Heinrich S
Title
Heinrich S
Description
Heinrich S's account of the events at Frankfurter Straße 30, Untere Königstraße 66, Mittelgasse 32.
Date
1944-03-30
Coverage
Language
Type
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
Identifier
Record 53
BKasselVdObmv10053
Transcription
Translated from the original in German: Present is LCpl Heinrich S., born 5 April 1913, formerly of Frankfurter Straße 30, now of Klappgasse 15 in Besse, and makes the following statement:
When the alarm came, I went with my child (Heinz) and my wife into the air raid cellar. We tried to accommodate the women in such a way that they were not as much in danger. The men waited and when we heard something out of the ordinary, we looked immediately what was going on. First, we did not notice anything particular. After a quarter of an hour, we could smell a bit of smoke. We looked immediately what the reason was for this. So we went up and realised that an incendiary had dropped. We all worked together to put it out.
After a short while, we were running short of water. We could only do one thing now because the house could not be saved, and that was to bring the women to safety. The women from the house had to get through the fire, the terrible rain of sparks, because it was already burning everywhere, through Fünffensterstraße to Schöne Aussicht. The women with children ran to the shelter in Frankfurter Straße. Women who came from the neighbouring building, the school, were behaving like mad people and refused to run through the fire. So I didn’t hesitate and took one over my shoulder and brought her to Schöne Aussicht. They were mainly older women. When the cellar was completely empty, I also had a look in other cellars and asked whether anyone was still in there. Then I too left the house and after ten minutes there was an explosion in the house and the front part collapsed. I don’t know why. So I too went to the bunker on Frankfurter Straße. From there I came back to help with salvage work. But there were enough emergency crews on Schöne Aussicht and Friedrichstraße.
When it dawned, I went across Friedrichsplatz down to Königstraße where my mother lived. But I couldn’t do anything because everything was on fire. My mother died in that cellar. I have only been informed today that she has been found in that cellar. I am in the war and could therefore not follow up.
I could get to Mittelgasse only much later. I only found rubble there; it was impossible to tell what had been house and what had been street.
My family ran from the Schöne Aussicht to the bunker because they could not take the shorter route past the gun shop. This is because the ammunition was going off so that it was dangerous to go through there.
When the alarm came, I went with my child (Heinz) and my wife into the air raid cellar. We tried to accommodate the women in such a way that they were not as much in danger. The men waited and when we heard something out of the ordinary, we looked immediately what was going on. First, we did not notice anything particular. After a quarter of an hour, we could smell a bit of smoke. We looked immediately what the reason was for this. So we went up and realised that an incendiary had dropped. We all worked together to put it out.
After a short while, we were running short of water. We could only do one thing now because the house could not be saved, and that was to bring the women to safety. The women from the house had to get through the fire, the terrible rain of sparks, because it was already burning everywhere, through Fünffensterstraße to Schöne Aussicht. The women with children ran to the shelter in Frankfurter Straße. Women who came from the neighbouring building, the school, were behaving like mad people and refused to run through the fire. So I didn’t hesitate and took one over my shoulder and brought her to Schöne Aussicht. They were mainly older women. When the cellar was completely empty, I also had a look in other cellars and asked whether anyone was still in there. Then I too left the house and after ten minutes there was an explosion in the house and the front part collapsed. I don’t know why. So I too went to the bunker on Frankfurter Straße. From there I came back to help with salvage work. But there were enough emergency crews on Schöne Aussicht and Friedrichstraße.
When it dawned, I went across Friedrichsplatz down to Königstraße where my mother lived. But I couldn’t do anything because everything was on fire. My mother died in that cellar. I have only been informed today that she has been found in that cellar. I am in the war and could therefore not follow up.
I could get to Mittelgasse only much later. I only found rubble there; it was impossible to tell what had been house and what had been street.
My family ran from the Schöne Aussicht to the bunker because they could not take the shorter route past the gun shop. This is because the ammunition was going off so that it was dangerous to go through there.
Citation
Vermisstensuchstelle des Oberbürgermeisters der Stadt Kassel, “Heinrich S,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 19, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/8719.
Item Relations
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