A city dies. Bombing of Pforzheim.

During the latter stages of World War II, Pforzheim, a town in southwestern Germany, was bombed a number of times. The largest raid, and one of the most devastating area bombardments of the war was carried out by the Royal Air Force (RAF) on the evening of February 23, 1945. About one fifth of the town's population, over 17,000 people, were killed in the air raid, and about 83% of the town's buildings were destroyed.

Am 23. Februar 1945 wurde Pforzheim bei einem Angriff 379 britischer Bomber fast völlig zerstört. Innerhalb von 22 Minuten fanden bis zu 17.600 Menschen den Tod. Die Bomber und der Feuersturm, der sich in der engbebauten Altstadt entwickelte, töteten damit 31,4 % der Bevölkerung der Stadt. Nach Hamburg und Dresden war dies der Angriff mit den meisten Opfern.

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• 28.04.2010

[ninapiwa]

What awful disrespect using that music to celebrate the destruction of this city. Awful.

[riverman1949]

One third of the population of Pforzheim were members of the Nazi Party. The town was producing fuses for V2 rockets and was an important communications centre. My defenceless home town was devastated 5 years earlier by German bombers and hundreds of civilians were killed. To paraphrase Air Marshall Harris, Germany began bombing (Warsaw, Rotterdam, London, Coventry) in the nieve belief that no one was going to bomb them !

[PrussianNights]

a lovely comment ona mass murdering by british terror bomber

[bgwcn]

Pforzheim is where I come from! I love the city and the are surrounding it!! :( Yes I do realize this was in 1945 not anytime in the past 10 yrs.

[ruckersa]

zwar hatten Hamburg und Dresden mehr Opfer zu beklagen, aber im Verhältnis zu der Einwohenerzahl war der Angriff auf Pforzheim der am meisten zerstörerische. Über 30% der Einwohner tot.... was für ein Wahnsinn...