September 11th is always a difficult day to be British in Darmstadt. Of course what goes through most people's minds is the Twin Towers in New York, but here in Darmstadt people have another terrible event to commemorate.
11th September 1944 was when the allied bombers fire bombed the city of Darmstadt. In half an hour the city was reduced to rubble and ashes with over 10,000 people dead.
60 years later I am living here, and I must say for the most part enjoying myself. But on a day like today I think back on those terrible war years and thank God that I have lived most of my life in relative peace.