Air raid on Pforzheim on February 23, 1945

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The air raid on Pforzheim on 23 February 1945 called for in World War II after the attack on Hamburg (1943) and Dresden (1945) most of the victims in the Allied air war against German cities . In the 22-minute attack by 379 Royal Air Force bombers , more than a fifth of the population was killed - more than in any other city in the German Empire . Of around 80,000 inhabitants ( 1939 census ), 17,600 died. The results of the consumer group statistics , which were obtained from the food allocation data and published by the Federal Statistical Office in 1953, provide a more realistic assessment of the population development in World War II . According to the large consumer group statistics, the “civilian population served” (including foreigners) in Pforzheim in the “70. Allocation period ”(December 11, 1944 to January 7, 1945) still 66,219 people, including 2,940“ group caterers ”who did not purchase their own food cards. In relation to the number of inhabitants, this attack claimed the highest number of victims in the bombing war against the German Reich.

A firestorm developed in the densely built-up old town, destroying 98% of the urban area. Pforzheim is thus one of the cities in Germany most severely destroyed by Allied air raids. It is possible that the winding old town with its half-timbered houses was selected as part of the moral-bombing strategy and its flammability was the actual reason for the attack. The precision engineering industry, at that time largely converted to the production of detonators , had previously been outsourced from the city. After the war, Pforzheim was quickly rebuilt. Today's cityscape is shaped by the style of the 1950s.

prehistory

Similar to Dresden, Pforzheim was only targeted late by the Allied bomber forces. A first attack by the USAAF took place on April 1, 1944, killing 95 people. The damage was comparatively minor. More attacks followed. Major attacks took place on Christmas Eve 1944 and January 21, 1945.

In November 1944, Pforzheim was included on an Allied target list for the first time. However, the city was assigned the lowest priority on a five-level priority list. The train station and the streets of Pforzheim were used to relocate and move troops.

In a report for the RAF Bomber Command on June 28, 1944, the city of Pforzheim “[is] one of the centers of the German jewelery and watch-making trades and is therefore likely to have become of considerable importance in the production of precision instruments ". Pforzheim was famous for its jewelry industry, which had been converted to the production of fuses and ammunition during the war. The many small production facilities were fairly evenly distributed across the city. In the 2nd edition of “ Bomber's Baedeker ”, the “Guide of Importance of German Towns and Cities”, from August 1944, it can be read: “almost every house in this city is a small workshop”. (Almost every house in this town is a small workshop). Further, according to the “Bomber's Baedeker”, there were larger factories in the south and one in the north of the city. The operational order of the Bomber Command reads as the intention of the attack, "to destroy built up area and associated industries and rail facilities". There were probably war-relevant, but no war-decisive goals in Pforzheim. The Commander-in-Chief Arthur T. Harris was well aware that, in addition to the many defense-related goals, mainly civilian goals (old town) were hit.

The attack

Record of the attack from one of the bombers

On February 23 at 7:45 pm, the sirens sounded the alarm “acute danger to the air”. Five minutes later the first bombers reached the city from the west. A total of 368 aircraft of the 1st , 6th and 8th Groups of Bomber Command, under the command of Major Edwin Swales, flew over Pforzheim within the next 22 minutes, dropping bombs with a total weight of 1575 tons. The first aircraft deployed flares in the dark to mark the target area. In the process, a strong north-westerly wind pushed the lights away somewhat, so that part of the cargo fell into uninhabited areas in the south-east (Hagenschieß) and the north-westernmost part of the city was spared. In the city center with its narrow streets and alleys, the mixture of high explosive and incendiary bombs , incendiary canisters and air mines had a catastrophic effect . Large wildfires quickly combined to form a huge firestorm.

The water supply failed. All buildings burned out over a length of three kilometers and a width of one and a half kilometers. Many people tried to save themselves by jumping into the Nagold and Enz rivers and drowned in the process. Still, some survived through the protection of the water.

