the tiny town of B in 1945.

A few weeks ago, I bought a book from the local bookstore here in the tiny town of B. It was published in 2006 by the local government and is about the end of WW2 and after in the tiny town of B. I can understand most of the German to follow along, but have been reading with a dictionary to really grasp the full meanings of many words.

It includes historical reminiscing by some local residents as to what life was like here towards the end of the war and immediately after it. It includes a section from 1955 of memories that were published in the local newspaper 10 years after the war. It includes a timeline of important events locally, and where bombs fell. It has a copy of information that was produced by the town in 1945 for distribution to the citizens. The Americans military was in this area, so these instructions were in German and English.

It also includes photos that people submitted who were telling their stories, such as a young man in his Hitler Youth uniform or a group at the swimming pool. It includes many details that I did not know about the tiny town of B, such as the factory that produces automotive components today was actually a part of the war machine producing something for submarines (if I followed the dictionary correctly). In fact, it was such an operation that it employed 2000 forced laborers and was bombed.

It includes details about a local man who managed to keep part of the Jewish population from being deported by getting special government permission to keep his Jewish workers. His factory made leather coats and this permission was granted. Deep in B. there is a street named after him. Other streets also went through a re-name according to this book. As of May 11, 1945 Adolf-Hitler Strasse became Blumenstrasse (Flower Street).