The Berlin Senate is sticking to its plans to develop the site of the former New Reich Chancellery in Mitte, even though parts of the bunker have been preserved there. This emerges from the response of Construction State Secretary Alexander Slotty (SPD) to a parliamentary question from Left MPs Michael Efler and Anne Helm.
According to Slotty, there is a “very small part” of a bunker there that was once used for driving operations. The complex is not listed. In January 2026, the Senate Building Director ordered that the bunker not be classified as a monument. Among other things, she referred to contractual obligations - including the clearing of construction sites - between the state of Berlin and the investor.
However, the Berlin Underworlds Association contradicts the Senate's representation of the scope of the facility. According to its chairman Dietmar Arnold, it is not just a small remnant of a driver's bunker. According to the association's documents, around 45 percent of the so-called Great Bunker of the New Reich Chancellery is still preserved. This corresponds to around 1,250 square meters of usable space.
“The willingness to drive mentioned in the answer, on the other hand, was housed in the so-called driver bunker. This is registered as an archaeological monument and is located under the premises of the Hessian state representation. The driver’s bunker and the large bunker of the New Reich Chancellery are two different facilities,” emphasizes Arnold.
Residential and office buildings are planned for the property. According to the Senate, around 8,000 square meters of office space is planned. The Senate generally supports an investor's new building plans. However, it is still unclear whether the project can be finally approved. An objection to parts of a preliminary decision is currently being examined.
According to its own statements, the Berlin Underworlds Association does not fundamentally question the planned development. Rather, the aim is to examine whether new construction and preservation of the historical complex can be combined. Arnold referred to a commissioned feasibility study that was intended to examine whether the bunker could be technically and economically integrated into the planned development. In his opinion, new construction and preservation of the historical evidence are not mutually exclusive.
According to the association's plans, an information, learning and documentation center is intended to have an exhibition to commemorate the crimes committed by the Nazi regime, the end of the war in Berlin and the treatment of historical buildings since 1946. According to Slotty, the Senate, however, does not see any prerequisites for the establishment of a documentation, memorial and memorial site.
From the perspective of the State Monuments Office, the former bunker represents the last remaining construction of the so-called New Reich Chancellery and is also the last remaining pre-war bunker in Berlin's Nazi government district.
The State Monuments Council, a committee of experts, spoke out last year in favor of examining the state of preservation and adding the bunker to the list of monuments. The committee finds that the bunker has important historical evidence value. The importance of such objects for future generations has increased in recent decades. Especially in times of digital abuse, the death of the last contemporary witnesses and a partial relativization of the Nazi crimes, it seems all the more important to preserve material and clear traces.
