12. Information and Documentation Center
The Information and Documentation Center/Memorial Site
Formerly a bunker for water supply
Use of the building 1939–1945
There was a main and a secondary waterworks within the facility, which
could pump 280 cubic meters of water per hour.
The groundwater conditions allowed the entire water demand for
operational and firefighting purposes as well as the factory settlement. The water
was drawn from six filter wells: four for the main waterworks and two for the
secondary waterworks. The well pipe was designed in such a way that there was a
direct connection to the suction line on one side and a pipe connection
for the portable firefighting pumps on the other.
The water pipe system was laid as ring pipes with a total length of
16,500 m. Ninety-six fire hydrants were connected to the pipe system,
83 of which were inside and 13 outside the naval artillery arsenal.
Three drinking water pumps and three fire pumps were installed in the main waterworks.
The third drinking water pump could also be switched to firefighting mode,
so that a total of 160 cubic meters of water per hour
was available from the main waterworks for firefighting purposes at 8.5 bar.
1945–1949 Demilitarization and arsenal dissolution
In the summer of 1949, the auxiliary waterworks located in the bunker area
was blown up by the British and the water pipes laid there were removed.
Use from 1947
After the dismantling of the naval arsenal by the British military government,
the vacated halls and buildings were released for civilian use. In
the course of the privatization of federal properties, the then
municipality of Wahlstedt had to purchase the waterworks on June 29, 1959, for a price of 280.000.
The old waterworks remained in operation until 1982, when the new waterworks was completed.
After that, it was used by the Wahlstedt Sports Drivers' Club, among others, and in 2012, it was leased by the Wahlstedt Adult Education Center.
Since 2013, the former waterworks bunker, which is now a listed building, has been home to the Information and Documentation Center.
Among other things, exhibits from the active period of the naval artillery arsenal are on display there: plans and photos, tableware, fabrics, "war material manufactured goods," narrow-gauge railway lorries, packing crates, and ammunition. Documents on forced labor and prisoner of war camps, as well as an exhibition on flight and expulsion. There are also documents and exhibitions on industrial settlement, as well as documents on privatization. Tools and exhibits on training by the State Employment Office to become skilled workers in the trades.
Current 2025
A memorial is located on the grounds of the Information and Documentation Center on the subject of forced labor, prisoner of war camps, and flight and expulsion.
Information and Documentation Center “Marine Artillery Arsenal” Waldstraße 101, 23812 Wahlstedt