Drivers' Bunker Surprise discovery in the former Death Strip

Behind the guards' quarters on “Herman-Goering-Strasse”, now Ebertstrasse, there was a large underground garage where the New Reich Chancellery's motor pool was parked and serviced. In the winter of 1943/44, the garage was augmented with a small bunker to protect the chauffeurs, as at this point normal air-raid shelters were not considered safe. There was space for about around 40 people in the eight small bunker rooms. During the final battle for Berlin, considerable stocks of munitions – mainly hand grenades, Panzerfaeuste (rocket launchers) and infantry munitions – were stored here.

In contrast to the Fuerher Bunker, the Driver's Bunker remained untouched for decades, for among other reasons, because the entrance was buried by a direct hit during the battle for the government quarter and because after the construction of the Berlin Wall from the 13th of August 1961, it lay in the middle of the border strip.

The bunker was not discovered again until 1990, whilst munitions excavation and disposal work was being carried out in preparation for the open-air concert, “The Wall”. Particularly the wall paintings, which idealized Nazi ideology, drew worldwide attention. In 1992 and 1996 the bunker was investigated and measured by the regional archaeological authority under the leadership of Alfred Kernd’l, along with members of the Berlin Underworlds Association.

The recovered artefacts, on loan from the Museum of Pre- and Early History, along with photographs of the interior of the structure can be seen in the Berlin Underworlds Museum as part of the tour 1.