In September 1939, a prisoner of war camp Stalag VII-A was built to accommodate 10,000. The General Command of the Military District VII in Munich chose this site between the Isar and Amper rivers. The General Command of the Wehrkreis VII in Munich chose this area between the Isar and Amper rivers north of Moosburg ad Isar. Within a fortnight the camp was ready for the first prisoners who arrived on October 19, 1939. They were initially housed in tents. In the hall of an adjacent artificial fertiliser factory a delousing facility was built. Initially, the camp accommodated Polish and Ukranian soldiers captured in 1939. From 1940 additional barracks were built so that by the summer of 1940, the area of the camp had grown to 350,000 m². Thus after the Western campaign in 1940, French soldiers (and members of the Polish armed forces in France ) were increasingly deported to Moosburg. After the invasion of the Soviet Union in mid-1941 there correspondingly followed a large number of prisoners of the Red Army. By the end of the war, the number of inmates grew to 80,000 (including increasingly Western Allied aircraft soldiers who had been shot down in the bombing of Germany, including roughly two hundred generals alone); they were used in surrounding industries, agriculture and trade whilst Moosburg itself had only about 5,000 inhabitants. Tens of thousands of prisoners of war were housed in subcamps and labour detachments around the area. About 2000 German guardsmen of the 512th Landesschützen battalion were stationed in their own barracks area between Moosburg and the Stalag. Due to the presence of the camp the entire surroundings were spared from allied bombing. 
On April 29, 1945 the camp was liberated by a unit of the 14th Armoured Division of the United States Army under General Charles H. Karlstad, wherein the ordered transfer of the camp occurred almost without a fight. The site was converted into a detention centre for 12,000 German civilians held accountable for their activities during the period of National Socialism- the "Civilian Internment Camp No. 6". The camp was released by the Americans in 1948 and served to house German refugees exiled from eastern areas. It became a new part of the town, named Moosburg-Neustadt. Three remaining guard barracks were included in the Bavarian monument list on February 15, 2013.
The entrance to the camp, and the town itself shown in the background
Moosburg Stammlager VIIA, 1945. Pictures from Edward J. Paluch 780 Bomb Squadron. From Fall 1944- Feb 1945 interned in Stalag Luft III. This town about 20km from where I live was the site of Stalag VII A, a PoW camp covering an area of 85 acres which also served also as a transit camp through which prisoners, including officers, were processed on their way to another camp. At some time during the war prisoners from every nation fighting against Germany passed through it. By the time it had been liberated on April 29 1945, there were 130,000 prisoners from at least 26 nations on the camp roster. It was thus the largest prisoner of war camp in Germany.
Moosburg concentration camp warden from the video game Death to Spies: Moment of Truth, where he wears an armband signifying he's from the 5th ϟϟ Panzer Division Wiking. In the centre is Oberst Hans Nepf, Lagerkommandant 1939-1943, and his successor Oberst Otto Burger. The real-life commandants were no video game villains- Nepf was said to have provided decent accommodation for both German soldiers and prisoners of war, and during his time it had been reported that Stalag VII A was "with its beautiful facilities and facilities the most exemplary prison camp in Germany". By the time he resigned in 1943, Nepf was said to have been criticised by Munich-based Nazi authorities for being too decent towards the prisoners. He would eventually die in September 1952 at the age of 73 years in Garmisch. Burger's time as commandant was certainly the most demanding and his courage at the end of the war acknowledged by all. Disregarding the express orders of the Gauleiter, acting as Reich Defence Commissar, Burger made every effort to hand over POWs to the approaching American troops of General Patton. Given that the stalag was surrounded by fanatical Nazis officials, his ability to save the lives of civilians, prisoners and soldiers on both sides is remarkable and prevented Moosburg from being shelled. After the war he and his family continued to live in Moosburg until 1957; his wife worked s a teacher whilst his son Willy- now a lawyer and bank director in Munich- attended elementary school in Moosburg and later grammar school in Freising. In 1964 Burger died at the age of 76.
On the left the funeral procession for two Russian prisoners of war who died on the day the camp was liberated. The right GIF shows by contrast former prisoners of war with recently issued Red Cross food parcels following the liberation of the camp- a number of buildings are still in use. The cases of Americans and British Imperial troops were unique in several respects: their countries were unoccupied by Germany, they held large numbers of German servicemen in captivity, ensuring the attention of the German government, and lastly, their status as 'legitimate' signatories to the Geneva Convention was not called into doubt by Germany (unlike the Soviet Union or, after 1939, Poland). The inspectors were not just valued by the home governments as a source of information - their agents usually argued forcefully for the improvement of conditions of their charges directly with the Commandants of the camps, and noted in their reports if their complaints were satisfactorily dealt with at that level or whether further action would be required at a higher level of authority.
Moosburg concentration camp warden from the video game Death to Spies: Moment of Truth, where he wears an armband signifying he's from the 5th ϟϟ Panzer Division Wiking. In the centre is Oberst Hans Nepf, Lagerkommandant 1939-1943, and his successor Oberst Otto Burger. The real-life commandants were no video game villains- Nepf was said to have provided decent accommodation for both German soldiers and prisoners of war, and during his time it had been reported that Stalag VII A was "with its beautiful facilities and facilities the most exemplary prison camp in Germany". By the time he resigned in 1943, Nepf was said to have been criticised by Munich-based Nazi authorities for being too decent towards the prisoners. He would eventually die in September 1952 at the age of 73 years in Garmisch. Burger's time as commandant was certainly the most demanding and his courage at the end of the war acknowledged by all. Disregarding the express orders of the Gauleiter, acting as Reich Defence Commissar, Burger made every effort to hand over POWs to the approaching American troops of General Patton. Given that the stalag was surrounded by fanatical Nazis officials, his ability to save the lives of civilians, prisoners and soldiers on both sides is remarkable and prevented Moosburg from being shelled. After the war he and his family continued to live in Moosburg until 1957; his wife worked s a teacher whilst his son Willy- now a lawyer and bank director in Munich- attended elementary school in Moosburg and later grammar school in Freising. In 1964 Burger died at the age of 76. 
