Wassenaar councillors and government real estate managers have decided to sell off an 80-year-old World War II bunker, which was commissioned in 1942 by Arthur Seyss-Inquart, the highest-ranking Nazi in the country.

Originally designed to resemble a farm building in order to trick Allied forces, the bunker is located along one edge of the 17th-century estate that served as a base of operations for Seyss-Inquart and his underlings.

It was later renamed ‘Commandopost Clingendael’ and used by the Dutch government as a communications facility and crisis centre during the Cold War.

The sale of the bunker has been the topic of much discussion in Wassenaar and The Hague since it was first mooted.

A restoration took place between 2019 and 2020, but the building has been mostly empty for decades and unused entirely since 2013.

Officials have now agreed that the bunker cannot be used as a café, restaurant, disco, party centre or events hall, although a gift shop has not been ruled out, the NRC reported on Wednesday.

Buyers can turn it into workspace, storage, a museum or something else which “does justice to the cultural and historical values of the complex.”

The Atlantic Wall museum foundation told the paper it is interested in buying the property to add to its collection of bunkers, which have been restored and opened to the public.

“That is more difficult than you would think, given they were built to keep people out,” spokesman Jeroen Trimbos said.

The bid book for the location will be published next month.