At the beginning of February 1946, after a severe winter, it warmed up surprisingly quickly. The snow melts and it begins to rain heavily. The worst flood in Hanover's history follows.
by Katrin Heineking
75 years ago, two boys from the Ricklingen district were among the first to notice the rapidly rising water. Alfred Hagemann and Klaus Wolandewitsch live right behind the Leinemasch and have been having fun telling people in the district about the current water level for days. On February 9, 1946, however, something is different than usual.
"Water ran after us"
The now 84-year-old Hagemann remembers it well:"Water was spraying everywhere from the gullies, the neighbors were standing knee-high in it," he told NDR in 2016. "The water was already coming towards us in front of the first houses," said Wolandewitsch, who is now deceased. "We got scared and ran back and the water practically followed us to our house."
Files sink in muddy linen water
In the meantime, store manager August Bertram and his family fled to the upper floor in the provisional official apartment of the state archives, complete with feather beds. Within an hour, the water in the state archive rises from 1.50 to 2.20 meters. The family was stuck there for three days without electricity, heating or food. Nobody hears their cries for help. The store manager also has to watch his files sink in the muddy linen water.
"We have lost unique deeds"
After the thaw and heavy rain, the flood came to Hanover."It was a tragedy. First, two bomb hits destroyed part of the house and then the flood came. We lost unique documents and manuscripts," said Sabine Graf, head of the state archive, in an NDR interview in 2016. The loss is all the greater more tragic, since the flooded files were only provisionally on the ground floor. They had been outsourced during World War II. The British occupying powers had just returned the contemporary documents from the 19th century to the archive. Since the state archive was partially bombed, the valuable files were simply placed on the ground floor due to lack of space.
Hard winter follows floods
How could such a devastating flood take the city by surprise? The Hanoverians had just had one of the toughest winters in the Harz mountains, with severe frost and lots of snow. At the beginning of February 1946 it suddenly got warm, the snow melted and it rained heavily for days. The tidal wave started. The weather reporting service, operated by the Luftwaffe until the end of the war, had been dissolved by the Allies. The flood warning service also did not work. The Hanoverians were clueless.
Passengers save themselves on the train roof
The then 17-year-old Dieter Tasch from Hanover remembers how a tram got stuck at Goetheplatz. "The water rose so quickly that the passengers and the two conductors could no longer escape through the ice-cold water. They all climbed onto the roof and had to stay there all night. They were only rescued the next day," said Tasch in 2016 Interview with the NDR.
No electricity and supplies
The people of Hanover were surprised by the flood.Rescuing people is difficult in these confusing post-war times. Police headquarters and fire stations are also flooded. Tens of thousands of people are stuck on the upper floors of houses without electricity or heating, and the toilets are out of order. Only very few have supplies in the house in these difficult post-war times.
British Army saves files
A number of streets in Hanover were inundated by the flood in 1946.On February 12, the water finally recedes. The State Archives Repository Manager and his family are now seeing the extent of the destruction. The archive staff set out coke baskets and try to dry the unique historical documents. But it's hopeless. When an employee of the archives tells a British major that British history is also affected because the files are from the time of the personal union, the British officer has twelve prisoners of war and two trucks brought and packed as many boxes as possible. The British take the files to Celle Castle to dry.
Damage remains - to this day
Many of these flood-damaged files still exist today. "Many historians are waiting to finally take a look at these files. Without these files, we would be missing the history between 1800 and 1815, a very important part of the state's history," says archive manager Graf.