page_title: Air raid shelter
section_title: Hochbunker
hierarchical_section_title: Air raid shelter / World War II / Hochbunker
caption_attribution_description: English: Bunker of typ Winkel in Zossen-Wünsdorf in Brandenburg, Germany Deutsch: Luftschutzturm der Bauart Winkel in Zossen-Wünsdorf in Brandenburg, Deutschland
context_page_description: Air raid shelters, also known as bomb shelters, are structures for the protection of non-combatants as well as combatants against enemy attacks from the air. They are similar to bunkers in many regards, although they are not designed to defend against ground attack.
  Prior to World War II, in May 1924, an Air Raid Precautions Committee was set up in the United Kingdom. For years, little progress was made with shelters because of the apparently irreconcilable conflict between the need to send the public underground for shelter and the need to keep them above ground for protection against gas attacks. In February 1936 the Home Secretary appointed a technical Committee on Structural Precautions against Air Attack.
  By November 1937, there had only been slow progress, because of a serious lack of data on which to base any design recommendations and the Committee proposed that the Home Office should have its own department for research into structural precautions, rather than relying on research work done by the Bombing Test Committee to support the development of bomb design and strategy. This proposal was eventually implemented in January 1939.
context_section_description: Hochbunker(s), "high-rise" bunkers or blockhouses, were a peculiarly German type of construction, designed to relieve the pressure German authorities were facing to accommodate additional numbers of the population in high-density housing areas, as well as pedestrians on the streets during air raids. In contrast to other shelters, these buildings were considered completely bomb-proof. They also had the advantage of being built upward, which was much cheaper than downward excavation. There were no equivalents of hochbunkers in the cities of the Allied countries. Hochbunkers usually consisted of large concrete blocks above ground with walls between 1 m and 1.5 m thick and with huge lintels above doorways and openings. They often had a constant interior temperature of 7 to 10 °C, which made them perfectly suitable for laboratories, both during and after the war. They were used to protect people, administrative centres, important archives and works of art.
  Their structures took many forms: usually consisting of square blocks or of low, long rectangular or triangular shapes; straight towers of a square plan rising to great heights, or round tower-like edifices, even pyramidal constructions. Some of the circular towers contained helical floors that gradually curved their way upward within the circular walls. Many of these structures may still be seen. They have been converted into offices, storage space; some have even been adapted for hotels, hospitals and schools, as well as many other peacetime purposes. In Schöneberg, a block of flats was built over the Pallasstrasse air-raid shelter after World War II. During the Cold War, NATO used the shelter for food storage.
  The cost of demolishing these edifices after the war would have been enormous, as the attempts at breaking up one of the six so-called Flak towers of Vienna proved.  The attempted demolition caused no more than a crack in one of the walls of the tower, after which efforts were abandoned.  Only the  Zoo Tower in Berlin was successfully demolished.
  One particular variant of the Hochbunker was the Winkeltürme, named after its designer, Leo Winkel of Duisburg. Winkel patented his design in 1934, and from 1936 on, Germany built 98 Winkeltürme of five different types. The towers had a conical shape with walls that curved downward to a reinforced base.  The dimensions of the towers varied.  Diameters ranged between 8.4 and 10 meters and the height between 20 and 25 meters. The walls of the towers had a minimum thickness for reinforced concrete of 0.8 m and 1.5 m for ordinary concrete. The towers were able to shelter between 164 and 500 people, depending on the type. The intent with the Winkeltürme and the other hochbunkers was to protect workers in rail yards and industrial areas. Because of their shape, the towers became known colloquially as "cigar stubs" or "sugar beets".
  The theory behind the Winkeltürme was that the curved walls would deflect any bomb hitting the tower, directing it down towards the base.  The towers had a small footprint, which was probably a greater protection.  A US bomb did hit one tower in Bremen in October 1944; the bomb exploded through the roof, killing five people inside.
caption: Winkelturm in Wünsdorf, Brandenburg
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