Germany opens World War II submarine yard as historic site

May 8, 2011, 18:18 GMT

Bremen, Germany - Germany's largest bomb-proof World War II submarine yard was opened Sunday to the public as a historic site.

The Valentin Yard in the port city of Bremen is being redeveloped for tourists and students. People can even take a virtual tour inside the Bremen building, via its website.

The Nazis built submarine pens with thick, bomb-hardened concrete walls and roofs to protect U-boats under construction or repair from Allied air raids. Valentin was built as a submarine factory.

The structure, which is 426 metres long, 97 metres wide and 33 metres high, is the centrepiece of a 4-square-kilometre base. Work started on it in 1943. British bombers pounded it in March 1945 and the Nazis abandoned the project unfinished.

The site is looked after by the political education department of the city state of Bremen. Mayor Jens Boehrnsen said the site development must not glorify the Nazis in any way.

An even bigger pen in Brest, France, has also been opened to the public.

Harry Callan, an 87-year-old Irishman who was taken by the Nazis as a 17-year-old seaman, recalled the regime of 14-hour working days, brutality and the paucity of food.

'They treated us like animals,' said Callan. 'We just got food and water and had to work till we dropped.' On any one day, 10,000 forced labourers and prisoners worked at the site. More than 1,300 died from starvation, sickness or execution.

Callan was ill, but survived until liberation because the camp doctor transferred him to gardening work at his own home and fed him.

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