Did a miracle happen in Germany after WW2?

[PotPie]

They certainly do put a lot of people to shame, and it makes you wonder why parts of the world have never really developed much. Aside from that, I think it's naturally therapeutic after going through something like that to make your life as normal again as possible and to continue on in a healthy way. They wanted their lives and their country back, and they got it. My mother and her family passed through Germany in the latter half of 1951 on the way to get a boat to the US, and I was told the place was still full of bombed-out towns.

[Mkk]

My mother and her family passed through Germany in the latter half of 1951 on the way to get a boat to the US, and I was told the place was still full of bombed-out towns.

By 1951, most of the rubble had been cleared away and that which was left was often not as visible. But obviously a lot of buildings were still destroyed. There was a huge building programme initiated in the 1950s which built many new houses and buildings, and rebuilt some of the ones which were salvageable, but many areas were still left not build on after the ruins were demolished.

In some areas of East Germany, rebuilding is even an ongoing process. Go to East Berlin and it still looks a bit like it's getting over WW2/Communism.

Here is that 1958 Berlin video that didn't show up:



and in 1961:



Essen 1958



Cologne again



A travel film from the time



8 minutes onwards: Groningen, and from 9 mins, Hannover (the town, not CODOH member )



General educational film

[Mkk]

As it just happens today I met a family member of mine who is in his 80s. In the early 50s he lived as a British soldier for two and a half years in Germany - in Duesseldorf, the British zone of Berlin and elsewhere.

He confirmed there was still a lot of rubble around, "they had only just started rebuilding".

"Back then we made the Germans work for us!"

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Here is a Der Spiegel article: http://www.spiegel.de/international/ger ... 02856.html admitting that the post-war rebuilding produced many areas that looked very samey and not so easy on the eye, but in the last 20 or so years there has been new efforts to restore the past. It also features some photo galleries from the past.

For those that can read German (or use google translate), this discusses post-war Munich. Because it was in the south-east of the country, it wasn't as damaged as many other places and has retained many of its charming, period features to this day. All rubble had been cleared by 1955 and the town's inhabitants surpassed one million by 1956 http://www.planet-wissen.de/laender_leu ... u_1945.jsp http://www.planet-wissen.de/politik_ges ... aufbau.jsp

In Duesseldorf, a former Truemmerfrau says she was not a "Nazi" and the girls were simply happy that the war was over and they had a chance to start again http://www.rp-online.de/nrw/staedte/due ... -1.3888580