Ruins of the Residence with swastika in Munich May 1945

Ruin of the Residence with swastika in Munich May 1945; Photo; Licensed article; Original: 5740×4315; Photographer: Unknown; Licensable; Rights: © Bleek/zb Media.

View from the Feldherrnhalle to the ruins of the Residenz, Munich – May 1945
Silence lies over Odeonsplatz. A Nazi monument with a large swastika still stands in front of the Feldherrnhalle, once a central location for National Socialist staging. The symbol seems out of place – the war is over, the regime overthrown, but here it has not yet been hastily demolished or painted over.
In the background, the ruins of the residence tower into the sky. Its once magnificent façades are badly damaged, walls have collapsed, window cavities yawn empty. The traces of the nights of bombing that shook Munich are visible everywhere.
But the scene is deserted. No soldier, no civilian breaks the oppressive silence. The city that was once considered the “capital of the movement” lies in ruins – and with it the ideology that began here. The Feldherrnhalle, once a place of demonstration of power, is now a scene of transience.
Soon the swastika will disappear, the monument will be taken down and the city will be rebuilt. But at this moment in May 1945, it still stands – a relic of a lost era in a destroyed city.