The cemetery of the camp was situated here in the south-western outskirts of Moosburg, an area called Oberreit, among whom 22 or 23 buried were British. From 1946- 1958 the mortal remains moved to central cemeteries before finally being closed in 1958 when 866 bodies were exhumed and reburied at the military cemetery in Schwabstadl near Landsberg. The bodies of 33 Italians were reburied at the Italian Memorial Cemetery near Munich. In 1982 the Moosburg City Council purchased a plot at the site of the old Oberreit cemetery and erected a wooden cross with a simple stone remembering the dead of Stalag VII A.
In the autumn of 2014 on the 75th anniversary of the opening of the camp, this historical marker was relocated at the site, its façade covered by this bronze plaque but steel helmet remaining above.
Today the municipal authorities have seen fit to place a dog association right next to it...
For a site devoted entirely to Moosburg: Moosburg Online
Nearby in front of St. Pius church on land devoted to serve as a memorial to the prisoners of the stalag is this fountain, the Stalag Gedenkbrunnen, which had been created by French prisoner Antoniucci Volti in 1942 and set up in 1963. The reliefs are intended to represent the four great rivers of France- the Garonne, Loire, Rhône and Seine. Volti himself had been born in Albano, Italy, in 1915, before his family moved to France in 1920. A book by art historian Christine Fößmeier, "Volti - A major French artist in Stalag VII A Moosburg," is expected to be published. Volti attended the École des Arts Décoratifs in Nice and later went to Paris. After the war he returned to Paris, where his studio and his works were destroyed shortly thereafter. Moosburg therefore possesses, as Fößmeier's project description states, "a unique excerpt from the work of Volti". He continued to work in Paris after the war, where he died in 1989. Volti's works can be found in the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris, the Musée de la Ville de Paris, Albi, Menton, Nice and Honfleur. 
The West and South entrances to St. Kastulus during the 1930s and today
Inside the church during the Nazi era and today
At the foot of the Johannes tower on Thalbacher straße in a 1935 photograph and today. The rental office across the narrow passage from the tower was demolished that year. On the right is the tower from the other side on the High Street during the war and today.
Hitlerjugend on the left in 1937 and the site today
Moosburg railway station in 1935 sporting the Nazi flag and now
Landstraße
Auf dem Gries in 1936 and during the 2016 Herbstshau and looking the other direction in a watercolour by Valentin Ott just before the war.
One of the oldest gable-topped houses in Germany shown in a colourised photograph taken just after the war, and as depicted in a 1941 sketch by a French prisoner of war interned in Stalag VII A.
My favourite Pub on Herrnstraße, formerly a bakery, and looking the other way towards Herrnstraße 293, the second building on the right, where the Jewish administration was housed after the war from January 1946 to February 1951. At the end of the road is the town hall.
When
the Allied forces conquered Germany, they were able to liberate some
tens of thousands of Jewish prisoners. Between 1945 and 1950, however,
the former Third Reich became a temporary place of refuge for about
200,000 Shoah survivors. Besides the prisoners freed from the work and
death camps, these were people who had fled from the Nazis to Russia,
fought in Eastern Europe with the partisans, or in some other way
managed to survive underground. Starting in the fall of 1945, the US
military government set up special Displaced Persons (DP) camps for
them. For a short time, the US General Eisenhower had even considered
allowing the Jews to set up their own territory in Bavaria. This plan
had been proposed to him by David Ben-Gurion, who was travelling through
occupied Germany at that time. However, a Bavarian Jewish state was
never established. Nevertheless, the Americans conceded wide-ranging
rights of self-determination to the Shoah survivors. The British,
Russians, and French granted no such privileges. Supplies, too, were
more plentiful in the American zone, and so about 85% of all
Jewish DPs settled here, considering their residence, however, as but a
temporary measure. The overwhelming majority believed that their future
would only be guaranteed in a country of their own, convinced that “only
Eretz Israel will succeed in absorbing and healing them, help them
regain their national and human balance.” As the state of Israel would
not be established until 1948, some Jews dreamed also of a new life in
the USA, Canada or Australia.
When
the Allied forces conquered Germany, they were able to liberate some
tens of thousands of Jewish prisoners. Between 1945 and 1950, however,
the former Third Reich became a temporary place of refuge for about
200,000 Shoah survivors. Besides the prisoners freed from the work and
death camps, these were people who had fled from the Nazis to Russia,
fought in Eastern Europe with the partisans, or in some other way
managed to survive underground. Starting in the fall of 1945, the US
military government set up special Displaced Persons (DP) camps for
them. For a short time, the US General Eisenhower had even considered
allowing the Jews to set up their own territory in Bavaria. This plan
had been proposed to him by David Ben-Gurion, who was travelling through
occupied Germany at that time. However, a Bavarian Jewish state was
never established. Nevertheless, the Americans conceded wide-ranging
rights of self-determination to the Shoah survivors. The British,
Russians, and French granted no such privileges. Supplies, too, were
more plentiful in the American zone, and so about 85% of all
Jewish DPs settled here, considering their residence, however, as but a
temporary measure. The overwhelming majority believed that their future
would only be guaranteed in a country of their own, convinced that “only
Eretz Israel will succeed in absorbing and healing them, help them
regain their national and human balance.” As the state of Israel would
not be established until 1948, some Jews dreamed also of a new life in
the USA, Canada or Australia. 
The birthplace of Josef Furtmeier (born September 3, 1887), one of the mentors of the White Rose, especially Hans Scholl. Sophie Scholl referred to him as "the philosopher."
