Nuclear bunker opens as museum
An underground bunker designed to shelter the government of the former West Germany in case of nuclear war officially opened as a Cold War museum.
The bunker complex, which includes more than 10 miles of tunnel, is tucked into the rolling hills west of the former West German capital of Bonn. It originally was dug in 1903 as a train tunnel to France and expanded in World War II to hide rockets.
It was not until 1960 that work began on the bunker itself in Ahrweiler. By the time the $2.5-billion project was completed in 1972, it comprised 936 bedrooms, 897 offices and five small hospitals. If there had been a nuclear strike, it was equipped to provide for up to 3,000 people -- including the chancellor, president and other high officials -- for 30 days.
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