housed in 24 hours. That was the end of the motorway shelter. Protestors locked underground Since its inauguration in 1976, the Sonnenberg bunker has been used only once: in December 2007, when a protest was led against the closure of an alternative site. The police, who still possess a floor in Sonnenberg, locked dozens of protestors in cells adapted for this purpose. “It was as though they wanted to test the place out,” comments our guide. Four years ago, 200 new bunks were also set up on one of the floors of the cavern for refugees. The project was later abandoned. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, many people have called the association for information about the bunker, something which hasn’t happened since 2006. People are making plans and want to know where they can shelter. But the question more familiar to the association that organises tours, including a descent into the bunker, is that posed by visitors from abroad: why should there be such fear of an attack in a country considered neutral? Others marvel that Switzerland would take such extensive measures to protect its citizens. But the older generation in Switzerland admit that they felt reassured by this project. As for the young visitors, the extent of the facility teaches them about the perception of the nuclear threat that reigned at the time of the Cold War. Zora Schelbert, who will mark her 1,000th visit this year, has a nuanced view of the shelter: “I don’t want to laugh at this place. Its aim was to help people, even if I have my doubts about its use,” explains the teacher. Inhuman human density In Sonnenberg, every visitor imagines life underground. The human pass each day. This is the cavern. In the event of war or a catastrophe, this concrete cylinder would have served as the headquarters and workspace for 700 members of the civil defence. Each floor has its own role. The seventh floor is dedicated to energy and ventilation, with biological, chemical and nuclear filters. The cavern has three diesel motors, including one emergency one, with enough fuel to produce electricity for two weeks. This floor also has electric winches installed vertically over the motorway. These would have allowed survival equipment – beds and toilets – to be lowered into the two tunnels. A third of the city’s population could have sought refuge here. In Kyiv and Kharkiv, deep metro tunnels are being used as protection from bombings. In Lucerne, this 1.5-kilometre section of motorway would have served the same purpose. In 1987, the Fourmi operation revealed the inadequacies of the project, if it were to be used in reality. The aim was to lay out 10,000 bunks in one week along one of the two tunnels. But the trolleys intended for use in this situation got stuck in the corridors. More serious still, one of the four concrete doors blocking the motorway would not close properly. The decision was taken in 2002 to downsize the facility and to lower its capacity to 2,000 people, who could now be The 20,000 marks on the unending tunnel wall indicate how many people the facility was built for. Photo: Stéphane Herzog The bunker even has detention cells. A seven-storey cavern forms the centrepiece of the Sonnenberg nuclear bunker. Swiss Review / July 2022 / No.3 A children’s play area on the right, the inconspicuous entrance to Sonnenberg on the left. Photo: Stéphane Herzog
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