From a sports school to an airfield - the barracks of Babenhausen in the Third Reich

Since the end of the 19th century Babenhausen has been an important military garrison site. The historic buildings on the barracks grounds were built in 1900 and 1901. Until the end of the First World War, they were used as accommodation for artillery and cavalry units and as a reserve hospital.

On 20 July 1933 the SA Brigade 50 of Hessen Darmstadt took over the Babenhausen barracks, which were now used as a "SA sports school". On 8 November 1936 the 2nd section of the artillery regiment 36 moved into the barracks. In September 1938 the Garrison Babenhausen took over the "Wehrkreis Reit- und Fahrschule XII". The airfield Babenhausen was officially established in 1939 as a military airfield and in 1940 it was briefly used by the French campaign. At the end of 1944 air force units were quartered around Babenhausen, whose airplanes were stationed at the "Feldflugplatz Babenhausen". On 16 March 1945 about 400 prisoners had been accommodated in the barracks area. They had been marched on foot from a prisoner-of-war camp in Silesia to Babenhausen and had arrived at Babenhausen in a miserable condition. Nine days later the Americans arrived and occupied the barracks and private homes.

What is a "Stolperstein"?

"Stolpersteine" or stumbling blocks are very common in German towns. Whoever walks through a city centre in Germany will repeatedly come across brass stones (or brass plates)

They are made of brass and are embedded in the pavement. Stumbling blocks are placed  to remind one of former residents of the buildings in front of them. These stumbling blocks remind of people who had to flee during the Third Reich or were deported and killed.

The artist Günter Demnig started this memorial practice in 1992. For Demnig it is important to bring remembrance from the central memorial sites into people's everyday lives and thus make the victims more visible. This means that no one can bypass the memorials and ignore them. In any case, the stones bring the names of the victims back to the places of their lives - usually to their last place of residence before escape or deportation.

Stumbling blocks in Aschaffenburg, picture A.Murmann

Stolpersteine by Tobi & Marek

2. "Hey, what's that?"

3. "Here worked Max Mustermann. Arrested XX.XX.XXXX. Died because of imprisonment"

4, "Ahh, it is a Stolpersein."

5. "But what is a Stolperstein?" "I will explain it to you…"

An exhibition on war and human rights in Babenhausen

A special exhibition took place in September at the Offene Schule Babenhausen. That the exhibition "War and Human Rights" was shown in Babenhausen is due to the Volksbund Deutscher Kriegsgräberfürsorge. Among other things, it serves to prepare the visit of 80 students of the tenth grade to the Niederbonn military cemetery and the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp memorial site in October 2019. The exhibition also gave the students an opportunity to deal with these aspects of the culture of remembrance that cannot be part of the trip.

The exhibition informed among other things about the Geneva Conventions of 1929 / 1949 and the international law of war but also about the war crimes of the Wehrmacht in the Second World War, the treatment of prisoners of war and civilians as well as the handling of war dead and war graves as public places of remembrance.

Two destroyed churches and their fate

Comparison of the Frauenkirche in Dresden and the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche in Berlin


Both churches, the Frauenkirche in Dresden and the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin, are Protestant churches. The Frauenkirche was built between 1726 and 1743. The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was completed in 1895. Both churches were destroyed in the Second World War. After the destruction of the Kaiser Wilhelm Church the NS government promised to rebuild the church after the end of the war. But after the end of the war the Allied powers had didn’t want to rebuild it, because Kaiser Wilhelm supported the national socialism in their eyes. In contrast to the Kaiser Wilhelm Church, the Frauenkirche was left standing as a memorial for over 40 years. In 1991 the reconstruction was started. Kaiser-Wilhelm Churchés highly endangered parts were torn down already after 12 years. In the year 1959 a new building of the church in modern style was decided to be built. The old main tower was left standing as a memorial.

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche 1964, 
CC-BY-SA 2.0, Photographer: Brian Harrington Spier,
www.wikipedia.org

The difference between the two churches is that both were long regarded as memorials but the Frauenkirche was rebuilt because the population exerted pressure. The Kaiser Wilhelm Church, on the other hand, was not rebuilt, as Kaiser Wilhelm was considered to be a NS supporter. A new church was built next to the ruin.

