Eichstätt
![Eichstatt with Willibaldsburg in the background with the Hofmühl](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1Qc_sHznwdZIs4l6Ptzv5wXQkgWqbY1iC5tyg_CRR4i5fdJJFhpy-BG9A56WwwV399KEEfZJt8rhsH6iM0BLCSlj3fwipjx8qonzJj7BtEE4KgfR1slEKEuy40gjxBeJ8kOTKkI6qjQbL/w801-h380/ezgif.com-gif-maker.gif)
Cycling to Eichstatt with Willibaldsburg in the background with the Hofmühl. It was because Reichsstraße 13 going through Eichstätt had been the
shortest road connection between Munich and Nuremberg, and on to Berlin
that Hitler himself visited the city several times where he was often
found at the Waldschlösschen restaurant. The popular belief had been
that Hitler and its owner, Carl Eduard Matheis, had been regimental comrades during the Great War although after a complete review of the
14th Infantry Division's archives, shows Matheis had not been; in fact, very
few soldiers from the Ingolstadt region were. Hitler had first visited
Eichstätt on February 24, 1923 and spoke in the parade hall which had
stood next to the summer residence on the Hofgarten, and was later used
as a gymnasium and factory hall before being demolished to build the new
university buildings. The Nazis would attack the local paper, the
Eichstätter Volkszeitung, for "spitting poison and bile against our
movement."
Hitler spent the Sunday, March 13, 1932 presidential election in Eichstätt; of note is the town's election result where Hindenburg received 3,243 votes to Hitler's 1,145. In fact, the Nazis at first found it difficult to establish a place in Eichstätt given that the biggest party in the town had long been held by the Bavarian People's Party. Thus, even after the so-called seizure of power the Nazis only managed in the parliamentary election 1, 558 votes in the March 5, 1933 national election compared to the Bavarian People's Party's 2,493. Nevertheless, on Hitler's birthday a torchlight procession in Mörnsheim was held as well as a significant birthday banner raised with the school square renamed Adolf-Hitler-Platz. On Tuesday, July 18, 1933 the Eichstätter Kurier reported that "[a]fter five o'clock yesterday afternoon the news spread in our town that Herr Chancellor Adolf Hitler and his staff had arrived at the Waldschlösschen yesterday morning," being greeted joyfully with a child handing him flowers. The League of German Girls, the auxiliary police and the state police had served as a sort of honour guard as Hitler arrived after a meeting in Leipzig. The next recorded visit was Saturday, August 19, 1933 as Hitler was travelling to Nuremberg, lunching with his staff at the Waldschlösschen. He made a return visit on Wednesday, August 30, 1933, again stopping at the Waldschlösschen.
In
December 1933 Hitler was awarded the honorary citizenship of the city.
Hitler thanked the town council on December 12 and formally accepted it.
On Friday, April 20, 1934, Hitler spent his birthday at the
Waldschlösschen; after he drove off his car became stuck in a traffic
jam during roadworks near Lohrmannshof where it was reported that "he
was the subject of a warm ovation from the construction workers." Other
visits Hitler made to Eichstätt were Sunday, March 18, 1934; Thursday,
June 6 and Monday, June 17, 1935; and Tuesday, July 9, 1935, whilst
travelling from Beilngries to Ingolstadt, apparently visiting the
construction site of the highway shown above. In 1935 the Nazis built
the Eichstätter Thingstätte on the Geisberg in the then independent
municipality of Wintershof, shown below, in which Gauleiter Julius
Streicher was present at the inauguration ceremony on July 6, 1935 even
though it was only completed in 1937. During the war in the eastern
suburb of Eichstätt was located the prisoner of war camp Oflag VII B. In
addition, on the Willibaldsburg from October 1944 to January 1945 there
was the site of an external subcamp of the concentration camp
Flossenbürg which held 22 inmates. Given the PoW camp, the war itself
saw Eichstätt suffering no casualties and in contrast to the surrounding
communities and towns, no significant war damage from Allied attacks
was sustained before being occupied on April 26, 1945 by American
troops.
![Eichstatt marktplatz](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnDf7EZg-F4hPelUWm7D3a4TSsk9Ezvc0MePetGbt0hF9DT-3XjgX0Sp0NWUR6IocW9aQctcQZbB5J8PjdlrVG0Qp3kak6HXpTPYzZ2THeClSLXI8xjEME_EGMwyzW3nzzNrtGLES6CahA/w577-h404/ezgif.com-gif-maker+%252816%2529.gif)
Hitler spent the Sunday, March 13, 1932 presidential election in Eichstätt; of note is the town's election result where Hindenburg received 3,243 votes to Hitler's 1,145. In fact, the Nazis at first found it difficult to establish a place in Eichstätt given that the biggest party in the town had long been held by the Bavarian People's Party. Thus, even after the so-called seizure of power the Nazis only managed in the parliamentary election 1, 558 votes in the March 5, 1933 national election compared to the Bavarian People's Party's 2,493. Nevertheless, on Hitler's birthday a torchlight procession in Mörnsheim was held as well as a significant birthday banner raised with the school square renamed Adolf-Hitler-Platz. On Tuesday, July 18, 1933 the Eichstätter Kurier reported that "[a]fter five o'clock yesterday afternoon the news spread in our town that Herr Chancellor Adolf Hitler and his staff had arrived at the Waldschlösschen yesterday morning," being greeted joyfully with a child handing him flowers. The League of German Girls, the auxiliary police and the state police had served as a sort of honour guard as Hitler arrived after a meeting in Leipzig. The next recorded visit was Saturday, August 19, 1933 as Hitler was travelling to Nuremberg, lunching with his staff at the Waldschlösschen. He made a return visit on Wednesday, August 30, 1933, again stopping at the Waldschlösschen.
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Pfahlstasse |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDLzFWskbcn8h-qmh1XHtGCOZoTzvOu_CH7jP8THUI6l1ESCia0MbkKD5o5whbvYsB3HJ-IKUzcoba_CF0hhf79kVcuHhb8Et25Y-YRAy4fz4y72V9PdheRtI-VwoNrLGQBgf94S1qKvUe/w718-h279/ezgif.com-resize+%25282%2529.jpg)
This
Hitler Jugend haus, completed in 1938, is still a Youth Hostel. The
inauguration of the extension was held April 16, 1939. Such is the
build-up of suburbia around the site that a corresponding photograph
couldn't be taken.
![Eichstatt cathedral](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmy0VVmPBYgQJZk38FoqodB2gAISvgtjNI4op1KqL0NgawzBEO3r0K0FEr9EUl3EABdhR1oaUGAX9EleE1V4uskNeCduoe-ozSR5zGnU428cx7omsm0_vdm6lTULY4Bib7dt1MUHOfdWg/w541-h384/ezgif.com-optimize%252812%2529.gif)
The cathedral in 1936 and today. During the Nazi era,
Bishop Konrad Count von Preysing was the only Catholic bishopric of
Germany to turn against the Reichskonkordat, which was agreed by the
Holy See and the Reichsregierung in 1933. It was at the cathedral on January 31, 1937 that Father Kraus publicly attacked Nazi anti-church policy, bringing on
Westenstraße with Saint Walburg church in the background.
As
for the rest, either their death sentences were commuted, they died
during detention or were eventually released. The main phase of the
witch persecution in Hochstift Eichstätt lasted from 1617 to 1630 and
fell into the reign of Prince-Bishop Johann Christoph von Westerstetten.
During these fourteen years, at least 185 arrests and trials and 167 executions of 141 women and 26 men for witchcraft had been conducted, of
which between four and 25 death sentences were pronounced each year.
The last known execution for witchcraft took place in Eichstätt in
1723.
The consequences of the November Revolution ending Germany's involvement in the Great War also involved Eichstätt which saw a workers 'and soldiers' council form. After his conviction writer and playwright, politician, and socialist revolutionary Ernst Toller was imprisoned from February 3, 1920 to July 15, 1924 in the provisional fortress prison of Eichstätt. On December 15, 1918, the Magistrate's Council decided to establish a vigilante group although its implementation took several more months. The Freikorps Oberland was founded in April 1919 in Ingolstadt and Eichstätt by Albert von Beckh and was closely associated with the right-wing Thule Society which in turn is seen as one of the main influences on the later Nazi party. The Freikorps was used in May 1919 in the battles against the Munich Soviet Republic. Parts of the Free Corps were then taken over with parts of the Free Corps Epp in the Reichswehr Brigade 21 and 1920 used as a closed association during the Ruhraaufstands.
The
Free Corps itself was formally dissolved on October 21, 1919 but many
of its members joined a volunteer battalion in the organisation
Escherich. In the suppression of the uprisings in Upper Silesia in 1921,
the Free Corps was significantly involved in the storming of St.
Annaberg in Upper Silesia where they formed a murder and kidnapping
squad. The murderers of Matthias Erzberger- leader of the Zentrum Party
and who had signed the Treaty of Versailles- Heinrich Tillessen and
Heinrich Schulz belonged not only to the Organisation Consul, but also
to the "Arbeitsgemeinschaft Oberland". They are also believed to have
been responsible for the murder of the USPD politician Karl Gareis. In
1923 under its company commander, veterinarian Friedrich Weber, was
sentenced alongside Hitler to five years imprisonment for treason after
the failed Beer Hall putsch. On February 15, 1934 Weber was appointed
"Reichsführer of the German veterinarians," later being appointed
Honorary Professor of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the
University of Berlin on July 26, 1939. He took the rank of ϟϟ group
leader in 1944, bearing the Blood Order and the Golden Party badges.
the crisis of April and May when both party and state tried to drive Kraus out of town. When the news spread of Kraus's impending ouster, the cathedral was packed with a reported 5,600 of the faithful, or two-thirds of the town. Bishop Racklwent to the pulpit and noted the unfortunate reason why so many had assembled. "But when he made clear that he had given Kraus an official order not to leave his pastorate, an applause broke loose, such as the cathedral had never heard before". During his 45-minute talk, Rackl had to stop frequently for the applause from the congregation, pleased to hear that someone was going to resist. During that evening, 1,800 persons signed a petition against Kraus's removal. While loyal Catholics were enjoying their defiance inside the cathedral, the police force, plus SA and ϟϟ, was marching about outside to "protect" the worshippers inside from mob violence—odd because the great majority of the town was inside. They did prevent the townspeople from giving the Bishop a street ovation. Party units arrested some of those showing defiance. All through the night and into the next day lines of those praying for the retention of Kraus wound through the cathedral.
