Headstone of victim of the bombing on Jan 2, 1945.

The air raid on January 2, 1945 topped all previous bombing raids. 1,000 bomber aircraft of the British Royal Air Force targeted the old city with approximately 1,000,000 incendiary bombs and 6,000 explosive bombs, resulting in the wide-scale destruction of the Sebalder Altstadt, as the northern part of the Old Town is called. 1,800 people died in the ruins, 3,300 were wounded, some of them heavily, and 100,000 lost their homes.

Thus, like the city of Dresden, Nuremberg suffered a historically unprecedented degree of destruction within a few hours.

Numerous walkways go through the trench graves of almost 2000 victims of the Jan. 2, 1945 air raid of Nurnberg. As you walk along the path, stone after stone lay next to eachother identifing the victims. In some cases the small stone says "Family of five at 7 Rorhrmatten strasse". These vast graves seem to go forever.

Family gaves are tended weekly by family menbers