[Hamburg, a story of recovery and reconstruction]

The file contains informations about the post-war situation of Hamburg. Several reports, written in English and German refer to the remarkable job of reconstruction made in Hamburg. The seaport of Hamburg, a story of recovery and reconstruction, as the author says. Six years after the city had been destroyed by the Allied bombing the center of the city hardly shows a trace of the destruction. Much of the huge port with all its installations for storage, docking, ship-building and repair has been rebuilt. Nevertheless a lack of housing remains a major problem, as the population in Hamburg had grown from 1.2 Million (pre-war population) to 2 million inhabitans. Hamburg was in 1951 not only the largest city of Western Germany, but also the busiest and most important centre of trade, industry and commerce. In adition one report refers to a Jewish technician, who was working in Hamburg till 1941 and who spoke about his time there. Eventhough it was known that he was Jewish, he did not have any problems because of that, it was rather an adventage for him, as most of his working colleaques were against the Nazi regime and spoke openly with him about it, so the author argues. On the way to work, they all went with a big truck, were they had time to speak. Eventhough most of them had family members fighting at the front they were waiting until the war was over and Hitler finally lost. "Sie zwingen und erst zum Schuften, dann zum Hungern und jetzt auch noch zum Erschossen werden," this was a common saying.