Edward Peterson (315-6) Limits of Hitler's Power
![Eichstatt Westenstraße with Saint Walburg church in the background](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0d6RvuefnJN3xXuHtFno64Uey_wk0iIX3Cy6w0XmnpVNBksoAHKzsa-CThlpvFnZNSBx_jH-8WMKzx6JJIWHwsuqRg8R8DUrxDPORwfT3YcpMz3jqvPJDEiIkNhvPVqwbr1lKkrTawBQX/w528-h417/ezgif.com-optimize%252820%2529.gif)
The state, better informed, took the view that Kraus had indeed attacked the state. On April 23, in an unusual display of legal nicety, it introduced court charges against Kraus. In the meantime he was forbidden to give the usual religious instruction in the school. Kraus wrote that this was not so serious, because the students came to him anyway. He was amused by the simple-minded efforts of the party to indoctrinate the students, including those of Deputy Kreisleiter Haberl who had gotten a nun's teaching job and who avoided the quick-witted Kraus after an incident at the vocational school. Haberl was asking "tricky questions" about the rise of the NS party, and Kraus lost his temper, saying: "Hitler was also found guilty of high treason in 1923 and the verdict has not yet been reversed". Kraus reported his remark to Foerderreuther who threw his hands together over his head and said: "But Herr Cathedral pastor, you simply can't say things like that" of Kraus's way. He left the room before the priest appeared so that a "Heil Hitler" would not be necessary.Residenzplatz during the Nazi era and today. Eichstätt's stately and tranquil surroundings have witnessed a dark past. During the Thirty Years' War the city, which was considered the "stronghold of Catholicism", was conquered and looted by the Swedes. As a result, on February 12, 1634 much of the town's centre was almost completely destroyed. It wasn't until the end of the 18th century that the Baroque reconstruction of the city by Graubünden and Italian master builders, especially Gabriel de Gabrieli as seen in these pictures was completed. Although since the Middle Ages the area around Eichstätt was known for its winegrowing- the terraces are partly still visible today- through climate change and the devastation of the Thirty Years' War the wine was finally abandoned. As with Freising, from 1582 to 1723 at least 241 people- 211 women (88%) and thirty men (12%) were charged and arrested on suspicion of so-called witchcraft in Eichstätt. 222 of them (195 women, 27 men) were sentenced to death and executed in these witch trials , including Kunigunde Sterzl, Eva Hohenschildin and Helena Schneckin.
Peterson (317)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu5uuzQUqNo48WIGgBTK6DBi4i4yBnF6fZ2bz2wxWz5tIopCT1ZIq7487_fjadu0lRoTWqUgY17PVaoOm8YaDsQHDMn4glpePWKnADVeiC52cAqHks8bTGHp6PSVh-mh3wMDeFaEFOzV5T/w586-h358/ezgif.com-gif-maker+%25285%2529.gif)
The consequences of the November Revolution ending Germany's involvement in the Great War also involved Eichstätt which saw a workers 'and soldiers' council form. After his conviction writer and playwright, politician, and socialist revolutionary Ernst Toller was imprisoned from February 3, 1920 to July 15, 1924 in the provisional fortress prison of Eichstätt. On December 15, 1918, the Magistrate's Council decided to establish a vigilante group although its implementation took several more months. The Freikorps Oberland was founded in April 1919 in Ingolstadt and Eichstätt by Albert von Beckh and was closely associated with the right-wing Thule Society which in turn is seen as one of the main influences on the later Nazi party. The Freikorps was used in May 1919 in the battles against the Munich Soviet Republic. Parts of the Free Corps were then taken over with parts of the Free Corps Epp in the Reichswehr Brigade 21 and 1920 used as a closed association during the Ruhraaufstands.
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Residenzstrasse |
![Willibaldsbrunnen HJ Hitler Youth](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia2xEyBgkqE8Hgse_MCNHuecYprzaapmSbhmoUCmy5DGs4-Mo90YmSp81DjHKpysm5x6z-cEbZcSGQ3pX32GegiFYZ58wVBjO17fU52xzBROSyrioxwM9pTkmmjc5QiJs-cD7_W-jQ9N60/w484-h548/ezgif.com-gif-maker+%252815%2529.gif)
As early as New Year's Eve 1922, Jews in Eichstätt were targetted by Nazis when the facade of Sallo Guttentag's department store on Domplatz was stained with swastikas.
By 1933 there were still 27 Jewish inhabitants in the town, comprising of 0.6% of a total of 8,029 inhabitants. On July 8, 1935, Egon Guttentag and Paul Freymann,
who had meanwhile taken over the business from Sallo Guttentag, were
taken into "protective custody". In the spring of 1936 the Guttentag and
Freymann families fled the town due to the consequences of the economic
boycott and the need to "Aryanise" their department store. In autumn 1938 only the Schimmel family remained in the town. During
Kristallnacht on November 10, 1938 the district leader and about a
dozen SA men moved into Stake Street to break down the Schimmel
brothers' door and arrest them. Their house was sold that same day as
two of the three Schimmel brothers fled, followed by the third brother a
month later. On December 8, 1938, the government of Middle Franconia
announced that Eichstätt was "free of Jews".
![Willibaldsbrunnen](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-3qkbArabUGJXSIMS17pHNeESs3Y-ZNF5ntiYDHwzuSqxeNCFblnhttIjStVHCBSMjDcbeENDfXrfARavmAlkTz5ze-pBIzCvvM0i7KQGdmg17maVhBuAPIslVflbMPygJ4Dagfql3gyw/w359-h513/ezgif.com-gif-maker+%252814%2529.gif)
From
November 1946 to 1949 there was a camp of Jewish displaced persons in
Eichstätt housed at various locations such as the army barracks and
former agricultural school. The camp had religious institutions
(synagogue, religious school, kosher kitchen, yeshiva, mikveh) and
cultural institutions (kindergarten, elementary school, vocational
school). 21 Displaced Persons who had died during the camp's existence
were buried in the Jewish cemetery in Ingolstadt.
![eichstatt Altmühl](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEv29nfVTQFkbgEXbuNN44ceCOrgW6UYH4OgoEFJ1-xP5Lvl9go9zAO8KEPMLS0_qr2Pa6pco0JiGwDbXyEanaGnRXuTRk5RZy3BF-1z1ISaESiRK6xLVdS_sgk6pjpEXtJBEiGcs2WJU-/w707-h340/ezgif.com-gif-maker+%25286%2529.gif)
Along the canal looking towards the Altmühl
![Eichstätt Thingstätte](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhndVMy-vyqy7L7UTxotcYzftgVYvWrCGwwef6E1TlM1TCtgXp-k7TK1P5SM1dlVokmQ_4fTXns4FMf1mgXWEkT3LhysNxUDD-F5AWMm1Se3TZb7hdaJq47HfcF23AeuR6y8-SJ0zRyNxqO/w583-h353/ezgif.com-gif-maker+%252812%2529.gif)
It
was declared at its formal opening service: "National Socialists of
district Eichstätt! Our splendid Thingstätte on the holy mountain has
received its consecration by the Frankenführer Gauleiter Julius
Streicher. The day is a landmark in the history of our movement to which
18,077 working hours and 118 days have been donated. The Holy Mountain
is to become a work worthy of the glorious location and the lofty aim of
the movement. Forward with Hitler. Long live our leader and his
glorious movement."
The
cornerstone was laid on April 6, 1935 by the Nazi district leader,
Walter Krauss, mayor from 1934 to 1938. The SA and party members built
the stage and the rows of spectators. The
completion of the Thingstättenhaus (now Café and Hotel Schönblick) took
place on September 5, 1935. For the Nazis the High Cross overlooking
the site, which had been erected in 1854 to give thanks for the sparing
of the cholera, was an issue. The removal of the Monument Cross, cast in
the Obereichstätt smelting works, was prevented by the resistance of
Christian-minded citizens from Wintershof and Eichstätt. Thus when the
Nazis spoke of the "Holy Mountain", they did not refer to the High
Cross.
Although in ruins today, immediately after the war on August 9, 1946, it was used for a choir meeting for the Latvian refugees living in Franconia attended by seven hundred singers
who had previously celebrated a service in the Protestant church and
then climbed up the mountain. In June 1963 the diocese of Eichstätt
hosted the Diocesan Frogschartag iin which at least 1,200 girls between
the ages of ten and fourteen from all over the diocese celebrated a
church service. Finally in 1988 another attempt was made to revive the
Thingstätte open-air stage through Martin Walser's "Eiche und Angora",
performed as part of the Summer Games programme. The site was chosen
intentionally for a play about a simple man in the last days of the war who
never manages to recognise political changes in time. Its organiser,
Heinrich Vergho, stated that "[o]f course, at first we had some
reservations about acting on this site built by the Nazis. But the topic
almost forced us to use the venue and it provided multiple impulses to
the production."