From the end of 1918 until May 1, 1919 he was a member of the Communist Party, and in the spring of 1919 he took part in a communist demonstration at the Justice Palace in Munich. This, and the fact that he refused to use the Hitler salute nor joined any Nazi organisation, led him to be fired in October 1933 on the basis of the law for the restoration of the professional civil service. Up until 1945 he lived in Moosburg and Munich, receiving a pension which was small compared to his last salary. From mid-1941 Hans Scholl got in touch with Josef Furtmeier about Carl Muth and Alfred von Martin. Sophie and Hans Scholl met regularly with Furtmeier. Concerning a conversation on June 4, 1942 with Furtmeier, Sophie Scholl reported: "... a three-hour, uninterrupted and exhausting conversation was held." After the arrest of the leading members of the White Rose, Furtmeier was held by the Gestapo from February 28 to March 20, 1943. Furtmeier stated after the war period how he had talked with Hans Scholl about the legitimacy of the murder of tyrants. In May 1945 he was appointed mayor of the city of Moosburg and began investigations into former members of the NSDAP and against Nazi divisions. At the commemorative ceremony for the victims of the White Rose in 1945 in Munich, he gave a speech alongside Romano Guardini. In 1946 he joined the SPD. After 1949 he tried two times to obtain a promotion as compensation for his dismissal in 1933. This was denied him by the ministry which claimed that he had been already adequately compensated. He is buried in the family grave at the cemetery in Moosburg shown here on the left.
Also buried in Moosburg (next to a memorial to those killed in the air bombing) is Koloman Wagner, born April 15, 1905 in Sünzhausen. In 1943 he worked at the Driescher firm producing war materiel when Joseph Goebbels gave his Sportpalast, or total war, speech to a large and carefully-selected audience on February 18 1943 calling for total war, as the tide of World War II had turned against Germany. His colleague, Maria Huber, testified in court that following the speech Wagner repeated Goebbels's question "Do you want your men to come to the front; do you want the total war?" and responded with a sarcastic "yes" before stating that this has "signed your men's death sentence." She went on to say in her denunciation that the female workers were ashamed by his attitude, especially given the number of prisoners of war working alongside them. The Nazi mayor of Moosburg at the time, Dr. Hermann Müller (whose portrait hangs today in the town hall) declared that "Wagner is, in my opinion, a man who threatens public morale through his attitude and lifestyle." Even after the supportive testimony of the company's management which had testified how Wagner had been responsible for labour-saving innovations, his fate was sealed. The Attorney General reported to the minister of justice the enforcement of the judgement on July 27, 1944: "The execution process lasted 53 seconds from leaving of the cell; eight seconds from his handover to the executioner until the fall of the axe. No other incidents or other events of importance occurred."
Nearby is the grave of Heinrich Hiermeier. An active member of the communist party since 1931, he was first imprisoned by the Nazis and held under 'protective custody' in Moosburg from March 10 to May 3, 1933. He remained an antifascist- it had been reported to district authorities in January 1936 that although publicly Hiermeier had abandoned his earlier attitude, it is clear to his work colleagues that he "does not agree with the current system." By the end of that month he had been arrested again and on June 23 appeared before the Higher Regional Court in Munich for apparently planning a treasonous activity before being sentenced to two years and four months at the penitentiary. It's not clear if was released the end of his sentence on June 23 1938 but he is recorded as having died in a camp, possibly one that had used 1000-1200 forced labourers in the Obersalzberg to work on one of the gigantic construction projects at the time. Nor is the nature of his death, recorded on his grave as having been February 19, 1940, other than he had supposedly been crushed by scaffolding which led to a skull fracture, internal bleeding and fracture of neck vertebrae. 
The bridge that became the main strategic objective
in the battle between Patton and the German ϟϟ in Moosburg, led by the tanks of Sergeants Claude Newton and William Summers and Lieutenants Hack and Boucher. The
Germans eventually bombed the bridge as Newton’s tank moved into the first span in order to keep the American
tanks from crossing it. The battle didn't last long however and by the evening the 14th Armoured Division was established along the Isar. Behind it were miles-long columns of German prisoners being marched to the rear and the fields all around with two thousands of Germans prisoners guarded under lights. Among them lay the burned out German vehicles caught in the fight that morning with the German dead lying in grotesque positions as Graves Registration Officers moved among them preparing for burial and British ex-prisoners of war rode bicycles through the towns. The bridge has recently been replaced by a new one.
Next to the bridge is the Gasthof zur Länd, shown in 1941, April 29, 1945 with Major-General A.C. Smith of the 14th Armoured Div. of the 3rd U.S. army overseeing the building of the auxiliary bridge over the Isar by the 300th Combat Engineers, and 73 years later.
About twenty miles south of Landshut is the tiny town of Dorfen, its Marienplatz shown here during the Nazi-zeit and today.
About twenty miles south of Landshut is the tiny town of Dorfen, its Marienplatz shown here during the Nazi-zeit and today.
Erding
Prior to and during the Second World War Erding was a Luftwaffe pilot training airfield. It was seized by the United States Army in April 1945 and used as a United States Air Force facility during the early years of the Cold War.
The Nazi flag flying before the stadtturm and flanking the town's war memorial, today its iron cross now replaced from the top.
The
1941 aviation comedy Quax, der Bruchpilot had several scenes shot in or around
Erding- one can for example recognise the Frauenkircherl on Schrannenplatz in the scene shown above.
Directed
by Kurt Hoffmann and starring Heinz Rühmann, it was set
in the 1930s before the outbreak of the Second World War based on an
aviation story by Hermann Grote about an ordinary man who wins a
newspaper competition that offers free flying lessons. Despite initial
struggles, he gradually shows himself to be a good pilot. It was
followed by a sequel Quax in Africa which was also made during the Nazi
era, but not released until 1947 in Sweden and 1953 in West Germany. The
character inspired Disney to recently 'revamp' the character as Quack der Bruchpilot, although in English his name is given as Launchpad McQuack.The film is set somewhere in the south of Germany in 1930; the main town is referred to as Dünkelstätt although at one point on a sign it's stated as being Dünkelstedt. Otto Groschenbügel, aka Quax, a small employee of a traffic bureau, wins in a competition providing free sport aviation training at the aviation school Bergried. Although hooping for a different prize, he hopes to become famous overnight in his hometown of Dünkelstätt. Kicked out of the aviation school owing to his behaviour covering up his cowardice, he is soon advised to stop the course. 
