Bunkers on Denmark’s west coast that were built by Germany during the Second World War will start being torn down next week, the Environment Ministry announced today.
Many of the 600 concrete bunkers, constructed by the Nazis to defend against an attack from the North Sea, have lost the battle against the elements and have become dangerous relics of the war.
“Beach guests can risk getting hurt by the bunkers,” the acting environment minister, Pia Olsen Dyhr (Socialistisk Folkeparti), stated in a press release. “That is why we are removing the dangerous bunkers for the benefit of everyone who spends time in the beautiful nature of the west coast.”
The Environment Ministry, Transport Ministry and a range of west Jutland councils have joined together to fund a 12 million kroner project to remove 120 of the most dangerous bunkers.
On Monday, the first of the bunkers will be torn down on Langerhuse beach near the town of Harboøre in Lemvig Council. The work will mark the end of a long-standing dispute about who should pay for the removal.
The coastal authority, Kystdirektoratet, has agreed to pay 5.7 million kroner and the nature agency, Naturstyrelsen, will pay four million kroner, while councils will contribute 20,000 kroner for each bunker on their land that is slated for demolition.
The bunkers formed part of the Nazi’s Atlantic Wall, a system of around 8,000 coastal fortifications ordered by Hitler in 1942 that run along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia, from the border of Spain and France to the most northerly point in Norway.