During World War II Samara had the status of the «emergency capital», as it was planned to move all government institutions in this city if Moscow would have been captured by the German troops.
It is quite natural that on the occasion of air raids there was built a special «object» for Stalin in this city, although the public knew about its existence only in 1991. In that year it was decided to declassify and make open for visiting the bunker, which is considered to be the deepest structure of World War II.
The bunker of Stalin is at the depth of 37 meters, that is all the main rooms of Stalin and the government of the Soviet Union are on the 12th underground floor. The bunker of Hitler in Berlin was almost half as deep, 16 m, and the bunker of Churchill in London, which was massively bombarded, was at all located on the second floor of the basement of the Treasury Building in London.
They began to build the Stalin`s bunker in February of 1942, when the result of the war wasn’t clear as yet. The Soviet Army could still carry out a successful operation at Moscow and throw back the Germans from the capital, but in summer of 1942 the Germans were able to take the offensive and occupy large territories of the USSR. By the end of 1942 the bunker of Stalin was ready to receive the high ranking officials of the country in case of their evacuation.
The Stalin`s bunker was built in the conditions of complete secrecy. It was under the building of the regional party committee, now it is occupied by the Academy of Culture and Art. The entrance of the bunker is behind an absolutely inconspicuous door in the yard of the academy.
Samara bunker is a multi-level, fully isolated structure equipped with lifts. The most interesting objects are on the lower levels. They the boardroom for 115 persons and the rest room of Stalin. On the upper levels there are located the rooms of security and supporting services.