In Dünkelstätt, where the reason for his speedy return home is unknown, Quax is celebrated as an aviator. To live up to expectations, and also out of disappointment that his friend Adelheid was unfaithful during his absence, he returns to continue his education. Over time, he actually becomes a disciplined airman and even proves to be talented. As a reward, he gains the affection of Marianne, who has helped him out of difficult situations several times. At the end of the film set two years later, Quax is seen working as a disciplined flying instructor at Bergried Flying School. The movie itself was shot from May 23 to September 1941 at the Ufa Atelier Berlin Tempelhof and in Bavaria at the airfield of Prien am Chiemsee and here at the Erding Air Base , where the landing on the course was shot. Other parts of the film were shot on the airfield Kempten-Durach, Germany's highest-lying airfield. During the filming the stand-in pilot had to be replaced due to a leg fracture and, due to the war, could not be substituted. Rühmann himself, an avid sports aviator in real life, flew in all the scenes. Both on the wing and in front of the cockpit of the Udet U12 a camera from Bell & Howell was mounted which only allowed for 27 metres of film, which was just enough for a minute. As a result Rühmann had to take-of fity times to record the flight scenes. The première took place on December 16, 1941 in the Ufa Palace in Hamburg. 
It was helped by the Werner Bochmann hit song Heimat, deine Sterne and went on to win the regime's Filmprüfstelle before eventually making five million Reichsmarks at the box office. Hitler aparently loved the film and had it repeatedly shown at the Fiihrer's headquarters. A sequel- Quax in Fahrt (renamed Quax in Africa after the war in West Germany)- also starring Heinz Rühmann in the lead role was made in 1943-45 under the direction of Helmut Weiss. As in all Nazi aviation films, values such as discipline, camaraderie and social adaptation are highlighted. A special feature of this film is the main character who, an anti-hero, shows how even an obvious failure can become a "German hero" - if he meets only one competent leader- thus when Quax is at his lowest his instructor does not display the usual authoritarian traits of discipline and obedience but, on the contrary, demonstrates confidence by making Quax himself a flight instructor. Through Nazi film policy, the film was also intended to promote the Luftwaffe, especially as the Third Reich had a particularly high demand for new blood in this area during the Second World War. The High Command of the Allied occupying powers banned the film after the war; Rühmann himself always asserted that he had never felt that he had any propaganda, let alone military, training.Some scenes set in and around Erding's Schrannenplatz from the film:
Heinz Rühmann landing in Schrannenplatz at the end of the film. His role in the 1930 movie Die Drei von der Tankstelle led him to film stardom. He remained highly popular as a comedic actor (and sometime singer) throughout the 1930s and early 1940s, remaining in Germany to work during the Nazi period, as did his friend and colleague, Hans Albers during which time he acted in 37 films and directed four. After the Nazis seized power in 1933, Rühmann did not speak openly about German politics, but instead kept himself as neutral as possible. In 1938 he divorced his Jewish wife Maria Bernheim who managed before the war to move to Stockholm, and as a result, survived the Holocaust. His second wife, Hertha Feiler, whom he married shortly after, had a Jewish grandfather, a fact that caused Rühmann problems with the Nazi cultural authorities. Rühmann retained his reputation as an apolitical star during the entire Nazi era. During the war years, Rühmann increasingly let himself be co-opted by the Third Reich. The same year as Quax, he also played the title role in Der Gasmann, about a gas-metre reader who is suspected of foreign espionage. In 1944, the première of Die Feuerzangenbowle was forbidden by the Nazi film censor for "disrespect for authority" although given his good relationships with the regime, Rühmann was able to screen the film in public. He brought the film to the Führerhauptquartier Wolfsschanze for a private screening for Hermann Göring and others. Afterward, Göring was able to get the ban on the film lifted by Adolf Hitler. As a "state actor", the highest title for an actor during the Nazi era, Rühmann was not drafted into the Wehrmacht. 
He did have to take the basic training to become a military pilot, but for the Third Reich, Rühmann was more valuable as an actor and he was spared having to take part in the war effort. In August 1944, Goebbels put Rühmann on the Gottbegnadeten list of indispensable actors. Rühmann was a favourite actor of Holocaust diarist Anne Frank, who pasted his picture on the wall of her room in her family's hiding place during the war, where it can still be seen today, as well as both Hitler and Goebbels. Rühmann had a difficult time resuming his career after the war, but by the mid-1950s, the former comedian had established himself again as a star, only this time as Germany's leading character actor. In 1956, Rühmann starred in the title role of the internationally acclaimed picture Der Hauptmann von Köpenick, the true story of a Prussian cobbler, Wilhelm Voigt, who dressed up as an army officer and took over the town hall in Köpenick. Rühmann was also the leading man in the 1960 film version of The Adventures of the Good Soldier Schweik, after the novel by Czech author Jaroslav Hašek. He also played the role of Father Brown in three German films during the 1960s. In 1965, Rühmann was brought to Hollywood by producer Stanley Kramer for a supporting role as a German Jew in his all-star movie Ship of Fools. 
