As the capital and cultural centre of the German Reich, Berlin was subjected to extremely heavy bombing. More than 9,000 sorties dropped some 45,000 tons of bombs, leaving large parts of the city in ruins. Irreplaceable works by architects and artists such as Schlüter, Knobelsdorff, Schadow and Schinkel were destroyed, together with palaces, museums, churches, monuments and other cultural sites.
Berlin in peacetime
About 68,000 houses were destroyed and 400,000 people were left homeless. During the major air offensive against Berlin in late 1943, the Allies deployed nearly 3,000 bombers.
Even the evacuation of parts of the population could not prevent heavy civilian casualties. Large numbers of refugees and displaced people arrived in Berlin from the east; many found themselves among the ruins and were killed in subsequent raids.
Overall, Berlin was bombed 363 times by British, American and Soviet aircraft. About 50,000 civilians were killed — burned, suffocated, buried beneath rubble or torn apart by explosions.
50,000 dead
The most serious bombing raids:
8 June 1940,
26 August 1940,
8 October 1940,
16 December 1940,
21 December 1940,
24 March 1941,
8/9 August 1941,
13 August 1941,
8 November 1941,
17/18 January 1943,
2 March 1943,
8 March 1943,
30 March 1943,
24 August 1943,
1 September 1943,
4 September 1943,
18 November–3 December 1943,
24 December 1943,
30 December 1943,
2/3 January 1944,
21 January 1944,
28/29 January 1944,
31 January 1944,
16 February 1944,
6/8/9 March 1944,
25 March 1944,
8 May 1944,
21 June 1944,
3 February 1945,
26 February 1945,
15 March 1945,
18 March 1945,
20 April 1945.
These raids killed thousands of civilians and destroyed irreplaceable cultural assets. In one attack in March 1943, 3,900 animals at the Berlin Zoo also died.
“Berlin in flames” — report in a U.S. newspaper
Report of a German newspaper
Particularly tragic was the final major raid on historic Potsdam. In the closing days of the war, 5,000 people were killed. Some 1,700 tons of bombs devastated the former Prussian royal city on the outskirts of Berlin. The Garrison Church, associated with the tomb of Frederick II, Potsdam City Palace and almost half of the city centre were destroyed.
Berlin in ruins
Soviet propaganda footage of the battle of Berlin
Below: graffiti presented as manifestations of the “victors’ culture”:
