5. Flak Towers
Flak Towers were a series of anti-aircraft firearm blockhouse towers built by Nazi Germany in the cities of Berlin, Vienna and Hamburg starting from 1940. The towers were eight complexes of large structures erected above-ground that were used both as civilian shelters during bombing raids and for purposes of anti-aircraft defense in Germany and Austria. Three of these were built in Berlin. 2 of these survived the Second World War and still exist to date.
The Berlin Flak Towers are however not the only ones that are still standing. Of the three that were built in Vienna, the L-Tower, and the Obere Augartenstrasse tower also have survived till now. There were another two built in Hamburg. These flak towers have remained partly to this date.
The towers’ very existence to this date is largely because of their nearly indestructible nature. It would take a large-scale initiative to obliterate them, which was never taken. After WWII, a lot of such towers were destroyed or just left as relics. Some were however converted into nightclubs, restaurants, and music shops that exist till now.