Post Conference Review #7: The Diefenbunker: Canada’s Cold War Museum

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Editor’s note: This post continues the series of conference city reviews published by The Public Historian in the Public History Commons

The Diefenbunker: Canada’s Cold War Museum, April 20, 2013. NCPH Annual Meeting, Ottawa, Ontario, Henriette Riegel, Executive Director. Tour Leader: Captain Michael Braham. http://www.diefenbunker.ca/

The above-ground entrance to the Diefenbunker. (Photo courtesy of Jennifer Dickey.)

The above-ground entrance to the Diefenbunker. (Photo courtesy of Jennifer Dickey.)

Located thirty-five kilometers (twenty-one miles) west of downtown Ottawa, Canada, the former Central Emergency Government Headquarters for the Canadian government, more familiarly known as the Diefenbunker, offers the public a glimpse at the long shadow cast by the specter of mutually assured destruction that characterized the period known as the Cold War. Known as the Diefenbunker, in a play on the name of Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, the bunker was built between 1959 and 1961 to house up to 535 government officials in the event of a nuclear attack. The premise of the Continuity of Government Program, first announced by Diefenbaker in 1958, was that a “‘thin thread’ of continuous government” would be maintained in the event of such an attack.[1] The bunker, which was operational until 1994, served as a telecommunications hub for the Canadian Forces and was staffed by approximately one hundred military personnel. Since 1998 the Diefenbunker has been open to the public as a museum and last year averaged more than one hundred visitors a day.

The government sold the Diefenbunker to the local Township of West Carleton in 1994, and shortly thereafter the site became a tourist attraction when community members began conducting tours of the site to raise funds for a new library. The tours were hugely successful, and community members organized a not-for-profit charitable organization to take ownership of and operate the Diefenbunker as a museum. The bunker, which was declared a National Historic Site in 1994, opened to the public as a volunteer-run museum in 1998. Visitation has grown from 5,000 that first year to almost 50,000 in 2012.

I was one of about twenty public historians who had the good fortune to visit the Diefenbunker during the NCPH Annual Meeting. We were led through the site by retired Navy Captain Michael Braham, who had worked for Emergency Preparedness Canada during the time when the bunker was operational. We spent almost two hours roaming through the bunker, including a half-hour for lunch in the former cafeteria, and I walked away both impressed by the site and wishing that I had more time to explore this 100,000-square-foot artifact.

Captain Michael Braham and our group in the blast tunnel. (Photo courtesy of Jennifer Dickey.)

Captain Michael Braham and our group in the blast tunnel. (Photo courtesy of Jennifer Dickey.)

Captain Braham, who is a volunteer at the Diefenbunker, was a lively and engaging guide who had a vast knowledge about the site and a wry sense of humor that kept the tour somewhat lighthearted. As he informed us at the entrance to the blast tunnel, within a decade of its completion, the Diefenbunker was made obsolete by the advent of intercontinental ballistic missiles that could have reached a target in fifteen to twenty minutes—about half the amount of time it would have taken government officials to get to the bunker. So for much of its existence, the Diefenbunker served more as a symbol of the Continuity of Government Program than as a truly viable site where key personnel might hunker down for thirty days following a nuclear attack. Only once in the thirty-three years of its operation did the government decide to equip fully the Diefenbunker for occupancy—during the 1962 Cuban Missile crisis—but as Braham explained, Parliament took so long to reach the decision to prepare the bunker that the crisis was over before preparations could be completed.

Artifacts such as this rotary phone transport visitors back to the 1960s. (Photo courtesy of  Jennifer Dickey.)

Artifacts such as this rotary phone transport visitors back to the 1960s. (Photo courtesy of
Jennifer Dickey.)

The close quarters of a commissioned officer remind visitors that officials would not have been  allowed to bring family members into the bunker. (Photo courtesy of Jennifer Dickey.)

The close quarters of a commissioned officer remind visitors that officials would not have been
allowed to bring family members into the bunker. (Photo courtesy of Jennifer Dickey.)