His last film was Faraway, So Close! (1993) by Wim Wenders, in which he played an old fatherly chauffeur named Konrad. Rühmann died in October 1994, aged 92 years. He was buried in Berg-Aufkirchen. His popularity with German audiences continues: in 1995, he was posthumously awarded the Goldene Kamera as the "Greatest German Actor of the Century"; in 2006, a poll voted him number one in the ZDF TV-show Unsere Besten - Favourite German Actors. Erding proved an appropriate site for an aviation movie given it provided the location for Fliegerhorst Erding, a military airfield northeast of the town. Prior to and during World War II, Erding was a Luftwaffe pilot training airfield. The air base was built in 1935 by the Air Force of the Wehrmacht. From 1941 it hosted various flying overpass units, such as the transfer point Erding, the transfer command air group 3, the group South / aircraft transfer squadron 1 and the airlock airlock commando 2. From April to December 1944 the 10th (supplementary) squadron of the combat squadron 51 was stationed here. Only in April 1945 with the III./KG(J) 54 was an active flying unit based at the site which boasted the Messerschmitt Me 262. After the war the US Air Force occupied and used Airfield R.91 , according to the then-Allied code designation. From 1949 the 7200th Air Force Depot Wing was stationed on the air base. It was from Erding that British and American aircraft started to supply flights in the context of the Berlin Airlift. For this reason the number of employees increased to 7,512, 2,704 of which were soldiers. 
Nazi rallies, marches and demonstrations in Erding
Looking down Landshuter Strasse, comparing the view after the war and today.
 |
| Spiegelgasse |
On Haager Straße the greatest damage was reported as was the number of killed. The pressure of the detonations destroyed roofs and windows in the Innenstadt- on the Schrannenplatz the pharmacy and the Lehner house burned as shown in the photo here. It had taken days of work by mountain commanders to dig up the buried people. To make matters worse, electricity and water were left non-existent for days. The dead wee first placed on the roadside in Hagerstrasse, then brought to the heavily damaged city parish church. The coffins had been stacked on top of one another for reasons of space. Many other towns in Bavaria were bombed that day- Freising, Rosenheim, Dillingen, Augsburg, Neuburg an der Donau and Traunstein. Erding's city archivist, Markus Hiermer, observed that the "flying fortresses" of the US air forces on April 18 should not have actually thrown their cargo over Erding- "An attack on Pilsen was planned, but it was blown off course. They did everything they could to get rid of their bombs." Nazi air defences had already collapsed in the final phase of the war. Nevertheless, Americans and of course the RAF needed to bombard small towns like Erding to break the Germans' last resistance. Thus the attacks were no longer of strategic importance, but it was seen as an appropriate response to the relentless bombing the Germans had happily initiated and continued against civilian populations from the start of their war, particularly against British cities.
The Stadtturm beside the remains of the church on Friedrich Fischer Straße
From the other side on Kirchgaße
Comparison of the same street during the Third Reich and after its wartime bombing
From the other side on Kirchgaße
Of
course, many other towns in Bavaria were attacked that day including
Freising, Rosenheim, Dillingen, rural districts around Augsburg, Neuburg
an der Donau and Traunstein. In fact, the plan was for the USAAF coming
from Sicily to attack Pilsen but it was blown off, leaving the crews to
do everything they could to get rid of their burden. By now the air
defences had already collapsed in the final phase of the war.
Nevertheless, Americans and British are deliberately bombarding small
towns like Erding to break the Germans' last resistance. The attacks
were of no strategic importance, but it was an answer to the Germans'
bombing of the civilian population. On
April 30 German troops returned through Erding with the last squad
passing ordered to destroy all the bridges. Only the Freisinger bridge,
under which the power lines run to the power plant, was spared because
the master of the works, Georg Pfab, convinced the responsible officer
that Erding could not be allowed to sink into the dark. A day later,
American soldiers entered Erding from the already-taken Eitting: "After
this blaze of fire, the 34th Regiment stormed Erding at 8 am, and at 11
am, the city was in American hands," according to a military report from
the US Army. When the American tanks arrived at Erding on May 1, winter
returned with snow covering the rubble. On May 5, 1945 Army Group G
signed the capitulation order in Haar near Munich ending the area's war.
Comparison of the same street during the Third Reich and after its wartime bombing
Another museum in town occupies the house where Franz Xaver Stahl was born and which was named after him. Stahl was a painter during the Third Reich whose paintings of farmlife were bought by Hitler, such as his "Weidende Kühe" in 1941. He has a street named after him and his paintings continue to hang in the town hall as well as in the district office and in the canteen of the Bavarian Ministry of Agriculture on Galeriestraße in Munich. In 1931 he moved
into a studio on Nymphenburger Straße in Munich, which he kept until
1944. On June 6 of the same year, some of Stahl's pictures were
destroyed during the fire of the Glaspalast in Munich. From 1937, Stahl regularly participated in the Great German Art Exhibition in
the House of German Art in Munich, the propagandistic exhibition of
Nazi art. From 1937 to 1944, with the
exception of 1939, Stahl represented one or two of his paintings at the
Great German Art Exhibition each year, an unmistakable sign that he had
attained a very prestigious position in the regime. He joined the Nazi Party in 1941 and 1947 was classified as a "follower" during the denazification campaign, although the question remains whether Stahl was a fellow traveller for career reasons or for support of Nazi ideology. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed head of the animal painting class at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. In 1942, the Academy awarded him the service title Professor. Regardless, his work seemed entirely focused on animals- horses in the smithy, cows in the pasture, pigs at the trough. 
Even with his landscapes, a flock of sheep often appear in the background. In fact, only he only produced about ten portraits, mostly of family members and close acquaintances which never changed even after Hitler's seizure of power; up until his death in 1977, his interest had only one topic: the animal. The earliest document which provides an indication of his involvement with the Nazis is a receipt from the Nazi treasurer in the Max II barracks in Munich on January 30, 1939, confirming that Stahl had paid twelve Reichsmarks to join the party. He was admitted to the party in 1941 and, in October that year, was appointed as a teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where he had previously studied. More recently one of Germany's most visible far-right extremists has been sentenced to ten months in gaol for greeting a Jewish interviewer with "Heil Hitler." A judge described Horst Mahler as "utterly incorrigible" after he denied the Holocaust, again, in open court. Mahler is said to have started a conversation for the magazine "Vanity Fair" with "Heil Hitler" and denied the Holocaust. The interview was conducted by the journalist and former vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Michel Friedman, who subsequently filed a complaint after the interview. Since the conversation was conducted in a hotel at Munich Airport, the prosecutor in Landshut and the court in Erding are responsible for the case. "Vanity Fair" justified the ten-page interview as an exposure of German right-wing extremists. Friedman himself has defended his collaboration in the interview against the criticism that he had offered Mahler a forum. Mahler himself was co-founder of the left-wing terrorist Red Army Fraction (RAF) and later member and advocate of the right-wing extremist NPD. Most recently, he was convicted in November in Cottbus for giving the Hitler salute and sentenced to half a year in prison without parole.
