COLOGNE REVIVES By SELWYN GORDON
PPROACHING Cologne from the east by the American tem- porary wooden bridge, you are confronted with a skyline of jagged ruins, only relieved by the towering cathedral, which seems to stand sentinel over a graveyard. Driving off the bridge into the city proper provides an awesome experience. The whole of the centre has been completely destroyed—so mauled, in fact, that no other course is open to the authorities but to raze the remnants to the ground, clear the rubble and start afresh. Even the cathedral bears unhealed scars. Most of the roof-covering has disappeared ; the vaulting is in a parlous condition ; many of the floreated heads are missing from the flying buttresses ; some windows have lost their stone tracery, and many others are seriously damaged. Repair work continues slowly, for complete destruction of all machinery, lifts, cranes and even tools of the cathedral workshops is a severe handicap.
Altogether, 1,500 large-scale air attacks were made between May 31, 1942, and the final super-saturation raid on March 2nd of last year. How many bodies still lie buried beneath the rubble is not known, nor can any approximate figure be given, for the German authorities have no idea how many victims the air-raids claimed since June, 1944. All records were then destroyed, and returning refugees seeking relatives now provide the only clues. The figure is thought to run into thousands. During the siege of Cologne Nazi defenders refused an American offer to declare it an open city, and fought a hard and bitter retreat through the ruins as shells added further to the destruction. When the city fell, Americans had to bulldoze their way through the rubble, and for weeks these crude paths were the only lanes through the debris. Official estimates put the de- struction of the third city of the Reich as high as 95 per cent. At the surrender it was 85 per cent. uninhabitable, with a civic admini- stration completely at a standstill, the railways paralysed and the five bridges over the Rhine twisted and broken in the swirling waters. Over a hundred barges and craft were sunk in the havens.
The greatest task that faced the military government in Cologne was the re-housing of the population for the winter. Only 8o,000 people remained when the Americans captured the city, but return- ing refugees have swollen that figure to half a million. Despite Press and radio warnings, German authorities report a daily increase that outstrips the original housing plan. Since 4o,2oo houses out of a peace-time total of 58,342 were completely destroyed, and all
but 8,000 very badly damaged, housing the community was almost a case of rebuilding the city. -.Faced with this appalling devastation, the civil administrators and the citizens, with their deep-rooted civic pride, have been pOndering the eventual design the re- building would take. Long controversial arguments took place in the Press and in Council meetings on the merits and demerits of re-creating the beauty of pre-war Cologhe by closely copying its previous structures or of building anew in a modernistic style. While these aesthetic " battles" were being fought, military govern- ment went quietly and patiently ahead with the immediate problem, and neither Gothic nor any other architectural style stood in the way of the erection of 85,970 first-aid dwellings—a total which is still being increased at the rate of a thousand a week.
Repair-work is severely hampered by the vast quantity of rubble choking the ruins• and sidewalks. Over too,000 tons were removed each month, but this proved so costly in time and labour that it has now been decided to utilise the rubble where it is found for concrete. Stonecrushing machines have been obtained for this purpose. Restoration of the crippled public utilities was under- taken with the same vigour. Despite the fact that over 5o per cent. of the electric cables were damaged, the electricity service now reaches all parts of the city except the totally ruined centre. .The fact that the whole of the city has water is a remarkable feat in itself. After the first 1,5oo major breaks had been repaired, a similar number of minor ones were discovered when the water was turned on. As fast as one break was joined another was found. Repair work is still going on. The result, however, is that 6o per cent. of the city has pressure water and the remainder is served from hydrants. As testing and repair of gas mains, of which half were destroyed, is a far more dangerous undertaking, no gas is being used in the west side of the city, except for Ford's factory, a pump- ing station and one other factory. Across the. Rhine gas is avail- able for 1,200 families.
