Stasi Bunker Museum

In Machern, 30 km east of Leipzig, is the former emergency command centre of the district Stasi commander. It is located in the recreational area Lübschützer Teiche and was disguised as a holiday complex belonging to the Leipzig water supply and sewage treatment VEB (nationally-owned company). At the heart of the complex is the bunker built between 1968 and 1972. In the event of “tension” and the need for “mobilization” the Stasi commander, together with 120 full-time employees and two KGB (the Soviet secret service) liaison officers would have moved his command centre from the district headquarters in Leipzig, the "Runde Ecke", to Machern. The emergency command centre was a secretly-created complex, designed to maintain the Stasi leadership's hold on power, even in exceptional circumstances.

The bunker in Machern is the only almost completely preserved emergency command centre of the Stasi at the district level. Here the Citizens Committee documents in a specialized museum the military activity of the Stasi and its functions in the case of “tension and mobilization”.

The entire grounds, extending to 5.2 hectares (12.844 acres) are now classified as an historic monument. All the preserved buildings and installations, including the complete interior of the bunker are open to visitors. The guided tours demonstrate, among other things, how the supply systems worked, how news contacts were produced throughout the GDR and what survival strategies the Stasi developed for a nuclear strike. An exhibition shows mobilization plans in the district of Leipzig and the involvement of the emergency command centre in these plans.