Motorway construction in North Hesse (1933–1945)

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The construction of the motorway in Northern Hesse from 1933 to 1945 was part of the National Socialist motorway policy. Since North Hesse was poorly connected in terms of traffic at that time, despite its central location, economic reasons were also decisive.

Start of construction from 1934

The German NS motorway project also radiated to northern Hesse . In fact, the project sketch by the Kassel planner Klipp, which was developed on the occasion of the route discussion in Kassel at the end of the 1920s, was implemented in the planning of the Göttingen - Kassel - Bad Hersfeld motorway route . A special justification for the planned motorway network around Kassel during the Nazi era was the extremely poor connection between Kassel and the Reichsbahn railway network . This explains why the construction of the Kassel – Göttingen autobahn was first started in northern Hesse, which is actually poor in traffic. On May 1, 1934, the " Supreme Construction Management of Motorways " was set up in Kassel at Kronprinzenstrasse 1-2. Its director was the director of the Reichsbahn Otto Liebetraut. The construction management consisted of nine departments for routing, land acquisition, finance and personnel matters, and two structural engineering route departments. There was also a department for bridge construction, road surfaces and soil science. The construction work was divided into five construction departments (Göttingen, Hannoversch Münden , Bettenhausen , Wilhelmshöhe and Bad Hersfeld). In 1934, the Supreme Construction Management employed 47 civil servants, 103 salaried employees and 84 workers, while 162 civil servants, employees and workers were employed in the five construction departments. The companies entrusted with the work employed 3,200 workers in the area of ​​Kassel construction management, some of whom were deployed in two or even three shifts to build bridges, such as the Asbachtal bridge near Bad Hersfeld.

Kassel – Göttingen line

Construction of the Kassel – Göttingen line began in November 1934, while construction work on the Kassel – Homberg line did not begin until the summer of 1935. In the commemorative publication for the 600th anniversary of the community of Guxhagen in 1952, the construction of the motorway bridge over the Fulda is described in detail. The bridge was blown up in the last days of the war and was only rebuilt in one lane until 1952.

The opening of the Kassel – Göttingen line took place on June 20, 1937 with a superbly staged ceremony by the Gauleiter on the autobahn. The party newspaper of the NS-Gaus Kurhessen placed this event between the "Heerschauen" of the NS movement, the 6th Hessentag of the NSDAP in Kassel and the Reichskriegertag of the Kyffhäuserbund in Kassel. The autobahn undoubtedly had a utopian character, as the traffic density in Germany at that time was very low compared to other European countries. In addition, North Hesse was rated as particularly low-traffic. The pictures from that time therefore show motorway routes with little or no traffic. Traffic had to be specially arranged for the production of propaganda images about the motorway. The Kassel – Homberg line was opened on December 17, 1937.

Propaganda and time pressure

Motorway bridge near Wellerode

Since the propaganda had set the goal of completing 1000 km of autobahns annually from 1936, the autobahn project was under great time pressure. These goals were achieved in the years 1936 to 1938, celebrated with great enthusiasm on the dates and announced by Fritz Todt as having been achieved at the NS party congresses in Nuremberg . However, from mid-1938, the fortifications restricted on West Wall , a work on the highway, because construction capacities are deducted had. The construction goal of 3000 km was only met in 1938 with provisionally furnished, e.g. Sometimes single-lane and only gravel-covered roads reached the last few kilometers. Of the 3000 km, 9.8% were single-lane. In 1939, as a result of the war preparations, the construction work fell to 255 km. The construction output rose again in 1940 to 436 km due to the use of forced labor. By the summer of 1943, the network grew to a total of 3858 km, of which 14.3% were single-track.

The motorway project was under considerable pressure to be completely discontinued due to the changed economic priorities during the war. The project used up scarce raw materials, such as steel and cement, without contributing to the military strengthening of Germany. Therefore, in contrast to the time before 1940, when openings were celebrated in a spectacular way, the motorway project should be continued as inconspicuously as possible, even with the press switched off. So was z. For example, the Kassel – Hanover line was continued during the war, but when the 13 km provisionally completed Göttingen – Nörten line was opened to traffic on August 3, 1942, the district administrator of the Göttingen district ordered a public announcement of the Foreseen release and also not to inform the press.

The construction sites on the Kassel – Eisenach line were abandoned due to the new priorities being set during the war , as the isolated motorway bridge in the forest near Wellerode is evidence of. Instead of the Kassel – Eisenach line, the Bad Hersfeld – Eisenach line (route 81) was provisionally completed on July 1, 1943, in the fifth year of the war. The section between Sorga and Eisenach was the last opening of a Reichsautobahn before the war-related cessation of all motorway work in the Reich. From 1940 until the end of the work, forced laborers and prisoners of war were used for the work, who were housed in labor camps along the motorway routes.

The time pressure affected the care with which bridge structures were carried out. For example, the transition from the flat Werra valley bridge near Hannoversch Münden to the steep climb failed , so that long buses with their bodies hit the ground. The bridge near Wommen on the Bad Hersfeld – Eisenach route was not only built as a single-lane economy measure, but also had problems with the foundation of the piers.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Richard Vahrenkamp : The central location of Kassel. Transport policy and motorway construction in Northern Hesse 1920 to 2000. (PDF; 2.9 MB) June 12, 2007, p. 19 , archived from the original on July 8, 2007 ; accessed on January 22, 2017 .
  2. ↑ http://www.autobahngeschichte.de , accessed on February 1, 2013
  3. ↑ z. B. Camp near Herleshausen, today a war cemetery ( memento from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on April 27, 2015