Misc. Sites Pt. 7

Miscellaneous Sites

Associated with the Third Reich

Part 7

The following sites can be found on this page: Wusterhausen an der Dosse (Brandenburg); Lienz (Tyrol, Austria), Geretsried (Bavaria), Deiningen Muna (Bavaria), Heuberg Airfield (Bavaria), Carinhall (Brandenburg), Ravensbrück (Brandenburg), Dinkelsbühl (Bavaria), Rothenburg ob der Tauber (Bavaria).


Adolf Hitler Platz (town square) of Wusterhausen an der Dosse, from a 1930s postcard. Note the large swastika on the front of the Rathaus (town hall).


Hotel Post in Lienz, Tyrol, Austria, from a 1942-dated postcard. Note the Norwegian, Nazi, Austrian, French, and Swiss flags hanging from the hotel. The buildings remain hardly changed today, but the hotel is now the Altstadthotel Eck.

Geretsried

A large factory area for the manufacture of explosives and munitions was established along the Isar River at Geretsried, south of Munich, in 1938-41. This was actually two separate projects, codenamed "Tal I" and "Tal II," the northern part ("Tal I") used for the manufacture of high explosives and fuses, while the southern part ("Tal II") was used mainly for munitions assembly and storage. After the war most of the factory buildings and bunkers were destroyed, but some of the buildings are in use today for other purposes, and several bunker ruins remain. Shown here are the ruins of Bunker 356, for the manufacture of picric acid, a high explosive filler for artillery shells. This bunker ruin is commonly known today as the "Blauer Bunker" due to the predominant color of its graffiti. (Period references sometimes refer to this explosives factory area as Wolfratshausen, because it was built in the Wolfratshausen forest, but the area is today part of Geretsried.) (Google Maps Link)


The southern area, "Tal II," had a bunker area for the storage of the munitions that were manufactured nearby - a Muna - Munitionsanstalt. Like "Tal I," it was largely destroyed after the war, but many bunker ruins remain. Representative of these is Bunker 4, seen here. (Check the Contents Page for links to other Munas found on the "Third Reich in Ruins" page.) (Google Maps Link)


The Muna bunker area of "Tal II" includes the ruins of this blown-up concrete guard shelter. This bunker was of a style similar to the "Moll Bunkers," but it was meant for only one man. (Google Maps Link)

Deiningen and Flugplatz Heuberg


A small ammunition storage area associated with a temporary airfield was built in 1944 near Deiningen in the Schwabian region of Bavaria. Five ammunition bunker ruins and the original entry gate pillars remain in the wooded area. These bunkers were blown up by the U.S. Army after the war. (Google Maps Link)


A grass airfield complex was built in 1934-36 and enlarged in 1944-45 for planned aircraft production, outside the small village of Heuberg near Oettingen in Bayern (not far from the Deiningen site). Some of the airfield sites have been preserved, along with a monument (2007) and interpretive marker (2010). The circular concrete platform seen above served as a base for calibrating aircraft navigational instruments. The concrete columns shown below are the remains of a large loading dock building on the north side of the site. (above - Google Maps Link; below - Google Maps Link)


The command and control complex was located at the southeast side of the site. Several of the period buildings have been renovated and are still in use. A small concrete guard bunker can be found at one entrance to the site. (Google Maps Link)


A small ammunition storage area was located at the south side of the airfield. This site consisted of two above-ground brick storage buildings and two earth-covered Muna-style bunkers. The Muna-style bunker shown above had its doorway broken out to enlarge the entrance, but the other bunker below is almost intact, including the outer solid metal bunker doors and the inner metal mesh screen doors. This bunker also had a small room in the back corner, perhaps for working with fuses. (Google Maps Link)

Carinhall

Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring built a country estate in the Schorfheide forest north of Berlin, naming it for his first wife Carin, who had died in 1931 (the name is sometimes given as Karinhall).
Originally envisaged as a rustic hunting lodge, Carinhall gradually grew into a grandiose residence, as shown above (although the complex was never completed to the state seen here).
The buildings were blown up by Göring's order in April 1945, and the ruins were later cleared by the East German government. (plan by architect Friedrich Hetzelt, Haus der Deutschen Kunst)


The only visible remains of Carinhall today are two buildings and gate houses flanking the entry road (including crests showing Reichsmarschall batons and oak leaves), piles of concrete, marble, and tile rubble where the house stood, holes in the ground that reveal basement spaces beneath, and part of the air raid tunnel, which led under the house to an emergency exit on the lake behind (seen on the left below). (Google Maps Link)

Ravensbrück Concentration Camp


KZ-Lager Ravensbrück, north of Berlin, was founded by the SS in 1939 to house female prisoners. Above, SS chief Heinrich Himmler visits the camp in 1940 or 1941. The scene has changed some but is still recognizable. On the left below is one of the SS officer's houses which has been restored. On the right below are the concentration camp ovens. (Google Maps Link)

Dinkelsbühl Third Reich Buildings


The building above, on Koppengaße in the old Bavarian town of Dinkelsbühl, was used during the Third Reich period as a Hitler Jugend Heim. The building below was built ca. 1937 as a school for workshop managers of the National Socialist Flyers Corps (located on Rudolf Schmidt Straße; now used by the city services). (Google Maps Link (above), Google Maps Link (below)

Rothenburg ob der Tauber


17 April 1945 - Soldiers of Company B, 4th Regiment, U.S. 4th Infantry Division, leave the famous medieval city of Rothenburg ob der Tauber by the Spitaltor gate on the south side of the city. (U.S. National Archives, RG111SC-336324, courtesy Digital History Archive) (Google Maps Link)

Go to the War Memorials page

Back to the Third Reich in Ruins homepage