and maintenance work on their own responsibility and work to secure the structures in a manner appropriate to their historic value and to open them up for new uses. The association makes its results and research findings accessible to the public through a museum in a renovated, rented bunker, special exhibitions, lectures and guided tours.

The association was founded in 1997 in response to the construction boom after reunification, with the aim of preventing the destruction and infilling of historic bunker complexes. With a press campaign in July 1997 it drew early attention to the threats; formal registration followed in December 1997. The first public presentations took place in January 1998 and quickly attracted audiences and media attention. In the years that followed, visitor numbers grew from an initial roughly 2,000 to almost 17,000 in 2002; charitable status was recognised in 1999. Media portraits and advisory services for film productions contributed to its profile. During the COVID-19 pandemic its work ran into difficulties but was stabilised through donations, rent relief and grants. Digital formats and an internal radio project were developed during this time; since 2022 the association has been operating at break-even. In 2023 the association employed more than 125 people and counted over 540 members (as of January 2024).

The association is actively engaged in heritage preservation and manages numerous sites, such as Operationsbunker Teichstraße, the Zivilschutzanlagen Pankstraße and Blochplatz, the Flakturmruine Humboldthain, the Mutter-Kind-Bunker Humboldthain, the Luftschutzanlage am U-Bahnhof Gesundbrunnen, the AEG-Versuchstunnel, Tunnel und Bunker Dresdener Straße and the Fichtebunker. Since 2000 it has been responsible for the civil defence facility beneath Blochplatz; parts of the Flakturmruine in Volkspark Humboldthain were made accessible again and publicly guided for the first time in 2004.

The tours offered illuminate Berlin’s eventful history from industrialisation to the division of the city, with an emphasis on civilian air-raid protection during the Second World War but also on non-military infrastructure such as sewers, pneumatic post, brewery relics and unfinished U-Bahn constructions. Tours are offered in several languages and are partly available in digital form. The Berliner Unterwelten Museum is located in the former protective facility at the south exit of Gesundbrunnen U-Bahn station and is part of the “Dunkle Welten” tour. The historic collection comprises some 3,000 objects; since 2009 the library has held about 4,000 books, roughly 100,000 photographs and graphics and 3,000 archival items. In addition, since 2002 the association has organised educational seminars, realised sixteen memorial and information plaques by 2023 and publishes research findings in the Edition Berliner Unterwelten as well as in the association’s magazine Schattenwelt.