Adolf Hitler visited Schweinfurt on 16 October 1932, shortly before he became Chancellor of Germany. This view shows the crowd in the downtown Marktplatz. The buildings have changed due to the bombing, but the statue of poet Friedrich Rückert is still there today.  (author's collection)

Another view of the Marktplatz during Hitler's visit, looking from the Rückert statue toward Spitalstraße.  (author's collection)

Nazi supporters march down a Schweinfurt street. (I have not been able to identify the location - if anyone knows, please send me an e-mail.)  (author's collection)

Hitler speaks in Schweinfurt to over 12,000 people.
(author's collection)

Nazi standard bearers in the Marktplatz, at the foot of Friedrich Rückert's statue. The monument to one of Schweinfurt's most famous sons was erected in 1890.  (Stadtarchiv Schweinfurt)

View of another Nazi gathering in the Marktplatz, around the Rückertdenkmal.  (author's collection)

Looking the opposite direction from the Rückert Monument shows the Schweinfurt Rathaus, or city hall. In this 1940 view the Rathaus flies a swastika flag.  (period postcard in author's collection)

The main street off the Marktplatz was renamed Adolf-Hitler-Straße (today Spitalstraße). This view is from a 1930s postcard.  (author's collection)

View today down Spitalstraße. Rebuilding after the bombing damage was not always done to match the pre-war architecture. The Rathaus on the Marktplatz is visible at the end of the street.

An SS column marches down Adolf-Hitler-Straße, with a similar view today.  (Stadtarchiv Schweinfurt)

Nazi rallies often filled the Marktplatz with marching columns and spectators. A view from the tower of the Rathaus.  (Stadtarchiv Schweinfurt)

SA men parade through the Marktplatz past local Nazi official Wilhelm Weidling.  (Stadtarchiv Schweinfurt)

View looking down Adolf-Hitler-Straße decorated for a parade.  (Stadtarchiv Schweinfurt)

The original Schweinfurt Rathaus (town hall) was built in 1572. Here it is seen decorated for the Nazi "Tag der Arbeit" (Labor Day) rally on 1 May 1933. The Rathaus suffered some damage during World War II and a devastating fire in April 1959, but is once again the centerpiece of Schweinfurt.  (Stadtarchiv Schweinfurt)

The major ball bearing manufacturers entered floats in the Schweinfurt Tag der Arbeit (Labor Day) parade on 1 May 1933. Left - Kugelfischer (FAG) entry, right - truck entered by SKF and Fichtel & Sachs. It is interesting to note that this 1933 photo shows the SKF name that is used today (Schwedische Kugellagerfabriken). During World War II the Allies referred to this company by its 1929 name VKF (Vereinigten Kugellagerfabriken), as they did not want to appear to be bombing a Swedish company!  (left - author's collection; right - courtesy Peter Gullers)

Erntedankfest (similar to American Thanksgiving - a harvest festival) parade in the Schweinfurt Marktplatz.  (Stadtarchiv Schweinfurt)

Schweinfurt was also a military garrison city, with three Wehrmacht posts including a Luftwaffe Flugplatz. The first Wehrmacht post was built in 1935-36 to house Panzerregiment 4 of the 2nd Panzerdivision. Seen here are the Pzkw. I tanks of Panzerregiment 4 parading through the Marktplatz upon their arrival in the city.  (Stadtarchiv Schweinfurt)

Military parade in the Schweinfurt Marktplatz for the return of PanzerJägerAbteiling 49 (anti-tank battalion) from the front in 1940.  (Stadtarchiv Schweinfurt)

The official name of the post built for Panzerregiment 4 was Adolf-Hitler-Kaserne, but it was more usually called simply the Panzerkaserne (now U.S. Army Ledward Barracks). The regiment's name appears on the right gate post in the period photo above; the eagle on the building is still there today (minus its original swastika).
Click here to visit Heinz Leitsch's page on the USAG Schweinfurt (in German - auf Deutsch).

The photo above shows one of the main streets on the east side of the Kaserne; for those familiar with Ledward Barracks today, this view shows the end of post with the Clinic and Bldg. 215. This view is from a postcard sent home by a soldier in Panzer Ausbildungs Abt. 25 (one of the wartime training units stationed here) - he labeled his barracks building "Unser Haus". This card was postmarked 16 August 1943, the day before the first bombing attack on Schweinfurt - during that attack, bombs would fall in the foreground area of this photo.  (top image - many thanks to the friend of this site who provided this image from a period photo album; center and bottom - author's collection)

During much of the war, the Panzerkaserne was used as a training center for Sturmgeschutz (assault gun) vehicles. In the 1943 photo at left, a crew is training in a chassis with the cannon removed, for driver training. While the exact location of this photo on the Panzerkaserne is unknown, the motor pools have changed very little and are still in use today. The Sturmgeschutz training reached its height in 1944, when some 5000 crewmen were trained here.  (private collection)

A short distance west of Schweinfurt was the Flugplatz, a grass airfield that was used to train pilots for the Ju-87 Stuka dive-bomber (now used by the U.S. Army as Conn Barracks). A Luftwaffe eagle is still visible at the main entry gate. The pilot trainees flew from here to a small bombing range near Sulzheim (southeast of Schweinfurt), where they practiced dropping bombs. Some of these were live explosive bombs, while others were concrete practice bombs, many of which still remain at the site today (right-hand photo).

