Now, you’ve seen it all: a former Nazi bunker in Germany is being turned into a luxury hotel. With five incredible stories and a huge rooftop garden, this might become the coolest hotel to open in 2021.
The History
The location initially began as a bunker named Flakturm IV (Flak Tower IV). It’s situated in the St Pauli district of Hamburg, Germany, where the locals hate it. After all, it remains them of World War II! Built in 1942, the Nazis occupied the bunker for three years during the war, until their defeat in 1945. Since then, the bunker has become a museum to a business center than to a German TV station. It was even once a nightclub!
Most recently, the government of Hamburg decided to try and demolish the building. However, after officials discovered that it would cause too much damage to the nearby buildings, some crafty entrepreneurs had another idea!
A New Plan
Now, the developers have announced the former Nazi bunker will become a luxury hotel, named Bunker St. Pauli! At a recent meeting, the hotel’s owners revealed their plan, which includes a bar, restaurant, and café, in addition to dozens of rooms. Meanwhile, there will also be a massive rooftop garden, and each room will come with fantastic views of the city. The hotel will also commemorate the lives lost during World War II. “In addition to this new public natural oasis, the bunker will for the first time receive a memorial to the victims of the Nazi regime and the Second World War,” said a spokesperson for Bunker St Pauli (Planungsbüro Bunker, in German).
Sound like the kind of hotel you’d like to visit? Well, as stated, Bunker St Pauli will be a luxury hotel. As such, when they open in the summer of 2021, owners say lower end rooms will go for around 200 euros, or $210. The owners also expect a particular type of tourist to check-in to the hotel a bit more frequently than the rest of us…
Dark Tourism
For those who do not know, “dark tourism” is a type of traveling that seeks out “places that are identified with death and suffering.” It has become even more popular thanks to the 2018 Netlfix docuseries Dark Tourist, which followed journalist David Farrier heading to places like Fukushima, cult-run towns, Chernobyl, graveyards, and the like. “Dark tourism has become a pervasive cultural activity over the past couple of decades,” Dr. Philip Stone, executive director of the Institute for Dark Tourism Research, commented. As such, Bunker St Pauli knows it will see many dark tourists, given the bunker’s grisly history.
However, the owners don’t feel too worried. As Dr. Stone explains, dark tourism can actually help make sure we never make the same mistakes. “The task is to appropriate the building in a responsible way and to provide guests with an authentic narrative. In that way, dark tourism can shine a light on our painful past,” he said.
Without a doubt, the luxury hotel from a Nazi bunker will become one of the most talked-about hotels of 2021. We’ll just have to wait and see if people think its offensive or incredible.