16. März 2020: 75. Jahrestag der Zerstörung von Würzburg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULbOkEFQuJI

Christoph Rose
“Würzburg-Fotos”

Hello and welcome, my name is Christoph Rose and you are watching Würzburg Photos.  Today’s “Sunday video” is actually released on Monday.

Caption
“Walking Tour of Würzburg:
75th Anniversary of the Destruction
of Würzburg in 1945”

Julius Spital
Today’s Sunday video is about the 75th anniversary of the destruction of Würzburg. 
Exactly 75 years ago today, that is on March 16, 1945, our city was utterly destroyed by an Allied air attack.
More than 90% of the city center was left in rubble and ashes. 
The attack, which lasted only 20 minutes, left 5,000 people dead.
Although by now 75 years have passed, yet in the present you still find many places that recall that day.
I’ll start here at the Julius Foundation. 
Part of it is a hospital located at the heart of the city. 
I show you a photograph taken after the war. 
You see that rebuilding is already underway. 
But still at present there are reminders of March 16, 1945.
 
At the center [beyond where the tracks turn left] is a statue of Prince-Bishop Julius, who established the Foundation in the year 1576. 
This building was erected in 1791. 
What would he have said if he could have known what his Foundation would experience through the centuries and how it was almost completely destroyed in the Second World War? 
Fortunately it was rebuilt. 
Today it is one of the leading hospitals in Würzburg. 
All over the front gate you see these pock marks – here under this house number plate, there along the sidewalk. 
These are remnants of the attack on Würzburg in 1945.
It took until 1952 before the hospital was completely rebuilt.

The Episcopal Palace
Here in Theaterstraße we can compare before and after.
On the left side is the Bürgerspital with the winery. 
The right side of the building is the much-beloved restaurant;
above it is the famous Glockenspiel. 
This is how it looks now.
Here is how it looked after the war. 
It looks horrible. 
Terrible destruction from the war. 
You can see that in war there are simply no winners, only losers. 
We are fortunate that it was rebuilt so quickly.

For this video I could walk for hours through Würzburg showing the remains of wartime destruction – no wonder with more than 90% of the city center destroyed on March 16.
Here is just one example, the prince-bishop’s palace. 
Beautifully rebuilt. 
I especially like the turret on the left side with its ornamentation. 
But it was restored only on the facade. 
The back side looks rather different.
If you walk through this door, you come to a courtyard. 
This is the Liborius-Wagner Bookstore in Würzburg and the Media Haus for the Diocese of Würzburg, where they do the media/publicity work for the church.  Okay, let’s turn around and look at the back side of the palace. 
From the back side it’s pretty unspectacular compared to the front. 
You could dismiss it as 1970s construction and say it’s too bad they didn’t finish the job like they did on the facade.

Würzburg Rathaus (city hall). 
Permanent exhibition about the destruction of Würzburg. 
Open year-round, very much worth seeing, ...

9:10
The author makes a brief visit to the mayor asking, What does the 16th of March mean to the city of Würzburg still to this day? 
Mayor – “I am gratified that every year this exhibition is re-done by volunteers. 
It is something of interest to everyone. 
It is better than a city archive, because the exhibition is made by the citizens and for the citizens.  
The opening is one of the best-attended city events every year. 
So here you can actually see the answer to your question.
For one thing people there is interest in the horror of destruction.
But even more, people also want to understand the causes of 1933, of 1939, of the Nazi terror in this country, and of the Nazi terror that was carried beyond the borders to all of Europe.
It is not just the recollection/memorialization of the individual people and of the regime of that time. 
It is also important for us today.
In this hall you come to an understanding that,
when society is led by someone or when there are interest groups that begins
... or specific circles or parties that attempt to marginalize other groups –
be it homosexuals today,
but the day after tomorrow it could be you or it could be me –
then you begin to understand why it is so important to nip this in the bud [lit. to prevent it from starting]. 
That is why March 16 remains so important today –
maybe even more important that it was a few years ago.”

12:00
Main River Bridge
When I think about the destruction of Würzburg, inevitably I come back to the Main River Bridge,
The oldest and most beautiful of Würzburg’s many bridges.
I remember when I was a child I once saw a painting of this bridge –
I was quite young at the time, I think it was in a school book –
and I was really shocked when I saw it for the first time and somehow also fascinated. 
The painter Wolfgang Lenz, who was from Würzburg. 
He entitled this painting The Würzburg Death Dance. 
Not much needs to be said about it. 
Its meaning is quite clear.  
It is about a war, of death and destruction.
Although death itself is no longer visible, nevertheless here too the destruction of this war remains clearly visible, preserved everywhere in the stone. 
Pock marks like these, impact holes from bombs or grenade shards. 
Not only here, but on the whole arch of the bridge and the parapet above, speckled everywhere, these little impact holes from the 16th of March 1945.

