Anna D
Title
Anna D
Description
Anna D's account of the events at Hohenzollernstraße nos. 137 ½ and 139, Wehlheider Straße 6.
Date
1944-04-18
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 72
BKasselVdObmv10072
Transcription
Translated from the original in German: Present is Mrs Anna D., née B., born 5 September 1903, formerly of Wehlheider Straße 6, now of Friedenstraße 9, and makes the following statement:
I myself was in the Wintershall Ltd in Hohenzollernstraße and we were cleaning. Afterwards everything was a mess again. As the alarm came and the shooting started, we went into the cellar. And after a while, the house next door uphill was on fire. The fire was put several times, however, and the house is still there. The cleaning women and the air raid wardens were in the cellar. The firefighters were on the upper floors of the house. They were two office blocks. A canister dropped down all the way to the third floor. So the firefighters went up again. But the fire was so fierce in the books and files and papers that they could not anything anymore. As the fire came down, we had to leave the house through the breakthroughs. We ran uphill. And from there we made our way home. And as we got there towards half nine, we saw our misery.
In Wehlheider Straße an explosive bomb dropped in front of the house. The house had, however, already burnt down. And those who were in that cellar had been thrown about like dice and were buried from one side. Three quarters of the house had collapsed on one side. The people there pulled each other out. Parts of the house still stood although the walls had gone. And as they got out, they saw that the whole street had gone, all the houses had disappeared. When I came, my part was burning down. Despite the hail of bombs, they made their way across to the cellar of the big house on the corner. There, the mains had burst so that they had to make their way through the breakthrough into the cellar of the next building. That’s the time when I arrived and so we wandered about the whole night until the next morning. On the street a man died, the farmer Haake. I don’t know of what he died. He was an old man and the only one from his house who’d stayed whereas all the others had run to the public shelter. He always stayed and that is where he died.
I myself was in the Wintershall Ltd in Hohenzollernstraße and we were cleaning. Afterwards everything was a mess again. As the alarm came and the shooting started, we went into the cellar. And after a while, the house next door uphill was on fire. The fire was put several times, however, and the house is still there. The cleaning women and the air raid wardens were in the cellar. The firefighters were on the upper floors of the house. They were two office blocks. A canister dropped down all the way to the third floor. So the firefighters went up again. But the fire was so fierce in the books and files and papers that they could not anything anymore. As the fire came down, we had to leave the house through the breakthroughs. We ran uphill. And from there we made our way home. And as we got there towards half nine, we saw our misery.
In Wehlheider Straße an explosive bomb dropped in front of the house. The house had, however, already burnt down. And those who were in that cellar had been thrown about like dice and were buried from one side. Three quarters of the house had collapsed on one side. The people there pulled each other out. Parts of the house still stood although the walls had gone. And as they got out, they saw that the whole street had gone, all the houses had disappeared. When I came, my part was burning down. Despite the hail of bombs, they made their way across to the cellar of the big house on the corner. There, the mains had burst so that they had to make their way through the breakthrough into the cellar of the next building. That’s the time when I arrived and so we wandered about the whole night until the next morning. On the street a man died, the farmer Haake. I don’t know of what he died. He was an old man and the only one from his house who’d stayed whereas all the others had run to the public shelter. He always stayed and that is where he died.
Citation
Vermisstensuchstelle des Oberbürgermeisters der Stadt Kassel, “Anna D,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed July 22, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/8738.
Item Relations
This item has no relations.