The Wassermann, bunker on Schiermonnikoog

The bunker was built under the responsibility of the Organisation Todt by a contracting firm from northern Groningen. A narrow-gauge railway was laid from the ferry harbour, following what would later become Prins Bernhardweg, to transport building materials to the dune. The design was meant to house an advanced radar system capable of detecting enemy aircraft at great distances.

Failed Project

The radar system, however, never became operational. Once the bunker was completed, both the installation and the mounting of the radar turned out to have been heavily sabotaged. A persistent story claims that Dutch construction workers misread a handwritten German numeral: they mistook a “1” for a “7.” As a result, the installation was built six centimetres too large at every point, meaning the radar mechanism no longer fit. Parts of the mast reportedly lay at the foot of the dune until 1944, unused and useless.

The Wassermann bunker was used only a few times. It briefly housed a German flight controller who, using a small radar system, directed night-fighters from Leeuwarden to intercept Allied bombers. But the prominently announced radar station never materialised: the Wassermann on Schiermonnikoog became a completely failed project.

After the War

After 1945, the bunker was partially demolished and gradually became covered by drifting sand. In 1989, the site came under the management of Natuurmonumenten, who made the structure accessible again and installed information panels. Today, the Wassermann stands as a symbol both of Germany’s ambition to militarise the Wadden Islands and of the sabotage and quiet resistance that remained possible even under occupation.