Ingolstadt
During
the First
World War Ingolstadt was temporarily occupied with over 40,000 soldiers,
its fortress buildings used as a prisoner of war camp and three
military hospitals were established within the city. From 1916 there was
a considerable shortage of food and by November 1918 a workers' and
soldiers' council was formed. From the balcony of the town hall a Soviet
Republic was called out at short notice. The Treaty of Versailles
resulted in a sharp reduction of the German army, and the Ingolstadt
armaments companies were forced to switch production. The production of
spinning machines by Deutsche Spinnereimaschinenbau AG Ingolstadt
(Despag) seemed particularly promising. However, due to the Wall Street
Crash 60% of the workers were dismissed; only five hundred remained. The
seizure of power by the Nazis took place on April 27, 1933, when
the newly formed City Council elected two Nazi members as Second and Third Mayors. The Lord Mayor Josef Listl, who had been in office since
1930, remained in office until 1945. By the end of June, the city
council members of the SPD and the BVP resigned. Nazi attacks were
directed in the first months especially against politicians and members
of the KPD, who lived mainly in the workers' settlements in the east of
the city. The union headquarters was destroyed and over fifty people were
deported to Dachau. During Kristallnacht in 1938
when the SA ravaged the synagogue in the Stegmeier house, 46 Jewish
residents still remained in Ingolstadt. Half of the originally around
hundred Jews from Ingolstadt had already left the city from the
beginning of Nazi rule because of constant reprisals and boycotts. On
the morning of November 10, 1938 the last Ingolstadt Jews had to leave
the city within an hour's notice.
The
Bavarian King Ludwig III visiting Fort Prinz Karl (what is now the
Polizeimuseum) during the First
World War when the insufferable future French president Charles de
Gaulle was detained here as a prisoner of war as was future Soviet
marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky. Described as the Alcatraz of German prisoner camps. Construction of the fort began in March
1877 and completed in August 1882 at a cost of almost 1.7 million
reichsmarks. During the First World War, the fortress and others served
as prison camps. The reason why it wasn't demolished like all other
fortresses after the Second World War can only be guessed at but, given
it stored large amounts of ammunition, the Americans were concerned that
in the event of an explosion the neighbouring village of Katharinenberg
would have been destroyed. Thus, Prince Karl was the only German fort
to be completely preserved.![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgke1qKLsmjnkSbYvnT_L-pPqGZVz5VxvyUzVEUqfBBwcXEdO0WO5LzdIMuSHyDCt-SymXS-f67o0bBLqZx9o_UfRUoFjX283GIkMX94uqcrbvbVR7854FwiVCzqAupvTnqA4FzmAIOF7mFAhY-vQG2_iUrFhPs8wVguFTbadDtCnbW8KP9FhtjTuqZ-fSZ/w543-h316/ezgif.com-animated-gif-maker%20(50).gif)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgke1qKLsmjnkSbYvnT_L-pPqGZVz5VxvyUzVEUqfBBwcXEdO0WO5LzdIMuSHyDCt-SymXS-f67o0bBLqZx9o_UfRUoFjX283GIkMX94uqcrbvbVR7854FwiVCzqAupvTnqA4FzmAIOF7mFAhY-vQG2_iUrFhPs8wVguFTbadDtCnbW8KP9FhtjTuqZ-fSZ/w543-h316/ezgif.com-animated-gif-maker%20(50).gif)
Looking
at the citadel from the Tillyveste Bridgehead on the right. In front of
the World War memorial to the Kgl. Bayerisches Ingenieurkorps. Only
here can one really get a good idea of Michael von Streiter's plans
whose basic concept remains among the most beautiful surviving
fortifications in Germany. When the decision was made to build a
polygonal fortification on the north bank, the main works of the
Tillyveste were already in an advanced state and thus these round works
such as the Reduit and the two flanking towers (which were only given
the names Triva and Baur much later) were completed. The bridgehead was
named after Johann T'Serclaes Count of Tilly who wasn't only in command
of the Bavarian army during the Thirty Years' War, but was also the
military leader of the Catholic League. He managed to keep the war away
from Bavaria for 13 years. In the Battle of Rain am Lech he was unable
to fend off the Swedish army's invasion of Bavaria, he was fatally
wounded and died here in Ingolstadt.
The
second wave then dropped 1,278 fragment bombs over the southern part of
the town between Haunwöhr and the flood dam, as well as on an
undeveloped area. After another wave of bombing the final report of the
local air defence chief reported 28 dead and 29 wounded, as well as the
22 dead and seven seriously injured in Feldkirchen. On the following Friday,
January 19, the funeral service for the first victims of the
bombardment took place where, in front of the funeral hall of the
municipal cemetery, the coffins were drapped with Nazi flags. The Nazis
staged this memorial service with great propaganda effort after
representatives of the party, the state, the Wehrmacht, the city and
even a chance Hungarian delegation taking part in the square in front of
the Aussegnungshalle. Nazi speeches raged against the "Anglo-American
murder flyers" and proclaimed allegiance to the "leaders, people and
fatherland" accompanied by soft drum rolls the name was read by the
Ingolstadt victims. After the numerous wreath-layings the funeral
concluded with the singing of Nazi songs.
For Thursday, March 1, 1945, the 8th Air Force had actually planned strategic attacks on airfields of the dangerous new Messerschmitt Me 262 fighters. However, since the meteorologists announced bad weather, the planned targets had to be changed. Thus 253 Consolidated B-24 "Liberator" bombers of the 2nd US Air Division in eastern England were given the main attack target of the Ingolstadt station facilities with the Reichsbahnausbesserungswerk (RAW). At 12.56, the air-raid warning centre for the Ingolstadt area gave the 183th air-raid alarm. In order to find the planned targets even when the cloud cover was completely closed, the bomber navigators used H2X radar equipment. The tightly closed formation of the four-engined B-24 flew from the west to Ingolstadt Central Station which was undefended as the Ingolstadt Flak forces had been moved from 1944 to such "air raids 1st order" such as Munich, Nuremberg and Augsburg.
Between
13.31 to 13.35 the bombers from a height of about 5500 metres triggered
in three short successive waves 603.3 tonnes of explosive and
incendiary bombs as well as leaflets, counterfeit food tickets et cet..
The major attack took place in an extension of about ten miles along
the railway line from Reichertshofen to Oberhaunstadt, with the main
focus concentrated on the northern part of the old town which ended up
in ruins. A total of 32 damaged sites were left buried. In addition to
numerous residential buildings, the Kulturbauamt was completely
destroyed. Out of the rubble of the severely damaged municipal hospital
on Sebastianstraße, more than an hundred people, mostly seriously ill
and the wounded, had to be rescued under the most difficult conditions.
The air raid bunker on Rechbergstraße suffered a direct hit.
Extinguishing and salvage work continued throughout the night. The
security forces had to secure collapsing buildings, recover furniture
from damaged houses, clear roads of debris and mark and seal down sites
of unexploded ordnance. In total the attack left 197 dead and 107
wounded. The Chief of Staff of the 2nd Combat Bombardment Wing involved
in this attack on Ingolstadt was the actor Jimmy Stewart.
During
the 8th US Air Force's attack on April 5, 1945, a total of 1358
long-range bombers and 662 fighters were employed. The Heereszeugamt in
Ingolstadt, one of the largest Wehrmacht magazines in Military District
VII (Southern Bavaria), was assigned to the 1st American Bomber Division,
which attacked with 211 "B-17 Flying Fortress" bombers and 201 P-51
"Mustang" hunters used as escorts. On this sunny and cloudless day three
waves dropped, over the parade ground between Ringler and Ettinger
streets, a total of 1,575 bombs with a total load of 621.4 tonnes and
numerous leaflets. The northern area of the target area resembled a single crater landscape with about 70% of the buildings of the
Heereszeugamt on the Ringlerstraße as well as the adjoining parade
ground destroyed. A direct hit completely destroyed one of the three new
barracks blocks of the Max Emanuel barracks on Hindenburgstraße. The
adjacent residential development was also affected. There were 52 dead,
including 39 civilians in the vicinity of the parade ground, and 56
seriously injured and 170 homeless.
Officially, no
Allied air raid on Ingolstadt was scheduled for April 9, 1945, and yet
this day was undoubtedly the most fateful day in the city's history of
Ingolstadt. That afternoon tightly closed bomber formations flew over
the town to operations on the Neuburg air base, the WIFO tank farm near
Unterhausen and the airport Munich-Riem which hosted the German Air
Force Hunting Association 44 under Lieutenant General Adolf Galland,
stationed with Me-262 jet aircraft. On the return flight to their
southern English locations, the flight route of these 212 "Flying
Fortresses" at an altitude of about 7,000 metres once again led via
Ingolstadt. An air-raid alert triggered at 17.09 prompted the few
passers-by in the city to flee to the nearest air raid shelter. After
the enemy bombers had almost over-flown the city area, suddenly at 17:15
clock ten B-17 bombers flew back in a U-turn. From a height of about
2500 metres, one of these aircraft set a smoke mark above the old city
area. The remaining nine bombers arriving from the south-westerly
direction promptly unleashed their comparatively low residual load of
just 29 tonnes of explosive and incendiary bombs in under a minute, from
17.17 to 17.18. Adolf-Hitler-Platz was reduced into a landscape of
rubble. Several direct hits on the Augustinerkirche and adjacent
Franciscan monastery on Schutterstraße were particularly serious.
In
the basement of this rococo church dating from 1763, 73 people seeking
protection, mostly refugees from Pomerania, died. Only a young woman who
could only be rescued from the shattered monastery cellar after ten
hours survived. The
destruction of the Holy Ghost Hospital was similarly severe, since
hardly any of the residents had visited the shelter, and during the
bombardment they mostly stayed in their rooms or in the stairwell. Of
the nearly hundred elderly people present, sixteen were killed. Further
bombing destroyed the former Gouvernementsgebäude with the historic
Salzstadel, the Stadttheater am Rathausplatz, the new municipal
administration building on Schäffbräustraße, the newly built Donauhalle
on Tränktorstraße, the Roli cinema, as well as numerous residential and
commercial buildings in the area of Rathausplatz, Donaustraße,
Münzbergstraße and Schäffbräustraße. More than a thousand were made
homeless due to the enormous building damage. The alarm ended on that
day at 19.42 clock with the "all clear". After the planes of the 3rd
bomber division landed again on their English airfields, six B-17
bombers were missing and 42 were damaged. In addition, 56 crew members
were missing and two men were reported as lost.
