A massive former Nazi bunker in Hamburg, Germany, that was deemed too complex to demolish has been transformed into a luxury hotel hub filled with restaurants, a concert hall and a rooftop terrace.

Germany’s aging and decrepit bunker network is in need a major overhaul, according to the head of the federal agency tasked with nationwide civil protection in case of an attack.

The challenge The Hamburg bunker was one of eight flak towers – above-ground anti-aircraft bunkers which doubled as air raid shelters - which Germany built after British air raids on Berlin in 1940.

Visitors flocked to the once top-secret bunker of Erich Honecker and other leaders of former East Germany as it opened to the public on Friday, almost 19 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Dortmund is home to Germany's largest civil bunker system—the so-called "Tiefstollenanlage" or "Luftschutzstollen" system, which is about 65 feet beneath the surface and extends roughly 3 miles.

In Germany, it’s no big deal. Can you imagine an 1,100-pound unexploded bomb being unearthed by construction crews breaking ground on a Manhattan skyscraper? Newsletters Games Share a News Tip ...

In the days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 Bunkers Shelters Systems Germany (BSSD), a company in Berlin, began to receive as many as 1,000 calls a day from prospective clients.

Germany’s aging and decrepit bunker network is in need a major overhaul, according to the head of the federal agency tasked with nationwide civil protection in case of an attack.

Germany only has 580 bunkers, many of them not operational, the newspaper report said. That number is down from nearly 2,000 that existed during the Cold War.

Germany only has 580 bunkers, many of them not operational, the newspaper report said. That number is down from nearly 2,000 that existed during the Cold War.