Atlantic Hotel
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Atlantic Hotel

You are standing in a large bunker complex here

Kijkduin consisted of 150 buildings before the war. Half of those were demolished to make way for the construction of the Atlantic Wall.

An extensive complex of bunkers and underground tunnels was installed in the dunes. The grounds where the shopping centre now stands were also part of this complex. Around a hundred metres of tunnels, which connect four bunkers to one another, remain behind the Atlantic Hotel. The Flugwache, amongst others, which scanned the airspace for enemy aircraft with binoculars, was active there during World War II. The bunkers and the tunnel system are part of the Atlantikwall Museum Scheveningen and are open on some days. It is worth climbing the dune even when the museum is closed, if only for the view from the bunker.

North Sea Flood of 1953

The degradation of the bunker complex was hastened when the seawall was heavily damaged here during the North Sea Flood of 1953. Many bunkers shifted when the sand beneath the bunkers was washed away. The bunkers were blown up out of fear they would cause currents during high tides that would damage the dunes even more. Troops of the U.S. Army Corps stationed in Germany assisted with this.

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