Two days later the 3rd American bomber division focused its main target on the Rangierbahnhof Ingolstadt and the Manching
air base. In cloudless skies, the bombers found their targets from
6,000 metres above sea level. Coming from Donauwörth, the American bombers flew into the Ingolstadt airspace at a strength of 21 waves,
each with ten B-17 Flying Fortresses. Thirteen waves of the 4th Combat
Bombardment Wing attacked first from 12.42 to 13.05 on the Manchinger
air base in which 369 tonnes of bombs were dropped, destroying large
parts of the airborne aerial installations, including the runway and the
numerous aircraft of the German Air Force which had been forced to park impotently due to lack of fuel.
Immediately after the beginning of the attack, the siren warning signal
sounded in Ingolstadt at 12:53. In eight waves, the five groups reduced
the station to rubble and ashes with a total of 237 tonnes of bombs. In
addition to numerous residential buildings in Ringsee and Münchner
Straße this attack, which lasted until 13.41, completely destroyed the St. Anton elementary
school, the school barracks on Tillystrasse, and the administrative
building of the Bavarian Insurance Chamber. In the renewed attack on the
railway facilities, this ammunition train was hit hard again, whereupon
hour after hour, one carriage after another began to explode. The
damage to the tracks had completely interrupted transit traffic and did
not allow the train to leave the danger zone. Because the rumour spread
that the charge of the train consisted of "V-2 weapons" broke out, a mass panic took place involving thousands of women, children and elderly
under cover of darkness to flee through open fields, gravel pits or the
forests outside the town. It was determined that 35 people had been
killed and anywhere from three to four hundred left homeless.
The air raid on
April 21, 1945 was the last of its kind and Ingolstadt was left a ruined
city. As a result of the burst supply lines, there was no water, gas or
electricity. The most important traffic route, the railway, was
completely interrupted. The multitude of bombed-out citizens, who went
in search of a new home to relatives or acquaintances in the surrounding
villages, had to travel this way with their last belongings on foot or
at best by bicycle. Even the large siren system, now familiar in wartime
life, had been shut down by a blasting bomb. Nevertheless American
fighter-bombers continued to fly with their on-board weapons attacks
against Ingolstadt. Hardly anyone ventured out into the streets and
whoever did risked paying with his life. In the last four days, no less
than 28 fatalities had been reported by low-flying. But even from the
other side, this war in the attack area
over Ingolstadt took several times its toll. Thus, on April 25, during a
low-flying attack on the station area, the railroad aircraft stationed
at the station hit a P-47 "Thunderbolt" from the 396th US fighter
squadron on the wing. The plane then went into a jolt, lost altitude
and finally crashed at the bridgehead at the Reduit Tilly. The 21-year-old pilot was killed.
After the
surrender of Nuremberg on April 20, the American offensive continued to
roll on through Regensburg and Passau. Other American troops approached
Ingolstadt from Württemberg. Since April 17, the 38th ϟϟ Grenadier
Division "Nibelungen" advanced to the Danube. That day Heinz Greiner,
the commanding general in the military district, declared the river a
main battle line and announced that he wanted to hold the city "to
the last cartridge". The Volkssturm and OT men and five hundred Hitler
Youth, who had been recruited by the Nazi Gauleitung, were under the
command of the local combat commander Major Paul Weinzierl. Weinzierl
ended up ordering his troops towards the south in the vicinity of
Hohenkammer as the military, Nazi officials and the population
questioned if the city would be defended house-by-house. On the morning
of April 24, soldiers of the 352nd Volksgrenadier Division, who had
previously been involved in heavy defensive fighting west of Eichstätt,
arrived in Ingolstadt. At the same time, the American 86th Infantry Division
with the American 342nd and 343rd Infantry Regiments had crossed the Altmühl
at various points. Since the Ingolstadt siren system had been destroyed
in the last air raid on April 21, the bell of the Minster sounded the
"Panzeralarm". Most of the population then went to the air raid shelters
as, on the orders of the Generalkommando, retreating ϟϟ troops blew up
the Danube bridges in Ingolstadt in the early morning of April 26.
From
1.00 to 16.58, the motorway bridge, the railway bridge and the
Donaustraßen Bridge collapsed. On the morning of the 26th of April, the
"Volksgrenadiere" left for the south, whereupon it had become halfway
"peaceful" throughout the city. By noon, the American Army had covered the
city from the west and reached the Danube. The German staff observed
from the Brückenkopf barracks the deployment of the Americans on the
northern bank of the Danube, but fighting no longer took place. Then
American fighter-bombers attacked at low altitude along the southern
shore several times. On the northern walls of the Reduit Tilly, damage
to the façade caused by this low-flying attack is still visible today.
At 21.20 pm, artillery grenades finally enabled the unimpeded passage of
the river by soldiers of three companies of the 86th American Division in
assault boats. At 23.00, another battalion of the 86th US Division hit
the river downstream, crossing the blasted road and railway bridge over a
spurce bridge over the Danube. Then at night succeeded in translating
more troops with heavy equipment. Only now did the
Americans realize
that there were still many German soldiers in the bridgehead. The
Americans attacked and threatened to destroy the entire bridgehead with
artillery and bombs before a white flag was seen on the morning of April
27, 1945 when the complete bridgehead crew assembled in front of the
pioneer barracks on the bridgehead and moved to a prisoner of war camp
the next day. The 86th "Black Hawk" Infantry Division was able to
advance to Manching on the same day. Another Danube crossing in the area
between Donauwörth to Vohburg was successful, the way to the foothills
of the Alps and to Munich open. On May 8, 1945, the headline of the Army
newspaper "Stars and Stripes" announced: "Nazi Germany surrendered
unconditionally". The extent of the danger this day to the town is seen
in the diaries of the 342nd US Infantry Regiment for April 26 when, at
6.00, an air raid on Ingolstadt was announced, only cancelled at
09.30.
Theriesenstrasse seen from the church.
From
1943-1944, Bavarian towns were increasingly threatened by air raids by
the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force. Smaller towns
like Ingolstadt were spared at first and it was only at the beginning of
1945 did the air warfare hit this city on the Danube and changed its
cityscape. Although the city was
the site of a garrison and numerous armaments factories, Ingolstadt
remained largely spared from bombing until the end of the war when, from
January 1945, Ingolstadt repeatedly became the target of Allied air
attacks . In particular, the southern and eastern town centre and the
area of the main station were badly affected with well over six hundred
killed. Besides residential buildings, the bombs hit the Stadttheater,
the Salzstadel, the Sankt-Anton-Kirche and the Gouvernementsgebäude
although the most significant cultural historical loss was probably the
baroque Augustinian church of Johann Michael Fischer, whose destruction
left an hundred dead. The bombing raids on Ingolstadt
claimed around 650 deaths. At least twelve Allied airmen were killed,
one of them murdered by a Nazi official.
After
the landings in Normandy in June 1944 and Operation Dragoon in southern
France in August 1944, the Anglo-American armies penetrated across
France to near the German border. The summer offensive of the Red Army
pushed the German troops back to the Vistula region and to the border of
East Prussia. The airspace over the entire territory of Germany was
almost completely controlled by the Allies at the beginning of 1945.
Because of the ever weaker German defence, they could move from the less
precise night attacks increasingly on the previously dangerous day
attacks. It was then on September 10, 1944 that the USAAF pilot
Major John R. Reynolds was shot down over Ingolstadt. To avoid civilian
casualties, he moved his crashing Mustang P-51 away from a residential
area and jumped from a mere fifty metres from the ground with his
parachute. Upon landing, he injured himself and was captured by police
when the Ingolstadt Kreisleiter Georg Sponsel, a fanatical Nazi, shot him dead. This murder later resulted in the condemnation and execution
of Sponsel after the war.
![Ingolstadt church](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Uoj1_ORrMHEgGzqBDSoD-V7Xl05g3lKJPeNCn2yebsaq8QFSnY2iIPT4NIRXfBHHBChq5lIfw58sTjRkKyg4nmy63_Qy0IkRDWV-_oFjMmtyU0obqn_8phK2Ol7I54O7E6paqSEcBkZc/w256-h400/ezgif.com-optimize%252817%2529.gif)
![Ingolstadt church](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpnaWWJLsmuxHkTYsYw-2oLv_sejA0l6nkC1ZZzwgc8E60h1fom-QuZ5gDuAIyIQZJkr_hJ1qqb0XudJo8VeMCT-TKyYIux08MlBfa798rCeqibkuuhlwXMw80B8-O53gBOs6qLb4gBPDv/w278-h400/ezgif.com-optimize+%252818%2529.gif)
![portal of the Liebfrauenkirche Ingolstadt](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDOAxeIMgidXr6pW1rcdTI9wCAHrCEqS7Gsl5jXie3Q7m2-a8IR-aC40KFAX4zc0yXnzKVfdyV7OKc6W3TDlwdSFVDF1sZ2AoRu8MCsQSGX5g1HBl__p8i-6DYfe2UFDuAtY1APg_NmEh_/w469-h296/ezgif.com-optimize+%252811%2529.gif)
The portal of the Liebfrauenkirche.
On
January 15, 1945 Ingolstadt experienced the first major air raid on the
city. Already in the early morning hours, 640 long-range bombers and
782 fighters were made ready at the bases of the 8th US Air Force (8th
Air Force) stationed in the southeast of England. The daily service
provided for air raids on shunting yards in southern Germany. For the
attack target the 1st Bomber Division 111 bombers of the
B-17 "Flying Fortress" chose Ingolstadt. At 11.55 the Luftwarnstelle sounded the air
raid alarm which was largely ignored because of a variety of previous
false alarms from the population. The extremely poor visibility
affected the lead bomber scout which, finding dense cloud cover the
target marker, released the first wave with 480 explosive bombs and 330
incendiary bombs. The fact that the marking bomb was set too early by
only fractions of a second had devastating consequences for the village
of Feldkirchen as the bulk of the bomb load fell on the old town centre
in the vicinity of Marienplatz, with 70% of the buildings destroyed
leaving 22 people dead. The actual goal, the Army Munitionsanstalt
Ingolstadt at Desching - about a mile further north at today's location
of the Esso refinery, was missed.
