Ruins (and a Bunker) by Horst Cerni

 

'RUINS' usually, evoke images of war and destruction, as well as suffering and loss of homes. Most ruins are cleaned up and rebuilt as soon as possible, but others remain, some as historical monuments and tourist attractions, like the Colosseum in Rome, or Angkor Wat in Cambodia, and Machu Picchu in Peru.

Colosseum,  Rome, Italy

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Machu Picchu, Peru

Some have become war memorials, like the Genbaku Dome in Hiroshima which is a place for prayer for world peace and the elimination of nuclear weapons.

Genbaku Dome, Hiroshima, Japan

Hamburg - A Place of Encounters

Similarly, the church tower of St. Nikolai in Hamburg,, Germany, stands as a reminder of the horrors of war and is a place of remembrance and encounters.

War Memorial St. Nikolai, Hamburg, Germany

The church dates back to the twelfth century when a wooden chapel was built by the community and named in honor of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors and merchants. St. Nikolai (as it is now known) had a very dramatic history, including the Lutheran Reformation in 1517, and it took until 1528 to resolve the conversion to Protestantism peacefully.

The tallest tower in the world
In the 14th century the wooden structure was replaced by a stone building, but the tower collapsed, and in 1842 a big fire destroyed the entire church. A new one was built with a 147 m tall tower, which was the largest building in the world from 1874 until 1876.

The new church in 1874 with the world's highest steeple

It still is the second largest building in Hamburg, only the TV tower being taller.

The tall steeple served the allied pilots as a point of reference, and starting in July of 1943 the firebombing destroyed most of the church. Only the tower and the crypt survived. Over 37,000 people died during the bombings, 180,000 were wounded, and 60% of the houses were destroyed.

Firestorm 1943 Hamburg

Hamburg war ruins

The allied pilots were able to avoid bombing historic buildings, like the other churches and City Hall.

Hamburg after the War

Since February of 1945, we were living some 120 km north east of Hamburg in a rural area and only saw some bombardment on the way there. Fifteen months after WW II, I took the train to Hamburg. The city was like a ghost town. The rubble had been removed from the streets, but many ruins were still there. Some were boarded up to avoid accidents. It was eerie to walk through the dark streets and along boarded-up ruins. Only a few street lamps worked, and there was no traffic.

I was invited by a musician couple whom we had met during our vacation at the Baltic Sea in the Summer of 1944. Both played for the Hamburg State Opera. The opera house was partly destroyed, especially the audience auditorium. But the opera managed to get the stage area repaired and made it possible for some 300 people to attend a performance. So I was invited to experience one of the first performances after the war.

In the early fifties, I lived in Hamburg and worked for an Import-Export company about half-way between the “Rathaus” (City Hall) and St. Nikolai. I often passed the church on the way to the ”Speicherstadt (old warehouses) to clear customs for imported goods. St. Nikolai was being worked on and rubble being removed, but what I vividly remember are the wooden boards covering the remaining ruins.

It took seven years after the war ended for the church council to realize that it would be too costly to build a new church, especially since few parishioners still lived in that area. So it was decided to keep and repair only the remaining ruins and steeple as a war memorial and place of encounters. A museum was set up in the crypt, as well as a meeting hall.

Part of St.Nikolai Church

An area for encounters

In 2005, an elevator was installed which takes people up to a platform at 75m high from where one has a beautiful view of the city, - to the right one sees the historic Rathaus (City Hall) and to the left the Speicherstadt.(warehouse city), which is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

War Memorial St. Nikolai

View from the steeple of the Hamburg Rathaus

View of the Speicherstadt
Hamburg photos courtesy of Oliver Flessner

The Opposite of a Ruin - a Bunker

Less than one km from St. Nikolai on the Holy Ghost Field (named after a hospital) is a massive building - a bunker, which was unmovable and an eyesore. It had space for 400 people, although most of the time during the bombing raids upto 600 found shelter there. While one of the fiercest firestorms ravaged Hamburg, people in the bunker were safe. It provided 100% protection and everybody survived the air raids.

Hamburg - The Bunker

Side view of the Bunker Hotel

On top of the bunker was an aircraft defense unit, which probably wasn’t very successful in deterring the allied bombers.

It took more than ten years to convert the bunker into an attractive hotel, restaurant, war museum, viewing area and botanical garden, It was inaugurated in the Summer of 2024 and has become quite a tourist attraction. It is now referred to as the “Green Bunker".

View from the Bunker , including the tower of St. Nikolai at the right

Evening at the Green Bunker