After the attack

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Aerial photo - Pforzheim after the destruction

The evaluation report K.3838 of the Bomber Command of March 12, 1945 summarizes: " The attack on the night of 23/24 FEB 1944 [date error in the original] has reduced the buildings in the greater part of the town to hollow shells or heaps of rubble. Most of the identifiable factories, including seven of priority 3 rating, have been destroyed or severely damaged. "

Two thirds of the total area of ​​the city, 80 to 100 percent in the inner city, had been destroyed. In 1939, 4112 residents were still registered in the inner city area “Marktplatz”, but after February 1945 nobody lived here for years.

Residential and factory buildings, churches, schools, hospitals, baths, other facilities and many testimonies of the past were destroyed.

Around 17,600 people died in the attack. Allied air raids killed around 20,300 people in Pforzheim. In addition to the main attack, there were several smaller attacks. The 1939 census showed a population of around 79,000. However, the local population during the British air strike was significantly lower due to the confiscation of much of the male population. Various estimates assume that around 31.4% of the population were killed as a result of the air strike. The commander of the attacking British bomber association Masterbomber, Edwin Swales (he was shot down by a German Messerschmitt Bf 110 fighter aircraft on the return flight from Pforzheim ), was awarded posthumously for the particularly successful air attack on Pforzheim by King George VI. awarded the highest British military award , the Victoria Cross . In Durban , his hometown in South Africa , a school building and a street ('Edwin Swales VC Drive'; renamed in 2007 after the ANC freedom fighter Mahlangu ) were named after him.

reconstruction

Instead of restoration, all that remained was demolition and complete rebuilding. The streets were laid out much wider. The city's 2000 year old history can hardly be seen any more. It lost a lot of its importance, but was able to recover. The rubble of the city was collected on a mountain, which is now 40 meters higher than before. The mountain towers over Pforzheim as a visible memorial. The mountain, which is actually called Wallberg, is still called “ Monte Scherbelino ” by many Pforzheimers .

memory

Since 2003, February 23rd has been the official day of remembrance of the city of Pforzheim, which is celebrated with church services and events. The town twinning with the Basque town of Gernika is intended to commemorate their common fate. Gernika was destroyed by bombers of the German Condor Legion in an air raid during the Spanish Civil War in 1937 .

On the summit of the Wallberg, a memorial made of steel steles commemorates the air attack.

Every year on February 23, a torch-lit vigil takes place on the Wartberg in Pforzheim, organized by the Friends of Germany , which is rated by the Protection of the Constitution as a preliminary organization of the NPD . The Pforzheim Nazi-Free Alliance , supported by the DGB and the Initiative against the Right , is opposed to this.

  • Pforzheim Wallberg.jpg
  • Pforzheim Memorial 03.jpg
  • Pforzheim Memorial 02.jpg

See also

Art & Literature

With reference to the destruction of Pforzheim, Rolf Schweizer composed the “Requiem 23 2.1945 - For the dead and the living”. The writer Michalis Avramidis addresses the events in his music theater Winterhagel as a pacifist commemoration of the victims of the bomb attack on Pforzheim. In the novel of the same name, he also refers to the destruction of Pforzheim.

  • Music theater winter hail. Who is the good perpetrator? Who is the bad offender? Who is the good victim? Who is the evil victim? BoD, Norderstedt 2009, ISBN 978-3-8370-7109-2 .
  • Winter hail. The story of little Marie, memories of an old lady . BoD, Norderstedt 2009, ISBN 978-3-8391-2324-9 .

swell

  1. ^ Christian Groh: Pforzheim - February 23, 1945 , Pforzheim City Archives . at Historicum.net (accessed March 2, 2015)
  2. ↑ Federal Statistical Office (Ed.): Statistical Reports, Work No. VIII / 19/1, The civilian population of the German Empire 1940–1945. Results of the consumer group statistics. Wiesbaden 1953, p. 36
  3. ^ Right-wing extremist associations and companies ( Memento from February 22, 2017 in the Internet Archive )

Web links