Memorial Victims School Collapse 13 November 1945

Though not strictly a memorial to victims during a war, the victims buried here are certainly direct consequences of it. This memorial commemorates the deaths of 17 schoolgirls and two teachers who died in the collapse of the Holztorschule on 13 November 1945. The school building stood in the Lauterenviertel (between Rheintraße and Lauterenstraße facing on to Holzstraße) but had been hit by a bomb during the war and was in a bad state of repair, however the shortage of buildings in the city meant that it was reopened as a school on 1 October 1945 despite the damage to the buildings fabric. At 10am the building suffered structural collapse that destroyed one whole classroom (by luck 10 students survived and 13 students were absent that day). 8 of the school girls are buried here, the remaining 9 and the two teachers are buried in their family plots elsewhere in the cemetery.

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Source

• Text: Andy Pegler
• Photos: Andy Pegler