Cologne in turmoil: bomb defusing forces 20,500 people to escape!

Cologne in turmoil: bomb defusing forces 20,500 people to escape!

On the evening of June 4, 2025, the Cologne citizens faced an extraordinary challenge: over 20,000 people had to spend the day in foreign four walls due to the defusing of three dangerous bombs due to the defusing of three dangerous bombs. To make matters worse, there was also a refusal who delayed the evacuation measures and thus made the urgently needed defusing. According to Express In the urban area there is resentment, since fines for such refusers in the amount of 1,000 euros are considered far too low. In other cities, up to 5,000 euros is required for such disabilities.

The Cologne city administration had already started in the early morning of going from door to door as part of a preventive evacuation and stood by barriers for hours to inform the population about the situation. They received support from the police. However, the majority of Cologne residents behaved sensibly and contributed not to hinder the measures.

evacuation and bomb defusing

The bombs, a ten-century bomb and two twenty centers bombs of American origin, were discovered during probes on the Deutzer Brücke. The defusing of the bombs was essential: for security reasons, they were not allowed to be moved and had to be defused on site. This hustle and bustle meant that 15 couples who wanted to marry in the historic town hall of Cologne also had to reorganize their celebration, since the building was in the evacuation zone, like DW reported.

BIOS and old people's homes also had to be evacuated, causing patients and residents to be brought to safe facilities. There were also 58 hotels who closed and their guests had to put around. Such measures are not only necessary in Cologne: in North Rhine-Westphalia, over 1600 bombs were defused in 2022 alone, which shows the danger situation in many metropolitan areas that are particularly affected by the unresolved war memories.

The dangers from explosive contaminated sites

The situation in Germany is alarming. It is estimated that up to 100,000 tons of undiscovered bombs and ammunition are suspended in the soils, especially in large cities. These explosive contaminated sites have a high risk, especially in regions with intensive construction activity. Property owners are therefore encouraged to determine in front of the authorities or new buildings, whether a probing of the areas is necessary to ward off the dangers, such as Visualjournalism.de explained.

The technology for bombing has developed further, but the work remains risky. If the operators do not follow the security measures, there are serious accidents, such as the incident in Göttingen in 2010, in which three explosive master lost their lives. In view of these conditions, not only is the riverless level of explosives that we still have pre -serving worldwide, but also the future challenges of ordnance removal, which is on the financial agenda for many federal states.

The Cologne evacuation brought the dangers that result from the remains of the past, back into the consciousness of the population. A sensitive topic that affects us all and which is better talked about.