Post-war reconstruction of Frankfurt
To remove and recycle the rubble the city authorities in the autumn of 1945 created in partnership with the Metallgesellschaft industrial group and the Philipp Holzmann and Wayss & Freytag construction companies established the Trümmerverwertungsgesellschaft (TVG).
Once the rubble was removed from the damaged areas post-war reconstruction of the city took place in a sometimes simple modern style, thus changing Frankfurt's architectural face.
A few significant historical landmark buildings were reconstructed, albeit in a simplified manner (e.g. St. Paul's Church (which was the first rebuilt), Goethe House) and Römer.
Further damage was caused during the campaign by American ground forces to take the city, which was declared secure on 29 March 1945, although some sporadic fighting continued until 4 April 1945.
[3] While other cities in Germany quickly organized resources to remove the rubble left by the Allied bombing raids, Frankfurt initially seemed to be doing very little.
[3] Following the establishment of the Trümmerverwertungsgesellschaft the mayor Kurt Blaum issued on a provisional basis a so-called "rubble confiscation order" on 30 December 1945, that confiscated on behalf of the city all of the building rubble in the Frankfurt urban area, a legally extremely controversial measure (based on the Reichsleistungsgesetz) that allowed the new company to tackle the removal of the debris.
[citation needed] Following the founding of the Federal Republic the State of Hessen issued a clearing rubble act on 4 October 1949 which provided a legal basis for Frankfurt's action.
Blaum was succeeded as mayor in 1946 by the tall and very stout Walter Kolb, who together with the other leadership of the city administration picked up jackhammers, pickaxes and shovels to give the population a clear and positive signal to start over and to rebuild.
[3] The Frankfurters quickly gave it the catchy and belittling name of Monte Scherbelino (a faux-Italian pun meaning "Shard Mountain") because of the high proportion of broken glass in the debris.
A provisional crushing and screening plant designed by Lurgi – Gesellschaft für Chemie (a subsidiary of Metallgesellschaft)[3] was established in 1947 on a 10 hectare building site bounded by Ratsweg, Am Riederbruch and Riederspießstraße in Frankfurt's Riederwald.
After the debris had been sifted and sorted to remove metal, glass and other valuable raw materials, the remaining rubble was converted into aggregates.
[9] Scientific investigations by chemists had discovered that by heating the rubble it would produce a plaster which could then be broken down into calcium oxide and sulphur dioxide which could be formed into a sintered pumice.
[citation needed] By the early 1960s the Trümmerverwertungsgesellschaft had completed the removal and recycling of the existing rubble and as a result was officially closed by the municipal authorities on 29 April 1963, but did not cease its work until 1964, when it was dissolved.
