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Memories of Schneidemühl

Very little of the original architecture of the 19th and early 20th century remained in Schneidemühl
a
fter the end of the Second World War. Additionally, successive post-war Communist city councils
had little regard for sentiments
, as new blocks of Stalinist-style concrete buildings made room
for a relocated population
in the reborn city of Piła. The result of the rebuilding process,
possibly mixed with the wish to eradicate
the German past of the city,
was the elimination of several streets and some of the remaining old buildings.

 
An eclectic choice of old photographs

synagogue 1890

(Photo courtesy J. Rosenberg, Chile)

 A south-west view of the synagogue, before the enlargement of the west entrance,
— summer
1890, as seen from across the Wilhelms-Platz.



 
altmarkt

(Photo courtesy J. Rosenberg, Chile)

Hindenburg Platz, originally known as Alter Markt, ca. 1930.
This used to be the centre of the old town of Piła in the 16th century.




buergergarten

(Photo courtesy J. Rosenberg, Chile)

The Bürgergarten, once known as "Straubel's Tivoli," formerly a favorite
weekend restaurant for the populace.

On 21 February 1940 this building was taken over by the Gestapo and became
one of the many detention
centres of the Jews of Schneidemühl and the
surrounding areas who had been arrested on that day.

Many of the elderly perished in this locale, while the rest were eventually deported
from here
to labor camps, hospices and ultimately, in 1941-43, to the death camps.




ruins

(Photo courtesy J. Rosenberg, Chile)

Schneidemühl, February 1945: the Soviet Red Army, fighting street by street
.




Ruins of
            Friedrstr.
.
(Photo courtesy J. Rosenberg, Chile)


14 February 1945 — German capitulation.
O
ne of the countless ruins — all that remained of the once fashionable Friedrichstrasse





















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