Bombs fell on Dubrowplatz. A chilling memory etched into the very stones. This quiet square in Berlin’s Zehlendorf district hides a wartime secret. Dubrowplatz wasn’t always so peaceful.
Dubrowplatz’s story begins in the late 19th century. The community and the Heimstätten AG built it between 1892 and 1894. The cost was borne by the residents. It was initially unnamed. Then in 1939 it was renamed Schemannplatz. After the war in 1947 it was renamed again to honor Wilhelm Dubrow a local landowner community leader and council member of Zehlendorf.
But the real story of Dubrowplatz lies beneath the surface. During World War II a “splittergraben” a trench designed to protect against bomb fragments was built here. It offered meager protection. On March 28 1945 a bomb hit Dubrowplatz directly. The head of the local kindergarten at number 4 was killed along with several children. This tragedy is a stark reminder of the war’s devastating impact.
Imagine the fear. The chaos. The desperate scramble for safety. The screams of the children. The heartbreaking loss. This was not just a quiet square. This was a place of terror. A place of death.
Near Dubrowplatz in Dubrowstrasse lived people who collaborated with the Nazis. Others risked their lives to save Jews and others persecuted by the regime. Ruth Wendland a courageous woman hid a Jewish child in her home at the end of the war. Her act of defiance shows even in the darkest of times there was hope. There was courage. There was kindness.
In the Reichsbanksiedlung close by a children’s shelter was established in the basement of houses number 49-51. Fifty to seventy children found refuge there every night. Even during air raids it was used. Adults seeking shelter joined them. The shelter provided sanctuary from the terror above. A stark contrast to the devastation on Dubrowplatz.
Later a deep bunker was constructed nearby. Russian prisoners of war built it. They were watched by German soldiers. A railway line ran from the construction site to Schlachtensee station. The bunker was never finished before the end of the war. It was finally demolished in the 1970s.
Today Dubrowplatz stands as a testament to resilience. To survival. To the enduring spirit of the people who lived through the war. While it offers a quiet space to reflect remember that beneath the quietness lie stories of tragedy. Of heroism. Of survival. Stories of Dubrowplatz that will always remain.