Bundesbank-Bunker Cochem

The Bundesbank Bunker Cochem is a former top-secret facility built in 1964 to store an emergency currency reserve for West Germany in the event of Cold War-induced hyperinflation. At its peak, up to 15 billion Deutsche Mark in freshly printed banknotes sat sealed inside this vault buried in the Eifel hills — a contingency plan that remained classified for decades, with staff communicating only under code names. The bunker's existence was officially revealed only after the Cold War ended, and the facility was decommissioned in 1988. Now open as a museum Monday through Sunday from 10 to 15 Uhr, the original interior — vault rooms, printing equipment, and NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) protection systems — remains largely intact, offering a rare and tangible look at the shadow infrastructure of the Bonn Republic.