Festung
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Festung is a generic German word for a fortress. Whilst it is not in common usage in English it is used in a number of historical contexts involving German speakers:
- For historical fortresses in Austria, Germany or Switzerland
- As part of the excuse given by the German Army (Wehrmacht Heer) for the slow progress of the Siege of Warsaw
- For German WWII strongholds which were to be held at all costs, especially towards the end of the war:
- Stalingrad (Festung Stalingrad)
- Warsaw (Fortress Warsaw, or Festung Warschau) see also the Warsaw Uprising
- Poznan (Festung Posen)
- Kolobrzeg (Fortress Kolberg, or Festung Kołobrzeg)
- Wrocław (Festung Breslau)
- Budapest (Festung Budapest)
- For entire countries such as Norway which were heavily fortified in World War II. See Fortress Norway (Festung Norwegen).
[edit] Festung Amerika
"Fortress America" (or Festung Amerika) is an analogous derogatory term used by some for American post 9/11 Homeland security efforts.

