CyberBunker: the full story / Traben-Trarbach
The bunker in Traben-Trarbach
Above the Moselle town of Traben-Trarbach lies a bunker of 5,526 m², four to five floors deep. For decades it belonged to the Bundeswehr’s weather and geoinformation service. In 2013 the founder of CyberBunker bought it, and in 2019 hundreds of police officers raided it. Since 2023 it has belonged to the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, which is trying to sell it.
01 / DE-MOSEL · MONT ROYALThe site
The site lies on the Mont Royal, a hill in a bend of the Moselle about 1.5 km north of the centre of Traben-Trarbach, in Rhineland-Palatinate. It covers more than 13 hectares, with two office buildings (one from 1933, one from 1975), a gatehouse, a helicopter pad, an antenna field and the bunker. [1]
Map: the bunker site on the Mont Royal above Traben-Trarbach. Click the map to zoom with the scroll wheel.
The bunker itself measures about 50 by 50 metres and goes down to some 25 metres. [1] Sources differ on the number of floors: German Wikipedia counts five, the 2012 sale listing of the federal property agency BImA four, “mit Notstromanlage, einer Klimaanlage und einer kompletten IT-Verkabelung”. [1] [2]
Layout as described in reporting on the 2024 sale. [3]
02 / BUNDESWEHR · 1971–2012Weather service and geoinformation
The Mont Royal was home to the Bundeswehr’s military geophysics office, which handled weather and other environmental data for the armed forces. By the time it was sold the bunker had not been in active use for years: staff had moved into the buildings above ground because the bunker no longer met fire safety rules. [2]
- 1971INFO
Air force medical unit
A Luftwaffe medical squad of the Amt für Wehrgeophysik is stationed on the Mont Royal, until 2002. [1]
- 1975–1979INFO
The geophysics office moves in
The Amt für Wehrgeophysik moves from Cologne to Traben-Trarbach; the newer office building dates from 1975. [1]
- 1987–1994INFO
Signals centre
A fixed signals centre of the Bundeswehr, Festes Fernmeldezentrum 431/201, operates from the site. [1]
- 2003INFO
Amt für Geoinformationswesen
The geophysics office is merged into the Bundeswehr’s new geoinformation office. Staff on the Mont Royal analyse weather data and compile reports. [1] [2]
- 2007WARN
Closure announced
The Bundeswehr announces it will leave the site. [1]
- Oct 2012WARN
Offered for sale
At the Expo Real property fair, the BImA offers the site as a “Spezialimmobilie mit Bürokomplex”, available from the first half of 2013. The office moves to Euskirchen at the end of 2012. [2] [1]
- 17 Apr 2013INFO
Handed over
The Bundeswehr hands the property to the BImA for sale. [1]
03 / CYBERBUNKER 2.0 · 2013–2019From weather bunker to darknet host
- 2013WARN
Sold for €450,000
Herman Johan Xennt, the Dutchman behind the original CyberBunker in Kloetinge, buys the site for €450,000. The buyer promised about 80 jobs but stayed largely out of view. [1] [2]
- 2013–2019CRIT
“Cyberbunker 2.0”
According to the investigators, the bunker hosted darknet markets such as Wall Street Market and Cannabis Road, the fraud forum Fraudsters and other illegal shops. Investigators had been looking into it since 2014. [5] [6] [2]
- 26 Sep 2019CRIT
The raid
Hundreds of officers storm the site. Seven people are arrested, outside the bunker, and several hundred servers are seized. The raid in detail → [6] [7]
- 13 Dec 2021VERDICT
Convicted
The regional court in Trier convicts eight people of running a criminal organisation, but acquits them of aiding the crimes on their servers. The Federal Court of Justice upholds this in September 2023. The trial → [7]
- Sep 2023STATUS
The state takes over
With the verdict final, ownership of the site passes to the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. [3]
04 / STATUS · 2023–NOWA bunker for sale
The state wants to sell the complex to the highest bidder, but a price is hard to set: it is a special property and nobody quite knows what to do with it. Ideas over the years have ranged from a cheese store and a wine cellar to a bunker hotel; most interested parties want to keep it in IT. [4] [3] [8]
- Jul 2025INFO
43 interested parties
The Bundeswehr also shows interest during a site visit. [8]
- Nov 2025INFO
47 interested parties, valuation in
The state tax office in Koblenz has received a valuation report but keeps the figure to itself “aus verhandlungstaktischen Gründen”. There is “keinen Zeitdruck”. [9]
- Apr 2026INFO
54 interested parties, still no sale
No price has been published and no buyer chosen. [10]
The first CyberBunker, in a Cold War bunker in Kloetinge in the Netherlands, is a separate story: read it on the main page, and what happened to that bunker after 2010.
FAQFrequently asked questions
Where is the CyberBunker in Germany?
On the Mont Royal, a hill about 1.5 km north of the centre of Traben-Trarbach on the Moselle, in Rhineland-Palatinate.
What was the bunker originally for?
It belonged to the Bundeswehr’s military geophysics office, later its geoinformation office, which dealt with weather and environmental data. The Bundeswehr left at the end of 2012.
How much did CyberBunker pay for it?
€450,000, in 2013.
Who owns the Traben-Trarbach bunker now?
The state of Rhineland-Palatinate, since September 2023. As of April 2026 it had 54 interested parties but no buyer.
REFSources
- Wikipedia (de): Kaserne Mont Royal
- ausweichsitz.de: press reports on the Mont Royal bunker, BIMA listing and sale (2012–2019)
- DatacenterDynamics: CyberBunker data center in Germany to be repurposed as cheese or wine cellar (2024)
- Stuttgarter Zeitung: Rheinland-Pfalz will Cyberbunker an Meistbietenden verkaufen
- KrebsOnSecurity: German cops raid “Cyberbunker 2.0” (Sep 2019)
- The Local: Germany cracks ‘cyber bunker’ hosting darknet sites (Sep 2019)
- DatacenterDynamics: German court convicts eight (Dec 2021)
- it-daily: status of the bunker sale (Jul 2025)
- it-daily: Was gibt es Neues zum Cyberbunker? (25 Nov 2025)
- aktuell4u: Cyberbunker vor Verkauf, Interesse wächst weiter (Apr 2026)