Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Meeting with the Fourth Reich
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
Meeting with the Fourth Reich
On a hill in that part of Hamburg called ”die tote
Stadt”, in consequence of the complete destruction
there, lies an old cemetery. Looking down from this
hill, all one can see is ruin. This is the view, which
a visitor to Germany encounters in any city which,
for one reason or another, has been of military
importance. House after house, block after block, street
after street have been devastated. Here and there,
sagging gables and blasted walls rise above the
mounds of rubble. Here and there a light from one
of the cellars where homeless people have taken
refuge glimmers in the dusk. One recalls the official
report of the authorities: of the 563,000 homes in
Hamburg before the war, 277,000 have been totally
destroyed and only 114,000 are wholly undamaged.
Over the little cemetery on the hill hangs à grim
stillness which envelopes the whole of the dead town.
The atmosphere is one of destruction and doom. The
gravestones were torn up and shattered during an
air raid, and walking among the gaping, black
craters, one sees decayed coffins and expòsed
skeletons. At the spot where the cemetery gate must
have been, a support upon which an alms box once
rested, was standing, ready to topple. The eye is
caught by a faded and worn inscription, and with
some difficulty one can read the words, ”It is more
blessed to give than to receive.”
85
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
