2023-05-01 21:56:51
Less than two years ago, Object No. 2, a gigantic bomb shelter built under the vast Kubyshev Square in Samara, was considered a museum by the Russian tourist authorities.
The original design and decor of this 1940s-era shelter—built on the orders of Joseph Stalin some 130 feet underground, complete with office furniture and other pre-nuclear-era details—would have been a logical addition to the underground attractions of the city. Considered the alternate capital of the Soviet Union during World War II, the city of Samara stands on top of a massive underground bunker complex, of which Object #2 is believed to be one of the largest.
“The so-called ‘Stalin’s bunker’, which has perhaps already become Samara’s main attraction, is a pathetic basement by comparison,” says Igor Makhtev, a local historian, who first visited the bunker in 2002.
Photographs from one side show a dimly lit, seemingly endless corridor lined with benches where hundreds of Soviet officials can sit and wait during a possible bombing or chemical attack. Original elements have been preserved, such as the marble electrical shielding.
However, with the invasion of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin’s order to start civil defense preparations in regions across the country, thousands of Russian bomb shelters are being checked for refurbishment and renovation in the as-yet unlikely—until recently. little, unthinkable—event of missile strikes in the heart of Russia.
For years, Samara’s bunkers — by some estimates the third most developed in Russia after those in Moscow and St. Petersburg — have become a cult object for urban historians and excavators, who tunnel illegally under the city.
They have also been a source of inspiration for numerous urban legends. One of them says that Stalin managed to build the underground bomb shelter Object No. 1 without anyone on the floors above noticing. Another is that former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was forced to flee from angry crowds who booed him and pelted him with tomatoes through Object No. 2. Another is that some of the main bomb shelters, named after personalities such as Stalin, Mikhail Kalinin and Lavrenti Beria were connected by a secret underground passage that has never been found.
Despite the fact that the border is more than 800 kilometers from Samara, the war in Ukraine has revived interest in bunkers. “People are much, much more interested in bunkers,” says Ekaterina, a tour guide, as she leads a crowded tour of Object No. 1, ‘Stalin’s bunker’, a bomb shelter built 36 meters underground in 1942 to the Kremlin high command. Ekaterina says that some parts are still an active shelter, under the control of the Russian Emergencies Ministry.
Underground, it feels a bit like being trapped inside a windowless municipal building, with faded paint and wood-paneled boardrooms and offices. “Everyone is interested in these types of structures. They think more and more about them. They think about protection,” says Ekaterina. “A lot more people are visiting us.” In mid-February, up to three guided tours were carried out simultaneously.
A former city official and a regional historian from Samara, the regional capital, tell The Guardian that the much larger “Kalinin bunker” will almost certainly be considered under a recent Putin order to prepare for civil defense. And reports from 63.ru, a local news website, say: “The gigantic bomb shelter will be prepared under Kubyshev Square to protect the population.”
Makhtev, a local historian, describes the descent into the bomb shelter’s communications headquarters and his feeling for “the scale of the structure.” There is, he tells The Guardian, “a discreet entrance into the theater courtyard, several transitions down the usual concrete stairs and more than 30 meters underground by elevator.”
Makhtev says that, at the time of his visit, much of the technology there, equipped for Red Army personnel and connected to a nearby military headquarters, was still working. “I was really surprised that phones that were obviously made at the same time the bunker was built would work,” he says. “I was even able to call my office.” However, he points out that even then you could tell that the building was aging. “It definitely hasn’t gotten better,” he says.
A member of the Samara “digger” community who has been to the bunker about five times says he entered through another access, descending into the underground structure using ropes through a ventilation shaft near Kubyshev Square. There are actually two structures below the plaza: a communications headquarters and a larger main shelter, known as Object #2.
He also describes the structure as huge and abandoned, adding that it does not appear to have been maintained or cleaned in recent years. Still, he says, delving into the underground tunnels connected to some of Samara’s most strategic sites carries its risks. “Everyone knows it, but it’s still a secret, it’s hard to know where the line is,” he says. “You have to plan carefully and don’t get caught.”
The location of Russian bomb shelters, as well as plans to protect the population in the event of a full-scale war, are considered a matter of national security, so local authorities have been careful when answering questions from journalists. about the preparations.
“In the Samara region, on the instructions of the Russian president, large-scale work is being carried out on structures for civil defense, in order to protect the population. Before the completion of activities, comments on this category of structures are premature,” said a local representative of the federal agency for state property management, as reported by 63.ru.
Late last year, the Moscow Times reported that four US authorities and former authorities had confirmed that improvements were being carried out by order of the national government. And what is even more surprising, money was being invested in renovations. According to the information, a tender for 3.8 million rubles (42,000 euros) for waterproofing works for a bomb shelter in the Samara region was published in November.
In another case in Samara, a local company was sued to force it to renovate its bomb shelter, alleging that the structure was “inadequate to quickly move from daily activity to protecting the population”.
Air raid shelters throughout Russia, of which there are thousands, many built in the 1940s and 1950s, are often rented out for commercial purposes, often as warehouses.
However, the long history of bomb shelters for Samara’s elite, once intended to allow Kremlin and Red Army personnel to continue working even under shelling while ordinary people were evacuated to the countryside, attracts particular attention.
Petr Yakubson, another local historian, says that less than two years ago, Samara’s tourism officials held meetings to discuss the possibility of turning the refuge into a museum.
“What is located underground in the center of our city is already very old, it was built during the great patriotic war [el término local utilizado para referirse a la Segunda Guerra Mundial]”, says. “Not everything there meets modern standards. The structure itself is a museum. Without any status. Just because of its age. The things down there, the artifacts. The doors, the furniture. It is a prefabricated museum that has been preserved, in which very little has changed”.
But even 80 years later, he says, preparing them for civil protection would not be a difficult task. “The reality is that these sites are ready,” she says. “You can go hide there now. They really don’t need any preparation… They seem normal. They are not being used for their primary purpose, but are in good condition.”
Translation by Julian Cnochaert.
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