In Frankfurt’s Gallus district, thousands of residents were instructed to evacuate their homes in anticipation of the safe removal of a 500-kilogram World War II bomb. This evacuation affected nearly 13,000 people living in the upscale neighborhood near the city center, including residents of retirement homes and facilities owned by Deutsche Bahn, the state rail operator. The evacuation caused delays and rerouting of train services, with residents without alternative accommodations advised to move to a nearby exhibition hall.
The bomb, discovered on a construction site, presented a significant danger due to its size and design, with authorities establishing a 700-meter exclusion zone around the area. Given social distancing rules due to the coronavirus pandemic, officials warned that defusing the bomb could take several hours and extend into the evening. Frankfurt, heavily bombed during World War II, continues to uncover unexploded ordnance, with discoveries like the recent bomb in Gallus being relatively common even 75 years after the war’s end.
Instances of unexploded bombs being found in Frankfurt are frequent, with evacuations of thousands of residents occurring in response to the discovery of large explosive devices. The city’s history of being targeted during World War II has led to ongoing risks related to unexploded bombs, as seen in previous evacuations in Frankfurt, including one of 65,000 residents in 2017. The disposal of such bombs remains a priority in Germany as the country deals with its wartime past.
