The Valentin memorial preserves the remains of a concrete bunker from the Second World War for building submarines on the river Weser near Bremen. In just twenty months – from summer 1943 to spring 1945 – a shipyard was constructed with the intention it would build two new submarines a week to attack Atlantic convoys. Up to 10,000 civilian forced labourers worked on the construction. Approximately 2,000 died as a result of the physically strenuous work, inadequate care and inhumane living conditions. However, air raids prevented completion and no submarine was ever built.
In 2011, the bunker became a memorial. A path begins at the ‘Extermination through Work’ monument and runs for 1.5 kilometres through the grounds and into the concrete bunker, which is 33 metres high and 426 metres long – the size of four football fields. An Information Centre on the south side of the bunker has visual displays and gives out a multimedia guide in German or English to use while walking around.
Valentin Submarine Bunker Memorial
Denkort Bunker Valentin
Rekumer Siel
28777 Bremen
Germany
+49 (0) 421 - 69673670
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