Air Raids

Despite existing evacuation programmes, many children remained in the cities with their families, regardless of the dangers posed by air raids.

One of the German cities that suffered widespread destruction through bombs is Nuremberg. After the war, local schoolchildren wrote essays and drew pictures about their wartime experiences which show how terrifying the attacks had been for them.

'Something Unforgettable' is the title a boy gave to his drawing of the heaviest bombing raid on Nuremberg on 2 January 1945

Something Unforgettable

Another boy describes the terror felt during an air raid:

"To me, the air raid was unforgettable. We'd barely made it to the cellar before the roaring of the bomb began, the whistling incessant as the lights went out. Sand flew into our eyes. We bounced around the cellar like rubber balls. Never ending fear gripped us, would we too be affected? Dead silence ruled over us, nobody dared to move. Finally, after 3 hours of terror, we received the all-clear. There was a sigh of relief as we saw our house still standing. Everyone made the same wish that the end of war was nigh."

(Stadtarchiv Nürnberg, E10/1 Nr. 22/1. Translation into English by Kara Beattie and Michael Iveson, students from Emmanuel College, Gateshead, UK, 2015.)‌

‌‌‌‌‌The bombed-out historic city of Nuremberg in June 1945:

Nuremberg45‌

(Photo: US National Archives and Records Administration, item number 342 FH-3A-49804-K3539)

 

Nuremberg had hosted the huge annual Nazi Party Rallies (1927-38). The city was also the birthplace of the antisemitic Nuremberg Laws. Allied bombings from 1943 until 1945 destroyed more than 90% of the city centre and killed more than 6,000 residents.