13:20
Jewish Memorial Stones
Sometimes it’s not the destroyed buildings that recall the war but the human fate behind the war.  
For example, here Am Pleidenturm you see several paving stones that have been placed in the sidewalk. 
These commemorate our Jewish fellow-citizens who were deported and sent to concentration camps. 
Out of sheer murder lust were killed by the Nazis simply because they had another religion.
Today there are people who I know well who say, Wait a minute, Why does it have to be retold again and again? 
I had nothing to do with it. 
Why are we Germans declared guilty over and over again?
Dear People, no one declares you as guilty.
I am 45 years old. 
I had nothing to do with it, and nor do I want to.
But I have the understanding –
and everyone needs to understand this –
that we are condemned to the duty to make sure that something like this is not repeated.
That is what it is about.
That is our task.

Caption:
All the Jews from Upper Franconia were assembled in Würzburg
Deportation at the Aumuhle Train Station
Of 2,063 persons deported, only 41 survived the Holocaust.

15:55
I now come to the Lion Bridge, which has stood here since 1895. 
Its name is not actually “Lion Bridge” rather “Ludwig Bridge.” 
Würzburgers call it the Lion Bridge because four lions stand on pedestals on the right and left sides of the bridge. 
These four lions symbolize the unity between Franconia and Bavaria. 
When the bridge was built in 1895, it was intended to represent a link between Franconia and Bavaria. 
To this day the lions keep watch over that.
In the Second World War, on March 16, 1945, astonishingly the bridge was not destroyed. 
In fact it came through undamaged.
Nevertheless, there is this black & white picture in which you can clearly see a section of the bridge missing.
This section was blown up by German soldiers on April 2, 1945.
These German soldiers had the harebrained idea that they could prevent the Americans from crossing the Main River. 
This was a stupid idea because within a few days the Americans arrived anyway and captured the city.
Today you can still see traces of April 2, 1945.
...Let me cross the street very quickly here, watching out for afternoon traffic...
In one of the lions there is a hole in his butt, here to the right of the lion’s tail. 
I’ll zoom in so that you can see it better.
This hole in his butt is just one of many other bomb remnants that can be seen on this bridge, just like on the old Main Bridge. 
These are all the results of this bombing attempt on April 2, 1945.

18:00
Ruchti Haus
I’m now on Rudolf-Vierchow-Street in the neighborhood of Würzburg called Sanderau.
On my right is the Sanderrasen athletic park,
and here on the left side there stood for many, many years a ruin. 
I’d say it’s probably Würzburg’s best-known ruin.
Here is a photograph I took of the building in 2004.
You can see that it really was a true ruin.
The building was only a shadow of its former self.
Today it is known as the Ruchti House,
named after Wilhelm Ruchti.
He returned to Würzburg from a prisoner-of-war camp in 1948.
This was the house he grew up in.
He renovated the ground floor and for 60 years, for the rest of his life, kept his business office here, the Ruchti Advertising Agency.
Wilhelm Ruchti wanted this ruin never to be torn down.
He lived and worked there voluntarily, because he wanted it to remain a monument to the 16. March 1945.
He declared that after his death the building should be taken down piece by piece and a new building erected on the site.
Ironically he died on 16. March 2005, exactly 60 years after the destruction of Würzburg.

19:21
Finally, here Am Sternplatz on Dom-Strasse.
I actually had this video recorded and edited and was intending to end it with the great Memorial of Lights for the 75th Anniversary.
They were expecting about 10,000 spectators from the city of Würzburg.
Unfortunately on March 11 the Memorial of Lights was cancelled.
Also a memorial concert in the cathedral was cancelled by the Diocese of Würzburg on March 16,
all because of the Corona Virus.
Additionally the Spring Festival for this year has been cancelled altogether.
The authorities are now trying to contain the Corona Virus.
I understand that these drastic measures are necessary, but it is still regrettably very unfortunate. 
But I understand why the City of Würzburg has done this.
Nevertheless, tonight the church bells will toll during the time of the attack.
That is, from 9:20 to 9:40pm all of the church bells in Würzburg will ring.

This ends the tour.
I would be pleased if you liked it and if you would let me know that with many “Likes” and with many “Thumbs-up” in Facebook, comments on YouTube.  You may very gladly “share” this video with all of your friends anywhere in the world. 
This is an important message to spread.
In this sense, thank you for watching
and “Tschuss” [goodbye] and until next time,
as always here at Würzburg-Photos.

Caption
War Never Again!
Never Again Fascism!
21:00