Wartenberg
Now the Gasthaus Bründlhof, from a 1940 postcard when it was the Tirolerstube and had a photo of Hitler gracing the wall. A year after I took my photo the building had been demolished to make way for apartment buildings.
Ismaning
Hometown of Otto Braun who, under his assumed Chinese name "Li De," was the only foreigner to have taken part in the Long March with Mao, and might have even been the original proposer of the idea of embarking on such a march in an effort to reach the safer interior of China.
The listed war memorial on Schloßstraße, a stone sculpture about two metres high in which on a stone altar two standing lions are shown whilst another lies wounded on the ground next to them. The monument first commemorates the hundred men from Ismaning who fell in the First World War. It was inaugurated on May 24, 1924 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the local veterans and warriors club in a solemn act and is shown at that time and today. The sculpture was designed by Richard Riemerschmid, then-Director of the School of Applied Arts Munich, working on a model by the sculptor Wilhelm Nida-Rümelin. The stone works were executed by R. Gschwender. Originally a ring of iron spears surrounded the monument. At the decision of the mayor Erich Zeitler , these were replaced after the end of the Second World War by stone tablets, on which the names of the 181 fallen and 89 missing persons of the war are engraved. Every year on Memorial Day, a memorial service for the victims of the two world wars takes place at the sculpture.
The schloß and war memorial then and now. Although the Nazi party had existed in Ismaning since 1921, no Nazi represented in the Ismaning municipal council before the March 1933 Reichstag elections which ended up producing seven Nazi municipal councillors. From June 1933 all municipal councillors were members of the NSDAP. Benno Hartl, awarded honorary citizenship during his tenure as mayor from 1922 to 1933, on May 5, 1933had to hand over his office to Nazi member Korbinian Huber. Huber remained in office until the capitulation in May 1945. Under the Nazis Ismaning's associations and organisations were brought into line and many, from the religious like the Kolpingsfamilie or those close to the SPD like the "Workers-Cyclists' Solidarity Association" were banned. The Nazis endeavoured to upgrade the artisan class and bind it ideologically and so on October 22, 1933, a parade of artisans moved through the village as every handicraft practiced in the village was depicted on a decorated wagon and presented by guild signs. The Nazis also launched construction works; in 1937-38 a settlement of the Upper Bavarian homestead factory was built on the field between Münchener Strasse and Isarau. Families who had given up their homes to build the concentration camp in Dachau or the harness racing track in Daglfing moved there. The town's sports hallwas created for the Nazi youth organisations, but later served as accommodation for prisoners of war and forced labourers, who were employed as workers on the farms and in many companies. Despite all the propaganda and hidden threats, Nazi ideology in Ismaning was not as deeply rooted as the party wanted it to be: only around 156 Nazi members, including 18 women, were counted among the approximately 4,000 inhabitants in 1945 in the village. In 1939, the local group leader complained that at the important May Day the traders and their assistants were completely absent and that only a few younger farmers had participated. Eventually 270 of the town's young men fell at the front or were missing with more than 300 taken as prisoners of war. Ismaning itself was largely spared from the effects of the war with only a few buildings damaged. In the last days of the war in April 1945, another Nazi training evening took place in the „Deutschen Haus“ (now the Gasthof Hillebrand).
On April 28 the so-called Freiheitsaktion Bayern called for an uprising on the radio, but no one from the village became involved. On April 30, German 'pioneers' blew up the Aschheim Canal Bridge, the bridge to Unterföhring had already been destroyed two days earlier leaving Ismaning largely isolated in terms of traffic. At the same time, the Americans continued from Garching towards Unterdorf and hit the paper mill. This was considered a warning signal and action was taken: a white flag was attached to the church tower. When the local Volkssturmführer exchanged it for a swastika flag, the Americans fired another round. Someone again dared to raise the white flag, this time without being threatened by the remaining Nazi authorities.
On May 1, 1945, the Second World War ended in Ismaning with the invasion of 150 Americans. During the war, refugees and Munich residents who had lost their homes came to Ismaning in search of food and accommodation. In 1946, in addition to its 4,600 inhabitants, the town housed over a thousand displaced persons, mostly from the Sudetenland. There were also other refugees from other regions. Many stayed in Ismaning permanently. Their integration represents a difficult but, from today's perspective, a successful chapter in the local history. The street names of the Bohemian Forest settlement serve as reminders of their former homeland.
Just outside Ismaning is this listed farm house, located on possibly the longest village street in the district of Munich, stretching four kilometres. the In 1905, it was bought by the remarkable widow Therese Randlkofer Therese Randlkofer who managed to own and develop Dallmayr, turning it into what is now the largest delicatessen business in Europe and probably the best-known German coffee brand. She converted the property into a stately model property and gave it the name "Goldachhof" - in the style of the little river that runs through the complex. Randlkofer modernised the system and even had a small E-Werk built in 1906 which was at that time a striking achievement. It exists today, recently renovated according to the guidelines of monument and water protection, and can deliver up to 80 000 KWh of electricity per year.
