Düren - my hometown

Hi Forum-World!
As I promised in my own introduction I will now give you an idea what Düren looked like befor it was destroyed on November 16th, 1944.
This threat is not complete right know but I try do post more pictures in the next days. At the beginning there are some pictures from before the war and the early 1940s. Later I´ll post pictures of the destroyed city and how it looks like today!

 

so let me ask this, were the folk of Düren able to rebuild as to the old ways after the war - the Alte Rathaus, etc......... ? I know you have said you will be posting present fotos but am curious

how much of the city itself was destroyed - 80% or more and what type of manufacturing was in process maybe there wasn't any ? Believe there was a total of 3 towns that were bombed by bomber command on this date ??

thank you

Erich ~

 

Hi Erich!
More than 90% of the cities Düren, Jülich and Heinsberg was destroyed by bombs.
In total there were 1200 british bombers in 31 squadrons bombing these cities. 508 bombers arrived over Jülich, 498 over Düren and 182 over Heinsberg because the german flak was surprised about the attack and has shot down just a handfull of the bombers. About 3100 civilists died only in Düren. It was the beginning of Operation Queen...

Düren was rebuilt in the late 1940s / early 1950s so the city´s face is in a caracteristic way of this time. But within the last 10 years it becomes more modern - which ist at least overdue because Düren was sleeping for about 50 years...

There were a lot of factories in the surrounding producing machines, textiles, paper and also some small arms industry of course.
In Düren also lived the owners of these factories like Hoesch, Schoeller and Renker in theirs villas (and there were a lot of villas in Düren! I´ll post some pictures in the next days). Düren was on the 4th place in the list of Germany´s wealthiest towns befor WW2!

 

It gives a good idea of what the city was. Big and yet small and cosy. Almost a big village where everybody probably more or less knew each other. Was the Hospital also destroyed?

 

I knew it was the jumping off point for the US attack within the German borders towards Aachen which was a tough nut and of course to follow was not a simple walk through ....... right at the start of "wet" season

 

I don´f know if the hospital was destroyed but I think it was. I´ll try to find out more about it!
In 1939 there were about 45.000 people living in Düren, during the war only 20.000 stayed there. After the bombing almost all civilists were evacuated, only 4(!) stayed in Düren.
At the end of 1945, when people came back, nearly 20.000 people were living in the city.
Today we a population of about 100.000 people here.

 

Well, the Operation Queen wasn´t really the jumping off point within the german borders toward Aachen. On November 16, 1944 started the walkthrough to Rhine River. Aachen was fallen a few weeks before that.

 

Looking forward to more pics, thanks! This is an interesting story!

 

Guten morgen

yes my stats were not quite on the monies. the US army asked bomber command to attack the 3 cities mentioned as the US 1st and 9th armies were going to punch through between Aachen and the Rhine. 485 Lancs and 13 Mossies from the 1, 5 and 8 Groups attacked Düren. Heinsberg was hit by 182 Lancasters from 3rd Group.

E ~

 

Four inhabitants in the city? That's amazing.

 

Skip ~ sounds real bizarre to me, so our German friend : no electricity/water then ? was this a forced out evacuation or all volunteer to the neighboring towns and villages, etc........

of course I do not have any photos of Düren in front of me right after the tragic bombing so have no clue just how severe the damage was but can only suspect the city, at least the old town was vaporized

E ~

 

You´re right Erich, it sound bizarre! But there truely was no electricity and no water. The inhabitants were evacuated to north-eastern Germany and came back in 1945 - some came back later. Düren nearly was vaporized!

Here some pictures how it looked like in 1945/46:

 

well thanks for sharing these pictures, I didn't realize this town was hit so hard.

 

DJ1974! First of all, welcome to WW2 Forum!

I'm driving down to Normandy (Sweden - Denmark - Bremen - Aachen) every year. Is Dueren situated somewhere close to where I drive? I think it might be a nice place to visit!

Herzliche Gruesse!

Mats

 

just as I thought complete destruction.........

taking a trip : Düren, Germany - Google Maps

 

Hey Mats!
If you drive 30 km to the east from Aachen you´ll find Düren. It´s nearly in the middle between Aachen and Cologne.
When will be your next trip down to Normandy? Let me just know at what time you are near Aachen, maybe I can lead you through Düren...

Herzliche Grüße zurück!

 

Here are some more pictures from the destroyed city.
1. Annakirche (the main church) - it was the towns landmark
2. Kölnstrasse - view to the market place
3. Marktplatz (market place) - on the left the ruins of the Annakirche, on the right side the ruins of the Rathaus (town hall)
4. destroyed city center - view north to the market place
5. destroyed city center - view east

 

And here are two photos made by plane before and after the attack. In total 5.477 demolition bombs and 148.980 fire bombs (in total 2.751,9 tons) were dropped onto Düren

 

arg it appears like Nagasaki and Hiroshima Japan............ obliterated.

well again did anyone give a thought to transform the present to something pre-war for buildings or as you had said after war brick/concrete - the cold feeling and now to the modern ?

E ~

 

Interesting place indeed, I visit this place a couple of times every year.