The Riese project It was the program prepared in 1943 by the Nazis to build a System of underground tunnels in the region of Bassa Silesia (today in Polish territory). The purpose of the galleries, most likely, was to host the Hitler headquarters and protecting it from the air attacks that since 1943 became particularly intense throughout the German territory. Similar tunnels, moreover, were also under construction in other countries, including Italy. The Galleries of the Riese project were carved out by prisoners of war and other prisonerswho were forced to work in semi-crack conditions. The prisoners were housed in concentration camps set up near the galleries and, due to the terrible conditions in which they were forced to work, the mortality rate was very high. The Riese project was not never completed: In the first months of 1945 the advance of the red army forced the Nazis to clear all the low silesia. In total, they had been excavated nine kilometers of galleries.
What was the Riese project and what it was for
The Riese projectThat is “giant project”, it was the construction of a system of tunnels in the mountains in the lower silesia, a region that during the Second World War was part of the territory of Germany and today it is part of Poland: more precisely, the galleries were in the area between the area Kesiaz Castle and the Monti del Gufo. The project provided for the construction of seven tunnel complexes and, if it had been completed, would have created one real underground city.
The galleries were thought above all as a refuge and headquarters for Nazi leaders, including Hitler. Probably, the tunnels should have also had other functions, including that of hosting underground factories of armamentsbut the available documentation does not allow us to know precisely the further purposes of the project. What is sure is that the works started at the end of 1943 and interrupted in the early months of 1945. To understand the reasons why the Riese project was started, it is necessary to consider what was the situation of the war in the autumn of 1943: the Nazi Germany still occupied most of Europebut he had to face the attacks of the Soviets on the eastern front and the Anglo -American in Italy. In addition, the German territory was subjected to continuous aerial bombingswho had devastating effects. Hitler and Nazi hierarchs already had imposing structures to be used as a headquarters, the best known was the Wolfsschaze (den of the wolf), located in the city of Rastenburg (today in Poland), from which Hitler directed military operations on the eastern front. However, the structures were built on the surface and, consequently, were exposed to the bombings. For this reason, in September 1943 the Nazi authorities decided to equip yourself with an underground general neighborhoodinvulnerable to air attacks.
The choice was not entirely new given that such structures existed, or were under construction, also in other countries, including Italy. In 1940 Mussolini had ordered to dig in the galleries in Monte Sorarette, near Rome, in which he would move, together with his hierarchs, in case of need. The construction was not completed, but between 1943 and 1944 the galleries were used by Albert Kesserlingcommander of the Nazi troops in Italy, to install his headquarters. Furthermore, after the Second World War, the galleries were renovated and transformed into anti -antiomic tunnelscapable of resisting nuclear attacks. The tunnel of this type, moreover, in the years of the Cold War existed in many countries and in some cases today they are museal structures that can be visited.
The construction of the galleries and the results of the works
The Riese project was approved in September 1943 by Albert SpeerMinister of Armaments and the main architect of the Nazi regime, e From Fritz Todthead of the homonymous organization, which dealt with building works. It was established to found a specific construction company, the Industrieschaft Schlesien (Industrial Company of Silesia) and to build the galleries to the prisoners of war, to be locked up in semi-sciavitu conditions in concentration camps near the places of work. The prisoners came mainly from the Soviet Union, Poland and Italy.
The works began in the autumn of 1943 immediately proved to be difficult because the Geological composition of the soilmade up of very hard rocks, meant that the excavations proceeded slowly. In addition, in December 1943 among the prisoners he burst into ancheering epidemicwhich further slowed down the excavations. In April 1944 Hitler, dissatisfied with the progress, decided to entrust the realization of the project directly to the Todt organization, exhausted the industrial company of Silesia. The organization set up new fields and had transferred prisoners from the extermination campsin particular from Auschwitz: it is estimated that overall they worked on the construction of the tunnels 13,000 prisonersforced to forced labor. The mortality rate was very high, but the number of victims is not known. In December 1944 one New typhus epidemic He hit the workers and, shortly after, the excavations were interrupted Because the red army, advancing from the east, was approaching the galleries. In the first months of 1945 the construction sites had to be cleared. Only a small part of the tunnels had been built, equal to about 9 kilometers in length and 25 square kilometers of extension. The galleries were never used for the purposes for which they had been excavated, but today some structures, such as those located at the Kesiaz Castle, are open to the public.