Adolf-Hitler-Platz
in front of the town hall bedecked with Nazi flags as shown on the
cover of Pfaffenhofen unterm Hakenkreuz by Reinhard Haiplik, now in its
third edition. As Haiplik reveals, in the Reichstag election in 1933,
the Nazis achieved its highest election result in Oberbayern with 43.1
percent of the votes in Pfaffenhofen- "indeed by far." As early as 1923,
some of Hitler's adherents from Pfaffenhofen had participated in the
so-called "Marsch zur Feldherrnhalle," otherwise known as the Munich
beerhall putsch. Some ϟϟ
men from Pfaffenhofen made a career, most notably Anton Thumann.
Between 1933 and the end of the war in 1945 there was a lively support
of the ruling regime among the citizens of the city. In this edition
Haiplik was especially concerned about the subject of war criminals: "I
wanted to name the perpetrators and keep the memory of the victims." In
his newly-written chapter titled "Victims of the Holocaust - Individual
Destinies of Murdered Pioneers," Haiplik devoted his focus to Jewish
families, some of whom lived in Pfaffenhofen for decades and became
victims of the Holocaust. Earlier Haiplik had previously written that
there were probably no Holocaust victims from Pfaffenhofen; he has since
determined that several Jewish families lived in Pfaffenhofen until the
1930s before being sent to Theresienstadt and Auschwitz to be murdered.
SA men jumping out of a wagon in Munich marked "Burgerbräu Pfaffenhofen" during the Beer Hall Putsch, November 9, 1923; some from Pfaffenhofen took part in the attempted coup. Between
1933 and the end of the war there was active support from the
ruling regime among the city's citizens. Indeed, during the Nazi era some ϟϟ men from Pfaffenhofen made noteworthy careers including Anton Thumann who had served in various Nazi concentration camps during the war. He had joined the Nazi party as member no. 1,726,633 and the ϟϟ as member no. 24,444 in the 1930s, serving as a guard at Dachau concentration camp from 1933 onward. Starting in 1937, Thumann was employed in the Office of Guard Command and ascended to the rank of Schutzhaftlagerführer in 1940. By early August 1940 he transferred to Gross-Rosen concentration camp, which at the time was still a sub-camp of Sachsenhausen concentration camp. In early May 1941, Thumann became the Protective Custody Camp Leader of the now independent Gross-Rosen camp, under Commander Arthur Rödl. From February 1943 to March 1944 he was Protective Custody Camp Leader at the Majdanek concentration camp where, due to his sadism and participation in selections, gassings and shootings, he was known as the "Hangman of Majdanek". According to an eyewitness interned at Majdanek during the time, Jerzy Kwiatkowski, Thumann personally executed prisoners and Soviet prisoners of war. He owned a German Shepherd that he used to bite the inmates. For a few weeks between March and April 1944 Thumann was at Auschwitz. He appears in the so-called Höcker Album containing a series of photographs from an ϟϟ recreation camp, the Solahütte near Auschwitz, which had been discovered in 2007. In one of the photos shown on the right Thumann is pictured with Richard Baer, Josef Mengele, Josef Kramer and Rudolf Hoess.
Thumann then served as Protective Custody Camp Leader at Neuengamme concentration camp from mid-April 1944 until the end of April 1945. Often accompanied by his dog, he was very feared in Neuengamme due to his reputation for abuse of prisoners. As the British closed in on Neuengamme, the ϟϟ evacuated the prisoners to prison ships. During the evacuation, 58 male and 13 female resistance fighters from nearby Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp were selected to be brought to Neuengamme to be executed on the orders Georg-Henning Graf von Bassewitz-Behr. With the participation of Thumann, these prisoners were hanged between April 21 and 23, 1945 in a detention cell. When some continued to resist, Thumann threw a hand grenade through the cell window. Under the command of Thumann and Wilhelm Dreimann, the last 700 prisoners remaining at Neuengamme were forced to dispose of bodies and cover up the traces of the camp. On April 30, 1945 the prisoners were then sent on a death march with the aim of reaching the area of the Flensburg government. At the end of the war Thumann was arrested by the British and put on trial before a British military tribunal in the Neuengamme Camp Case No. 1 in Hamburg. Thumann and thirteen other defendants, including Wilhelm Dreimann and Max Pauly, the Commandant of Neuengamme, were charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. The court handed down a guilty verdict on 18 March 1946 and sentenced 11 of the 14 defendants to death by hanging on May 3, 1946, including Thumann, Dreimann and Pauly. The death sentence was carried out by British executioner Albert Pierrepoint at Hamelin prison on October 8, 1946.
Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm
Adolf-Hitler-Platz
in front of the town hall bedecked with Nazi flags as shown on the
cover of Pfaffenhofen unterm Hakenkreuz by Reinhard Haiplik, now in its
third edition. As Haiplik reveals, in the Reichstag election in 1933,
the Nazis achieved its highest election result in Oberbayern with 43.1
percent of the votes in Pfaffenhofen- "indeed by far." As early as 1923,
some of Hitler's adherents from Pfaffenhofen had participated in the
so-called "Marsch zur Feldherrnhalle," otherwise known as the Munich
beerhall putsch. Some ϟϟ
men from Pfaffenhofen made a career, most notably Anton Thumann.
Between 1933 and the end of the war in 1945 there was a lively support
of the ruling regime among the citizens of the city. In this edition
Haiplik was especially concerned about the subject of war criminals: "I
wanted to name the perpetrators and keep the memory of the victims." In
his newly-written chapter titled "Victims of the Holocaust - Individual
Destinies of Murdered Pioneers," Haiplik devoted his focus to Jewish
families, some of whom lived in Pfaffenhofen for decades and became
victims of the Holocaust. Earlier Haiplik had previously written that
there were probably no Holocaust victims from Pfaffenhofen; he has since
determined that several Jewish families lived in Pfaffenhofen until the
1930s before being sent to Theresienstadt and Auschwitz to be murdered.
