ABSTRACT
Rothenburg had long been one of Germany's most popular tourist destinations, a status that the Nazi period actually reinforced. Yet Rothenburg's renown could not shield it from the destruction unleashed by the Nazi regime. On 31 March 1945, a few weeks before Germany's surrender, a small flight U.S. bombers destroyed between forty to forty-five percent of Rothenburg's historic center (Figure 7.1 and 7.2). The raid destroyed 306 private buildings and six public structures and damaged an additional fifty-two houses. Over 700 meters of Rothenburg's medieval wall lay in ruins, as weIl as several fortified towers. The human toll was also significant; thirty-nine Rothenburgers lost their lives and many were left homeless. 1 With nearly half of its historie center in ruins, Rothenburg's medieval reputation and its popularity among tourists was certainly in doubt.
