May first was a holiday (May day or Labor day) in Germany so the first weekend of May was a long weekend. In some cities like Berlin, May day was celebrated with riots and protests. I decided NOT to celebrate in this manner and decided to spend the weekend traveling.

On Friday, my housemate Johannes and I used our semester tickets to travel to Stadtallendorf, a small town just north of Marburg. Before World War 2, this collection of towns was a major manufacturing hub for middle germany. During the war, the Germans needed a munitions factory. Instead of building large factory buildings which would be prime targets for bombing, the Germans built tiny buildings in a forest. Then instead of relying on darkness to to disguise the buildings, they planted a forest on top of the buildings. When allied bombers flew over the town, all they saw was a large forest. The allies knew that a large munitions factory existed in Hesse, but they could never find it! The factories were hidden so well that they were never discovered during the war. Rumour had it that the buildings still existed, so we took off to explore.

Stadtallendorf itself is a tired little town just 15 minutes train ride north of Marburg. The town today is little more than a train station and a small pedestrian zone. (they only have one ice cream shop!) However, soon after leaving the train station, we found a map showing a small military base and then a box with TNT on it. We had no better idea so we just headed on to the forest. After a few wrong turns, we ended up at some military barracks and a sign saying basically, "don't trepass" with very bold lettering. Being the non-obedient people that we are, we of course we trespassed.



Soon after walking into the forest, we found exactly what we came looking for, a building covered in trees. Johannes attempted the scale the fence but we decided it was better to set off in search of other buildings.


We made our way deeper into a forest and started noticing large hills with trees growing on them. Only later did we realize that these lumps were in fact the buildings we so desired to find!

Can you see the building in the photo above? This photo was taken in broad daylight, from the path just 20 meters away from the building. Now imagine trying to locate these buildings at night or under cloud cover, No wonder these buildings were never found!

Nearly all the munitions equipment had been removed during extensive clean up operations 20 years ago, but we still found evidence of what life would have been like at the factory. Apparently some workers actually lived at factory as you can see the wallpaper in this particular building.


In one building we even found a cot, although its likely that the cot arrived after the factory had closed.


We also came across the recreation area, complete with beer garden and tennis courts. The beer sign still hung on the outside of the building, although you can't see it very well in this photo.


We came across lots of these old buildings, many of which had been turned into trash heaps over the last 60 years. One person's trash heap becomes another person's treasure.


We spent over 3 hours exploring these buildings and experiencing a part of German history well known to the world, but of which little evidence remains. In general, most Germans don't want to talk about the war. Frankly, I don't blame them. Its a huge blemish on a rather fascinating country. The country is filled with wonderful towns and a truly remarkable history, but most people tend to focus on the relics from the war. The relics are fascinating and very much intriguing, but Germany is just much more than that. Stay tuned for the next part of this weekend, a birthday in Heidelberg and a visit to Stuttgart.

In the meantime, here is a link to the photos from this trip. I highly suggest you take a look as the buildings are incredible.

Stadtallendorf Munitions Factory