Kriegszerstörungen 1939-1945 in Städten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland: Inhalt und Probleme bei der Erstellung einer thematischen Karte (mit farbiger Kartenbeilage)

Abstract

The result of this contribution is a map of the Federal Republic of Germany on a scale of 1:2 500 000, depicting the extent of the devastation of large cities and large and smaller towns during the Second World War. The two main statements are the cartographic depiction of the balance of devastation in the cities on the basis of the proportion of flats which were completely destroyed in relation to the number of flats existing in 1939, as well as the destruction of the inner cities. Particularly inner cities were repeatedly subjected to allied attacks. Cities such as Essen, Dresden, Dortmund, Cologne and Frankfurt am Main were particularly badly hit. Their city centres were almost completely destroyed. The map ‘War Devastation In the Years 1939- 1945 In the Cities Of the Federal Republic of Germany’ clearly shows the main regions of devastation. In this way, it was possible to demonstrate the severe damage in the Western German port cities, the zone along the Western border and along the river Oder, as well as the Magdeburg-Dessau region and the city triangle of Plauen-Chemnitz-Dresden. North Rhine Westphalia suffered the most severe damage. An additional map therefore shows in an exemplary fashion the extent of the war devastation in the Ruhrgebiet polycentric conurbation. On the basis of the quantity of rubble, a further map depicts a comparative balance of devastation in the main cities. Within the framework of this map, Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden and Cologne have the highest registered values. The short history of air raids targeting German cities, which mainly takes account of the allied major operations, serves to allocate the war devastation according to date and region.