Gazing up at the Hochbunker in Poppelsdorf, one can’t help but wonder about the stories hidden within its thick walls. This imposing structure, a blend of above-ground bunker and subterranean tunnels, was erected in 1941. The Hochbunker served as an air-raid shelter during World War II. Later, it was repurposed as student housing. During the Cold War, it was maintained in readiness. Then in 2006, it became the base for a residential building.
Bonn was designated a “Luftschutzort 1. Klasse” during bunker planning in 1940. This meant it was a priority location for air raid shelters. The Reich financed 14 large shelters in Bonn and Beuel. These shelters aimed to provide at least 12,000 spaces of the highest protection. That number increased to 15,000 after converting sleeping spaces to sitting spaces in 1944.
The Hochbunker on Trierer Straße was one of five bunkers completed by mid-1941. Construction took about six months each. A third of the construction workers were French prisoners of war. They came from the Stalag VI G in Bonn-Duisdorf.
The Hochbunker is built into the side of the Kreuzberg. It extends 20 meters into the slope. Additionally, two 44-meter-long tunnels were dug into the hillside. Air raid tunnels offered cheaper protection than concrete bunkers. The earth layer above had to be 6 to 15 meters thick. Besides the Poppelsdorf bunker, similar hillside tunnels were dug at the Dransdorf hospital bunker. The Poppelsdorf tunnels are 3.50 meters wide with 60 cm thick brick walls. These tunnels were once divided into cells. The bunker itself has steel-reinforced concrete walls up to 4.70 meters thick. The ceilings are 1.40 meters thick. It had 105 sleeping and 724 sitting spaces. The Hochbunker remained undamaged during Allied air raids.
After the war, the Hochbunker wasn’t demolished. It was intended to house the Bonn city administration in case of renewed military conflict. Soon after the University of Bonn reopened, the bunker was converted into student housing. Housing was scarce in Bonn after the war. Bombing raids had destroyed 95% of the housing in the city center. The population increased from 50,000 at the end of the war to 100,000 by the summer of 1946. Students had to prove they had accommodation before enrolling.
Male students lived in the “Wohngemeinschaft Poppelsdorf e. V.”. Student dorms were rare at the time. Bonn used three bunkers as student housing. These were in Beuel, on Theaterstraße, and here in Poppelsdorf. Housing students in former air raid shelters was a “cultural-historical curiosity”. The bunkers were self-managed by the residents.
Students lived in single or double rooms in the Poppelsdorf Hochbunker. Exam candidates got the single rooms. There was one washing room for all residents. Rent in the windowless Hochbunker was low, between 8 and 15 DM per month. The temperature inside was a constant eight to ten degrees Celsius. Warm air was regularly blown through the ventilation pipes. Many students used electric heaters year-round. Residents had to connect their own electricity to the main lines in the hallways. According to the house rules, female visitors were not allowed between 11 PM and 8 AM. Sometimes, dances were held on the bunker roof in the summer.
In the fall of 2022, the Hochbunker received a new look. Street artist Case Ma’Claim painted the facade. It now features a winter landscape with a frozen lake and people ice skating. It is based on a 17th-century Dutch landscape painting. The Hans Riegel Foundation funded the project. They aim to make art visible to as many people as possible. The Hochbunker stands as a testament to Bonn’s resilience.