„Fuchsbaus“ near Fürstenwalde

„Fuchsbaus“ near Fürstenwalde

There are numerous legends and rumors about the history of the „Fuchsbau“.
There was talk of another wartime Führer headquarters with a direct subway connection to Berlin, its own subway highway exit and unknown secret tunnels.
Others later even suspected nuclear reactors and missile silos in the "Fuchsbau".
A structure with over 7 floors was reported and even today hair-raising stories are invented about the bunker and its use.
The decades-long secrecy to this former military object, which was used in 3 different forms of government, lets the rumor mill still bubble strongly up to the present.
In the meantime, all the important facts about the bunker are known and the secret of the "Fuchsbau" finally solved.
At the Fürstenwalde site was located until 1990 the underground main command post of the air defense of the GDR with the tactical designation "Zentraler Gefechtsstand-14" - ZGS-14, popularly known as "Fuchsbau".
This belonged to the NVA Air Forces/Air Defense Command.
In the midst of the Rauener mountains not far from Berlin the information of the military air control was worked on here daily strictly secretly and led with it the anti-aircraft missiles and interceptors of the constant combat readiness.
More than 350 men and women, mainly professional soldiers and long-serving personnel, belonged to the office.
In the event of war, the air defense of the GDR would have been commanded from here by Colonel General Reinhold.

 

 

D-Sat satellite photo of the "Fuchsbau" near Fürstenwalde from an altitude of over 200 km.
The red circle marks the exclusion zone with the bunkers.
The barracks object is marked here in green.
Yellow marks the area with the remains of the concentration camp.
In the 2 connected bunkers were no weapons,but extensive electronic systems installed.
The northern part of the complex dates partly from before 1945 and was built in tubular construction.
In the vernacular, the object has since been known as the "Fuchsbau".
Until the end of the war in 1945, the Waffen-SS command intelligence regiment 500 used this bunker.
Starting in 1960, the object was reconstructed.
A transmission office of the post office first moved into the new galleries.
The air defense of the GDR operates here an alarm center for all sirens on GDR territory.
The NVA air defense takes over the bunker from 1962 and builds again in 1975 in the south.
The new building is completed in 1977 and cost 17 million GDR marks.
It resembles a large concrete box of 44x38 m with several floors.In it, the for 80 mill.
GDR marks from the Soviet Union imported new digital guidance system "ALMAS" installed.

With up to 13 m earth coverage, the structure is safely protected against tactical nuclear weapons at that time.
Over 24 hours could be worked completely hermetically from the outside world.Stored supplies allowed up to 20 days of combat work with over 200 people.
In the fall of 1978, the "Fuchsbau" Fürstenwalde bunker was filled with electronic equipment for the start of operations at the "ZGS-14" command post in the air defense system of the Warsaw Treaty states.
The older part of the bunker housed the radio control center, a post office transmission center, and the NVA's Central Aeronautical Meteorological Station, which was equipped with the most modern satellite reception and image processing systems at the time.
After reunification, the Bundeswehr continued to use the facility until 1994.