Riese ([ˈʁiːzə]; German for "giant") was the code name for a construction project of Nazi Germany between 1943 and 1945. It consisted of seven underground structures in the Owl Mountains and Książ Castle in Lower Silesia, which was then Nazi Germany and is now Poland.
None of them were finished, and all are in different states of completion with only eleven per cent reinforced by concrete.
The purpose of the project remains uncertain because of the lack of documentation. Some sources suggest that all the structures were part of the Führer Headquarters;[1][2][3] according to others, it was a combination of headquarters (HQ) and arms industry[4][5] but comparison to similar facilities indicates that only the castle was adapted as an HQ or other official residence, and the tunnels in the Owl Mountains were planned as a network of underground factories.[6][7][8]
The construction work was done by forced labourers, prisoners of war (POWs), and prisoners of concentration camps, and many lost their lives, mostly as a result of disease and malnutrition.
- ^ Speer 1970, p. 217.
- ^ Below 1990, p. 352.
- ^ Short 2010, pp. 14, 23.
- ^ Seidler & Zeigert 2004, pp. 218–219.
- ^ Kosmaty 2006, p. 146.
- ^ Aniszewski & Zagórski 2006, p. 143.
- ^ Gutterman 1982, pp. 122–124.
- ^ Kalarus 1997a, p. 5.