Shortly before 3 p.m. yesterday, the police ordered us to leave our company headquarters. The reason: a 50-kilogram world war bomb was found on the neighboring school grounds during construction work. As a result, everything within a radius of 500 meters of the site had to be evacuated. Around 1,200 people were affected and had to leave their homes, the adjacent university and the company premises. The surrounding roads were also closed for traffic. After the evacuation was completed at around 9 p.m., the explosive ordnance disposal service was able to defuse the bomb successfully. The residents were able to return to their homes and we were able to return to our offices this morning. Many thanks to the experts from the disposal service.
A total of 250 emergency staff from the police, rescue service and public order office were deployed. Time and again, even almost 80 years after the end of the Second World War, unexploded bombs are found during construction work or on farms. It is estimated that there are still around 100,000 to 300,000 tons of unexploded ordnance in the ground in Germany. This means that around 5,000 of these unexploded bombs have to be defused every year. Giessen was largely destroyed in the Second World War when around 3,000 tons of bombs were dropped.