Bunkers
There are 2 bunkers in the immediate neighbourhood of the 2 lighthouses. The smaller, older bunker dates from Wehrmacht times and, in GDR days, housed an outpost of the 6th (Coastal) Border Brigade. It is generally called the Arkona Bunker.
The larger, newer bunker was built from 1979 to 1986 and acted as a command post for the Sixth Flotilla, stationed on Bug, and the Baltic Fleet (VOF). Starting from a main central tunnel with two entrances, there are several autonomous individual bunkers with a total area of 2,000 square metres. They comprise three large bunkers (type FB-75) and nine small ones (type FB-3), made of prefabricated concrete elements (FB = prefabricated bunker). The FB-75 type bunker had an intermediate floor level, where the sleeping areas were located, and an emergency exit. Each individual shelter has a main corridor and two airlocks. Over the top is a 3-5 metre high earth covering, from which protrude dozens of ventilation tubes.
In 1985, on the 30th anniversary of the National People's Army (NVA), an aerial photograph of Cape Arkona, with the bunker complex in the background, was publicised in the picture book Soldaten des Volkes ("Soldiers of the People"). The bunkers were uncamouflaged. How the photograph was allowed to appear in this book is not clear, but it was withdrawn from circulation again just three days after its publication. A later edition of the illustrated book was published with the aerial image omitted. Today, the original picture book is a collector's piece.
From 1986, 50-70 soldiers of the Volksmarine ("People's Navy") were on duty here for two to three days, three to four times a year, as part of naval exercises. The standard complement was four men. On 3 October 1990, the day of German reunification, the site was closed.
The bunkers were purchased and successively renovated by the municipality of Putgarten. The Arkona Bunker now houses an art gallery and the NVA Bunker an exhibition of GDR fittings and equipment as well as a series of photographs on the Volksmarine.
Read more about this topic: Cape Arkona