Fulda – Many a Fuldaer will still remember: In the upper part of the Uniplatz in Fulda there were telephone booths and next to them, behind a fence, an inconspicuous staircase led down – there were two public shelters, each with space for 50 people and two emergency exits in the street pavement. In 2009 everything for the new underground car park was demolished. To date, no replacement has been created.
However, this is not an oversight, but intentional: in 2007, the federal government under Angela Merkel (CDU) decided to give up public shelters. The Cold War was over, Germany was surrounded by friends – and the facilities were very expensive to maintain. (Also read: Refugees from Ukraine: How best to help in the Fulda region )
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Added to this was the progress in military technology: With cruise missiles, stealth bombers and missiles, would there even be enough time to be able to go to a shelter after a warning?
In other words, there are no longer any public shelters in Germany (and most of the old air raid sirens have also been disposed of). Of the 2,000 public spaces in the old Federal Republic, 1,400 have so far been “reconverted”. The shelters of the former GDR were not even considered.