Flaktürme

Flak Towers

Flak towers are enormous, concrete, aboveground anti-aircraft structures erected by the Lufwaffe during WWII. For more information see these websites: http://www.ww2sites.com/index.php?action=jump&page=atwien, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flak_Tower, http://www.thirdreichruins.com/vienna.htm,http://www.tourmycountry.com/austria/flak-towers-vienna.htm

Always built in pairs, 18 towers were erected between 1940 and 1944 (six in Berlin; four in Hamburg; six in Vienna). They vary in size, ranging from 129-187 feel high and up to 141 feet in diameter; the reinforced concrete walls are eight feet thick; they vary in shape – square, rectangular, or round. Each tower took only six months to build. In addition to the weapons and spotlights mounted on the top of the towers, the interiors served as hospital wards and air-raid shelters for tens of thousands of people (we were told up to 30 thousand people sought protection in the largest tower in Wien).
The six flak towers in Vienna, built between the winter of 1942 and the autumn of 1944, were the last of the 18 to be constructed. Unlike the towers in Berlin and Hamburg which were all or mostly demolished during or after the war, all six Vienna towers still stand. This is due, in part, to their sturdier design (no windows, only one door, stairs only on the inside – not on the outside).
None of the guidebooks we’ve perused contain the “the flaktürme tour;” still, we find them fascinating, so, thanks to the guidance of friends and the internet, we sought them out. Two towers are actually very near our apartment; two stand in the oldest park in Vienna; and the final two are in a small neighborhood park. Although only two of the six towers have actually been “repurposed,” the Viennese with whom we’ve spoken (people of all ages, cultures, and political views) discuss the towers’ noble purpose – giant reminders of the horror of war.

We had our first tower sighting during our second week in Wien when standing on the elevated steps of the Hofburg. While attempting to locate our own neighborhood landmarks in the distance (we were about a mile from our apartment), we saw the soaring concrete colossus . “What is that? Where is that? Why haven’t we seen it before?” Our friend Elisabeth elucidated the tower’s original purpose and location, hidden behind the walls of a military academy (which, surprise, was once a convent). The academy is only a few blocks from our apartment—we walk down that street almost daily, but we could never see the tower. The base of the tower is only visible from one street when the military academy gates are opened. When we spoke with the guards, we asked to see tower, and they politely refused. They did, however, engage us in an interesting conversation about the towers’
history and current use. They said their particular tower contained “nothing but air.” (Other Viennese have rolled their eyes when we’ve relayed that story.) As far as we could tell, there were no signs indicating the presence of the tower inside the military academy.

Positioned on an elevated, pie-shaped piece of land which juts out into a busy street, the second tower in our neighborhood (about a 10 minute walk from the first) cannot be missed. Not only can you enter the tower, you pay 12 Euros for the privilege. Between 1965 and 2000 the “Esterhazy Park” flak tower was repurposed as an aquarium and terrarium. The “House of the Sea” (or “Haus des Meeres” - http://www.haus-des-meeres.at/index_e.html) is home to over 3,500 birds, animals, fish, and reptiles which enjoy both fresh and salt water as part of their habitat. Although we’ve not been inside (we’re waiting for a cold day), it is apparently the 14th largest tourist attraction in Vienna. On the outside of the tower one can scale two climbing walls, or sit in the lovely little park and watch happy families stream in and out. On the top of the tower you’ll read "Smashed into pieces (in the middle of the night)." Attributed to American artist Lawrence Weiner, this is an allusion to the Night of Broken Glass (Reichskristallnacht) in November 1938 when Vienna's Jewish synagogues were systematically destroyed; this giant message is the only mention of the tower’s origin in the area (though inside small exhibit about the creation and use of the tower was opened in 2007). At the base of the flak tower is a former air-raid shelter that now contains the Museum of Medieval Legal History and the History of Torture. (The Jensens probably won’t be visiting that museum.)



Towers three and four, in Augarten, can be found in even closer proximity to each other. Originally used as the imperial hunting grounds and “walking woods” in the 1600s, the Augarten area was remodeled in the “French garden style” with perfectly straight symmetrical avenues of neatly pruned, very tall trees. It was opened to the public in 1775. Neither of the two flak towers in Augarten contain anything except for pigeon apartments. In the summer however, the round tower serves as a projection screen for “movies under the stars.” During our stroll around these towers, we did not see signage of any sort indicating the history or current use of the structures.

Lovely Augarten - with Flaktürme at the end of two, tree-lined paths.

Finally, towers five and six are both squeezed into the quiet little Arenberg park. The largest, fortress-shaped tower, has been used since 1995 as an archival depository for the MAK (Museum of Applied Arts). With some internet research, we disovered the tower is open on Sunday afternoons – but that is about all we could uncover. So, we journeyed to Arenberg park in hopes of poking our heads inside a flak turm. Good Lord. Did we get a surprise! Not only did we enter the tower, we also got an hour-long tour which detailed the history of the flaktürme, described the current use of that particular tower’s 42,300 square feet (storage and exhibition space), and explicated the current exhibits. Interestingly, all art pieces share a theme — home, community, living space. Reflecting on this theme inside a flaktürm gives one pause to say the least.

After the tour we were allowed to go all the way up to the top to the observation platform. The view was as breathtaking as the bitterly cold wind. We’ll certainly return in the spring to linger without getting frostbite. The long-term hope for this tower is that it will be transformed into more comfortable exhibition space, as well as commercial, music, and restaurant venues (in Austria, you always have to have a place to purchase beer and a jause (snack)). Our tour guide, the ticket attendant, and the (freight) elevator operator, all commented on the impossibility of humans surviving the arctic temperatures (inside the tower) from December through March. They admitted that even yesterday’s (November 16) temperatures were quite challenging.

(Note the thickness of the walls.)

The unusable 9-story staircase

The Flaktürme are very much like the proverbial "elephants in the room" - dominant in their physical and psychological presence despite the fact that no one seems to really talk about them unless directly asked. We're happy we've done some asking.