Ruin of the Frauenkirche in Dresden, CC-BY-SA 4.0, Photographer: Erich Braun, www.wikipedia.org

Impressions of the new Old Town of Frankfurt

The new Old Town of Frankfurt

When the old town was destroyed in the 2nd World War, the Nazis did not want to rebuild it in order to show the attackers' lack of culture. After the war, the loss was to symbolically document the decline of the German spirit, which had led to dictatorship and destruction. During the war, however, people were already committed to documenting the famous Goethe House in detail in order to make post-war reconstruction as accurate as possible. After many discussions, the reconstruction was successful. The Goethe House was built to measure thanks to the good documentation. The golden scale in the new old town is faithfully reproduced up to the leather wallpaper and old techniques are used as far as possible. These reconstructed houses are now used as a museum. 35 houses were built in the new old town of Frankfurt, of which 15 were reconstructed true to the original and 20 were new buildings. The historical course of streets is now also visible again.
Alea

Frankfurts new / old historic town center – Pros and cons

The restoration of the destroyed old town, between 2012 and 2018, was disputed.

The most important arguments were:

Cons 

• Despite ”reconstructions“ of the old houses, the new houses stand out with the reinvention of the old architectural style.
• Something is being built from which the inhabitants moved away earlier. This means that the old town used to have poor sanitary conditions. The narrow architectural style was due to the lack of space and was used for poor people at the time of destruction. Therefore, the question of why it should be rebuilt is justified.
  
• There was the question whether it would not have been time to vote for a new daring architecture, in contrast to the reconstruction of the historical buildings and to justify this with feelings of homeland.
• Condominiums were supposed to balance the investments and bring back the money hoped for, this was a crucial point that voted for the reconstruction again. But some of the apartments are not inhabited. Why not? This is because one would have to be insane to want to live in a tourism sector.
• Many say that the reconstruction of the bombed buildings from the Second World War is supposed to conceal Nazi crimes.

Pros

• It would not fit if new modern housing complexes were to be built into the well-preserved old town. 
• Frankfurters identify with their old town "their heart", so the citizen´s view. The old town should create a feeling of home among the people of Frankfurt and allow them to grow closer together.
• It is intended to underline the art-historical significance of Frankfurt´s old town and to make Frankfurt fashionably chic again as well as to dress up for the tourist sector.
• It is intended to bring income to Frankfurt and thus financially support the city.

Jan

The Destruction of Frankfurt's Old Town

Frankfurt's Old Town was important because it used to be the largest medieval Old Town in Europe consisting of more than 2000 buildings. Without the air raids and the resulting damage, the Old Town would probably be a World Heritage Site today.

Around 75 air raids by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force destroyed Frankfurt's Old Town between June 1940 and March 1945. Over 26,000 bombs were dropped. The attacks killed 5559 people, including residents, prisoners of war and forced laborers. Almost all important cultural monuments as well as the entire medieval old and new town with over 1800 half-timbered houses were burned during the March attacks in 1944. The combination of explosive and incendiary bombs resulted in a firestorm. First they blew up the roofs of the houses, then they used the incendiary bombs to reach combustible parts of the houses. Through burst windows, more air reached the fire, allowing it to spread rapidly. A suction developed which made it impossible to extinguish or control the fire. By the end of the war in 1945, the population of Frankfurt had fallen from over 553,000 (1939) to 230,000.

Aerial view of the Cathedral and the surrounding 

Old Town of Frankfurt in 1944
public domain (www.wikipedia.de)

By the end of 1942, 67 Frankfurters had died in air raids and only a few buildings had been destroyed. In 1943 and especially in 1944 the air raids increased in strength and frequency. On March 22^nd 1944, the devastating large-scale attack on Frankfurt's Old Town followed, erasing the historic heart of Frankfurt.

Other cities were also affected, such as Cologne, Lübeck, Rostock and Essen. The "Dehousing Paper" adopted by the British cabinet in May 1942 declared the destruction of eight million houses and 60 million apartments in German industrial cities a strategic goal. An attempt was made to weaken the morale and stamina of the population.

During the entire war a total of 14,017 tons of bombs were dropped on Frankfurt, a total of 5559 people died and 90,000 apartments burned down.

Niklas

The Memorial Day of Germany

On the Memorial Day Germans celebrate and remember the victims of the 1^st and the 2^nd world war. Also on this day it depends what each families are doing. Some go to church and bring flowers to the graves of their lost family members or also go out to eat at restaurants.

It was suggested in 1919, right after the 1^st world war. The official date is always two Sundays before the first of advent.

Blackboard with names of lost and dead people from the 1^st world war
CC-BY-SA 4.0, Bernd Schwabe, www.wikipedia.de

The Jewish cemetery of Babenhausen

Until 1570, the dead of the Jewish community in Frankfurt / Main were buried. Then a separate cemetery was created in Babenhausen. At that time the cemetery was far away from the city wall; meanwhile, it is completely surrounded by a new development area. The cemetery area of the today received cemetery covers 24.81 ares. The cemetery was also occupied by surrounding Jewish communities (including Schaafheim).

