Travel: Berlin Unterwelten Humboldthain Flak Tower

Mrs Foodie has nagged, OK hinted at a tour with Berlin Unterwelten for so long, so we got ourselves organised and booked two tours! Our first was inside Humboldthain flak tower and the other tour was Fichte-bunker.

Its free to walk around and visit the top of Humboldthain flak tower, but you’ll want to go inside. It really is amazing. Even if you aren’t into WWII history, the structure and the view is worth a trip.

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Where is it

In Humboldthain Park beside Gesundbrunnen U & S Bahn station (So it’s easy to reach by public transport). As a WWII bonus, there are two single person bunkers standing in front of the U-bahnhof Gesundbrunnen.

The History

The Humboldthain Flak Tower was built between October 1941 and April 1942 and is estimated to have cost 90 million Marks to build!

The site consists of a large gun tower and a smaller command tower to the South.

The towers walls were 2 meters thick and the tower an impressive 7 stories high. As well as a defensive piece the tower was also used as an air raid shelter and could hold around 10-15,000 people .

Between 1947 and 1948 attempts were made to blow up the tower, with the Southern part of the tower destroyed, but the North refusing to budge.

The destroyed part was covered with rubble in the 1950’s with a memorial and viewing platform constructed in the 1990’s.

Berlin Unterwelten Tour

Berlin Unterwelten is a research group which has been in operation since 1997. The group consists of academics, students, pensioners, members from all walks of like who are interested in Berlin’s underworld.

Since April 2004 Berlin Unterwelten have been leading groups on tours inside Humboldthain flak tower. Visitors get to walk through three of the seven stories. In amongst the twisted steel and concrete from the demolition attempts.

It’s not a trip for those unfit or easily spooked. There’s jagged concrete and a lot of climbing involved. But it really is worth it. Unfortunately no photographs are allowed, so We can’t show how stunning it is. Just think of that feeling of looking up to the ceiling of an ornate cathedral … only it’s possibly seconds from falling onto you!

Here are some images from our visit