![Ingolstadt NS-zeit](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6NDcqvMOKTlF1V0D0k4rNEp4WnWrnKblFdSffSLJxeI1Y43gOGbz5P1cGXlyWKnl_Diqae22o8U0eJGOYDVYNfx_M1XYjTlgs4iJ_Qzg_q4hsMQZ_fO4aHgIf4QxLDTFvpScJbCWJwnIP/w375-h575/ezgif.com-optimize+%252815%2529.gif)
For Thursday, March 1, 1945, the 8th Air Force had actually planned strategic attacks on airfields of the dangerous new Messerschmitt Me 262 fighters. However, since the meteorologists announced bad weather, the planned targets had to be changed. Thus 253 Consolidated B-24 "Liberator" bombers of the 2nd US Air Division in eastern England were given the main attack target of the Ingolstadt station facilities with the Reichsbahnausbesserungswerk (RAW). At 12.56, the air-raid warning centre for the Ingolstadt area gave the 183th air-raid alarm. In order to find the planned targets even when the cloud cover was completely closed, the bomber navigators used H2X radar equipment. The tightly closed formation of the four-engined B-24 flew from the west to Ingolstadt Central Station which was undefended as the Ingolstadt Flak forces had been moved from 1944 to such "air raids 1st order" such as Munich, Nuremberg and Augsburg.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0YqbX4_g-5qW3zMBn-01iwPylxqwStfD2tyTfvX9crFs1qVvdb8_s7b2ev-PimLBE8-HFxgBFEzEL5JKvRmL7q8SUHzsMab29PXij0HFLnf3nt4_lxFYmX9SVsU6U2mWrOqmXCUg6HRnd/w517-h326/ezgif.com-optimize%252816%2529.gif)
![]() |
Adolf-Hitler-Platz, the effects of the war clearly seen |
![]() |
Adolf-Hitler-Platz |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfZUhPvI2_qMN75DwT6WDGnglfmnUnE6ayjUKSf1e5K8xjBmzHNTaKTEI9CeUYiOuxTp8pTh_TA8G2pU2ceviTCqshkf46FRcuJlVh0CAk8jGAd2Aap4iPOUzbNIOjsoYNRFykKk5O5-FM/w529-h366/ezgif.com-optimize%252822%2529.gif)
![]() |
The entrance to the new schloss. |
![]() |
The Hotel Zum Anker where I usually stay in town. |
![]() |
The bridge over the Danube before the war and today |
![Ingolstadt Donaustraßen Bridge](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv0bPgZNVoe81k0OT9ulJJ9LEH14AATZGSuJxiH9CRfBxTzdj3APlDtSIPMFwFiMFDtvMnu8mRgOB3HcSfHkSR-I8syhUGWgUB5W-aA-Iyc_5ZYbxSlnF83oRvoWe0u_bcgn9K6Fs0_x3H/s16000/donbr-45.jpg)
![]() |
The former Platz der SA is now inaccessible |
The
Americans occupied Ingolstadt after its capitulation by the city
commander on April 26, 1945 without a fight. Before this, ϟϟ troops had
blown up the Danube bridges. The arrival of about 5,000 refugees and
displaced people additionally limited any living space. Fortress
buildings were temporarily used as emergency shelters and, after
Würzburg and Regensburg, Ingolstadt had the densest housing occupancy in
Bavaria in the post-war period.
Gaimersheim
A
non-descript town I cycled through, taking the opportunity to show how
it appears today as opposed to a contemporary postcard. Situated close
to Ingolstadt, in the 19th century Fort von der Tann was built in the
southern district as part of the Bavarian fortress of Ingolstadt. After
the Second World War , the American occupying forces blew up the fort,
like most of the buildings of this type in the Ingolstadt fortress ring.
At the same time, former mayor Sebastian Schiebel was tasked with
settling a large number of displaced persons from the former German
eastern territories and the Sudetenland in Gaimersheim. Thus, in the
area surrounding the former Fort von der Tann, a settlement was built
called the Kraiberg settlement, which has been preserved almost
authentically to this day with its small semi-detached houses with
pitched roofs, and which, alongside the old town, forms the second
nucleus of settlement activity in Gaimersheim.
Rosenheim
The setting for the conclusion of Martin Amis's 2014 The Zone of Interest which would later be loosely adapted into a feature film of the same title by writer/director Jonathan Glazer which premiered in 2023. It
was at the Marienbad Sanitarium in Rosenheim on Heilig-Geist-Straße 58,
used twice for overnight stays by Wilhelm I, that Hermann Wilhelm
Göring was born on January 12, 1893.
During the last days of the Great War at a large rally on November 8, 1918 on the Loretowiese Karl Göpfert was appointed head of the People's Council and Guido Kopp as chairman of the Soldiers' Council. Then moved the People's and Soldiers Council to the town hall where Mayor Josef Wüst had to place police. During the parliamentary and electoral elections of January 1919, a very clear majority of citizens of Rosenheim voted for the Christian-conservative BVP and the moderate majority SPD. However, the situation escalated with the assassination of Prime Minister Kurt Eisner on February 21, 1919 which led the People's and Soldiers Council to order "all unemployed union colleagues and party members under the age of 35" to take up arms. Mayor Josef Wüst was forced to resign; his successor was Karl Göpfert.
By this time the differences between the People's Council and its chairman Göpfert and the Spartacist movement, represented by Guido Kopp and the Soldiers Council, became ever clearer. On April 5, at a meeting on the Loretowiese the Soviet Republic was proclaimed. Munich communists had these summoned by Göpfert and proclaimed the third revolution. Hostages were threatened with shooting, and farmers threatened with expropriation. At the same time, Göpfert's opponent Guido Kopp, as the representative of the radical-socialist camp, was proclaimed Mayor by a popular assembly. On April 13 the rumour that a bourgeois coup had taken place in Munich and that the "White Guards" of the counterrevolution were on their way to Rosenheimd. Kopp imposed martial law over Rosenheim whose citizens were no longer sympathetic to the radical revolutionary minority. A crowd stormed the building in which Kopp and his followers were entrenched and brought them to gaol. As a result, Rosenheim and the surrounding region were the scene of numerous bloody disputes. Kopp and his colleagues escaped to Kolbermoor on May 1 just as the "white guards" invaded Rosenheim.
Two days later the Red Guardsmen locked up in Kolbermoor surrendered and concluded a truce. Two workers' leaders were murdered by members of the Freikorps Chiemgau and the others arrested. Mayor Göpfert eventually received a relatively lenient sentence- one year and three months imprisonment- whilst Guido Kopp was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment. The murderers of the two workers' leaders, Schumann and Lahn, were acquitted with the court claiming that they lacked awareness of the illegality of this killing. The new Mayor of Rosenheim was Bruno Kreuzer, commander of the "white troops". The city then became a centre of nationalist, ethnic and anti-Semitic forces, including the Nazis. Long before the seizure of power by Hitler in 1933, anti-democratic movements had established themselves in Rosenheim. Thus members of the "Bund Chiemgau" threatened and abused Jewish citizens in 1923 after the Hitler coup. And when the SA was officially banned after the beer hall putsch attempt, the Rosenheim group was able to find shelter in the "Bund Chiemgau".
Rosenheim was the location of the first local Nazi Party group outside of Munich when already on April 18, 1920 the Rosenheim Ortsgruppe was founded by Theodor Lauböck and Anton Drexler; its first public assembly took place May 2, 1920 attended by Hitler- the first of at least four visits he would make to the town. By the end of 1920 the Ortsgruppe would grow to 260 members, although this would grow slowly so that by August 1922 only 320 party members were registered, nevertheless making Rosenheim the second largest local group to Munich. By comparison at around the same time only 83 were registered in Passau, 222 in Landshut and 178 in Mannheim. Its leader until the time of the Beer hall putsch was Anton Dorsch, and it had its own SA group led by Josef Maier and Ignaz Dirschl. The Rosenheim SA ended up participating in numerous hall battles in Munich, and Rosenheim was also a rallying point for the anti-Republican forces of the Upper Bavarian province, who were willing to march for Hitler in the November 1923 putsch attempt; allegedly on that day Rosenheim's Inn and Mangfall bridges were occupied by SA, as well as the station and post office. With the ban on the Nazi party after the coup attempt, some its members were listed as being apolitical and so in this way Dr. Ernst Klein became the first Nazi serving in the Rosenheim city council. Nevertheless, the town's support for the Nazis had noticeably lessened so that in the state election of April 6, 1924, they managed a mere 6.3% of the vote.
On
July 5, 1925 Julius Streicher and Hitler himself travelled and to
Rosenheim to present
a Munich SA formation made up of the Rosenheim population. Hitler used
the oportunity to speak of the Nazi Party leaders' conference in the
Saubräukeller at around noon. The closed meeting, which according to the
police report was attended by around seventy local group leaders from
Upper Bavaria, was chaired by Ernst Woltereck. In the afternoon there
was a public rally with Julius Streicher, at which Hitler was present at
times without speaking. According to the Munich police department's report of July 21, 1925,
Hitler emphasised that the first task of the local group leaders was to
win over the workers and "should not be a doctor's party." He attached
great importance to the formation of new local groups, noting that only
the local group leader could be one who had grasped the meaning and aim
of the movement most deeply, and that these local group leaders who were
true to their convictions would become the most capable. He argued that
the party should be divided into districts, districts and local groups,
stating his intention to set up the formation of an elected Reich
leadership was intended. Hitler said of his followers that he now had
more followers in formerly red Saxony and Thuringia than in national
Bavaria and that a liberation of Germany by the Nazi movement would no
longer come exclusively from Bavaria. For the Völkisch deputies he made
the demand that they should see their main task less in the attainment
of new conditions than in the eradication of the existing old and
harmful ones. The headquarters of the movement would remain in Munich
because it was fought over most fiercely there. He also referred to the
attacks directed against Esser and Streicher and dismissed them as
unfounded given both were convinced National Socialists who had remained
loyal to the movement even in difficult times.His speech ended with a
declaration of loyalty from the audience to Hitler.
