National Content: Germany

The sources collected are photographies and a movie from destroyed German cities (Berlin, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Köln). They give only examples for the city-bombing in World War II. One picture shows the destroyed Cathedral of Coventry. One article of a German newspaper from the 15th February 1944 reports on the German bombing of London. The article demonstrates how the Nazis used propagenda when the German cities were under heavy fire and bombed by the Allies. The pictures of Düsseldorf and a part of a file about the damage give a discriptionary impression of the consequences of the bombings and the war. In the file of June 1943 only little remarks admit the extension of the damages. The dangerous work to remove the damage was done by members of the army. A-troups, people from the companies, and also O.T-Members, forced labourers, were often killed trying to deaktivate bombes. One photo without date was taken in Hamburg. Hamburg is a German City where permanent bombing by British and American airforce started July 1943. The picture showes an injured man in a destroyed city. It is a symbol for the consequences of the war: to lose health and physical inviolability as well as the basic living necessities in a high developed city culture. This consequence is often described in German history books about the World War II and the development of Germany in the first years after the war.