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Hahneberg Fort - barracs
Fort Hahneberg was
built from 1882 till 1886 as „detached Fort II" of the fortified Town of
Spandau, at the time Germanys biggest centre of arms manufacturing. This last
phase of fortress building in Berlin Spandau began after the German-French War
of 1870/71. In 1873 was decided to fortify certain Imperial Fortresses as Metz,
Köln, Ingolstadt or Spandau with an outer row of fortresses. From the planned
four forts for Spandau, only Fort Hahneberg was realised, in a distance of 5.5 km from the Citadel of
Spandau.
 The plan of Hahneberg Fort - 1882
The natural hill Hahneberg was excavated and
the fort was built with 28.000.000 bricks in the hollow, it covers an area of 450 m x 170 m. But before completion
of the fort, the crisis of highly explosive shrapnel-ammunition, the „Brisanzmunitionskrise",
shook the fortress world. With the introduction of this ammunition the
traditional brick fort became anachronistic and Fort Hahneberg got some more
extensive fortifications before its commissioning in 1888, but never went into
service.
During the
rearmament in the middle of the 1930ies in Germany, there were new building
operations also in Fort Hahneberg, the plans were for using it as barracks of
an infantry regiment and as education centre. The fort was electrified and got
new technical equipment.
 Hahneberg Fort - barracs
Fort Hahneberg was
not involved in wartime activities and there were just minor damages. After the
war the Allied ordered the blasting of the inner defense facilities and the
fort was rendered military useless. In the following years large parts of the
walls were pulled down and used for the reconstruction of destroyed buildings
in Berlin, the main reason for the actual damage in the fort.
After 1952 Fort
Hahneberg was part of the GDR border installations and with the building of the
Wall in 1961 the borderline (exactly on the glacis) was secured. The Fort
became completely inaccessible for almost 40 years.
Hahneberg Fort - 1931
In all these years
the nature could unfold without restriction, Fort Hahneberg is today an
important hibernation station for bats and the utilization is concentrated on
the summer months.
Fort Hahneberg - central entrance
1990 was the first
peaceful „conquest" of Fort Hahneberg by the population and in the same year
the „Arbeits- und Schutzgemeinschaft Fort Hahneberg e. V." was founded as a
registered society. In 1991 Fort Hahneberg became a registered Monument and
this organisation is managing the reconstruction work and the development as a
natural biotope and touristic highlight.
Fort Hahneberg - central entrance
A nature and
history path is constructed at present and visitors can learn about nature and
history just by by walking through Fort Hahneberg.
Fort Hahneberg - central entrance
Fort Hahneberg - inside
Fort Hahneberg - inside
Fort Hahneberg - northern part of barracs
 Fort Hahneberg - overview - by T.Schreiber
Hahneberg Fort - view from top
Hahneberg Fort - view from top
The plan of Hahneberg Fort
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Fortresess 
