Cold War

One of the 138 Dutch air watchtowers was built in the 1950s right between the rivers Maas and Waal.

With a bunker as its foundation and on top of a floodbank, Air Guard Tower 5K3 offered a broad view over the Hollandsch Diep and the Mariapolder beyond. 

In the 1950s, anyone who wanted to cross the Upper Merwede had to rely on a ferry service. This was not very convenient in emergencies.

An ultra-secret NATO command centre was hidden in the belly of Cannerberg during the Cold War.

In 1954, the Belgian army built a bunker at the foot of the Kemmelberg. The top secret command center would house the army headquarters in the event of a crisis or conflict during the Cold War.

The Stasi prison Hohenschönhausen is hidden in an ordinary neighbourhood in Berlin. From 1951 onwards, the GDR regime interrogated and imprisoned thousands of political prisoners here.

Crumbling Soviet statues look with sorrow at the decline of one of the most important bases of the Russian air force in East Germany: the Pütnitz airport in Damgarten.