In a similar vein, I recently came across Peter Laurie's Beneath the City Streets (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beneath_the_City_Streets) in a second hand bookshop. Despite belonging to a very different time, it's still a very interesting read.
When I grew up in the 80ies Denmark nuclear “defense” was sort of build into everyday aspects. My childhood school had some really wide hallways with really wide doors. Turns out it was because my suburb was at the right distance from the city mass to be turned into a hospital following a nuclear attack. It also turned out the school had a large underground system full of various medical supplies and a control center of sorts to coordinate the medical leadership.
Cities mandated that housing needed basements which could be turned into nuclear bunkers/shelters. Where my parents live now there is basically a tiny town in the basements. Much of it is now things like fitness centers, tennis courts, a library and a few stores (not groceries or other things you eat/drink). Back in the 80ies it was solely meant for people storage, but after the wall fell it was slowly turned into more useable stuff.
Similarly most of our bunkers are now either discontinued or used for something practical.
I wonder if we’re going to see an increase in “civil defense” again now that we’re in another Cold War.
In Poland they built "1000 schools for 1000 years of Polish state" in 60s. The plan for these schools was to use them as military hospitals, so they also have these features. Among other things every classroom has tap water, there's wide doors etc.
The Autosan bus that was built in dozens of thousands for regular public transport was designed with a serious weakness in the front to allow quick conversion into a military evacuation vehicle. Basically there's space for loading/unloading a stretcher through the front of the bus. Which means if you collide with a tree - it goes through that hole and splits the bus in half :/
And these concerns were everywhere. Roads were built with very wide lanes and very straight routes in some forests so they can be used as emergency military airports.
Almost all of these concerns were abandoned in 90s. Schools were renovated with more focus on usability than military adaptability. New safer buses were built. Even the education changed.
My parents had "throwing a grenade" exams at shool :) There was also first aid, shooting, etc. I was at school in 90s-00s and only first aid and some shooting for kids that wanted to do it.
Would love to see a documentary on this! Related to that time, there are some fascinating documentaries online that goes through a secret “Regan Vest” facility in the woods (now declassified and a museum) of Denmark that was a nuclear safe facility to hold the royal family and the government in case of an emergency [1]. It was decommissioned only in 2003 and got released from the military in 2012.
Also having grown up in Denmark in the late 80's, I definitely had some of the same experiences; my school was built in the late 30's/early 40's, so not built for the cold war (but was reportedly used as the local Nazi HQ during WW2). But I can definitely recognize that a lot of 60's and 70's architecture was dual-purpose.
devjab|1 year ago
Cities mandated that housing needed basements which could be turned into nuclear bunkers/shelters. Where my parents live now there is basically a tiny town in the basements. Much of it is now things like fitness centers, tennis courts, a library and a few stores (not groceries or other things you eat/drink). Back in the 80ies it was solely meant for people storage, but after the wall fell it was slowly turned into more useable stuff.
Similarly most of our bunkers are now either discontinued or used for something practical.
I wonder if we’re going to see an increase in “civil defense” again now that we’re in another Cold War.
ajuc|1 year ago
The Autosan bus that was built in dozens of thousands for regular public transport was designed with a serious weakness in the front to allow quick conversion into a military evacuation vehicle. Basically there's space for loading/unloading a stretcher through the front of the bus. Which means if you collide with a tree - it goes through that hole and splits the bus in half :/
And these concerns were everywhere. Roads were built with very wide lanes and very straight routes in some forests so they can be used as emergency military airports.
Almost all of these concerns were abandoned in 90s. Schools were renovated with more focus on usability than military adaptability. New safer buses were built. Even the education changed.
My parents had "throwing a grenade" exams at shool :) There was also first aid, shooting, etc. I was at school in 90s-00s and only first aid and some shooting for kids that wanted to do it.
daniel_iversen|1 year ago
[1] https://youtu.be/zSXYApRdw5k?si=Yg5qVphxg8AKJBcl
msiebuhr|1 year ago
Kulturministeriet (The Danish agency for Culture and Palaces) has a great section on the Cold War ("Kold Krig" in Danish) at https://slks.dk/omraader/kulturarv/bevaringsvaerdige-bygning.... (Google Translate: https://slks-dk.translate.goog/omraader/kulturarv/bevaringsv...).
There'a also a book, Kold Krig, which is available as a PDF at https://slks.dk/fileadmin/publikationer/Kulturarv/Kold_Krig_... (but I can't make Google translate ... translate)
And I still have to visit www.reganvest.dk some day :)