Lublin builders find Nazi bunker during underground carpark construction
Builders have uncovered an old WWII bunker built by occupying Germans in the city of Lublin.
Inside they found bullets belonging to both Nazi and Soviet troops leading researchers to believe the construction could have been the site of fierce fighting in 1944.
The vast wooden construction comprised of a staircase with three underground corridors leading from it, each with walls and ceilings encased by wooden beams.
The bunker was discovered seven metres below the former Group of Clothing and Fabric Schools by builders working on the construction of an underground carpark for what will be a new housing block.
The vast wooden construction comprised of a staircase with three underground corridors leading from it, each with walls and ceilings encased by wooden beams.
Dariusz Kopciowski, the Lublin Conservator of Monuments wrote on social media: “The tunnels were hollowed out using a mining method…
Inside they found bullets belonging to both Nazi and Soviet troops leading researchers to believe the construction could have been the site of fierce fighting in 1944.
“After agreeing the further method of studying and documenting such an unusual discovery with the conservator’s office, archaeologists have begun exploring the interior of one of the corridors.”
On the so-called ‘utility level’, archaeologists found several mineral water bottles, produced in Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the remnants of ammunition fired from both Wehrmacht and Red Army weapons.
Following the Soviet Union’s invasion of Poland just sixteen days after Germany attacked, Soviet forces occupied eastern Poland until the summer of 1941, when they were driven out by the German army during Operation Barbarossa.
The bunker was discovered seven metres below the former Group of Clothing and Fabric Schools by builders working on the construction of an underground carpark for what will be a new housing block.
The area remained under German occupation until the Red Army reconquered it in the summer of 1944.
As a result of the discovery, building work has been postponed.
Kopciowski said: “For now, the construction has to be extracted and at the same time studied, so that the investor can safely ‘situate’ the building in this place…Great care is necessary.
As a result of the discovery, building work has been postponed.
“We don’t yet know what else could be there. At the moment we have to check if there are not some unexploded bombs.
“In the discovered bunker, we found ammunition which could suggest that battles were fought inside.”
It is not the first time that historic discoveries have been found on the same street, with another recent WWII discovery of the remains of two Wehrmacht soldiers and prior to that, in May, human remains dating from the 17th century were uncovered.
