Thursday, March 5, 2026

Trümmerfrau

Trümmerfrau (Rubble woman) by Walter Reinhold, Rathausplatz, Dresden

Trümmerfrau (Rubble woman) by Walter Reinhold, 1968
(The original statue of 1952 was cast iron)
Rathausplatz
Dresden, September 2024

“Trümmerfrauen (lit. rubble women) were women who, in the aftermath of World War II, helped clear and reconstruct the bombed cities of Germany and Austria. Hundreds of cities had suffered significant bombing and firestorm damage through aerial attacks and ground war, and with many men dead or prisoners of war, this monumental task fell to a large degree on women. 3.6 million out of the sixteen million homes in 62 cities in Germany were destroyed during Allied bombings in World War II, with another four million damaged. Half of all school buildings, forty percent of the infrastructure, and many factories were either damaged or destroyed. According to estimates, there were about 500 million cubic metres of rubble (a volume of over 150 Great Pyramids of Giza) and 7.5 million people were made homeless.” (Trümmerfrau, Wikipedia)

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