During the last days of the Great War at a large rally on November 8, 1918 on the Loretowiese Karl Göpfert was appointed head of the People's Council and Guido Kopp as chairman of the Soldiers' Council. Then moved the People's and Soldiers Council to the town hall where Mayor Josef Wüst had to place police. During the parliamentary and electoral elections of January 1919, a very clear majority of citizens of Rosenheim voted for the Christian-conservative BVP and the moderate majority SPD. However, the situation escalated with the assassination of Prime Minister Kurt Eisner on February 21, 1919 which led the People's and Soldiers Council to order "all unemployed union colleagues and party members under the age of 35" to take up arms. Mayor Josef Wüst was forced to resign; his successor was Karl Göpfert.
By this time the differences between the People's Council and its chairman Göpfert and the Spartacist movement, represented by Guido Kopp and the Soldiers Council, became ever clearer. On April 5, at a meeting on the Loretowiese the Soviet Republic was proclaimed. Munich communists had these summoned by Göpfert and proclaimed the third revolution. Hostages were threatened with shooting, and farmers threatened with expropriation. At the same time, Göpfert's opponent Guido Kopp, as the representative of the radical-socialist camp, was proclaimed Mayor by a popular assembly. On April 13 the rumour that a bourgeois coup had taken place in Munich and that the "White Guards" of the counterrevolution were on their way to Rosenheimd. Kopp imposed martial law over Rosenheim whose citizens were no longer sympathetic to the radical revolutionary minority. A crowd stormed the building in which Kopp and his followers were entrenched and brought them to gaol. As a result, Rosenheim and the surrounding region were the scene of numerous bloody disputes. Kopp and his colleagues escaped to Kolbermoor on May 1 just as the "white guards" invaded Rosenheim.
Two days later the Red Guardsmen locked up in Kolbermoor surrendered and concluded a truce. Two workers' leaders were murdered by members of the Freikorps Chiemgau and the others arrested. Mayor Göpfert eventually received a relatively lenient sentence- one year and three months imprisonment- whilst Guido Kopp was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment. The murderers of the two workers' leaders, Schumann and Lahn, were acquitted with the court claiming that they lacked awareness of the illegality of this killing. The new Mayor of Rosenheim was Bruno Kreuzer, commander of the "white troops". The city then became a centre of nationalist, ethnic and anti-Semitic forces, including the Nazis. Long before the seizure of power by Hitler in 1933, anti-democratic movements had established themselves in Rosenheim. Thus members of the "Bund Chiemgau" threatened and abused Jewish citizens in 1923 after the Hitler coup. And when the SA was officially banned after the beer hall putsch attempt, the Rosenheim group was able to find shelter in the "Bund Chiemgau".
Rosenheim was the location of the first local Nazi Party group outside of Munich when already on April 18, 1920 the Rosenheim Ortsgruppe was founded by Theodor Lauböck and Anton Drexler; its first public assembly took place May 2, 1920 attended by Hitler- the first of at least four visits he would make to the town. By the end of 1920 the Ortsgruppe would grow to 260 members, although this would grow slowly so that by August 1922 only 320 party members were registered, nevertheless making Rosenheim the second largest local group to Munich. By comparison at around the same time only 83 were registered in Passau, 222 in Landshut and 178 in Mannheim. Its leader until the time of the Beer hall putsch was Anton Dorsch, and it had its own SA group led by Josef Maier and Ignaz Dirschl. The Rosenheim SA ended up participating in numerous hall battles in Munich, and Rosenheim was also a rallying point for the anti-Republican forces of the Upper Bavarian province, who were willing to march for Hitler in the November 1923 putsch attempt; allegedly on that day Rosenheim's Inn and Mangfall bridges were occupied by SA, as well as the station and post office. With the ban on the Nazi party after the coup attempt, some its members were listed as being apolitical and so in this way Dr. Ernst Klein became the first Nazi serving in the Rosenheim city council. Nevertheless, the town's support for the Nazis had noticeably lessened so that in the state election of April 6, 1924, they managed a mere 6.3% of the vote.
![Hitler in Rosenheim](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwXIoxRP9-uozDTVpZrWiLL96ar_S_CGKC_eIzKfOSgR47Gj7fybLkhoTp9cbqCzxLVvOXM8LmMmNqkusFpQ9-cMrc9oGyKDqeZ4c54Ux8iVRS7ih_Mfz-2I7i81Mbx6nPt_H5HsgpFUOu/w561-h390/ezgif.com-gif-maker+%252891%2529.gif)
With
this by now the area of responsibility of the local group
included Rosenheim, Aibling, Wasserburg and
Ebersberg, and the Nazis became increasingly anxious
to set up more bases starting on May 15, 1926 with the establishment of a
local group in Bad
Aibling, joined June 21, 1928 with a base in Flintsbach. In between this
time on April 19, 1927 he returned to Rosenheim to deliver a now-lost
speech entitled "Must everything perish?," again in the large hall of
the Saubräukeller, after 20.00. Regardless, the Nazis managed a mere 553 votes (6.0%) in the parliamentary elections and 455 votes (5.0%) In the
state election of 1928. However, with the onset of
economic crisis the Nazis were adept at taking advantage.
On
the night of August 31 and September 1, 1929 a rally took place led by
Gauleiter Fritz Reinhardt and Reichstag deputy Dr. Frick Stand in which
there was a concert of the SA-Kapelle München, a "German Evening",
demonstrations by the Hitler Youth, a wreath-laying ceremony at the war
memorial as well as uniformed marches by SA associations. However, the
population showed little overall interest- instead of
the predicted deployment of 1,500 uniformed party members, not
more than 600, including many North Germans, were actually counted. The
Communists, who had papered Münchnerstraße over with "Death to Fascism"
signs and had stretched a banner with the inscription "Down with the
Hitlerite
bandits and workers' murderers" at the entrance to the town, held back
in the face of the unequal balance of power. Although a troop of
National Socialists penetrated into the Gewerkschaftshaus and tried to
provoke a fight there, the troublemakers were removed in time by members
of the ϟϟ.
The number of visitors
who attended Nazi events in Rosenheim from February 22, 1930 to March 1,
1933 seem to have averaged roughly 500 people. But when Hitler showed
up on April 17, 1932 the
venues in Rosenheim were judged now too small to accommodate the
anticipated crowds. A tent with a capacity of 6,000 people was approved
by the town council but as fifty brownshirts started to build it, but
the Ministry of
the Interior ended up rejecting the cost, forcing the half-finished
tent to be dismantled again.
Instead, the Nazis rented the largest hall in the city- the Donauhalle- inside the
hotel Deutscher Kaiser. Gauleiter Karl Wahl spoke before he himself spoke
for about half an hour from 22.40 with roughly 8,000 in attendance;
there were no seats, and entry cost up to 3 RM. It had been opened by
local group leader Josef Riggauer with a short speech with later
Governor of Nazi-occupied Poland Frank speaking before Hitler. The
banned SA, identified by white armbands, took care of security in the
hall.
A second meeting in the nearby Stephanskirchen-Schloßberg was booked
with both venues overcrowded
despite the relatively high admission price of 2 RM; Hitler's speech has
since been lost. In Rosenheim alone, two thousand
visitors listened to Hitler's speeches and the streets in front of the
Rosenheim assembly hall were jam-packed as three propaganda planes
circled the city. Thousands
who could not be admitted crowded in to at least to see Hitler and
listen to his speech transmitted outside via
loudspeakers.
Nazi propaganda with its variety of events, requiring full-time party representatives, as well as leaflets, brochures and truck advertising was exceedingly expensive, all the more so given the strained economic situation. For this reason, Hitler's first goal was to make an appearance on April 17, 1932 during which 1150 tickets were sold, in which the revenue of 1075 Reichsmarks offset the expenses of 428 RM; such a profit allowed the Nazis to finance more such rallies. They were further assisted financially through the backing of the Hamberger industrial plant. The Hamberger brothers also provided motor vehicles as the Schloßberger SA equipped them with weapons in 1931, kept hidden on the factory grounds so that the company could also have an armed protection organisation. However, it was usually medium-sized tradesmen who provided vehicles to the Nazis. A local SA group founded in April 1931 by eventual Lord Mayor Georg Zahler, soon grew to 45 men, supported by an SA motor-storm under the direction of carpenter Hans Keller provided the Nazis with a comparatively small but well organised auxiliary force. The Rosenheim ϟϟ was founded at the end of October 1932 and, with about 15-20 men, appeared for the first time during an illegal rally on November 9, 1932.
The Nazis continued to be favoured by the
Bavarian judiciary as weapons offences of the left were considered high treason whilst those of
the extreme right regarded as a minor offence. On October 13,
1931, two Rosenheim SA men invaded the fruit storage hall Feilnbach
and stolen two machine guns as well as ten
infantry rifles. When the defendants had to answer before the Rosenheim jury on
January 12, 1932, ringleader Ludwig Kuchler claimed to have acted
in the public interest, since they had been anxious to bring the weapons
to safety from the Communists. The court upheld this line of
argument, acknowledging as mitigating that the crime had been committed
on the partisan, not criminal, conviction, and sentenced the two main
defendants to parole for three months each. Kuchler's prison sentence
was reduced by one month during the appeal hearing at the Traunstein
district court, and the two remaining convicts were fined. However,
Kuchler was later arrested again in connection with another arms
affair involving a machine gun, three rifles and considerable
ammunition.
On the night of the election for President in March 1932, the security organs managed to seize a cache of weapons from from the SA.
In view
of the obvious threat to state authority and a series of violent clashes
between Communists, Reichsbanners and Nazis in Rosenheim
and surrounding communities, the authorities were now
forced to abandon their lenient course against the Nazis. House searches
and weapons seizures were now directed against individual associations
as the ban on Nazi paramilitary groups from April to June 1932 affected
their activities which would finally be ended with Hitler's appointment
as chancellor in January 1933. Indeed, in a special meeting of the city
council on March 28, 1933 two months later in homage to the appointment
of the new honorary citizens of the city of Rosenheim, the obligatory
renaming of streets was authorised: Innstrasse was renamed Hitlerstraße,
Münchnerstraße was named after Paul von Hindenburg, Hubertustraße renamed for Franz von Epp and Hausstätterstraße was replaced by Göringstraße.
