Back into my hiking boots
After our trip to Plessenburg last year—which everyone had been eagerly looking forward to—it was finally time once again to swap our office outfits for hiking gear.
Between History and Nature – “Halberstadt’s Switzerland”
Three routes had been put up for a vote beforehand, and the decision was made to take the hike around the Klusberge and Spiegelsberge near Halberstadt, also known as “Halberstadt Switzerland”: An exciting sandstone rock formation with cliffs, caves, beautiful viewpoints, places to linger, and relaxing trails through the lush forest.
The 2.5-hour hike took us—in perfect hiking weather—past the Klusfelsen, the Fünfingerfelsen, and a World War I aviation memorial. This memorial commemorated the crash of a so-called “giant aircraft,” the Linke-Hoffman R-type, with a wingspan of 36 meters.
As the hike continued, the natural landscape was complemented by traces of the region’s history. Along the route, we passed the “Makrele 1” bunker system, located in the forest. Here, a former rock cellar was converted by forced laborers into a network of tunnels to serve as a bomb-proof production facility for the arms industry.
The Dessau Junkers Works relocated the production of wings and fuselage sections for various Junkers aircraft to the “Makrele 1” tunnels between May 1944 and April 1945. The use of this code name followed the principles of the Nazi arms industry’s strict camouflage system, in which, for example, names of fish and amphibians were used for existing tunnel systems. Later, the tunnel was used as a military hospital and emergency shelter before it was completely razed and partially blown up by Russian occupying forces.
Our hike then came to a close at the Spiegelberge Landscape Park, where our 11 employees from the offices in Wernigerode and Magdeburg wrapped up the day with a group lunch, games of Frisbee, and a ride on a backhoe.
