The Big 10 Hochbunker Bicycle Tour

Well, to start with it wasn't really a big tour, it was only 24 km. The big part was the number of hochbunkers I was able to round up on this loop through Munich. For several months now, I have been tracking the hochbunkers down that  remain from WWII. They were built in the early 1940's to offer protection during air raids.

In one fell swoop Janos and I cycled to and photographed ten of these structures, two in downtown Munich and the rest a little further east from the center of the city. It was a sunny Sunday morning - again! - and we took advantage of the quiet streets for the ride in the center of Munich which is usually a traffic chaos.

We couldn't find the first hochbunker on my list because I had marked it incorrectly on my map. Funny how these dominating structures can remain hidden like that. Eventually we did find it, then stopped for coffee, and the second one wasn't far off.

1. First sighting today, on Hotterstrasse. LS special structure No. 32. A four-storey, rectangular building with a wall thickness of 2.2 meters. During the night of October 2 to October 3, 1943, several people died in the bunker during an air raid. Bomb explosions next to the building caused pressure waves which broke through the gas-tight doors. After the war the bunker was used as a shelter for refugees. Is still the property of the federal government and is currently for sale.
2. Coffee and croissant
3. Our second bunker for the day, on Blumenstrasse. LS special structure no. 8, a detached six-storey square building with a wall thickness of 1.3 m and a ceiling thickness of 2 m, located next to the Schrannenhalle; It is still in use as civil defense.

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For the next two bunkers, we wove our way through downtown streets we never otherwise ride. So nice to discover our town's different little neighborhoods.

1. This one on Claude-Lorrain-Strasse resembled another bunker we had visited weeks ago. LS special structure no. 15 , rebuilt in 2004 as a residential building.
2. Located on Quellenstrasse, next to a small stream running through a park, we found this bright pink bunker. LS special structure No. 11. Today it is used as a meeting place for youth groups.
   

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Our next destination was an ensemble of four towers, originally built as a shelter for a factory producing explosives and munition. After the war the bunkers housed the Zündapp factory which produced a popular motorcycle. In 1984, Zündapp went bankrupt and the buildings were taken over by other companies. Some are still under renovation. The whole complex was rather confusing. It was hard to discern what was an old hochbunker, what was hidden behind a new facade layer and what was new. I took several pictures but wasn't always sure what I was taking pictures of.
At home I was able to figure it out.

1. Factory high bunker, east corner tower of the "Factory Munich", founded in 1929 Dynamit AG. Armament operation for infantry projectiles and detonators. 9000 workers. From 1950 Zündapp factory. Ensemble of 4 towers with 6 above-ground floors.
2. Factory high bunker, middle tower of the "Factory Munich", today hidden by a new building.
3. Factory bunker, west corner tower of the "Factory Munich"
4. Factory high bunker, middle tower of the "Factory Munich", today accomodating an observatory on its roof. In 1946 a group of six hobby astronomers constructed a six square meters platform on the roof of the former air raid shelter where they installed their modest 50mm telescope. In the meantme, it has become the largest observatory in Germany.  The observatory now has an 80cm telescope and receives over 20,000 visitors a year.
   

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And now on to a more resedential section of Munich, Berg am Laim, where we found our second-to-last hochbunker for the day, located on Sonnwendjochstrasse. From there we headed home, and hit one more bunker that I had seen before without realizing what it was because the facade had been covered over. That was in the beginning of my project when my eye had not yet been sharpened to recognize these structures.

1. LS special structure No. 7. Four-storey octagonal tower. The ground floor and first floor are accessible via the natural stone staircase.
2. Corner bunker for the model settlement  "New South City"; six-storey square tower. Badly damaged during the war. Facade covering added in post war years to blend it in with the subsequent modern housing in the neighborhood.
   

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And that was it for today. I have two more bunkers on my list and that will be the end of the project.

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