Denkort Bunker Valentin

Top choice in Bremen City


In 1943, the Nazis started construction of a massive concrete bunker to build submarines in. At a planned production rate of 12 subs per month it was meant to be the German war machine's most important naval project. The largest free-standing bunker in Germany – around 426m long and 97m wide, up to 27m high and with 4.5m-thick walls – it was built by up to 12,000 slave-labourers from POW and concentration camps, under intensely cruel conditions; thousands died at the site.

Allied bombing badly damaged the bunker when it was 90% completed, just a month before the Germans surrendered; not a single submarine was ever built there, and today it stands as a symbol of the futility of war. It's an eerie, ruined place, with rainwater and sunlight leaking in through the bomb craters in the ceiling; it's made all the more haunting by the stories of survivors, which you can read about and listen to in a free audioguide, available in English (ID deposit required). A 1.5km-long path runs through and around the bunker, with the audioguide and English signage providing information at 25 stops.

To get there from Bremen, take the Regio-S-Bahn train RS1 to Farge (€2.80, 44 minutes, every 30 minutes), the last stop; from the station, cross the road and walk to the right to the bus stop. Take bus 90 four stops to Rekumer Siel and follow the sign down a side street. If you go in the morning you can stop in Vegesack on the way back to visit the Schulschiff Deutschland as well.

Transportation

  • bus: 90 to Rekumer Siel
  • train: RS1 to Farge

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Bremen City attractions

1. Schulschiff Deutschland

6.14 MILES

Maritime buffs will enjoy a trip out to the Bremen suburb of Vegesack to visit this historic 86m-length boat, launched in 1927 as a full-rigged training…

3. Prinzenpalais

13.18 MILES

This branch of Oldenburg’s Museum of Art & Cultural History focuses on German artists, beginning with romanticism and neoclassicism of the mid-19th…

4. Landesmuseum Natur und Mensch

13.2 MILES

This natural history museum showcases the ecology of Lower Saxony’s landscapes, including a huge section of peat bog with niches displaying some bog…

5. Augusteum

13.22 MILES

The Augusteum showcases European paintings – with a strong focus on Italian and Dutch masters – from the 15th to the 18th century. It opened in 1867 in a…

6. Hafenmuseum Speicher XI

13.74 MILES

This former harbour warehouse has a strong permanent exhibition focusing on Bremen’s maritime history and the hydraulic engineering work that made its…

7. Weserburg Museum für Moderne Kunst

15.58 MILES

Situated on an island in the Weser River across from the Schlachte promenade, this museum showcases works by German and international artists from private…

8. Mühle am Wall

15.73 MILES

The city’s typical Dutch windmill adds a rural flavour to the parkland tracing the part of town where Bremen’s city fortifications once were. It houses a…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "germany/bremen-city/attractions/denkort-bunker-valentin/a/poi-sig/1594591/1316498",
      "destination": "Bremen-City",
      "continent": "Europe",
      "country": "Germany",
      "city": "Bremen-City",
      "position": "superzone"
    }