Visitors to the Diefenbunker enter the site through a blast tunnel and then step through a decontamination shower, stopping at the ticket counter and gift shop, before beginning their tour of the four-floor structure. Although the government removed most of the furnishings and equipment in 1994, the bunker has been filled with enough furniture, equipment, and exhibits to give visitors a sense of what the space was like during the Cold War. The bunker itself is the most impressive artifact, but a fascinating object that is on permanent loan from the Canadian War Museum is the architectural scale model of the bunker that was created to aid in the construction process in 1959.[2]

The architectural model of the Diefenbunker is the centerpiece of an exhibit about the  construction of the site. (Photo courtesy of Jennifer Dickey.)

The architectural model of the Diefenbunker is the centerpiece of an exhibit about the
construction of the site. (Photo courtesy of Jennifer Dickey.)

The model enables visitors to see just what a marvel of engineering the bunker is, even if its high-tech air filtration system and reinforced concrete columns designed to withstand a nuclear blast were never battle tested.

Interpretive panels in English and French are posted throughout the bunker. (Photo courtesy of  Jennifer Dickey.)

Interpretive panels in English and French are posted throughout the bunker. (Photo courtesy of
Jennifer Dickey.)

In addition to several permanent exhibitions, the Diefenbunker offers a series of temporary exhibitions each year. Unobtrusive interpretive panels (in English and French) that explain the historic function of many of the rooms are located throughout the bunker and serve as a supplementary resource. Anyone who is part of a guided tour would be hard pressed to read any of the text as they are hustled through the bunker. Guided tours are designed to last no more than an hour, which means that visitors likely will feel rushed. I certainly did, and my group spent almost two hours in the bunker. However, visitors are allowed to roam freely upon the completion of their guided tour. Although just being in the bunker gives visitors a powerful lesson in the reality of what mutually assured destruction meant, the exhibits, which I did not have time to see, presumably provide additional context to the experience.

One of the most impressive things about this site was the passion and enthusiasm of the staff and the volunteers who keep the site running. Executive director Henriette Riegel told us that the Diefenbunker covers between 70-80 percent of its almost $1 million annual operating expenses through admissions—something that she described as “scary” given the potentially astronomical costs associated with ongoing maintenance of such a large and complex structure. The site receives some financial support from the City of Ottawa and the province of Ontario, but the remaining funds come from admissions and private donors. The federal government provides minimal support, mainly through grants to cover summer docent positions for students.

The Diefenbunker currently has ten full-time and twelve part-time staff as well as a number of volunteers who help keep the site running. The leadership team has developed creative programming, such as the Cold War Cinema series, Spy Camp, and Bunker Birthday parties. The Diefenbunker partnered with the Haunted Walk of Ottawa for a series of Zombie-themed tours last October, all of which sold out, and welcomed 350 people in three hours for an Easter egg hunt in April. “We are having the time of our lives with this place,” said Riegel, adding that “zombies, spies, and the Easter bunny are the secret to attracting so many young people.”

On a more serious note, Riegel commented that “I get to work in this real place,” which reminded us all that whatever programming or gimmicks the staff may use to get people in the door, the authenticity of the place remains paramount. The Diefenbunker offers an immersive experience, but it may also give visitors a false sense of security that somehow the end of the Cold War brought with it a new age of safety and security. Nevertheless, the Diefenbunker is certainly worth a visit for anyone who wants to learn more about the “bunker” mentality that pervaded government during the Cold War. The preservation and interpretation of this authentic Cold War site is a credit to the community that embraced it and to the staff and volunteers who have labored to make it accessible to the public.

Jennifer W. Dickey, Kennesaw State University

Entrance to the vault on the ground floor where the Bank of Canada would have stored its gold  reserves in the case of a nuclear attack. (Photo courtesy of Jennifer Dickey.)

Entrance to the vault on the ground floor where the Bank of Canada would have stored its gold
reserves in the case of a nuclear attack. (Photo courtesy of Jennifer Dickey.)

 


[1] Diefenbunker: Canada’s Cold War Museum Strategic Plan 2012-2017.

[2] On Tour at the Diefenbunker, Canada’s Cold War Museum (Ottawa: Diefenbunker, 2006), 11.

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