Military Museums on the Islands of Rügen and Usedom

[BansheeOne]

Spent the last week with brothers #4 and #7 on Rügen Island (got my legs so sunburned on day one I could hardly walk for two more, then got a bad cold when the wheather changed - go figure). I had planned to visit Peenemünde on neighbouring Usedom from the start, but was rather surprised at finding quite a few more spots of military interest.

 

Peenemünde, past as present, is a rather remote location, being situated on the tip of Usedom Island that's furthest from the access via bridge at Wolgast (direct ferry links seem to exist, but were unable to find one while there). Of the actual Third Reich rocket test site, little remains as most installations were demolished post-WW II, and I understand there's nothing more to be seen on the beach to the casual observer. There is however a museum located in and around the site's former power station, which remained active until 1990.

 

It's not really much of a "hands-on" museum as far as activities on site are concerned; other than an unrelated display of East German jet fighters, helicopters and AA missiles outside, the only major exhibits are a V 1 and V 2 plus various remains of other guided bombs and missiles tested here, and a couple of leftover internal parts. They intend to create a "time island" with various WW II stuff including a V 1 launch catapult in a space that for now only houses an electric train that was used to shuttle personnel on site.

 

 

 

However, it is an excellent documentation center, displaying loads of contemporary documents and media, making much use of video of both original footage and witness accounts, and substituting models for installations gone, all arranged rather fetchingly. While some original English documents appear and explanatory tables are bilingual, you should have knowledge of German for full access.

 

Cast against a background of general history, the exhibition starts with the early development of German rocketry (with side nods to other pioneers like Tsiolkovsky and Goddard) and the intentions of developers and supporters, both peaceful and military - the latter aspect appearingly having existed earlier, or at least used to sell concepts, earlier than I was aware of. We proceed to see the takeover by the military, the development of the Peenemünde test site and much details of activities, personnel and life on site. Considerable room also being given to the use of forced labor and KZ workers, actual use of the "V-Waffen" and the propaganda surrounding them. It ends with the use of German rocket technology by the Allies and further development of rocketry and ultimately spaceflight post-war.

 

 

Continued in next post.

[BansheeOne]

Also part of the museum and unrelated to the main topic is a laid-up ex-DDR-Volksmarine Tarantul 1-class missile corvette that's accessible at the main deck level:

 

 

Admittance is € 6 for adults, photo and video permit another € 2.50. They also sell € 11 "combi-tickets" that include access to the "Phänomenta" display next door that contains lots of little funny experiments on basic physical principles to try out yourself. Good idea if you bring kids, plan about two hours.

 

A couple hundred meters down the quai, but separate from the museum, is a honest-to-God ex-Soviet Juliett-class SSG on display:

 

 

Also sports a funny little DSRV that looks like it was welded together from old drums in some garage, but for all I know is probably real. As per usual, this sucker is a lot smaller from the inside than from the outside, especially since there's ample room between the outer and pressure hull due to the location of the Argument AShMs. These are the impressions entering at the bow with the machinery for the forward planes and proceeding through the forward torpedo room to the CIC with sonar room next to it:

 

 

Continued in next post.

[BansheeOne]

Shots forward and aft in CIC with helm and dive board, and a look into engineering:

 

 

Admittance is again € 6 with another € 1 for a photo permit.

 

For more submarine madness, also visit former HMS Otus in the port of Sassnitz on Rügen:

 

 

More to follow, but probably not before the weekend as I'm off to Berlin checking out a job opportunity.

[BansheeOne]

Cape Arkona is mostly known as the picturesque northeastermost point of Germany, its historic twin lighthouses being a much-used postcard motive. However, the site also contains the remains of an 8th century fortified sanctuary of Rügen's original Slavic settlers (destroyed in 1068 during the forcible Christianization of the island), a 1938 bunker and another bunker complex built 1978-1986 to house the combat HQ of the Volksmarine's 6th Flotilla as well as a Soviet fleet detachment in wartime. Overview of the site with the partially excavated bunker tubes visible behind the 19th century lighthouse by Schinkel from the latter's more modern replacement and the grown-over fort walls behind the navy observation tower to the opposite direction:

 

 

Guided tours of about 45 minutes to the NVA bunker complex are available for € 6. In truth there's not much to see inside, since it was stripped of most equipment and internal partitions were removed for asbestos contamination post-reunification. All that remains are some random pieces of communication gear, uniforms and flags, plus information tables on the Volksmarine and its vessels.

