Watching Old Films about Braunschweig in the Rathaus Museum.

 The Altstadt Rathaus - The old city Town Hall.

 

Each year I visit, I go to watch old film clips of Braunschweig,  which are shown in the film studio in the basement of the old Town Hall.    This year is no exception, and yesterday I saw six short films, showing various aspects of life in Braunschweig from the 1930´s up to the November weekend in 1989 when the Wall opened, and people from the East could visit the West.  The border was not far from Braunschweig, and the city gave each visitor some welcome cash, which they spent on having a good time in the city.

 

One film, which I had seen before, showed the city´s devastation after the allied bombing in October 1944.  It is sad to watch, as the city with the largest number of half timbered hoúses in Lower Saxony had 90% of them fire bombed and totally destroyed.

 

Another short film showed the building of the bunkers in the early 1930´s to protect the city´s population from allied bombing.   These buildings were so thickly constructed, that some have been impossible to knock down, and have been incorporated into the foundations of new blocks of flats.  The Kralenriede Bunker is sometimes open to the public, and I visited it in 2012.

 

The third film showed the emergency food rations given to children just after the end of the war. Most children were very underweight, and were fed at special centres set up by the British and Germans, with rations from American and Britain.  I did shed a few tears during this film, as the children looked so sad and hollow eyed.

 

Another film showed a beer festival with much merriment taken in 1974.  German beer has not changed since that time, I am pleased to say.

 

The last film was about a married couple with two children, who exchange roles sometime  in the late 1930´s, as he goes off to war as a soldier, and his wife takes over his role as a tram conductor.  This was interesting, as the film followed the tram around the city as it was before the bombing, and shows the narrowness of the streets, where it was possible to shake hands out of the windows across the roads, because the jettied houses were so close together in places.  The tram numbers have not changed either, I still catch the No.3 and the No.5.  At he end of the war he comes home, and the family is once again reunited.

 

The whole afternoon was really interesting, and as the  film projectionist spoke little English, I had a field day with my German, which seems to be flowing this year without the need to drink much German beer.   Since being a teenager, I have  always wanted to be bilingual, and now it is happening.  I am very pleased with myself, and things can only get better!

 

The facade of the Rathaus shows statues of Henry the Lion and his English Queen Matilda, the first 12th century members of the Bath Braunschweig Twinning Association.

 

Down in the depths of the museum, waiting for the film to begin.

 

 The Altstadt, with the Rathaus in the middle, St Martini to the left, and  the Marienbrunnen (fountain) in the square.   All the buildings to the right were rebuilt after the war, as much of this quarter was totally flattened.  The shell of the old Town Hall still stood, and also most of St Martini managed to stay standing.  These two buildings were reconstructed after the war.

The Marien Fountain, a copy made after most of the original was destroyed in WW2.

The original large lead trough at the base is now displayed in the museum.