SA
marching during the the April 1, 1933 boycott of Jewish-owned
businesses. Their signs read: "Germans shop in German stores! The Jew
is stirring up hate against Germany! Therefore, do not go to Jewish
stores!" The
number of Jews living in Rosenheim was high compared to other Bavarian cities. However, at the start of the 20th century, the Jewish community
consisted of about fifty. The request to the city council for
establishment of a separate Jewish religious association, with reference
to the Bavarian-Jewish legislation, was refused, so the Rosenheim Jews
remained attached to the state capital, where their dead also had to be
buried. Even the funeral of the First World War fallen son of a Jewish
merchant based in Rosenheim at the city cemetery was refused and was
"the biggest disappointment and the bitterest pain" for the father.
With the creation of the first local Nazi group outside of Munich in
1920, the Rosenheim Jews saw increasing hostility where the main centre
of hate
campaigns was the Rosenheim School. A scandal occurred in June 1920,
after a reader accused the writer of a letter entitled 'Rosenheimer
Jews' who wanted to repeal the provisions of the Versailles
Treaty and hold military exercises at the Rosenheim School.
Seven
members of the high school and a member of the "Chiemgau" then raided a
villa inhabited by Jews in the Herbststrasse. Rosenheim's college on
July 29, 1920 came to the conclusion that "... it was regrettable that
the people's movement to fight exploitative Jews[...], which certainly
was justified in its nature, has been discredited." Protests
of the Bavarian Jewish Central Association were unsuccessful and only an
unmistakable message of the Bavarian Interior Ministry September 1920
was able to maintain peace.
![Hitler in Rosenheim](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY_7iFmWV4AyfVoKyTBvzNnXog5_rEW6VlzYEL5fG21iGape-mrGpTHtZtoYJmatCKX8QsVUvFLC8pE7E-vx9-H9bin30A9cSrzpy47wCQbjl0hwJyfy_xq6Wvk5lwRup_lpmknEIwxzQl/w471-h571/ezgif.com-gif-maker+%252889%2529.gif)
![Hitler Rosenheim Hitler in Rosenheim](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhywv78vkcOPt8diRNJhbIesjAJEENBoyTjShOK6VQW_pZmG7iNFlNM0s9OsS927IvGI365an_VTLSAPy4GEs_P3CUxhm3oxeiy0spPY-R_WUB9OeedglIUo2N6ttyUQTD6uqG-p-IZ20ym/w451-h551/ezgif.com-gif-maker+%252890%2529.gif)
Nazi propaganda with its variety of events, requiring full-time party representatives, as well as leaflets, brochures and truck advertising was exceedingly expensive, all the more so given the strained economic situation. For this reason, Hitler's first goal was to make an appearance on April 17, 1932 during which 1150 tickets were sold, in which the revenue of 1075 Reichsmarks offset the expenses of 428 RM; such a profit allowed the Nazis to finance more such rallies. They were further assisted financially through the backing of the Hamberger industrial plant. The Hamberger brothers also provided motor vehicles as the Schloßberger SA equipped them with weapons in 1931, kept hidden on the factory grounds so that the company could also have an armed protection organisation. However, it was usually medium-sized tradesmen who provided vehicles to the Nazis. A local SA group founded in April 1931 by eventual Lord Mayor Georg Zahler, soon grew to 45 men, supported by an SA motor-storm under the direction of carpenter Hans Keller provided the Nazis with a comparatively small but well organised auxiliary force. The Rosenheim ϟϟ was founded at the end of October 1932 and, with about 15-20 men, appeared for the first time during an illegal rally on November 9, 1932.
SA
marching during the Party Congress through Max-Josefs-Platz September 1, 1929
![Nazi Rosenheim](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsQewsWoWctG7pYdXp_uxdTP0agmkKaLZWxdz6zUospbV9ErShXmokQmv_vBssj2OdOeske7ZRNtnAG9DHT80snsnD153md7DTD6Zof6pqkjRqWLce_iG-bGUm_g0GsazRtbjVALJfkZhL/w584-h409/ezgif.com-gif-maker+%252899%2529.gif)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Ncf8nRohMb6VKM9lChrFMicJn0j-O4QiXaEoWyNlzlsuIgwQA69urKFGACbjq57-XURijSnJjg0Fo6ndaVWe4A3r-6opLdg1-L8CDYPCh3ukGoKanFdAjHDX5PkMfxC6e_CNsqKLbWLa/w254-h382/11ezgif.com-gif-maker.gif)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwHGkwgSFLLDARGnk3l1NZGGV3mY2Cis0we0kMyBijNWoxnFAWY9hhKE6uRFa7x9qJAEa_HDJsyOxa577SKAjL9IU66XydN33rQA9VT9tIetenjPR8gv_-WzWqKCnvA9RBxqc_d0843Wof/w234-h382/ezgif.com-gif-maker+%2528100%2529.gif)
![Rosenheim SA marching during the the April 1, 1933 boycott of Jewish-owned businesses](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ8Zt-auEMm0OVBZnkdwMBs57S5W7kqxstAU6x5ZgsZYbVQLn_dQd6NrmrO_ADP_YVNAT6DFifE9YtJjm_rOpU2W79srgYuwNK814rIsTvD8j26AsIbYJgX3LWmURJ4w6vNP9h4y38QUw/w320-h240/Screen+Shot+2017-07-20+at+09.12.08.png)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1kXArxJd9RtexbWJsz8ClaRkfGAwIQg3ZfvSZedxR-XPGcSBnsBeuYiSdeWr1zzqlgnpDA5HhJJg6YV5pELIIcZSew40HNUDunf30BhC8DW9lIML9OFyVDcdI1w547i6aUfi7DyTNNFU0/w376-h587/ezgif.com-gif-maker+%252896%2529.gif)
At the latest
with the founding of the first Nazi locality outside Munich in 1920,
the Rosenheim Jews were increasingly exposed to hostility. Thus, in June
1920, a letter to the local newspaper reproached Rosenheim's Jews for betraying the Entente's military exercises against
the provisions of the Versailles Treaty at Rosenheim Gymnasium. Seven
members of the Gymnasium and a member of the "Chiemgau" fell upon a
villa inhabited by Jews in the autumn road, but they could not storm. On July 29, 1920, the Collegium of the City of Rosenheim decided that "...
it was unfortunate that the movement to fight a popular Jewry [...],
which is certainly justified in its nature, will be discredited by such
excesses." Protests from the Bavarian Israeli Central Union remained
unsuccessful, and an unmistakable communication from the Bavarian
Ministry of the Interior of September 1920 could restore peace.
![Kristallnacht Rosenheim](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJkaucZ2kJT5rcQsCyw1l5CoqAjB-uFInoIffE1QYJETvbS02UHehxP4xT8EsZoCumXDzTePGVdkxVdIEKUDWBDidSYsiL66W5UwkYH1fBmmUMbmvQPEFMx9DV1gPGC6esIvM74MEzKmTo/w489-h368/Screen+Shot+2019-07-19+at+11.30.58.png)
Hitler
giving a speech to a crowd on the 15th anniversary of the Nazi chapter
in Rosenheim, the first major Nazi Ortsgruppe to have formed outside
Munich, at Max Joseph Square on August 11, 1935. Leading up to his
visit, both Rosenheim daily newspapers reported in words and pictures on
the "old guard" who had founded the first Nazi local group outside
Munich on April 18, 1920, at the initiative of the Theodor Lauböck in
Rosenheim. Hitler himself had appeared many times in Rosenheim as a
speaker in the founding year, but in the programmes for the anniversary
event the main speaker was only listed as the Gauleiter of Munich Upper
Bavaria, Adolf Wagner. A heraldic rose from whose flower a swastika grew
was given to the citizens of Rosenheim as a holiday pin, for the
occasion as they waited on the evening of August 10 in front of the
hotel "Deutscher Kaiser" for the 23.00 set-up of the party formations
for the big tattoo. Meanwhile, deputy Gauleiter Otto Nippold spoke in
the Hofbräusaal although only party members and "comrades" had access,
concluded by a performance by the Reichsarbeitsdienst. However,
the actual celebrations did not take place until the next day when the
town, flanked by swastika flags, greeted all local Nazi organisations
formed after the "Big Wake" by the ϟϟ
at 7.00 in the Chiemseestrasse. They marched here to the war memorial
on the Loretowiese. At the same time around 11.00 Lord Mayor Georg
Zahler and Legal Counsel Erich Holper laid the cornerstone for the
construction of the Municipal Gallery. The foundation stone donated by
Karl Göpfert contained not only pictures of Hitler and Göring, but also
the commemorative coin and the commemorative publication for the local
group anniversary.
![]() |
Rosenheim's war memorial |
![The celebration of the 15th anniversary of the founding of the second oldest Nazi Ortsgruppe, which took place from August 9-12, 1935](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDg1ONKvWg1xwvCv-iCki6yfcx4tIv7SNCkYK8kbRCv04Ue61usyIr-RmLc5r-1E4VRh4PqtMTeRojHnSOnjKBHH2PMkjT1XlZOGn47jK7Nb064p9WTU_daDwCz4JG-4CO1AewR9YwUjnm/w514-h361/ezgif.com-gif-maker.gif)
![Nazis Rosenheim Erntedankfest 1937](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrDxotDDCi_TmWyPaWP2QVfgrgmRsZwf8lMnxB6mQB643B4qOnhzJKBYaYQwAeUBPyhmc05mQmY3hg753I4rq7SK2epnLaXUhxophE684HvRXkP6C-4vkt0N766C6z7yyxJxWXmu86T1fu/w527-h337/ezgif.com-gif-maker.gif)
Upon
the outbreak of the war the first women were used as a substitute for
male postmen as the BDM (Bund Deutscher Mädel) led Altositammlungen,
Erntehilfseinsätze and Air defence courses through. Voluntary
notifications for the Wehrmacht increased to such an extent
that
"timely clearance was not possible and the services could temporarily
stop receiving reports". According to the minutes of a meeting on
October 24, 1939 in the hotel "King Otto" under the direction of deputy
Gauleiter Otto Nippold, the atmosphere in Rosenheim was described as
"brilliant" in regards to the war with criticism of the people limited
mainly at the lack of support of large families and bottlenecks in food
distribution with "most unruly" being the peasants who had yet been
"educated for sacrifice". The main complaint against the rural population
was the ban on domestic butchery, the war-related shortage of labour
and the delivery of horses for military service.
