Karl Nolde
Title
Karl Nolde
Description
Karl Nolde's account of the events at Losse power station.
Date
1944-04-05
Coverage
Language
Type
Publisher
Rights
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Contributor
Identifier
Record 59
BKasselVdObmv10059
Transcription
Translated from the original in German: Present is the gatekeeper Mr Karl Nolde, born 18 December 1883, of Lilienthalstraße 112 in Bettenhausen, and makes the following statement:
On the evening in question, the show started ten minutes to nine. I was relieved at nine but could not go home but had to stay because I am a member of plant security so as to help with salvage operations if necessary. However, that night we had less large damage than little ones. Several fire baskets were in the sky, on the side where the harbour is, then further up towards Sandershausen. And then I saw that where we were, at the gasworks and Bettenhausen, everything was alight, and I was of course afraid that my belongings at home would also be lost but I could not get away as I was on duty. Most of what happened was the other side of us. All sorts of heavy explosive bombs dropped; a barracks with Russians was set on fire and blew up. In the harbour everything was on fire except for the silo, the Herkules brewery was ablaze, one big fire all around us. We got off lightly. During that night, we didn’t think that it would have been that devastating, because we were very busy down there. Our pumps were running that night, we even had to add a reserve pump. The water is pulled up from the Fulda, goes through our machines and then through our turbines and is pushed out into the Losse. We had no interruptions. Light damage to the roof and other small damages we repaired ourselves.
The whole night I had been working with a hose and sprayed water so as to save the house where the officials of the plant lived.
On the evening in question, the show started ten minutes to nine. I was relieved at nine but could not go home but had to stay because I am a member of plant security so as to help with salvage operations if necessary. However, that night we had less large damage than little ones. Several fire baskets were in the sky, on the side where the harbour is, then further up towards Sandershausen. And then I saw that where we were, at the gasworks and Bettenhausen, everything was alight, and I was of course afraid that my belongings at home would also be lost but I could not get away as I was on duty. Most of what happened was the other side of us. All sorts of heavy explosive bombs dropped; a barracks with Russians was set on fire and blew up. In the harbour everything was on fire except for the silo, the Herkules brewery was ablaze, one big fire all around us. We got off lightly. During that night, we didn’t think that it would have been that devastating, because we were very busy down there. Our pumps were running that night, we even had to add a reserve pump. The water is pulled up from the Fulda, goes through our machines and then through our turbines and is pushed out into the Losse. We had no interruptions. Light damage to the roof and other small damages we repaired ourselves.
The whole night I had been working with a hose and sprayed water so as to save the house where the officials of the plant lived.
Citation
Vermisstensuchstelle des Oberbürgermeisters der Stadt Kassel, “Karl Nolde,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 24, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/8725.
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