Da Bomb

World War II is still, to the people living around here, a Current Event. Not in the way that your more extreme American Southerner refuses to accept that the Confederacy has fallen. No, folks in the Ruhr River and lower Rhine areas constantly find old unexploded bombs during routine excavations (i.e. for roads, new subways, building cellars).

Since the area where we live is pretty much the heart of heavy industry in Germany, it was bombed pretty heavily during the war. Earlier this year a member of a bomb squad was killed during the removal of one 65-year old bomb. So naturally, the guys who defuse and dispose of these bombs are treated with the same respect that Americans would accord to NYC firefighters.

We've had at least 4 or 5 such discoveries in the area so far this year. The latest, in Duisburg, an (American!) 5-zenter munition, was discovered yesterday at the construction site of a new intersection (on a stretch of road I used to travel regularly). It will require the mandatory evacuation of a 250m (approx. 1/8 mile) radius, and the recommended evacuation of all within a 500m (.3 mile) radius. Luckily this one is located in a relatively developed area; one of the rare agricultural areas tucked amidst the conurbation* that is Duisburg and Düsseldorf. Mostly affected are the 4-legged inhabitants of a riding school. But you can see on the map how close it is to real populations centers!


More on how the bomb perhaps got there: The Bombing of Duisburg



* I like to throw in real English words no one uses, but that Germans think everyone would know.