Last month, I visited Germany for a conference on medieval Islamic astrolabes. Unfortunately, that was not particularly suitable for a video on my channel (as it was too deep in the weeds). But, if I was already heading across an ocean, I decided to take some additional time to visit some of Germany’s other astronomical locations.
One of the things that struck me as I was doing the research for this video is how often WWII came up.
The Mayan codex was damaged when the basement it was stored in to protect it from bombings flooded. One of the astronomical clocks was destroyed leaving only a reconstruction in its place today.
And although it wasn’t mentioned in this video, Weil der Stadt was specifically exempted from bombing due to it being Kepler’s birthplace.
In my video on the $16^{th}$ Biennial History of Astronomy Workshop, I discussed a talk on a $16^{th}$ Century instrument in Dresden that was heavily damaged leading to it having to be reconstructed digitally.
War has taken a heavy toll on Germany’s history and we are all poorer for it.
This is not me saying that Germany should have been given a free pass in WWII. However, I write this at a time where the United States has chosen to engage in a war of choice in a country with a deep astronomical history that is often overlooked.
I worry about what treasures there will be lost.