To most people, it looks like a regular graffiti wall. But to bunker fans, it’s the flak tower in Friedrichshain sticking out from the top of the Big Bunker Mountain.

The flak tower is located in one of Berlin’s most popular parks, Volkspark Friedrichshain. Situated just a short distance from Alexanderplatz, it’s a gathering place for exercisers, families with children, dog walkers and anyone who seeking an escape from the hectic intersection of the Mitte and Friedrichshain districts.

The park truly looks like a fairytale. At the entrance, on the corner of Am Friedrichshain and Friedenstraße, you are greeted by the Fairytale Well, a fountain featuring characters from the Brothers Grimm stories.

Volkspark Friedrichshain was a military area in WWII

During World War II, the park was turned into a military zone. The second of three flak towers was built there from April to October 1941. It protected against bombers with four heavy 128 mm guns and twelve 20 mm light gun.

Like the flak tower in Humboldthain, the flak tower in Volkspark Friedrichshain was destroyed when the war ended. The command tower that sent signals to the semi-automatic guns on the flak tower was also destroyed.

The demolition of the flak tower in 1946

The flak tower was demolished in 1946. The Soviet army put 40,000 kg of explosives in the four ammo chambers at the bottom corners of the tower.

The blast blew out the bottom floor on all sides, making the five-story tower one floor shorter. The tower also split in half.

The flak tower in Friedrichshain is a rubble hill

After that, 3,000 women called Trümmerfrauen (rubble women) spent four years covering the ruins with rubble from the destroyed neighborhood. They also made paths and planted trees on the hill.

Today, the big hill is called Big Bunker Mountain or Mont Klamott, and the smaller hill with the command tower is called Little Bunker Mountain.

Parts of the flak tower is still visible

Even though the cracked flak tower is covered, there a few fragments left to be seen. It’s hard to notice, and every day joggers pass by without realizing it is a Nazi bunker, a reminder of a past we should not return to.

Before you get to the top of Big Bunker Mountain, you’ll see a piece of concrete covered in graffiti. That’s what’s left of the flak tower.

In the old photo higher up in the article, it’s the small triangle pointing up in the center of the historical photo. Also a part of the gun tower to the front left in the historical photo is still visible today.

Hidden in the bushes to the left of the graffiti wall is a small section of the gun tower, overgrown with moss. You will only find it if you climb over the fence and search about 10 meters inside.

If you continue along the path to the left, you will find the remains of one of the gun towers. It stands at an angle up the hill with part of the balustrade visible. In the middle once stood the large double-barreled flak gun.

The interior of the flak tower is inaccessible

However, it is not possible to enter the ruins inside the bunker mountains, neither the little nor the big one. But both the flak tower and the associated command tower still lie as cavities inside the bunker mountains in Volkspark Friedrichshain.