Mountains of rubble in Cologne - The legacy of World War II

During the air raids on Cologne in World War II, a large part of the city was destroyed. Images from the American army show the destroyed city. In this film we want to shed light on what happened to the huge amounts of rubble.

According to estimates, around 30 million cubic metres of rubble were left. 78% of the city area was destroyed, and in the old town within the rings it was as much as 92%.

Photo credit:
Various contents are AI generated with DALL-E 3 and then AI animated with Gen-2, or photos were animated directly with Gen-2 AI.

US National Archives, Department of Defense, Department of the Army
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Historical and elevation maps: www.tim-online.nrw.de

Südlicher Escher See, Köln © Superbass / CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

Drawing: Das neue Köln. Ein Vorentwurf. Hrsg. Stadt Köln, 1950, R. Schwarz S. 107

Schutthügel Rheinpark Foto Kurt Schönbohm
Teehaus Rheinpark 1914 Foto: Kölnmesse
Eröffnung Bundesgartenschau 1957 Foto: Stadt Köln
Bundesgartenschau 1957 Foto: Deutsche Bundesgartenschau-Gesellschaft