Years of War, 1939–1945

Abstract

The war started when I was eight years old. The center of my hometown, Brandenburg, looked as it had for 250 years. The “Altstadt” (‘old city,’ first recorded in 1170) and the “Neustadt” (‘new city,’ first mentioned in 1196) were combined in 1715 on order of King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia (see pages 1-5 and 3-36). Figure 1 is a photograph of the distinctive “Rathaus” (city hall) with the “Roland” in front, the sign of the market-right of the city. On the left is the ornate “Kurfürstenhaus,” the house of the “Kurfürst,” (an elector of the first German Reich, see page 1-1, Footnote 3). The electorate was established in the 15^th century and the “Kurfürst” stayed in this building when in town. He never had his residence in the house, but the old and new towns were the biggest, most important cities of the “Mark” (Province) Brandenburg. City and “Mark” were named after an older castle on the Havel river. When the Kurfürst made Berlin his residence, Brandenburg lost the importance it held in the 16^th century.