Air raid on Freiberg
The city of Freiberg in Saxony (1939: 35,000 inhabitants) was attacked during World War II on October 7, 1944 by 24 American long-range bombers of the type B-17 "Flying Fortress", which had loaded 60.5 tons of explosive bombs . 82 buildings were destroyed or severely damaged, and another 263 were moderately or slightly damaged. 172 people died, including 133 women and children. 115 wounded were to be treated. Over 1500 Freibergers were made homeless.
The attack on Freiberg
The following information comes from the war diary of the 8th Air Force and the documentation by Reinhard Döring from 2004 in the Freiberg City Museum.
On October 7, 1944, at noon, the 8th Air Force stationed in East England attacked targets in central Germany with 1401 four-engine, ten-seat strategic bombers and 900 (521) accompanying long-range fighters . One of the primary destinations was the hydrogenation works near Brüx in northern Bohemia . Because of the thick cloud cover there (artificial fogging?) With poor visibility, parts of the 1st Bomber Division sought out the planned “targets of opportunity” for this case: Zwickau , Dresden and Freiberg. The 91st Bombardment Group with Freiberg as a target consisted of two squadrons with a total of 24 "flying fortresses" of the type B-17 , which had loaded 60.5 tons of bombs: 10-12 pieces of high-explosive 500-lb explosive bombs per machine . The bombs were dropped from 12.40 p.m. from an altitude of 5000 to 6000 meters with excellent visibility. The first squadron, coming from the south-east, unloaded its load - with the likely intention of hitting the tracks of Freiberg station - by drifting onto the densely built-up station suburb to the north. The second season (with 100 high explosive bombs) hit fields far away from the city.
The district between Silberhofstrasse, Dammstrasse, Humboldtstrasse, Stollnhausgasse, Am Bahnhof, Bahnhofstrasse, Schöne Gasse, Lange Strasse to Roßplatz, Schönlebestrasse and Berthelsdorfer Strasse was hit by the bomb carpet. There was also the municipal vocational school between Bergstiftsgasse and Buchstrasse. There were many victims among the billeted ethnic Germans from Bessarabia . The “Rote Grube” between Lange Straße, Rotem Weg and Wernerplatz was hit hard. The “greenhouse” built here in 1855 received a direct hit. The mighty half-timbered building had been a symbol of Freiberg mining for 90 years. Another bomb hit the southeastern part of Wernerplatz, under which there was a large, public air raid shelter . One hit caused gas and water pipe damage in Körnerstrasse, another exploded in the Paschke iron foundry and machine factory. In addition to the buildings in the suburb of the train station, the following were affected: Chemnitzer Strasse, Hainichener Strasse and Kleinwaltersdorf .
After the attack
The following information comes from the special exhibition of the city museum from 2010.
According to the report of Mayor Hartenstein from October 10, 1944, all available forces were on the spot very quickly and worked with the population "in an exemplary manner" - above all to enable the rescue of buried fellow citizens. From 6 p.m. food was given to the homeless and the emergency services.
On the following days, for example, those affected were provided with food in the “Brauhof” restaurant. They also received "care cards" for free purchases. “Neighborly support and help within the families were important in solving the acute need”.
Repair work on the apartments began a short time later. 318 roofs, 250 shop windows, 4000 windows and 2780 doors had to be repaired. Work was carried out 6 days a week from 6.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. Even prisoners of war were taken to the cleanup.
Property damage
A total of 32 buildings were destroyed, 50 severely damaged, 48 moderately severely and 215 slightly damaged: a total of 345 affected buildings. If the 100 high-explosive bombs of the second season (the 91st Bombardment Group) that fell in the open field had also hit the urban area, the destruction would have been much more severe.
More than 1,500 people became homeless .
Sacrifice, burial and memorial sites
The bomb attack of October 7, 1944 killed 172 people (including Kleinwaltersdorf ) Fortunately, 100 high-explosive bombs fell far away from the built-up city - due to incorrect navigation - otherwise the number of victims would have been even greater.
Most of the dead were buried together in row graves at Donatsfriedhof : Seen from the city on the left side, roughly in the middle. According to a contemporary witness report, the grave field was leveled in the late GDR times in the 1980s. There was no memorial plaque (anymore).
Now (2018) the picture of a well-kept grave and memorial complex presents itself.
Since October 2016, the 72nd anniversary of the bombing, there has been an artistically designed memorial stone with the following text: “Honoring memory. The bombing raid on October 7, 1944 claimed the lives of 172 Freiberg citizens. 101 of these victims rest in this grave field. The City of Freiberg ” . The memorial was designed by Heinz Weber, continued after his death by Rainer Frommann - supported by the city administration. At the inauguration "Mayor Holger Reuter urged to classify the bombing war against the civilian population as a war crime"
On the grave field there is also a memorial plaque with a picture and the following text: "On October 7, 1944, Erna Matthes (23 years old) gave her life for that of her child during the bombing raid on Freiberg" .
In the city there is a commemorative plaque on the building of the vocational school center for economics in Bergstiftgasse 2 that was inaugurated in 1994: “The bomb attack on October 7, 1944 claimed the lives of 172 Freiberg citizens. In honor of the city of Freiberg. ” The vocational school building was badly hit in the air raid. Numerous ethnic Germans who were quartered and resettled there died.
Grave field for bomb victims in 1944 at Donatsfriedhof
Memorial Commemoration of the bomb victims in 1944
Mother Matthes sacrifices herself for her child in the 1944 bombing
Memorial plaque in the city
literature
- Roger A. Freeman: Mighty Eighth War Diary . Jane's: London, New York, Sydney, 1981. ISBN 0-7106-0038-0 . Pp. 361, 362
- Reinhard Döring (Ilmenau): The bombing of Freiberg / Saxony on October 7, 1944 . Documentation commemorating the bombing of Freiberg 60 years ago on October 7, 1944 . Freiberg, 2004. Location of the documentation (with numerous eyewitness reports): Stadt- und Bergbau-Museum Freiberg. Partly sent by the author to the newspaper "Freie Presse" / local editorial office Freiberg and published there.
- Ulrich Thiel (museum director): The war children generation in Freiberg . Memory of the 1944 air raid on Freiberg. Special exhibition in the Freiberg City and Mining Museum. Official Journal of the University City of Freiberg, No. 18, September 29, 2010
