Editing History of Cologne (section)

=== Nazi Germany ===
At the beginning of [[Nazi Germany]], Cologne was considered difficult by the [[Nazis]] because of deep-rooted [[communist]] and Catholic influences in the city. The Nazis were always struggling for control of the city.

Local elections on 13 March 1933 resulted in the [[Nazi Party]] winning 39.6% of the vote, followed by the catholic [[Centre Party (Germany)|Zentrum Party]] with 28.3%, the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]] with 13.2%, and the [[Communist Party of Germany]] with 11.1%. One day later, on 14 March, Nazi followers occupied the city hall and took over government. Communist and Social Democratic members of the city assembly were imprisoned, and Mayor Adenauer was dismissed.

When the Nazis came to power in 1933, the Jewish population of Cologne was about 20,000. By 1939, 40% of the city's Jews had emigrated. The vast majority of those who remained had been deported to [[concentration camp]]s by 1941. The trade fair grounds next to the Deutz train station were used to herd the Jewish population together for deportation to the death camps and for disposal of their household goods by public sale. On ''[[Kristallnacht]]'' in 1938, Cologne's [[synagogue]]s were desecrated or set on fire.<ref>Horst Matzerath: Köln in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus. In: Peter Fuchs (Hrsg.): Chronik zur Geschichte der Stadt Köln.</ref>

It was planned to rebuild a large part of the inner city, with a main road connecting the Deutz station and the main station, which was to be moved from next to the cathedral to an area adjacent to today's university campus, with a huge field for rallies, the Maifeld, next to the main station. The Maifeld, between the campus and the Aachener Weiher artificial lake, was the only part of this over-ambitious plan to be realized before the start of the war. After the war, the remains of the Maifeld were buried with rubble from bombed buildings and turned into a park with rolling hills, which was christened [[Hiroshima]]-[[Nagasaki, Nagasaki|Nagasaki]]-Park in August 2004 as a memorial to the victims of the nuclear bombs of 1945. An inconspicuous memorial to the victims of the Nazi regime is situated on one of the hills.

On the night of 30–31 May 1942, Cologne was the target for the [[Bombing of Cologne in World War II|first 1,000 bomber raid]] of the war. Between 469 and 486 people, around 90% of them civilians, were reported killed, more than 5,000 were injured, and more than 45,000 lost their homes. It was estimated that up to 150,000 of Cologne's population of around 700,000 left the city after the raid. The [[Royal Air Force]] lost 43 of the 1,103 bombers sent. By the end of [[World War II]], 90% of Cologne's buildings had been destroyed by [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] [[Aerial bombing of cities|aerial bombing]] raids, most of them flown by the RAF.
[[File:Wartime damage, Cologne 1984.JPG|thumb|Wartime damage still visible in 1984]]
On 10 November 1944, a dozen members of the anti-Nazi [[Ehrenfeld Group]] were hanged in public. Six of them were 16-year-old boys of the [[Edelweiss Pirates]] youth gang, including [[Barthel Schink]]; [[Fritz Theilen]] survived.

The bombings continued and people moved out. By May 1945 only 20,000 residents remained out of 770,000.<ref>Richard Overy, '' The Bombers and the Bombed: Allied Air War Over Europe 1940-1945'' (2014) p 304</ref>

The outskirts of Cologne were reached by US troops on 4 March 1945. The inner city on the left bank of the Rhine was captured in half a day on 6 March 1945, meeting only minor resistance. Because the [[Hohenzollernbrücke]] was destroyed by retreating German pioneers, the boroughs on the right bank remained under German control until mid-April 1945.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www1.wdr.de/themen/archiv/stichtag/stichtag808.html|title = Trotz Durchhalteparolen wenig Widerstand – Die US-Armee nimmt Köln ein|date = 7 March 2005|work = Sixty years ago [Vor 60 Jahren] on www.wdr.de|publisher = [[Westdeutscher Rundfunk]]|language = de|trans-title=Minor restistance despite rallying calls – the US-army captures Cologne|access-date = 29 October 2011}}</ref>