Oberbayern Continued

Neuburg for a long time was primarily known as a military garrison, especially for the15th Bavarian Infantry Regiment until the end of the Great War in which 2,085 soldiers died, commemorated by a memorial on Fünfzehnerstrasse. The garrison was crucial for the small town's economy for decades whilst industry was left underdeveloped. The only thing that was remarkable was the exploitation and processing of the silica deposits located on the northern outskirts of the city by two companies.  During the Nazi era, Neuburg regained the garrison that the local economy had been missing when the Wehrmacht was rearming. A military airfield was built southeast of the town.  In the Second World War the city was hit probably by an accidental bombing raid on April 17, 1943. Fighting during the capture of the region by the 7th American Army resulted in several deaths and destruction at the end of April. From April 1, 1940 to March 31, 1948, Neuburg did not have the status of a district town . During this time, it belonged to the district of Neuburg an der Donau.  The period after the war saw a noticeable upturn in the manufacturing industry, particularly in the glass and building materials industries and cardboard boxes. Since the 1950s and 1960s, the textile industry, with several companies, was still an important employer; it can no longer be found today. However, a branch of a company that produces Leonic wire continues to exist as an automotive supplier. Due to the influx of around 4,000displaced persons after the war,extensive building work by the public sector and private individuals began. The development of the city expanded significantly during these years, particularly with the new settlements in the east and south.  Displaced Persons In the post-war years, however, there were not only displaced persons in Neuburg, but also Jews who had survived the concentration camps and forced labourers who could not or didn't want to return to their home countries after the end of Nazi rule. Displaced people were cared for by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) and, due to a lack of other options, were mostly housed in DP camps after the end of the war. According to the documents in the Arolsen Archives, there were also such facilities in Neuburg, but to this day they have been largely little researched.   

Now hosting the Dr. Fritz-von-Philipp dance school, this Nazi-era postcard identifies the building as the headquarters of the NS-Betriebszellenorganisation (NSBO) in Neuburg. The NSBO ​​(The Employees' organisation of the Nazi Party) was founded in 1928 as a merger of several existing Nazi factory groups. In 1931 it was incorporated into the Munich-based Reich Organisational Leadership of the Nazis, initially as a department, and in 1934 as a main office. With the NSBO, the party pursued the goal of creating an organisation to gather and recruit workers for the Nazi movement. However, the NSBO ​​was to refrain from trade union activities. Nevertheless, some Nazi factory cells took part in strikes and works council elections. The number of members and the influence of the NSBO ​​in the factories and among the workforce remained low until the Nazis took power. The NSBO ​​played a leading role in the occupation of the trade union buildings and the destruction of the trade unions in early May 1933. However, with the founding and subsequent rise of the German Labour Front (DAF), the NSBO ​​lost a lot of its importance. In 1935 it was absorbed into the DAF. 

 

 

In his biography of Hitler, Nemesis, Kershaw writes how a local Party report on the popular mood in Neuburg admitted that when Germany's fortunes irrevocably turned, only the prospect of the peace that final victory would bring could sustain morale for any length of time. Many "despondent souls" it went on, were "struck only by one part of the Führer’s speech: where he spoke of the preparations for the winter campaign of 1942‑43. The more the homeland has become aware of the cruelty and hardship of the winter struggle in the east, the more the longing for an end to it has increased. But now the end is still not in sight. Many wives and mothers are suffering as a result."

After the last time the Germans heard Hitler’s voice broadcast on the occasion of the 12th anniversary of the Nazi ‘seizure of power’ on 30 January, 1945, a security report in Neuburg on February 3 was forced to admit that "[t]he propaganda has not succeeded in strengthening the belief in a positive turn of events. Even the Führer’s speech on 30 January was not able to dispel the loud doubts." 

 

 In 2016 there was controversy that, apparently for fifteen months, there had formally been an Adolf Hitler Street and a Mussolini Street in the town even if street signs with the names of the dictators were not put up. Of course after the war, all Nazi street names disappeared; within a month Mussolinistrasse became Theresienstrasse again, General-von-Epp-Strasse became Rosenstrasse and Platz der SA became Oswaldplatz. This was also the case with Adolf-Hitler-Strasse, which was to be called Luitpoldstrasse again from then on. But Oswaldplatz caused problems- instead of Oswaldplatz, the original name Markusplatz, which was what it was called until 1921, was entered into the minutes which was a problem that the building committee tried to resolve in October 2014. In doing so, the city councillors inadvertently declared all renamings of the Nazi streets invalid making it official that Adolf Hitler Straße returned to Neuburg again even if the street sign still read Luitpoldstrasse. Eventually the 1945 decision came back into effect again with a special regulation iprovided for St. Mark's Square.