Achtung! East German - Military car show & Atomic Bunker visit...

[Dackelone]

So... a few weeks ago I had the pleasure of going to this "interesting" car show. I live quite close to the former Iron Curtain(less than an hour away) and a friend told me about this cool car show to go visit.


It was held on the grounds of the former East German Atomic bunker for the DDR city of Suhl. This place was way out in the woods... away from the city of Suhl... It was meant for the "command and control" to survive an atomic missile attack by the USA or NATO in the event of WW-III. It was used up until the early 1991. The Iron Curtain fell in 1989 though. The location reminded me of the Pocono's up in Pennsylvania. This area is very nice and quite rustic, but also kind of "different" if you know what I mean.

The Russians (and East Germans) built this Atomic Bunker in the early 1970's. They used the construction of a small train station(Rennsteig) down the road as a "cover" for their REAL project: The Bunker. It remained a well guarded secret until the wall fell in 1991. Then it was declassified. Our guide told us the Bunker's most famous regular guests were Frau Angela Merkel and Komrad Putin!!! lol Putin was in the KGB in Germany at that time, no wonder he was able to get in!

What I liked about this East German Military car show was everyone dressed up in period uniforms. This might make some Germans twitchy(and uncomfortable)... but I rather liked it. It was all done up in a good will atmosphere. There were no (far Right) extremists here... just some old guys dressing up in the old uniforms of the period (Classic's) with old trucks and cars and bikes. It was very much a family day. My favorite was the guy in the NBC (Nuke/Bio/Chemical) suit!

The Hotel is called: Waldhotel Rennsteighöhe its run by the family Höhn. Its a nice place to go for a nice dinner/meal. But it also has that Bunker bellow the Hotel! Tours of the Bunker are held Mondays thru Friday 10am to 5pm - please call ahead to arrange a tour. IF your gonna visit this museum I would suggest to stay in near by West Germany, in the city of Coburg. Its quite pretty and much more of a city than this rustic area.


There is a slight tie in with BMW history here... see all these Wartburg 's and EMW 's (Not BMW!, EMW!!) were built in Eisenach, where BMW had been building the Dixi, the 328/308 & Motorcycles BEFORE WWII. Then the Russians came and took over the factory and started to make cars for themselves. Eisenach Werk is not too far from Suhl. I have covered the museum in Eisenach before... See my links at the bottom of this post...


The DDR (Deutsche Democratic Republic) or later the GDR (German Democratic Republic) was what East Germany was called. East and West Germany. The two were reunited in 1989 when the wall fell.



Waldhotel Rennsteighöhe
Am Rothenberg 1
98711 Frauenwald

Telefon: 036782 62200
Telefax: 036782 62201

E-mail: waldhotel.rennsteighoehe@t-online.de

http://www.waldhotel-rennsteighoehe.de/

Bunker Musuem...
http://www.bunkermuseum-frauenwald.de/museum.htm





Now onto my photos...




































































































Some other interesting East German Car Museums...


Fahrzeugmuseum Suhl - DDR motorcycle & car Museum... (AK47s and cars and bikes)
http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=434203


former BMW Eisenach factory museum... (EWA/EMW Eisenach Motor Werk )
http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=431041

August Horch Museum – Zwickau, Germany... (where the Trabant and AutoUnion racers were built)
http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=441796

[yakev724]

pretty cool, thx for sharing.

Not uncommon to see these types of trucks around Russia, esp. rural areas.

[mPlasticDesign]

Yeah, very cool indeed. It's easy to see older preserved/restored cars in sunny California, but to have survived the war and the German winters, nice!

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by Mr.Metak2you

Yeah, very cool indeed. It's easy to see older preserved/restored cars in sunny California, but to have survived the war and the German winters, nice!

+1 YuP! It was even BETTER to see (& hear!) the cars underway while playing GDR national rhymes! Nothing like that clicky-de-clack of those two stroke gas engines!

model tank for sound effects...

[MikeyV]

Any photos of the bunker?

[comar1979]

Nice Pixx! Thank for sharing

+1 to the Bunker Pixx

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by MikeyV

Any photos of the bunker?

What do you mean!? All those rooms were taken down inside the Bunker! :-)


That maze like diagram shows the layout of the Bunker. Btw... the Bunker holds about 450 people.

[sbce90]

Nice event - thanks for sharing, would never have known otherwise. I do however get this odd creepy feeling from old military vehicles. If only they could talk to tell us what they had seen..

[Dackelone]

Mark your calendars... July 25th/26th and 27th!!

This is a really cool throw back to the Cold War...

[Dackelone]

I missed attending this event last year. I'm gonna try to make it this year. Such a cool event for classic East German cars & bikes & tanks!

[Rainier]

Call me crazy but I've always wanted a Trabant and I've been eyeing a 84 wagon in Prague that is in good condition and cheap. I just need to go and buy it and drive it out to this meet in a couple of weeks..

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by Rainier

Call me crazy but I've always wanted a Trabant and I've been eyeing a 84 wagon in Prague that is in good condition and cheap. I just need to go and buy it and drive it out to this meet in a couple of weeks..

DO IT!!!


I've heard that a common upgrade for the old Trabi's is to install a VW Polo engine. VW actually used the Polo engines for the very last two years production of the Trabant. VW was pretty smart to buy the factories in the East. Now everyone drives VW's in the former DDR. More so than Westi's(W. Germans) do.

[Dackelone]

Open House at the end of July...