Water tower in Misburg

This is perhaps not the world’s most attractive water tower, but it is rather unusual, don’t you think?

Originally, the lower 2/3 of this structure was built as an air raid shelter in the Second World War. It was used for that purpose quite often because Misburg, now a district of Hannover, had numerous factories and a canal harbor for delivering oil, so it was often attacked by allied bombers. The factories were destroyed but the shelter served its purpose and withstood all the bombardments, thus saving many lives.

Not everyone was admitted to the air raid shelter, however. According to the city’s website, the shelter was reserved during the war for local German residents and for prisoners of war from Western European countries. Prisoners from Eastern Europe, who were forced to work in the nearby factories, were not admitted.

In 1960 a water tank was added to the top of the air raid shelter, turning it into a water tower. Then in 1990, when water towers were no longer needed, it was sold to a private buyer.

Like many other left-over air raid shelters in Germany, this one in Misburg is now sometimes used by local rock bands to rehearse their music. Since the walls are so thick, the bands can play as loud as they wish without disturbing the neighbors.

Vending machine in Misburg

When I was riding by on my bicycle and caught sight of this yellow vending machine in Misburg, my first reaction was to begin my usual rant about the perversity of selling cigarettes out in the open in public spaces.

But then I took a closer look and saw that they were selling something useful this time, namely condoms. Perhaps this is the beginning of a new trend?

My photos in this post are from 2011. I revised the text in 2021.

See more posts on Hannover, Germany.

8 thoughts on “Water tower in Misburg”

  1. Some such water towers in England are being bought up by private developers and turned into rather spectaculr, if unusual, houses. Is that happening Germany too?

  2. Fun post. While not a fan of their who can use the bomb shelter policy, I do applaud Germany’s ability to use almost any space or building efficiently. Even the clover leaves stage or store something.

  3. Such a time capsule. It certainly looks like a place of refuge and rightly so to have withstood the many air raids.

    And how clever to repurpose as a water tower.

    Now a refuge for rock band practice 😉🤣

  4. A contraceptive dispenser….so, long gone are the days of secrecy and embarrassment over such things. Machines tucked away in pub toilets; “something for the weekend, Sir?”. Ha ha. Vilnius had a vending machine roughly once every 100 yards…Lavazza coffee machines!

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