‘What we have lost’: framing urban destruction, 1940–1960

Abstract

Introduction The sun starts her daily round She rises in eternal beauty. But quickly she covers her face, Looking for a town that cannot be found. Thus concludes the anonymous poem, ‘Thus Died My Home Town’, which circulated widely among the residents of Kassel in the months following the attack of 22 October 1943. The metaphor of the sun covering her face derives from an observation that was made frequently in the aftermath of heavy fire bombings. The thick concentration of smoke particles in the air tended to blot out the sun, casting the devastated cityscape in an eerie twilight. In employing the imagery of sentimental poetry, the text not only renders a disconcerting experience consumable, it also gives expression to a sense of irredeemable loss. The term ‘death’ is used both descriptively and metaphorically, referring to the destruction of human life and material objects as well as of the ‘home town’ as a place of belonging. The example serves as a reminder that bombing did not just terminate the lives of thousands of residents, but transformed the urban environment beyond recognition.