- Title: CZECH REPUBLIC: Czechs turn Soviet nuclear warhead depot into Iron Curtain museum
- Date: 17th May 2013
- Summary: MISOV, CZECH REPUBLIC (MAY 16, 2013) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Czech) IRON CURTAIN FOUNDATION CHAIRMAN, VACLAV VITOVEC, SAYING: "60 to 131 warheads were stored here, which were used for missiles called Luna, Scud or Totchka." NUCLEAR FACILITY CORRIDORS SIGN ON CONTROL PANEL READING IN RUSSIAN: "Before switching on, check whether correctly assembled" UPPER LEVEL OVERLOOKING NUCLEAR FACILITY ROOM EXTERIOR OF ENTRANCE TO FACILITY (SOUNDBITE) (Czech) TEACHER, LADISLAV CUMBA, SAYING: "I think this project is very useful because this is a memorial of our recent 40-year history and it would be pity if it went to ruin." VARIOUS OF INHABITANT OF MISOV VILLAGE, MILOS FRANCE, WORKING WITH SOIL (SOUNDBITE) (Czech) MISOV INHABITANT, MILOS FRANCE, SAYING: "We knew that there was some base, army barracks, near here, but almost no one suspected there were nuclear warheads here. Everyone knew there are some overnight transports but I think that even our top representatives didn't know what it was." EXTERIOR OF ANOTHER ENTRANCE TO NUCLEAR FACILITY
- Embargoed: 1st June 2013 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Czech Republic
- Country: Czech Republic
- Topics: Conflict,History
- Reuters ID: LVA1I2TSO01QCWBWL3ZC2MTBGG5N
- Story Text: A former secret Soviet nuclear warhead shelter in the Czech Republic is being turned into a museum inviting visitors to learn about the Cold War atomic race.
The mighty underground cement bunker was ordered by the Soviet leadership under Nikita Khrushchev, and built in the mid to late 1960s in a forest near the village of Misov southwest of Prague, 60 km (37.5 miles) from the west German border.
It was one of three such places in the former Czechoslovakia, and a dozen across Soviet Warsaw Pact allies, but the only one believed still to be intact.
"The only one that still exists for future generations to remember is this depot in Misov," said Vaclav Vitovec, head of the Iron Curtain Foundation that is preparing to open the site in August.
Inside the bunker, buried under a forest and protected by machine-gun posts, there are thick concrete walls, two pairs of heavy iron gates and four chambers for storing up to 80 nuclear warheads that could be mounted on missiles. A twin bunker sits some 100 metres away.
A succession of smaller rooms hosts the remains of equipment, from loading cranes to helium and vacuum pumps used to maintain the warheads, a diesel engine, gas masks, air filters and various tools.
All of this will be on display along with pictures and texts on the arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Historians say the site was so secret that it is not even known whether nuclear warheads were actually ever placed there.
Short- to medium-range missiles that could carry nuclear warheads were deployed in Czechoslovakia and some even provided to the Czechoslovak army.
The warheads could be mounted on the rockets and fired within two hours to clear the path for the Czechoslovak army marching to Germany, as set in Cold War plans.
The Iron Curtain Foundation leaders citing former Czechoslovak and Soviet generals, are convinced the depots were used. They say tools and equipment found on the site also indicate the facility was in operation. A 170-strong Soviet unit under direct command from Moscow was deployed there permanently.
"60 to 131 warheads were stored here, which were used for missiles called Luna, Scud or Totchka," said Vitovec.
Even those living in Misov were broadly unaware of the precise functions of the base.
"We knew that there was some base, army barracks, near here, but almost no one suspected there were nuclear warheads here. Everyone knew there are some overnight transports but I think that even our top representatives didn't know what it was," said one local inhabitant, Milos France.
Soviet forces that invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968 pulled out after the fall of Communism in 1990-1991, including special units deployed at the three nuclear depots.
Since then, the Misov bunker was used for storing tonnes of Czechoslovak banknotes which were pulled out of circulation when the country broke up in 1992, and as a storage place for the remains of 4,000 World War II German soldiers. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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