Deep Craters and shell-holes played havoc with the sewage system, which suffered 600 serious breaks. In combating this problem a serious shortage of men fit to work in sewers hampered repair-work. At first about 600 men were borrowed from the railway company, and they did a magnificent job until the railways re-opened. No labour in sufficient quantities has been available since to replace these men, and the operating force has shrunk to i6o. - Despite these handicaps, 135 breaks have been repaired. Another problem which had to be dealt with by emergency measures centred around the main disposal farm on the east bank. Sewage from the west bank used to be carried under the Rhine by two syphon pipes six feet in diameter. When Americans converged on to the city, leading Nazis escaped through these pipes, dynamiting the exit. Sewage from the west side, therefore, now has to be drained into the Rhine. No residue has yet been found, in tests made down the river, for the Rhine is a natural filter.
With the clearing of the main roads and the repair of the track, half the tram-service is now operating. Only five or six cars were available at the time of occupation, but 25o are now in use. As soon as a railway-engine can be obtained, it is intended to use tram-trailers for delivering coal to outlying factories. As in most devastated towns, trams have already been used extensively for clearing rubble. As Cologne is an important trunk junction, restora- tion of its telephone service was a priority job. But the damage was immense. Out of thirteen pre-war exchanges only two are now operating, with one temporary repeater station manned by the Royal Corps of Signals. These are all on the west bank, for the great Köln-Deutz exchange on the east side, which carried traffic from Western Europe, was sabotaged by retreating Germans, who played flame-throwers on it, causing two million pounds' worth of destruction. As this exchange is essential for connecting zonal trunk services with France and Belgium, extensive repairs had to be made. Seventeen old switch-boards have been fitted into the cellars, and it is hoped shortly to have thirty more, ironically enough ex-Wehrmacht property.
Although the destroyed bridges over the Rhine have caused a diversion of most of Cologne's railway traffic, it still handles 40 per cent. of its are-war brown-coal freight. Ordinary freight and passenger service is only a quarter of its peace-time level, and the nearby Gremberg marshalling yards, which handled 7,000 trains a day—a capacity comparable only to Hamm—were so thoroughly bombed that they are still out of action. Most of the coal traffic now goes by barge from the havens, which deal with So per cent. of the peace-time daily tonnage. Only a small part of the six miles of quays was damaged, but half the warehouses were obliterated. Repairs are a priority task, for imported grain reaches the Ruhr via these havens. Industrial Cologne is now producing mining machinery as well as iron and steel for a new Bailey bridge to replace the wooden one now in use, and for reconstruction on the essential South Railway bridge. Heavy industrial plants, clothing-factories and building-concerns have been restarted to produce materials to meet the demands of the mining industry and the rebuilding programme. The huge Ford works, covering 172,000 square metres, is making trucks and load-carrying vehicles. The factory suffered little damage in spite of being under artillery fire both from advancing Americans and retreating Germans. It em- ployed almost 5,000 people before the war, and the annual output was roughly 30,000 trucks and passenger vehicles. The first truck for Allied use rolled off the lines on a day when other news was in the headlines—May 8th, 1945. By the end of the year 2,437 others had joined it. With 2,50o employees the rate of productin will shortly reach 5-600 vehicles a month. It is -interesting to note that English classes arranged for Ford employees in off-duty time have proved so popular that courses are to be doubled.
The cultural rehabilation of the city has by no means been neglected. There are about twenty-five old churches in Cologne, many dating back to the twelfth century ; but most of them are badly damaged. First-aid repairs to roofs were carried out quickly to prevent damage by rain and frost. A special grant has been made to repair the leading eight churches, which, of course, include the cathedral. Most of the art treasures that could be removed were evacuated during the war. The famous university library is safe in the French zone, and arrangements for its return are being made. Special attention is paid to the welfare of the youth of the city, and the detachment commander takes a personal interest in youth club activities. At the moment there are four main groups. Eight cinemas and three theatres are operating in salvaged halls, but it is the opera and symphony concerts, performed in the auditorium of the university, that prove the greatest attraction. People are so keen that some of them travel nearly twelve miles to the hall, queue for most of the day and sit in an unheated theatre to listen to the performances.
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