Another important aspect of the military in the Schweinfurt area was the air defense organization. Flak gun and searchlight positions were established all around Schweinfurt to protect the industrial areas. By the end of the war, some 140 flak guns ranging from light 2.0cm guns to the standard 8.8cm gun were in place, as well as 9 searchlight positions. The photo on the left shows one of the Schweinfurt 8.8cm guns in its dug-in emplacement. The photo on the right, taken during the bombing attack of 14 October 1943, shows the Panzerkaserne, with bomb damage showing from the previous attack in August. The hexagonal features outlined at upper-left are two batteries of 8.8cm flak guns (six guns in each battery), part of the Großbatterie Panzerkaserne, which would eventually number 20 guns and several searchlights, rangefinders, and radar antennas.  (left - Stadtarchiv Schweinfurt; right - National Archives, RG 342-FH 3A22426 (detail)

On the left, an acoustic direction finder of one of the searchlight units around Schweinfurt. During the latter part of the war, these searchlights were generally operated by female Luftwaffe auxiliaries, the Flakhelferinnen. These "flak helpers" and their male counterparts were youths in their teens or early 20s, who also helped load and fire the flak guns and coordinate the communications.  (Stadtarchiv Schweinfurt)

Sachs is shown here (with head turned) with Himmler, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring and others during a visit to the stadium. The entry to the Willy-Sachs-Stadion remains unchanged today.  (Stadtarchiv Schweinfurt)

At the stadium dedication ceremony on 23 July 1936, Sachs (with SS dagger) stands to Himmler's left; on Himmler's right is Franz Ritter von Epp, Reichsleiter of Bavaria. The only changes are the white metal railing and the modern plastic chairs in the stadium grandstand  ...  and the swastika flag is gone.  (Stadtarchiv Schweinfurt)

Children play at the Sachs-Stadion in 1936 - the stadium is decorated with swastika flags. The trees and bushes have grown up in the intervening 70 years, but the view remains mostly unchanged otherwise.  ("Moderne Bauformen" 1936)

Willy Sachs' father Ernst, a founder of the Schweinfurt bearing industry, had previously been honored as the namesake of an indoor swimming complex built ca. 1935.  (1936 postcard in author's collection)

This is the Hotel Luitpold on Luitpoldstraße in Schweinfurt. The building has the unmistakable lines of the classic Third Reich architectural style, and indeed, it was built for the local government Arbeitsamt (Labor Office) ca. 1936.

This building on Wilhelm-Leuschner-Straße was built in 1938 as a training center for the motorized Hitler Jugend. Older boys came here to live for a period of study on motorcycles, engines, and mechanical repair. The building now houses the local chapter of the German Labor League (DGB). The building next door (seen on the right) still has a Nazi eagle above the doorway.

When the U.S. Army moved into Schweinfurt in April 1945, famous Life Magazine photographer Margaret Bourke-White noted in her memoirs that the GIs requisitioned some of the more elaborate houses on the east side of town as their temporary billets. This area was the furthest from the bearing factories, and thus largely escaped bombing damage, and several luxurious mansions were located here. This 1896 villa on Gartenstraße was likely one of those occupied by the U.S. Army.

Entry gate marker and pylon at the Willy-Sachs-Stadion, erected in 1936. The bronze eagle on the pylon was by Ludwig Gies (Gies also designed the large Federal Eagle that hangs in the Reichstag building in Berlin today).

This curious artifact (on the left) can be seen today on the front of the Heilig-Geist-Kirche. It is an iron disk about five inches in diameter, attached to the wall, that reads "Deutsches Reich Höhenmarke." This was apparently a Nazi government topographical survey marker (click here to see pictures of other such markers that remain today).

These photos show a building on Ludwigstraße in the suburb of Niederwerrn, which served as a command and control bunker for the Schweinfurt area air defenses, under the command of Flak-Regiment 179. After the war, windows were cut through the concrete walls, and the building has served as an auto repair shop.  (My thanks to Mike Haines for alerting me to this "bunker" in Niederwerrn, and to Lt. Col. Juan Hernandez (Ret.) for info on its wartime purpose.)