German Document

[MySonsDad]

Hello all,

Wondering if anyone could give us an idea of what this is.

I can tell its some kind of announcement for name changes?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards,

Russ & Son

[HPL2008]

It's a list of the old and new names of several streets and squares, a school and a stadium, clearly renamed after the town in question was liberated/occupied by the Allies. (The old names are all Nazi names.)

"Effective immediately, the following streets are re-named:
[...]
5 April 1945 / The provisional mayor"

[MySonsDad]

It's a list of the old and new names of several streets and squares, a school and a stadium, clearly renamed after the town in question was liberated/occupied by the Allies. (The old names are all Nazi names.)

"Effective immediately, the following streets are re-named:
[...]
5 April 1945 / The provisional mayor"

Thank you so much for the information. Kind of an unusual find I am thinking?

It came with a group of things I purchased from a US soldier of German decent, he collected several items after the war while he awaited his return to the states.

Thanks again,

Russ & Son

[HPL2008]

Kind of an unusual find I am thinking?

I really can't tell how common it is to find official proclamations on such re-naming procedures nowadays. The re-namings as such were definitely a very common occurence in 1945 as countless streets, squares, schools etc. had been named after Nazi notables (politicians, "martyrs" etc.) in the years since 1933. (Looking at a 1938 map of my hometown, I can find an Adolf-Hitler-Platz, a Schlageterstraße, a Ritter-von-Epp-Straße and other such creations.)

Anyway, I've had a closer look at the streets in your document and done some online research/cross-matching. I can tell you now that your document is from Rheydt* in North Rhine-Westphalia. At the time an independent city, it is now a borough of the city of Mönchengladbach. Incidentally, Rheydt was the birthplace of Joseph Goebbels. (Notice that - unsurprisingly - they had a street named after him.) Rheydt had been taken by the U.S. Ninth Army on 1 March 1945. The first provisional mayor in 1945 was Heinrich Vogelsang, who was succeeded by August Brocher (notice that the erstwhile Herbert-Norkus-Straße was re-named August-Brocher-Straße) and then finally Carl Marcus, who held the post from 1945 to 1948.


* You can even make out the last two letters of it at the bottom left corner, before the date.


PS: Published by the Mönchengladbach City Archives, German-speaking members may find this text on the matter of Goebbels and his hometown of interest:
http://www.probuerger.de/moenchengla...le.cfm?id=f262

[HPL2008]

Some more data on some of the streets in question:

On 1 April 1933, the following politically-motivated name changes were made:

• Neumarkt to Adolf-Hitler-Platz
• Dahlener Straße to Joseph-Goebbels-Straße
• Friedrich-Ebert-Straße to Horst-Wessel-Straße
• Hugo-Preuß-Straße to Litzmann-Straße
• Stresemann-Straße to Dr.-Frick-Straße

All of the above are found in your document, being re-named (in most cases reverting back to their original names) in 1945.

On 15 December 1933, two more came about:

• Augusta-Straße to Hindenburgwall
• Logenstraße to Admiral-Scheer-Straße

Others were undertaken in later years of the Third Reich period.

Source: http://www.probuerger.de/moenchengla...le.cfm?id=f265 (Another publication from the same series of texts as the Goebbels one in my above post.)


The Heinz-Brands-Kampfbahn had got its name in 1934.

Source: Das Grenzlandstadion - Hindenburger Stadtzeitschrift für Mönchengladbach und Rheydt (Also German-language.)

[MySonsDad]

Again, thank you so much for the great information, I am sure my kid will be thrilled when I give this to him along with all the other pieces that came in this grouping.

The town of Rheydt fits perfectly with several of the other items, including 3 colored brochures (non-military) that say Rheydt on the front covers and appear to be some sort of travel or information guide to the city maybe? I am learning more about the soldier who gathered these items, he was in the 95th Infantry Division of the US Army it appears. He was of German decent and served in the capacity of an interpreter for US military officials who were dealing with various town officials immediately following the end of the war.

Thank you again,

Russ