Need help dating these Rothenburg ob der Tauber photos..

[Tracer]

Hi all..

I was browsing thru a local used/vintage bookshop the other day and found a book on Rothenburg published in 1950.. in German. These photos were included in a seperate envelope..

very cool.

I spent a day in Rothenburg on my 1st trip to Germany in 1991 so.. these pics were an especially meaningful find for me.

My question is.. can anyone tell if these are pre, during or post WWII pics?























Thanks for any insight on these.

Another interesting thing about the book is a listing of German soldiers from that area that died in the war.. I can post that if any biographical research people would care to see it.

-Tracer

[BDMhistorian]

Well, looking at the pictures I would say 1930s or 1940s judging by the peoples' clothing and the cars. Though I will admit I am no big expert on cars.

[Tracer]

BDM: Yeah I had similar thoughts concerning the cars and what people were wearing. I'm not seeing any NSDAP banners anywhere though.. so maybe just prior to 1933?

thanks for looking.

-Tracer

[Erich]

Tracer wonderful pics ! yes pre-war as much of the town had their roofs blown off and much destruction. The buildings were rebuilt in the old style that Rothenburg is famous for. I beleive that the old walled city of Nördlingen also felt the effects of the war

E ~

[Tracer]

Thanks Erich.. (not a bad little group of photos for $5.00)

I had been told.. (can't remember who..) that Rothenburg had been spared heavy distruction b/c of an American General that had visited the town pre war.. remembered how beautiful it was and ordered it skipped on a list of potential bombing targets.. (This is hearsay of course.. but interesting..)

-Tracer

[Max Williams]

Tracer wonderful pics ! yes pre-war as much of the town had their roofs blown off and much destruction. The buildings were rebuilt in the old style that Rothenburg is famous for. I beleive that the old walled city of Nördlingen also felt the effects of the war

E ~

Thanks Erich.. (not a bad little group of photos for $5.00)

I had been told.. (can't remember who..) that Rothenburg had been spared heavy distruction b/c of an American General that had visited the town pre war.. remembered how beautiful it was and ordered it skipped on a list of potential bombing targets.. (This is hearsay of course.. but interesting..)

-Tracer

Out of interest, why would Rothenburg have been a military target?
Max.

[Geoff Walden]

Tracer wonderful pics ! yes pre-war as much of the town had their roofs blown off and much destruction. The buildings were rebuilt in the old style that Rothenburg is famous for. I beleive that the old walled city of Nördlingen also felt the effects of the war

E ~

Thanks Erich.. (not a bad little group of photos for $5.00)

I had been told.. (can't remember who..) that Rothenburg had been spared heavy distruction b/c of an American General that had visited the town pre war.. remembered how beautiful it was and ordered it skipped on a list of potential bombing targets.. (This is hearsay of course.. but interesting..)

-Tracer

Out of interest, why would Rothenburg have been a military target?
Max.

Max - Rothenburg odT was not a military target ... rather like Wuerzburg, the Allies bombed Rothenburg "because they could" (although Wuerzburg, at least, did have extensive rail yards).

Tracer - That's what the tour guides at Rothenburg usually tell people (that they are seeing the original buildings - not rebuilt). However, Erich is right - about half of the old walled part of Rothenburg was indeed heavily damaged by bombs - this damage is clear in post-war photos. I did have a tour guide there once who did tell our group about the bomb damage - he hinted that he wasn't "supposed" to reveal this, but he thought history was more important.

Geoff

[Tracer]

Thank you Geoff.. sehr interesant.

-T

[Ken S.]

I know this is an old topic, but there's a website that's relevant to to this discussion: http://www.rothenburg-unterm-hakenkreuz.de/