Many of the country’s largest military fortresses remained top secret, even into the 21st century. One town, Faulensee, located 25 miles south of Bern, even cleverly disguised its Cold War-era bunkers to look like farmhouses to fool would-be bombers and dissuade possible aerial attacks.

By 1963, Swiss law required that all new buildings provide protective shelters, resulting in a country pockmarked with shelters. Bunkers weren’t luxuries for the country’s wealthy residents: They were mandatory. When the war ended in 1945, the Swiss government continued its defense strategy into the Cold War, and the bunkers served as protection against a possible Soviet attack. In response, the Swiss government fortified its mountainous borders in what has been dubbed the “ National Redoubt.”īut the bunkers far outlasted World War II. Since the country sits between Germany and Italy, fears of a possible invasion were high as the Axis countries set their sights on using the alpine region as a passageway. At one point, it contained an estimated 300,000 fallout shelters, with enough space to provide shelter for all of its eight million residents.įortified with thick cement walls, the bunkers were a way for the Swiss government to protect its citizens against a possible attack during World War II. In the 20th century, Switzerland had more bunkers than chocolate shops or banks combined. Switzerland hasn’t fought in a war in well over two centuries-but war shaped a hidden facet of the famously neutral country.

Modern fallout shelters plans