Altena Fortress

Altena Fortress was part of the Dutch Water-line. It is build in 1847 and later on it was expanded.

In the 1870-1871 and 1914-1918 wars the fortress was mobilized. It was also mobilized in 1940 and inscriptions inside the fortress reminds of that period. After the war, the fortress was used to lock up collaborators and there are also inscriptions of that period.

After that the fortress seemed to be no longer used, but inside was an office of the secret government organization Gladio, which had to organize the resistance in the case of a foreign occupation of the Netherlands.

Nowadays the fortress is private and often open to the public.

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Source

• Text: Fedor de Vries
• Photos: Dick de Bruijne (1), Fedor de Vries (2, 3, 4, 5)