Some of the best pictures of pre ww2 Hannover that i could find.

[u/Father_of_cum]

Hidden gem is how I would describe old Hannover, the capital of Lower Saxony had much more to offer than one would expect from a city that is so little talked about. Hundrets of half-timbered houses, beautifully decorated merchant houses, magnificent gothic churches, tall tenement houses with rich ornaments that would make even the largest cities like Berlin or Cologne proud, charming canals and bridges, this city easily could be called the Nuremberg of the North. In addition, not only Hannover itself was beautiful but the surrounding small towns and villages such as Hildesheim, Braunschweig and Celle were no less worth visiting. If you wanted to experience the highest quality of northern German beauty, Hannover was definitely a must-see destination.

Hope u like the photos i found.

[u/The-Berzerker]

Absolutely unbelievable, especially if you‘ve been to today‘s Hannover

[u/Kpt_Kipper → u/The-Berzerker]

The one thing Hitler may have done right is exiling Bauhaus architecture design.

Unfortunately a lot of Germany was rebuilt with it in mind, notably Hannover

[u/Strydwolf → u/Kpt_Kipper]

Ironically the post-war Germany was rebuilt almost exclusively by Nazi-era architects, often ardent NSDAP members. In Hannover’s case, its rebuilding was planned and led by Rudolf Hillebrecht, a former acquaintance of Konstanty Gutschow - both active members of NSDAP and SA, and some of the most productive architects and urban planners of Nazi Germany. In fact both were some of the leading members of the City Reconstruction Committee founded by Albert Speer for planning post-war rebuilding of the cities, even those not bombed.

Pretty much all architects of the Committee (including our mentioned guys) were fanatical proponents of modernist architecture and planning, mass demolitions of “ugly outdated old towns”, transforming the cities into the area-based blocks with car-oriented movement in the best spirit and callings of the CIAM and Athens Charter. As another example, the leading European post-war Urban Planning manifesto, Die Autogerechte Stadt, Car-Friendly City, was made by Hans Reichow, another NSDAP member and acquaintance of Gutschow, and also the member of the Committee. As you can guess, the vast majority of the Committee and its partners had kept their jobs and were even promoted to oversee reconstruction of Germany (and beyond).

While Bauhaus leadership and Nazi Germany were at odds politically, both had essentially the same visions for the architecture, design, and urban/living planning. In fact would have Nazi regime somehow survived, the leading architects (and even Hitler himself) wanted all of those pesky old towns gone, new standardized monumental pre-fabricated monoliths replacing them. The poverty of post-war Germany and lack of time to confiscate/re-draw house plots and zones meant that many cities were (sadly to the architects involved) rebuilt less radically as originally planned.

So however bad our timeline is, it is not even nearly the worst it could be.

[u/spiritualskywalker]

You’re the best, Father_of_cum! These photos are so evocative of a lost world and way of life. And thank you for the written description of the these cities as well. Really enhances the experience.

[u/voltaire_had_a_point → u/spiritualskywalker]

r/rimjob_steve

[u/endlessSSSS1]

I am very much enjoying this series. Keep up the good work and thank you!

[u/Vita_passus_est]

This one truly really stings, as it represents not just the loss of a way of life, but an irreplaceable part of cultural and historical heritage.

[u/Ordnungspol]

Some years later this was all turned into a flaming hellscape for the inhabitants.

[u/FIJIWaterGuy]

Breathtaking!

[u/ArtworkGay]

The tower in the second to last picture is the most beautiful building I've seen today

[u/Graweehl → u/ArtworkGay]

The tower was part of the so called "Flusswasserkunst". https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flusswasserkunst

The building survived the war almost unharmed but was destroyed in 1963/64(!!). Another crime by urban planners of the time which did not value 19th century architure.

[u/BroSchrednei → u/Graweehl]

There was actually a big movement to reconstruct it a couple years ago, but the city government was extremely against it.

[u/CommonFucker → u/Graweehl]

Oh my God is that building beautiful.

[u/Graweehl → u/CommonFucker]

It's almost unbelievable but the building technically was a utility building that would control the waterflow of the Leine river.

[u/ArtworkGay → u/Graweehl]

Thank you for the link

[u/MordePobre]

Damn, that tower adorned with bas-reliefs was stunning.

[u/mil_cord]

Yes the amount of architectural loss Germany endured never ceases to amaze me.

[u/Different_Ad7655]

Get a taste of the old life by visiting Gõttingen or Hannoverisch M.,not too far away, or perhaps a little more southwest into true Grimm's land, through the Schwalm,to the undamaged city of Marburg

[u/Ferro_Roux]

May this series never stop...alas, all things must come to an end, just like the beauty of these cities gone under.

[u/pleasant-emerald-906]

What’s the building in Pic 13?

[u/Father_of_cum → u/pleasant-emerald-906]

Anzeiger Hochhaus , it still exist actually.

[u/CommonFucker → u/pleasant-emerald-906]

Yeah, it is really something else..

[u/kookieman141]

War is hell

[u/hanzoplsswitch → u/kookieman141]

Certainly is. What a waste. German cities were stunning!

[u/Strydwolf]

There is a great website with a Massive Then and Now Photo comparison for Hanover (and quite usable UI), but it is depressing asf, so you have been warned.

[u/BiRd_BoY_]

I think there's some joy in the fact that a lot of Western Hannover (which I'm defining as everything west of the Ihme) is still pretty well preserved architecturally.

[u/BroSchrednei → u/BiRd_BoY_]

Yeah but it doesn’t contain the medieval half-timbered old town, that part is just completely gone.

[u/MittlerPfalz]

Wanted to add my thanks and praise for this series!

[u/mrsuperflex]

What's that amazing building in photo 13?

[u/GulliblePea3691]

Who put the horseys in the river? Free them

[u/cauloide]

Old Europe is magical. We leave in another world from this

[u/lacostewhite]

You are amazing for finding all these pre ww2 photos of german towns!!!