Continentalplatz

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Continentalplatz from the northeast, Ritterstraße on the left, Grenzweg on the right
playground

The Continentalplatz in Hanover is a square in front of the industrial complex of the Continental-Caoutchouk- und Gutta-Percha-Compagnie, the later Continental AG in the Hanoverian district Vahrenwald, laid out at the beginning of the 20th century . The square, which was laid out as a public space in 1911 , was created in the triangle of the Grenzweg, Philipsbornstrasse and Ritterstrasse traffic routes.

At the time of National Socialism , in the early years of the Second World War, an underground bunker was built below Continentalplatz as part of the Führer emergency program between November 1940 and the end of 1941 under the town planning officer, Karl Elkart , who was responsible for air raid bunkers in the area of ​​the city of Hanover . The six bunkers of this type in Hanover were all built in forced labor by prisoners of war . The one under the Continentalplatz should offer space for up to 501 people seeking protection. During the air raids on Hanover , one of the greatest losses of human life in connection with Hanoverian air raid shelters occurred at Continentalplatz: on the night of the great firestorm from October 8th to 9th, 1943, a large one gathered after the doors of the underground facility had been closed Crowd outside the entrances, yelling to be let in. But the bunker guard inside refused to open the doors again. When the inmates were later brought out by rescue workers, their way led them past numerous charred and shriveled corpses.

In the post-war period and in the course of the Cold War , 35 public civil defense systems were set up to protect the Hanoverian civilian population as part of the Federal Republic's protective building programs: These systems, to protect a total of 38,680 people, were divided into three groups; for a stay and usage period of up to 14 days, up to 10 hours and - as in the case of the system under the Continentalplatz - for a stay of up to 3 hours.

Today, the Continentalplatz above ground is primarily a playground for children.

literature

  • Michael Foedrowitz : Praying in Concrete ... The History of Hanoverian Air Raid Shelters in War and Peace (= booklets on contemporary history ), supplement to the exhibition in the Hanover City Archives, undated [Hannover], undated [1997]
  • Michael Foedrowitz: Bunker Worlds. Air raid systems in northern Germany . Ch. Links, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-86153-155-0 , p. 11 and others.
  • Michael Foedrowitz: Air Raid Shelters in Hanover (in English), in: After the Battle No. 124, passim ; as a PDF document

Web links

Commons : Continentalplatz (Hannover)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Helmut Zimmermann : Continentalplatz , in ders .: The street names of the state capital Hanover. Hahnsche Buchhandlung Verlag, Hannover 1992, ISBN 3-7752-6120-6 , p. 55
  2. ↑ a b Compare the Hanover address book from 1942, Part II, p. 46; also as a digitized version on Wikimedia Commons
  3. ↑ Stefan Kleinschmidt: Bombenschutz, Hotel, Kunst-Center: a short history of the air raid shelter under the Klagesmarkt (1940-2013) , in: Hannoversche Geschichtsblätter , pp. 19-42; here: p. 21f.
  4. ^ O. V .: From the city / Klagesmarkt / The bombproof is blown up , article on the page of the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung from July 15, 2013, last accessed on April 23, 2018
  5. ^ Michael Foedrowitz: Air Raid Shelters in Hanover (in English), in: After the Battle No. 124, passim ; as a PDF document
  6. ^ Above : civil defense systems / public civil defense systems in the state capital Hanover on the website of the Vorbei eV association [undated], last accessed on April 23, 2018
  7. ↑ oV : Playgrounds ... / City District Vahrenwald / List on the website of the Citizens Advice System Hanover as part of the e-government of the state capital Hanover, [undated], last accessed on April 23, 2018

Coordinates: 52 ° 23 '22.5 "  N , 9 ° 43' 57.2"  E