Commemoration of the bombing of Jena with guests from Coventry

Mayor Thomas Nitzsche gave a speech to commemorate the victims of the bombing of Jena during the Second World War:

Dear Very Reverend John Witcombe, Dean of Coventry,

Dear Mr. Schuegraf, Chairman of the Nagelkreuzgemeinschaft in Deutschland e.V.,

Dear Mr. Neuß,

Dear Dr. Elsner,

Dear representatives of the church,

dear representatives of the city politics,

dear citizens,

There are more of us here today than in previous years and I am delighted to welcome so many representatives of the church here today.

Some of you may have already seen this in the daily press: St. Michael's Church in Jena will be admitted to the International Community of the Cross of Nails of Coventry in a solemn service following our commemoration today. I do not want to anticipate the admission in any way at this point and instead invite you all to attend the service today at 3.00 pm.

In any case, I am delighted that you, Very Reverend John Witcombe, and you, Mr. Schuegraf, are also attending our commemoration of the bombing of Jena today. It is an honor to have you with us today. Your presence is an outstretched hand for reconciliation and peace. Thank you for coming!

The horrors of war

The last and heaviest bombing of Jena happened 78 years ago today. There are hardly any people among us who still remember this terrible event. But the war in Ukraine, with its reports of destruction and bombing, the images of soldiers and civilians killed, has brought the danger of war back into our consciousness. The peace in which we have fortunately been able to live for decades cannot be taken for granted.

The horrors of war are shocking and there is currently no end in sight. But we know that this war too will end. However, there can only be real peace if there is also reconciliation. Let us advocate for this wherever we can.

The war of aggression against Ukraine brings back the written memories of the bombing of Jena, which is why we have come together here today. The images from today's news make us feel what happened in Jena:

As early as May 1943, there was a first bombing raid on Jena, which claimed 12 lives. High-speed bombers of the Royal Air Force attacked the Zeiss and Schottwerke factories at low altitude. The attackers did not come by chance. Since 1934, Carl Zeiss Jena had been mentioned in exile literature as a major producer of military-optical equipment, so that Jena's importance for equipping the Wehrmacht in other Western countries was known early on.

In the spring of 1945, the bomber groups usually attacked Jena as a secondary target. They were already on their return flight and had previously dropped most of their bomb load over the central German and Silesian hydrogenerators.

War also started in Jena

On March 19, 1945, the heaviest bombing raid of the entire war took place. It was reported that the sirens sounded for the third time at 12.20 p.m. that day, sounding the air raid alarm. At 1.16 pm, 197 planes of the 3rd Air Division of the 8th US Army Air Force reached the Jena area.

In seven waves, they again attacked the main Carl Zeiss factory on the edge of the old town. However, only six to eight bombs hit this target, six hit the nearby Jena glassworks Schott & Genossen. The bulk of the explosive, phosphorus and incendiary bombs fell on the area between Fürstengraben and Holzmarkt, about 250 meters away.

Several hundred square meters of densely built-up residential and commercial areas were reduced to rubble within 20 minutes. Seven major fires broke out in the city center, which also spread to the tower, roof and hall of St. Michael's Church in the course of the afternoon. 220 houses, mainly in the city center, were completely destroyed. This attack alone claimed the lives of 236 people, 100 were seriously injured and another 150 were slightly injured.

In the report from the local air raid service, a fireman described the rescue of bomb victims from an air raid shelter in Leutrastrasse. While the building was still in flames, the rescue workers rescued 29 dead bodies and a woman who was still alive and had been buried up to her arms. Only with the help of two soldiers was it possible to free the person from the rubble.

Report of an eyewitness

In 1994, Susanne Z. reported on the bombing in the Ostthüringer Zeitung newspaper. She was 27 years old at the time:

"We lived in Frauengasse at the time. When we came home from work at lunchtime, we couldn't believe it. The house we lived in, no. 21, and the three houses opposite were in ruins. We stood in front of a huge pile of rubble. We were so confused that we started digging with our bare hands in the place where the emergency exit must have been. There were seven people in the cellar, including my mother.

But a group of soldiers arrived and managed to clear the emergency exit with shovels. Unfortunately, all but one woman, who was seriously injured, could only be rescued dead. Even my mother, who was 53 years old.

We sat by the pile of rubble for hours. Then we registered as bomb victims. We were given a list of addresses in the western district that had a house to themselves and enough space. But nobody wanted us."

During the last bombing raid on April 9, 1945, three days before the Americans marched into Jena, the US Air Force destroyed the Saalbahnhof freight depot to paralyze rail traffic. The bombs cut a wide swath of devastation between Spitzweidenweg and Löbstedter Straße. Among the victims of this attack were forced laborers from the Reichsbahnausbesserungswerk. Like the German residents, they had sought shelter in a pedestrian tunnel, which was destroyed by a bomb hit. Over 100 people died.

Between 1940 and 1945, the "air raid siren" sounded 330 times in Jena. In total, more than 800 people died in bombing raids. 1,166 people were injured. The dead and injured accounted for around 3 percent of the 79,000 inhabitants and refugees living in Jena at the time. As a result of the bombing, 17 percent of the houses and apartments in the city were so badly damaged that they were uninhabitable. A total of 2,763 residential buildings with 9,720 apartments were damaged.

Ladies and gentlemen,

War is not only part of our history, it is unfortunately also part of our present. Let us be grateful that we can live here today in peace, let us show solidarity with the people who have to flee from war. Let us stand up for peace and look for ways to achieve it - knowing full well that the approaches to the war in Ukraine are also very different. But the goal should unite us in finding a common path.

Let us remember the people who were victims of the bombing war here in Jena from 1943 to 1945, the war that started in Germany and has now returned with all its brutality.

Let us strive for reconciliation and reach out to each other.