There are 228 tombstones preserved. The oldest is from 1692. A gravestone from 1946 stands over the grave of a Jewish child who died in a DP camp in Babenhausen. The cemetery is surrounded by hedges, bushes and a fence, not by a wall.

In the cemetery, non-Christian (Muslim) prisoners of war were buried during the Second World War, which were exhumed after the war again.


Documentation of the cemetery:

In April 2005, the cemetery was disgraced. Thirteen gravestones were overturned. 


Location of the cemetery:

The cemetery is located in the northeastern part of the city on Potsdamer Straße (between a playground and the municipal kindergarten).

Documents in danger - a visit to a paper restoration expert

Pests, water and fire are the greatest dangers to historical documents. It doesn't always have to be as spectacular as it was in 2009, when the city archive of Cologne sank into a neighbouring excavation and two people were killed. Large parts of the historical documents sank into the mud and had to be recovered and cleaned laboriously. Surprisingly, some documents survived even months in damp mud.

The restoration workshop of the Frankfurt City Archive is not quite as dramatic. Mould and water damage, along with pests (for example bookworms), are among the main problems that are being fought there. 

If paper becomes damp, mould is not far away. Mould decomposes the paper and makes it brittle. One can see very well from this document that the lower edge had become damp. It shows the typical darker discoloration that occurs with mould. Parts of the page are already broken off. Such a document can no longer be used without further damage. In addition, the spores are a health hazard for the users. In the restoration workshop such documents are cleaned and the paper is stabilized again by additional layers. However, this procedure is very costly and is therefore only used for particularly important documents.

Another serious problem is acidic paper. With the change of paper production and the use of alum instead of glue from bone or skin. Both substances prevent ink from leaking. Alum-containing papers release acids in the aging process, which corrode the cellulose fibres of the paper. It disintegrates. Even the acids contained in the inks can lead to decomposition (ink corrosion). The raw material used in paper production is also decisive - in the past, paper was made with alkaline solutions from rags and was therefore more durable. Paper made from wood was treated with acidic solutions to remove the yellowing substance lignin. Especially such papers are affected by acid corrosion. The neutralization and removal of the acids is complex. In addition, the paper must then be reinforced with new fibres (fraying).

Thanks to the institute for town history we had the chance to visit this workshop. Here is a link to a short film about this visit:
A visit to the restoration workshop in Frankfurt

The 9th of November – a special day for German history

The 9th November is a very special day in the German history. At this day happens four important things in Germany.

The 9th November 1848 was named the `hot autumn`. It was the day of the national assembly in Wien. But along the way there were bloody excesses between the vigilantes and the radical demonstrators. Robert Blum was one of the radical demonstrators who dies after being in arrest. He was condemned to death and was shoot.

„November revolution 1918 in Berlin: 

A lorry with revolting soldiers drives through Brandenburg gate“

Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-B0527-0001-810 / Unbekannt / CC-BY-SA 3.0

One remarkable event took place almost 100 years ago. 1918 was the ´´November Revolution´´ it was the day where Germany became a democracy. The German emperor Wilhelm the second escaped to the Netherlands. 

Odeonssquare in Munich after the coup, Nov. 9th1923

Bundesarchiv, Bild 119-1426 / CC-BY-SA 3.0

The 9th November is not only due to the Hitler coup (1923) and the Reichsprogromnacht (1938) a date, that has negative events. The coup failed in the end and Hitler became arrested.

Destroyed shop in Magdeburg, Bundesarchiv, 

Bild 146-1970-083-42 / CC-BY-SA 3.0

On the 9th of November in 1938 synagoges and jewish shops were attaced and burned down. The national holiday should send out a clear message and this is not the case through the acts of events.

Standing on the Berlin wall  - Nov. 9th 1989, The fall of the wall, 

Picture:: Andreas Krüger CC BY-NC 2.0

The most important date is the 9th of November 1989. This is the day of the falling walls. The wall was the borderline between Eas

t and West Germany. The GDR (German Democratic Republic) had built a fortified border, because the people in East shouldn’t escape. People who tried to escape were arrested or killed by the border guards. Peter Fechter was one of the people that was shot by the border guards. But he was only one of 175 people were killed. At the Night from 9th to 10th November 1989 people climbing of the walls and were happy of the opening of the borderline.

Memorial stone for the murdered Jews of Babenhausen

Picture: A.Murmann CC BY-SA 4.0

Behind Babenhausen's town mill there is a memorial stone in memory of the Jewish communities of Babenhausen and its districts, which were destroyed during the National Socialist tyranny.

