A real estate developer wants to turn the former galleries of the Nazi concentration camp Langenstein-Zwieberge, an annex of Buchenwald, into a luxury bunker. This underground city would serve as a shelter in the event of a climate “disaster”, much to the chagrin of the defenders of the memory of the site.
Near the mass grave of the deportees, a small metal plaque indicates a presence under the grass. Having left “a part of his youth” in it field German, French Louis Bertrand he wanted to be buried.
In Langenstein-Zwieberge, an annex of Buchenwald, this resistance fighter arrested by the Nazis in August 1944 dug, like more than 7,000 political prisoners, tunnels destined to become a weapons production site underground.
These galleries were acquired in several stages starting in 2019 by the German real estate agent Peter Jugl. Today he wants to return to a giant luxury bunker that would serve as a shelter in case of a climatic “disaster”, to the great dismay of the defenders of the memory of the site.
On his website titled “BunkerCoin, the largest private bunker project in the world”, Peter Jugl is eyeing potential investors.
Featuring “hospitals, schools, workshops, casinos, bars and spas”, this underground city with “artificial sunrises and sunsets” would have “luxury yacht-like rooms, offering great comfort in a limited space, including views simulated externals.” “BunkerCoin” also shows illustrations of the restaurants, gym and cinema that are expected to be built there.
An “inappropriate” project.
In a short telephone interview with AFP, Petru Jugl estimated that “these underground galleries have nothing to do with the camp located two kilometers away”, where the memorial to the deportees is located.
A statement that explodes the association of the descendants of the prisoners, originating from 23 different countries, bringing together dozens of people from many countries, including Jean-Louis Bertrand, son of Louis.
“The tunneling was the ‘raison d’être’ of the camp,” the association wrote in a statement. “It is unthinkable to separate the two components of this whole, and therefore ignore the tunnel,” he adds.
The owner of the tunnels, who, according to the weekly Der Spiegel, has connections with the German extreme right, says he has “good relations” with the Foundation that manages the memorial, located about 200 km from Berlin.
Its director, Gero Fedtke, acknowledges that Peter Jugl has so far allowed him access to the galleries.
On the other hand, he rejects his project as “inappropriate in terms of historical heritage”.
In the former camp, “practically no trace remains of the Nazi era. In the gallery, it is different. It would be wise, from the point of view of the pedagogy of the memorial, to make accessible “most of it. “, Gero Fedtke told AFP. During his lifetime, Louis Bertrand also requested that a kilometer-long “memory ring” be installed in these galleries, says his 72-year-old son.
“Their goal is to make money”
During the Cold War, the tunnels served as an ammunition warehouse for the GDR army, then after reunification, they were used temporarily by the German army, before being sold, following the disintegration of the communist state, to private investors.
Among these Investors, Peter Jugl, head of Global Project Management (GPM), a company located near Leipzig, specialized in the acquisition of “problem properties” and with various projects: residential buildings, student hostels, hotels, etc. .
The businessman, also manager of a luxury hotel, according to Der Spiegel, informed the regional state of Saxony-Anhalt, responsible for the heritage, that he could sell the galleries to him. However, according to several consistent sources, he will have to ask for 8 million euros after paying 1.3 million euros for them.
Asked by AFP, the Saxony-Anhalt government said it wanted “free and lasting access to the tunnel”, as did the descendants of the deportees. Regional Culture Minister Rainer Robra wrote to the German Defense and Interior Ministers about Peter Jugl’s plans at the end of October.
Der Spiegel says that Rainer Robra has asked Berlin for financial help to buy the land. With his post-apocalyptic survival project, Jean-Louis Bertrand suspects that the entrepreneur will actually want to raise the income to resell his property: “His goal, I believe, is to make money.”