![]() |
Prisoners of war at work on Heilig-Geist-Straße, 1940 |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1shM2GeER8VmP-SCOr0u6JNpoKYXHVOOFHTP9rEnxVcLL3ni3ldd6R8UYvVMAioxSGSuUkk4WgEfXDNGdE_clLFsMy6R8eXE48tcZF16ySzE-EROXZURZVxf6urOsTjkwNoFQEiF4Hh1e/w328-h502/ezgif.com-gif-maker.gif)
From
the beginning of bombing raids on
German cities in the spring of 1942, Rosenheim was not spared. At first,
air raid shelters were insufficiently available limited to five air
raid shelters as of November 1943. In an emergency, two-thirds of the
population was not or only insufficiently protected. Until February
1944, the city had provided for further air raid shelters and cover
ditches, so that for about half of the Rosenheim shelters were
available. From October 20, 1944 to April 21, 1945, fourteen air raids
were flown on Rosenheim. As a major traffic hub in the interface between
Munich - Salzburg - Vienna and Munich - Innsbruck - Italy, the station
and surrounding buildings were especially targetted. In
November 1943 there were shelters for only 650 people for a city
population of approximately 22,000. However, by February 1944 shelters
had been built for about 6400 people and in conjunction with other
shelters a total
of 10,525 people could be protected. During fourteen bombing raids, 201
people were killed and 179 injured. The focus of the air
attacks was the railway station and the railway tracks, as Rosenheim was
an important transportation hub between Munich, Salzburg and
Innsbruck. The neighbouring communities of Ziegelberg, Stephanskirchen,
Westerndorf St. Peter and Pfaffenhofen am Inn were also hit (thanks to Herr Rudolf Puryear for correcting my confusion with Oberpfaffenhofen). The first air
attack on October 20, 1944 at lunch time from 12.47 to 13.17 with
over a hundred aircraft, dropped 1,000 bombs, leaving 27 dead and 59
wounded. The heaviest air raid took place on April 18, 1945. From 14.40
to 14.55 around 200 to 1300 aircraft dropped bombs in the area around
the station, resulting in 53 dead and 36 injured, in addition, this
attack also made eight hundred people homeless. The station building was almost
completely destroyed, railway tracks were destroyed over a length of twenty kilometres.
The last air attacks were made on April 19 and 21, 1945. During the war
the majority of at least 173 duds were recovered. In 1964, the Oberbayerische Volksblatt reported that the approximate location of 38 undiscovered unexploded ordnance was known.
American
troops entering the town on May 2, 1945 with an M26 Pershing tank
taking the lead into Ludwigsplatz. On April 30, 1945 Munich was
completely in American hands and the American army marched further
southeast to Berchtesgaden which allowed the inhabitants of Rosenheim to
calculate roughly the approximate time of their "liberation". In its
last session on April 29, 1945, the city council decided that the city
should not be defended. In contrast, the combat commandant of the city
since April 26, 1945, Major Walter Honsalek, was ordered to defend the
city, with the support of the ϟϟ and other combat organisations.
Committed Rosenheim citizens, among others Josef Golling, engineer
Windisch of the Städtische Wasserwerke, the pioneering general Rösinger,
brewery owner Franz Steegmüller and the manufacturer Hamberger
negotiated with Honsalek that Rosenheim would be handed over peacefully.
Shortly before the invasion of the Americans, the city was a mess, with
reported looting of the food store on Rathausstraße, the Auerbräu and
in the mail cellar.
On the morning of May 2, 1945, the Americans invaded the city at 5.00 encountering no resistance apart from an incident on Innstraße 62 from where a barricaded ϟϟ man fired shots. The Americans then attacked the house for about fifteen minutes, killing the defender. The Americans had expected worse, especially resistance in Rosenheim and Wasserburg. In the event of such resistance, bomber squadrons were in readiness for 10.00 in the morning of May 2, which would have razed Kufstein, Kiefersfelden, Brannenburg, Rosenheim, Wasserburg, Prien, Traunstein, Trostberg, Bad Reichenhall and Berchtesgaden with approximately 1,000 bombs to break any remaining resistance. And so on May 2, 1945, at 6.00 in the morning, Combat Commander Honsalek surrendered. A little later, the Nazi Lord Mayor Hans Gmelch handed over the city to the Americans. As acting mayor, the military government appointed as authorised representative of the United Kunstmühlen Landshut-Rosenheim, Roman Keill. On May 6, a twenty member Resident Committee was formed at the urging of the Americans, which served as a kind of provisional city council. This committee elected lawyer Max Drexel as Lord Mayor. Since many former party members were sitting in the committee, the local commander Major Roland McDonald appointed the former legal councilor Hubert Weinberger as mayor, and the mayor Otto Bucher, who later worked in the economic department, became the second mayor. Both had been active members until 1933 of the Social Democrats.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfMxQp4oYENYhJmK5NLxi0RZXre982SIrfQJN5SjfKG5Y-u9q9qBEQDKvNbR1YXeSyOhdgG6HlCQkHTAvLts3LC6fZHSh3DEEazscC5RcJJwVL6V0U-jOLmzlqx_KdExTN_6-_pMNM82dt/w342-h537/ezgif.com-gif-maker.gif)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVk1pbdMSTYqATykp08q81DemAjHYzk8s7m8WxqrydTIZLrE03uRiRINjts50n-z3RfmjpOBZHVxmzUeTsXSllF2oRgVN1GjhDlB-JQvc4SpTiGoluyUMVk04lbZoQRAmPkqDrm-ETn75q/s320/ezgif.com-gif-maker.gif)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirZg_fQ8R4wQ59H8bjdDSE6phyphenhyphenvqPIvnaEuKf9fpyrynBM-oy085jWSE3MtGwT_gt1-pWKMP9Ft1b3crgwjb7plnbt-2azdVpKvMLxluaPMSPIvfwmCrfvxT2655Eji4GezmHMegnygnIE/s320/ezgif.com-gif-maker.gif)
On the morning of May 2, 1945, the Americans invaded the city at 5.00 encountering no resistance apart from an incident on Innstraße 62 from where a barricaded ϟϟ man fired shots. The Americans then attacked the house for about fifteen minutes, killing the defender. The Americans had expected worse, especially resistance in Rosenheim and Wasserburg. In the event of such resistance, bomber squadrons were in readiness for 10.00 in the morning of May 2, which would have razed Kufstein, Kiefersfelden, Brannenburg, Rosenheim, Wasserburg, Prien, Traunstein, Trostberg, Bad Reichenhall and Berchtesgaden with approximately 1,000 bombs to break any remaining resistance. And so on May 2, 1945, at 6.00 in the morning, Combat Commander Honsalek surrendered. A little later, the Nazi Lord Mayor Hans Gmelch handed over the city to the Americans. As acting mayor, the military government appointed as authorised representative of the United Kunstmühlen Landshut-Rosenheim, Roman Keill. On May 6, a twenty member Resident Committee was formed at the urging of the Americans, which served as a kind of provisional city council. This committee elected lawyer Max Drexel as Lord Mayor. Since many former party members were sitting in the committee, the local commander Major Roland McDonald appointed the former legal councilor Hubert Weinberger as mayor, and the mayor Otto Bucher, who later worked in the economic department, became the second mayor. Both had been active members until 1933 of the Social Democrats.
![Flötzinger Bräustüberl, where Hitler spoke on April 21, 1921.](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJJ6Njsnh0L3nTBj_hyphenhyphen4AM_OFjJ5vO4z8eA2gCbFxYgjKE2OJnDRK9psAKMPx6XMh4U9F99wE-Km7_e-458xUg6XZH98yoOJ8pFOhKP_TuaceLRe7iTg30CNfTGFIR5dn7GZlI0H8l9ehf/w456-h221/Screen+Shot+2015-04-06+at+12.14.10.png)
The Flötzinger Bräustüberl, where Hitler spoke on April 21, 1921. The photo on the left
shows owner Franz Xaver Simson in front of the window the year before.
He celebrated his birthday here in 1925. Ten years later, after an
operation to remove a polyp on May 23, Hitler spoke here for the first time on August 11, 1935. The
Nazi chapter in Rosenheim was celebrating its fifteenth anniversary;
as mentioned above, it was the first major Nazi Ortsgruppe to have formed outside Munich. Hitler made use of the opportunity to rail against his domestic
opponents and to support current action being taken against Stahlhelm
members and former Centrists.
Markt Indersdorf
In
1938, a children's home was set up in the former convent of the Sisters
of Mercy. Behind its walls near the water tower, a "children's barracks
" was built in 1944 for the infants of foreign forced labourers from
the surrounding area. These barracks, which looked similar to the
barracks of the Dachau concentration camp, mainly housed children of
Soviet and Polish forced labourers, most of whom had been the result of
abuse. At least 35 of the 63 children housed there died from deplorable
mistreatment and malnutrition. Women who gave birth to a child had to
immediately take it to the facilities that Himmler cynically called Ausländerkinderpflegestätten
(foreigner child care centres). Many tried desperately to bring their
newborns back to them but often never saw their children again. Almost every second child died shortly after admission. The fate of more than twenty children hasn't yet been determined.
After the war, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation
Administration set up a reception camp for minors persecuted by the
Nazis in the former convent shown here. Since 1987, a cross and a
memorial stone in the district cemetery on Maroldstrasse have
commemorated the children who lived in the barracks for only a few days
or weeks and were buried there.