Memorial stone for the fallen of the war in 1870

Picture: A.Murmann CC BY-SA 4.0

The Franco-German War of 1870 is an important event in German history. After the victory over the French army, the German Empire is proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles. The memorial stone was located first in front of the Protestant church, then on the station forecourt and was then moved to the cemetery. 


The inscription reads: 

"To the fallen in memory, to the living 

in recognition, to the future generations in emulation!"

"To the fallen in memory, to the living in recognition, to the future generations in emulation!"

This points out that war at that time still had a different meaning than today.

Tombs of unknown soldiers

Picture: A.Murmann CC BY-SA 4.0

On the main cemetery of Babenhausen there is a cemetery with war victims. There are also soldiers buried who fell in the last days of the war near Babenhausen. The picture shows one of the graves for unknown soldiers. Both fell on 25 March 1945 - the day on which the region was liberated from Nazi rule by American troops.

War Graves in Babenhausen

The war time cemetery at Babenhausen

On the Babenhausen cemetery there is an area with some graves of war victims. Especially impressive are the graves of the victims of a bomb attack on Babenhausen on Christmas Eve 1944. A direct hit of the bunker in the Burgmannenhaus claimed numerous victims, who are buried today on the cemetery.

The Burgmannenhaus covering the bunker which was hit on Christmas Eve 1944, 
picture: A.Murmann CC BY-SA 4.0

War damage to house on market square

Picture: A.Murmann CC BY-SA 4.0

This half-timbered house is located at the Babenhausen market square, directly opposite the town hall. While the town hall was completely destroyed by an air mine in the Second World War, only "little" damage was done to the directly adjacent half-timbered house. At least the wooden frame resisted the destructive effect. Only the compartment marked by the blue arrow was destroyed in its structure. This is still visible today because the wooden beams visible in the other compartments are missing. A small trace of the Second World War that is still visible today.

Plaques commemorating the crimes of the Nazi era in Babenhausen

Picture: A.Murmann CC BY-SA 4.0

Around the market square of Babenhausen there are two commemorative plaques for the victims of National Socialism. 


On the wall of the town hall there is a plaque commemorating the victims in great detail:

"The secret of reconciliation lies in the memory. We commemorate the victims of the National Socialist tyranny, the six million Jews murdered in German concentration camps, the Sinti and Roma, the homosexual men and women killed, the mentally ill, the people killed, who had to die because of their religious or political convictions, the hostages shot, the dead of the invaded peoples, murdered men and women of the resistance in all occupied states and of the German resistance and of the people who accepted death rather than to bow their consciences. Built by the city of Babenhausen on September 1^st 1988".

Picture: A.Murmann CC BY-SA 4.0

A little further on is a commemorative plaque at the city church, which fifty years after the end of the war also expresses gratitude for the time of peace:

"In memory of unspeakable suffering, out of gratitude for peace. And for the liberation from National Socialism. 8.5.1945 -8.5.1995" and the Bible verse "Justice exalts a people, but sin is the ruin of people (Prv 14,34)".

Babenhausen as a base of the US Army

The military history of the town began in 1869 with the entry of the Red Dragons (Rote Dragoner) into Babenhausen. After their departure in 1891, the town of Babenhausen endeavoured to revive its homeland by building barracks at its own expense, which was finished in 1901. At the end of the Second World War.

Picture: A.Murmann CC BY-SA 4.0

Babenhausen was repeatedly bombed as a railway junction and garrison town. After the war, the barracks were taken over by the US military, which remained in Babenhausen until 2007. The strong influence of the American base is already evident in the comparison of the population figures of 1953. At that time Babenhausen had about 4200 inhabitants and about the same number of Americans.

To commemorate the time as an American military base, American veterans have placed a commemorative plaque with the following text at the Stadtmühle of Babenhausen:


“The United States military presence at the Babenhausen Kaserne extended from 1945 to 2007. Initially displaced Europeans were housed in the Kaserne. In 1950, the 36^th Artillery Group was activated with artillery and other units from Southern Germany. Babenhausen citizens then stood side-by-side with, and supported the U.S. military for over the next half century.

The units remained at full readiness during the Cold War, the period of the Iron Curtain, and the era of the Berlin Wall that came down in November 1989 and led to the reunification of Germany. The Kaserne was a staging site during the Middle East military operations in 1991 and was finally closed in 2007.

Thousands of U.S. soldiers, civilians, and Babenhausen residents contributed to the success of the mission to defend the Free World and later expand liberty eastward throughout Europe. Those Americans that served here warmly remember the hospitality and kindness of the German people and especially the citizens of Babenhausen.“