In 2019, according to estimates, there were 768 permanent shelters in Prague with a total capacity of about 150,000 people.

I recently returned from an exchange stay in the Czech Republic, where I researched the availability of fallout shelters in Prague, he wrote Jack L. Rozdilsky for Conversation.

Current events show that Russia is looking for an excuse to deploy nuclear weapons. The CIA director met with his Russian counterpart on November 14 to warned against the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine. In Europe, instead of fears about lockdowns in the context of covid-19 there are concerns about being locked in shelters in the event of a nuclear attack.

In the Czech Republic, on the basis of a preparedness study in the capital city of Prague, I found that bunkers from the Cold War era are currently in a state of readiness to protect the population from nuclear war.

Today’s Czech Republic, which was born after the velvet revolution in 1989Czechoslovakia was in the Soviet sphere of influence for most of the 20th century.

In the context of the Cold War, the belief in duty against external enemies and the ideology of militarism led to massive civil engineering projects to build underground bunkers.

The development of Czechoslovak civil defense included not only the building of bunkers, but also school teaching focused on the topics of moral awareness, physical fitness and civil defense training.

After the fall of the Iron Curtain the citizens of the Czech Republic rejected communism in favor of parliamentary democracy. However, the physical infrastructure of the communist-era civil defense remained mostly intact.

In 2019, according to estimates, 768 permanent shelters in Prague with a total capacity of about 150,000 people.

Municipal authorities have legally obliged to provide shelters and Prague nuclear bunkers they take many forms. Blast and fall shelters are built into slopes, located in various tunnels, located in deep sections of the subway, and installed in reinforced basements of buildings.

here i am cover Bezovka in Prague’s Žižkov. To enter it, I had to pass through a steel reinforced door in Parukářka parkwhich were covered with graffiti.

The Bezovka shelter was built in the mid-1950s and can accommodate more than 2,000 people. It is currently a place of commercial tourism and nightlife. Part of the enclosure is open to the public for tours of the nuclear bunkerwhich highlight aspects of life during the Cold War – life-size dioramas include stereotypical life in a bunker during nuclear Armageddon, complete with child dummies wearing rubber gas masks.

i am too bunker Folimanka, which is located in Prague 2. This underground complex was an example of a public shelter intended for the district. Corridors measuring 125 meters connected a labyrinth of underground rooms with a total area of ​​1,332 square meters.

Completed in 1962, this bunker, with its own power generator, running water and ventilation system, is still operational today and serves to shelter 1,300 people for 72 hours. City agency Administration of the services of the capital city of Prague operates the shelter and on occasional weekends opens it to the public for guided tours.

Underground bunkers were the material embodiment post-communist aesthetics. Surrounded by antiquated equipment in crumbling labyrinths of tunnels, I felt like I was in a dystopian underground wasteland.

However, despite their appearance, bunkers are not just a relic of a bygone era.

Over the years, some of Prague’s nuclear bunkers have been modified for new and creative uses. Instead of abandonment, new uses prevailed, such as museum premises, tourist attraction, places for escape games, places for nightlife and music, creative art spaces or warehouses.

I am not suggesting that the availability of shelters diminishes the overall horror of nuclear war. If Putin were to risk using nuclear weaponsno state or international organization could adequately address the immediate humanitarian emergency.

At the moment, tens of thousands of residents in Prague may have access to the possibility of shelter in case of a nuclear war. However, if nuclear weapons are replenished, then people all over the world will fully realize that we have no reasonable way to protect ourselves.

The full article is available here in English.

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