 

Most of the value you get is from the giggles about this masterpiece of socialist planning: Basically they dug a hole into the sand, put the bunker modules in and filled it back up. Then they found that ground water was seeping in, so they dug it back up, installed a drainage ring and poured in more concrete to raise the room floors by 20 cm. The corridors thus ended up at about 175-178 cm height so that any average-sized male can only amble along in an Igoresque style (visitors can wear either construction-type or NVA helmets), and the sanitary installations at kiddie height above the floor. The bunker walls are a mere 12-20 cm of concrete buried under a couple meters of sand, power and air supply being located above ground. The installation was meant to be a secret, but by accident appeared with various internal shots and an artist's impression of the whole site in an 80s book about the NVA that was only removed from stores after a number of copies had already been sold ...

 

 

You have to park cars about two kilometers away from Cape Arkona and either walk or take the little road-train there. Quite honestly the place is a tourist trap with the matching prices for food and any sight you might want to enter. There's a combination ticket available at the foghorn station that today houses a small museum on the German Society for the Rescue of the Shipwrecked, which allows you to access everything on site for € 10, but we for our part didn't find it worth it.

[BansheeOne]

Finally, there's Prora on the East coast of Rügen, which is not so much a town as what became of the 1930s plans to create a large-scale seaside resort under the "Strength through Joy" program - IOW the Nazi idea of mass tourism:

 

 

The above is a model of what would have been in a museum located inside this monstrosity today. Never completed, the complex still covers four kilometers of beach today. Post-war it was used by the NVA, in part again as a recreational facility, but also housing a technical school, a foreign officers college and the elite Air Assault Regiment 40 "Willi Sänger" among other units. Today most of it is empty and detoriating, the rest being occupied by various museums and a discotheque. One of the museums is dedicated to the installation itself and supposed to be very interesting, but we went to the above-mentioned one instead since it is advertized as an NVA museum among other things.

 

In fact it's a curiously disorganized exhibition of various fields of the DDR - like motorbikes and electronics - as well as general aspects of Rügen. I gotta say though that the carelesness towards the vistor with which it is arranged reflects the spirit of East Germany rather well ...

 

Two levels are dedicated to the NVA, with one being a rather faithful recreation of a company's quarters. You get to look into the various rooms only through bars (which is explained by insurance issues and exhibits being provided by private collectors) though, the exhibits are displayed without much explanation, and the numerous uniforms are all covered with plastic wrappers. There are however individual interesting details, like the 1980s cutting-edge Eastern technology tank gunnery simulator installation built upon BASIC-programmed Robotron computers ...

 

 

Admittance again € 6 with photo permit another € 1, but we were simply waived on the latter when we bought three tickets.

 

Nearby, but not part of the complex, is also a Rail and Road Vehicle Museum with a collection of historic cars, fire and railway engines (as well as a lonely MiG-21 and a glider plane). Probably the most impressive pieces are a streamlined 1930s Borsig and a Soviet P 36 steam engine (the latter based heavily upon an American model supplied under Lend-Lease AIUI).

 

[Corinthian]

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing.

[Pachy]

That 6-wheel Trabi pickup is just plain sexy.

[Dave Clark]

More to follow, but probably not before the weekend as I'm off to Berlin checking out a job opportunity.

 

How did the interview go?

[Ssnake]

That 6-wheel Trabi pickup is just plain sexy.

Isn't it a Skoda?

[BansheeOne]

How did the interview go?

 

Rather well. A friend of mine has quit his job as an assistant to an MP on the Bundestag's defense committee and recommended me to his boss as a successor. Currently waiting to hear about a final appointment for signing the contract next week. Unless another candidate appears out of the blue I should be in, but remain cautious until I have the papers in hand.

[Dave Clark]

Rather well. A friend of mine has quit his job as an assistant to an MP on the Bundestag's defense committee and recommended me to his boss as a successor. Currently waiting to hear about a final appointment for signing the contract next week. Unless another candidate appears out of the blue I should be in, but remain cautious until I have the papers in hand.

 

Brilliant! Now we can set up a Berlin Tanknet cell!

[BansheeOne]

Yes we can. Just signed the contract, will start on August 13th. Have my first appointment to eye a potential appartment tomorrow.

 

Somebody actually hired me to advise on defense policy. This country is in so much trouble.

[KingSargent]

Somebody actually hired me to advise on defense policy. This country is in so much trouble.

Yes, but you have an outstanding advisory board....

[BansheeOne]

BTT to avoid pruning.