SA men jumping out of a wagon in Munich marked "Burgerbräu Pfaffenhofen" during the Beer Hall Putsch, November 9, 1923; some from Pfaffenhofen took part in the attempted coup. Between
1933 and the end of the war there was active support from the
ruling regime among the city's citizens. Indeed, during the Nazi era some ϟϟ men from Pfaffenhofen made noteworthy careers including Anton Thumann who had served in various Nazi concentration camps during the war. He had joined the Nazi party as member no. 1,726,633 and the ϟϟ as member no. 24,444 in the 1930s, serving as a guard at Dachau concentration camp from 1933 onward. Starting in 1937, Thumann was employed in the Office of Guard Command and ascended to the rank of Schutzhaftlagerführer in 1940. By early August 1940 he transferred to Gross-Rosen concentration camp, which at the time was still a sub-camp of Sachsenhausen concentration camp. In early May 1941, Thumann became the Protective Custody Camp Leader of the now independent Gross-Rosen camp, under Commander Arthur Rödl. From February 1943 to March 1944 he was Protective Custody Camp Leader at the Majdanek concentration camp where, due to his sadism and participation in selections, gassings and shootings, he was known as the "Hangman of Majdanek". According to an eyewitness interned at Majdanek during the time, Jerzy Kwiatkowski, Thumann personally executed prisoners and Soviet prisoners of war. He owned a German Shepherd that he used to bite the inmates. For a few weeks between March and April 1944 Thumann was at Auschwitz. He appears in the so-called Höcker Album containing a series of photographs from an ϟϟ recreation camp, the Solahütte near Auschwitz, which had been discovered in 2007. In one of the photos shown on the right Thumann is pictured with Richard Baer, Josef Mengele, Josef Kramer and Rudolf Hoess.
Thumann then served as Protective Custody Camp Leader at Neuengamme concentration camp from mid-April 1944 until the end of April 1945. Often accompanied by his dog, he was very feared in Neuengamme due to his reputation for abuse of prisoners. As the British closed in on Neuengamme, the ϟϟ evacuated the prisoners to prison ships. During the evacuation, 58 male and 13 female resistance fighters from nearby Fuhlsbüttel concentration camp were selected to be brought to Neuengamme to be executed on the orders Georg-Henning Graf von Bassewitz-Behr. With the participation of Thumann, these prisoners were hanged between April 21 and 23, 1945 in a detention cell. When some continued to resist, Thumann threw a hand grenade through the cell window. Under the command of Thumann and Wilhelm Dreimann, the last 700 prisoners remaining at Neuengamme were forced to dispose of bodies and cover up the traces of the camp. On April 30, 1945 the prisoners were then sent on a death march with the aim of reaching the area of the Flensburg government. At the end of the war Thumann was arrested by the British and put on trial before a British military tribunal in the Neuengamme Camp Case No. 1 in Hamburg. Thumann and thirteen other defendants, including Wilhelm Dreimann and Max Pauly, the Commandant of Neuengamme, were charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. The court handed down a guilty verdict on 18 March 1946 and sentenced 11 of the 14 defendants to death by hanging on May 3, 1946, including Thumann, Dreimann and Pauly. The death sentence was carried out by British executioner Albert Pierrepoint at Hamelin prison on October 8, 1946.
Adolf-Hitler-Platz then and now, renamed Hauptplatz, with the rathaus on the right
The Brauerei Bortenschlager sporting the Nazi flag and today, a K&L clothing shop.
Karl Riemer spent the entire time of the Nazi rule from 1933–1945
in the Dachau concentration camp. He fled from the camp on April 26,
1945. He succeeded in getting through here to Pfaffenhofen, some fifty kilometres
away and already in American hands, by April 29. The American town
commandant there assured him immediate help for the prisoners in the
Dachau concentration camp. Karl Riemer was unaware that the order for
liberating the camp had already been given on the morning of his
arrival.
Nearby is the Holledau bridge on the Bundesautobahn 9, completed as part of the construction of the Reichsautobahn between Nuremberg and Munich. At the end of its sixteen arches is the Rasthaus Holledau," shown then and today. The Rasthof Holledau is the oldest rest stop along Germany's motorway today, built in 1938. Today it continues to boast the sign "Gastlichkeit seit 1938"; apparently Hitler sat beside its fireplace in its Jägerstüberl. A listed bridge today, architect Georg Gsaenger designed the previously 330 metre-long bridge in July 1937. The bridge with the directional road to Munich was inaugurated on November 4, 1938 and its final completion took place in August 1939 at a cost of six million Reichsmarks. On April 28, 1945, the Wehrmacht blew it up as shown here and it wasn't fully rebuilt until 1949. Between 1978 and 1979, the Autobahndirektion Südbayern widened the highway on three lanes in each direction causing it to be slightly altered from how it orginally appeared.
Memorial
in Aign about 20 miles north of Freising to the murdered crew of an
American B24 bomber, the Gawgia Peach (42-52709), which crash-landed
near Sillertshausen in the district of Freising on June 13, 1944 during a
bombing mission to the Milbertshofen Ordnance Depot in Munich, by
German ME 109s. Almost all members of the ten-man crew managed to rescue
themselves via parachute only to have three of them- Dennis Griggs,
Theoron O. Ivy and Robert Boynton- murdered by the Nazis. On the right
is a photo of the crew of the 831st Squadron- The second man in the
front Row is Boynton; Theoron Ivy is second to the right alongside
flight engineer Francis Winners. Griggs, the copilot, is third in the
back row next to pilot Herbert Frels who, in 1999, received the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism from then- Texas Governor George W. Bush. At the time Frels had been loaded into an ambulance and taken to the Freising hospital (where my son was born) where he would stay for two months before going to a POW camp. Boynton was murdered on the ground
by Nazi officials, as was Griggs who was killed by enraged German
villagers after parachuting down to safety. It is believed that Ivy was
killed several days later by the same group of Nazis.
The incident served as the subject of a documentary by Marcus Siebler
