The Bunker Valentin in Bremen-Farge has been our destination on Wednesday, August 17th. The team of the IF-IS offered this tour which let us think and re-think about the past (World War II, but also later on), the present and (our) future.
So we took the bus to Farge… and from then on Henrike and Ima told us about some things I havn’t been aware of. Thank you very much!
The trip has become part of the summer studies program, because from the organisers‘ point of view, it’s important to reflect the relation between technology and responsibility. Therefore the visit of the submarine bunker ruins have clearly been a good opportunity to contemplate about our own responsibility as professionals in the tech field.
The former submarine bunker „Valentin“ is the second largest above ground bunker in Europe. It was built as an armament project. „Valentin“ is the ruin of a submarine dockyard, built for the Nazi marine in WWII. During the years 1943 and 1945 there were imprisoned thousands of persons from all over Europe, forced to built the bunker.
More than 1100 of them died during the constructions from starvation, illness, and arbitrary killings.
The bunker is the most visible legacy of three major Nazi armament projects, placed in the villages of Bremen-Farge and Neuenkirchen, that have transformed a predominantly agricultural region along the river Weser since the mid-1930s. Several facilities were built in preparation for war. The existing infrastructure and labor camp were utilized for the submarine bunker “Valentin“ beginning in mid 1943.
Little evidence remains today of the original fuel depot projects of the 1930s, the camps or the massive construction site. All that remains is the bunker itself, an unmistakable icon of the Nazi war machinery.
However… the Allies were utterly aware of the existence of the construction site and observed it well. Finally they destroyed it before a single submarine could have been built.
More information:
The Submarine Bunker „Valentin“: www.denkort-bunker-
After the guided tour the group went to the café „Erlesenes“ at Kito in Bremen-Vegesack for a coffee break. There were some interesting thoughts exchanged, of course partially based on the impressions we had during the tour.
More information:
KITO / Café „Erlesenes“: www.das-wesercafe.de/index.php?article_id=2
The bus trip and guided tours were free of charge. Thanks to them who support this by providing funding :-)
Maria