[Aachen, after the battle]

The file contains informations about the situation in the city of Aachen after the battle of Aachen. The Battle of Aachen was a major combat action of World War II, fought by American and German forces, between 12 September–21 October 1944. In this file the author discribes his main impressions and first conclusions of his first days in Aachen in December 1944. While doing interviews with several people he sums up how the situation in Aachen after the battle was. Heinrich Holland an interview partner, 68 years old, former member of the SPD, preferred to vegetate on 100 RM per month rather than accept employment as master printer in the Nazi Westdeutsche Beobachter. He is discribed as a passionate hater of all Nazi-ism, expected the American armies as liberators but on the other hand it did not accur to him that "liberation", came through foreign bayonets instead of a German revolution. As the authors discribes it, under the pressure of eleven years Hitler rule, the NS regime still appears as something omnipotent against which it would be madness to fight. Furthermore his interview partners report about the food situation, the problem of transportation, the general problem of reconstruction due to missing manpower and lack of money. In addition the author is reporting about his own feelings beeing in a city which was a battlefield and how terrible and terrifying that was for him. The attached bulletin is adressed to the people in Germany with the headline: The lesson of Aachen. Are all German cities become battlefields just because Hitler and Himmler are not willing to capitulate? Or are the Germans willing to stand up and protect their cities, the decission is theirs.