Freising in the Third Reich

[Keir]

Living in the town, I'm curious as to how it fared under the Third Reich, especially given its significance as a major religious centre, its links to the current pope, and the Disney-like feel of the place. I was taken aback therefore to see how its main street, Obere Hauptstrasse, was known by a different name at one time...

[Keir]

Marienplatz in 1936 with the same site today, and from a 1943 postcard and today

[Keir]

A couple of photos I took today to compare with those taken back in 1936 from across Marienplatz and right in front of the Fürstbischöfliches Lyceum.
As an aside, looking at the empty flagpoles today, I often wonder about those flagpoles one sees at German war memorials. The one I cycle past every day to and fro work has two poles and never have any flags but are conspicuously empty. I find it striking that those honoured for having died for their country have that country itself dishonoured. I saw a black-white-red flag whilst walking around Fuessen this weekend, but can't imagine it being flown officially anytime soon. As for the succeeding state flag...

[Keir]

I didn't even know that the town had been bombed (although reading a magazine whilst waiting to get an haircut I saw an article that showed how much uglier the town used to be, so maybe a drastic event had caused this). Here's a photo of the town's evangelical church after being bombed by the USAAF on April 18, 1945 and as it appears today after its consecration May 22, 1952.

[Keir]

It was here that Julius Streicher had been supposedly tortured which historian Werner Maser devotes two pages to in his 1977 book Nuremberg: Tribunal der Sieger. Streicher's biographer William P. Varga, in his 1981 book The Number One Nazi Jew-Baiter mentions the allegation of torture at Freising:

[U.S. Army Intelligence Captain John) Dolibois later related that Streicher complained bitterly of his treatment at the hands of American soldiers before his transfer to Mondorf. Evidently his notoriety as a fanatic racial persecutor was known to the troops at Freising. Streicher claimed that he and his wife were forced by some black American soldiers to walk in public stripped of their clothes. These soldiers allegedly spat on them and extinguished cigarettes on their bare skin. At Mondorf, an unconfirmed report was circulated stating that some soldiers had taken photographs that showed Streicher dressed only in an open coat, with swollen testicles and a crown of thorns on his head with a sign draped over his neck with the words "Julius Streicher, King of the Jews."

[Keir]

The other week I was stopped by a nice group of National Socialists on the bridge in town over the Isar and given this brochure warning against foreigners (such as myself). My Chinese wife, a bit further back (I was rushing with the baby carriage as baby Winston was in a foul mood), wasn't offered one. You can make out the dashed borders within those of Poland and Czech Republic denoting the land Germany "lost" (including the Sudetenland) after the war and which, presumably, this group has still not accepted.

[Mannheim]

Great photos! I am a big fan of Then and Now photos. Got any more?

[Keir]

Cheers, Mannheim
Check out my site at www.tracesofevil.com.
I've just returned from Berlin where I took my Grade 11 students on a 4-day history tour. I've been struggling to figure out how to use layers on Photoshop to create the same type of before-after images as created by Sergey Larenkov, a photographer who blends photos from WWII with current ones: http://sergey-larenkov.livejournal.com/

[Keir]

Just outside St. George's church.

[Panzerkampfwagen]

Thanks for the pictures keir.

[Keir]

Looking from the other direction towards Marienplatz; no flags fly anymore despite all the poles

[Keir]

Blowing up the Isar bridge at the last minute on April 29, 1945 does little to stop the Americans from entering the town

[Keir]

A couple of photos of pogromstimmung over the clothing shop formerly owned by the Neuburger family in town:

[Keir]

Surprising by how little has changed, especially with the building (now an hotel) on the left. The Neuburgers remained the longest in the city when they finally fled to Munich on 27 October, 1939.
Here is one of two stolperstein I found in the town commemorating members of the family.

[Keir]

The first photo I posted on this thread shows the SA marching past the Marcushaus, which had contained a large Jewish business run by the Neuburgers. The photos here show an SA man intimidating any attempting to shop inside, and the same entrance today.