Civil defense: bunker or underground car park? – Civil protection debate in Germany

Russia attacks Ukraine with drone and missile attacks. People seek shelter in subway stations and basements. Against this background, the state of civil defense is constantly being discussed in Germany. Are there enough shelters? Do bunkers have to be built? An overview of the current debate.

What is the specific reason for the discussion?

The current debate is prompted by recent threats from Russian President Vladimir Putin. After Russia fired a new medium-range missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, he simultaneously threatened supporters of Ukraine with possible missile attacks.

“We believe we have the right to use our weapons against military objects of countries that allow their weapons to be used against objects in our country,” he said. “In the event of an escalation of aggressive actions, we will act resolutely in a mirror image.” “Bild” then reported on a “national bunker plan” that is now being worked on in Germany.

How many bunkers and shelters do we actually have?

According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, there are currently 579 of the original 2,000 public shelters in Germany with around 480,000 shelter spaces. After the end of the Cold War, hardly anyone believed that there was a real risk of war in Germany. Existing systems were sold or in some cases allowed to fall into disrepair. In 2007 it was decided to wind down the public shelters. The process was initially stopped in March 2022 – after the start of the Ukraine war.

And what has happened since then?

According to the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK), an inventory of the existing shelters has begun. The structural condition – such as ventilation systems and doors – and which rooms could be used again were and are being checked. Planning is currently underway for a “national shelter concept” (bunker plan).

According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, a joint federal and state working group is discussing this. According to a spokesman, it is unclear when something concrete will be available here. This is a big project and will take some time.

What could be in this concept?

The Federal Ministry of the Interior has roughly outlined this: It is therefore about recording buildings, including private properties, that can be used as public places of refuge as systematically as possible. These include underground car parks, subway stations and basements. A database is to be created from this so that citizens can find the nearest place of protection using warning and map services on their smartphones.

“Recommendations for action on structural improvement” of cellars and corresponding information campaigns for citizens are also planned. The point is that the premises must be quickly accessible to people, said the spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior.

Will there be a large-scale bunker construction?

It doesn’t sound like that. A federal government report from February of this year refers, among other things, to the “Civil Defense Concept” from 2016. It states: The comprehensive provision of public shelters is not feasible “and, in view of events with a short or no warning time, only very limited in its ability to provide sufficient protective effects.”

It sounds similar in an expert report discussed at the Interior Ministers’ Conference in the summer, from which the “Spiegel” quoted, among others: “Centrally located public shelters are necessary against modern precision weapons that specifically destroy individual war-relevant objects and whose attack only leaves a few minutes’ warning time “Not an appropriate protective measure for several hundred or thousand people.”

BBK President Ralph Tiesler pointed out that in the past there had “never been more shelters than three percent of the population.” Representatives of the traffic light coalition such as Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) had advocated investing primarily in warning infrastructure, emergency power generators, emergency fountains, mobile accommodation for the temporary accommodation and care of people and in the ability to defend against IT attacks and the structural protection of critical infrastructure .

What is it like in other countries?

Poland announced in the spring that it would build bunkers and trenches on its border with Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. When it comes to civil protection, the focus is always on Russia’s neighboring country and new NATO member Finland: Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) looked at bunker facilities there.

In Finland, with a population of 5.5 million, there are 50,500 bunkers providing shelter for five million people. The facilities date back to the Cold War era. The bunkers in the capital Helsinki alone have space for 900,000 people, more than the city’s population.