Red Cross opens largest civil protection center in Brandenburg

Luckenwalde Red Cross opens largest civil protection center As of: October 29, 2026 • 11:41 a.m

The German Red Cross has opened a new civil protection center in Brandenburg. Material is stored there to be able to care for up to 5,000 people in the event of a disaster. According to Interior Minister Dobrindt, the project sets standards.

The German Red Cross (DRK) opened the largest and most modern civil protection center in Germany in Luckenwalde (Teltow-Fläming) on ​​Thursday. The center sets new standards for Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU). “This will be an example for a whole series of other bases on which we will then build the follow-up instruments,” said the CSU politician at the opening of the relief goods warehouse. The center is "a small city that can be built at top speed", can be used anywhere and gives the Red Cross emergency services the opportunity to train with material and equipment, said Dobrindt. Brandenburg's Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) was also present at the opening.

The DRK is now storing material in the new civil protection center. The DRK is bundling relief supplies that have been distributed so far on the approximately 3.4 hectare site. The previous central warehouse at BER Airport in Schönefeld (Dahme-Spreewald) had become too small. Among other things, tents and emergency accommodation equipment for around 1,000 families are stored in Luckenwalde. There are also blankets, sleeping bags, camp beds, hygiene and baby packages as well as kitchen equipment. The inventory also includes all-terrain ambulances, large power generators and oxygen supply systems. The relief supplies can be used in the event of floods, major evacuations or international crises. It's about civil protection under "new conditions," said Dobrindt. "New conditions mean hybrid threat situations." You don't just need the technology, but "first and foremost the operational forces."

The center is intended to strengthen national crisis preparedness. The facility can also play an important role in international humanitarian aid. According to the DRK, aid deliveries can be quickly sent from there to crisis areas around the world. With the modular system, up to 5,000 people could be provided with accommodation and other vital services in the event of a crisis, it said.

As the President of the DRK, Hermann Gröhe, said on rbb24 Inforadio, the center should play a key role in national crisis preparedness. The DRK made an advance payment because Germany neglected civil protection in more peaceful times, said Gröhe. The center is “an offer to help the state with a core task of its activities.” “The supply of up to 5,000 people is like a mobile small town in a container that they can transport and then set up,” Gröhe continued. He referred to examples such as the devastating flood in the Ahr Valley or the large refugee movement in 2015, "that you suddenly have to provide good care for a very large number of people." Among them could be people in need of care or people who need medical care. In addition, reasonable food, including drinking water, must be ensured under difficult conditions.

Broadcast: rbb24 Inforadio, October 29, 2026, 8:20 a.m. Audio: rbb24 Inforadio, October 29, 2026, Werner Schoninger