One of the more interesting mornings on my trip to Hamburg
in September was spent at the St. Nikolai Memorial, “a place of commemoration for
the victims of war and persecution 1933-1945.”
This church was founded in 1195 and is one of the oldest
churches in Hamburg. It burned and was re-built in 1874.
During air raids conducted by British and America bombers in
World War II the church steeple, 483 feet high above the ground, served as a
landmark for bomber pilots. The church was destroyed, only the steeple and
parts of the walls survive to this day.
The Lutheran Bishop refused re-building
after the war, deciding instead on a memorial for the victims of war. 
The morning was clear and a ride in the lift to the top of the steeple gave me a splendid view of the entire city. This is one view.
The Carillon, (visible in the lower half of the pictured steeple) erected in in 1993, played a soft, delightful melody adding to the enjoyment of the moment.
In the crypt of the church (entered via the glass structure in front of the steeple) there is a permanent
exhibition (library, scheduled panel discussions, lectures and educational
films) outlining the massive destruction of Hamburg, primarily by English Royal
Air Force bombers. In one ten day period in the summer of 1943, 35,000 people
were killed, 120,000 were injured and almost a million subsequently fled the
city. To keep this horrendous destruction in perspective, however, the exhibition
also details the role of the German Luftwaffe in the bombing and destruction of
Guernica, Spain, during the Spanish Civil War, and the bombing and destruction
of Warsaw, Coventry, and Rotterdam and the massive bombing of London. The
destruction of Guernica from the air is understood to be the first such act of
war carried out by aircraft.
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