After this the walls will be torn apart piece by piece working from above to below either continuing to use the grapple or else substituting a bucket attachment depending on the situation, and the debris deposited in the appropriate dumpster. The bucket attachment is an open piece of equipment that is primarily used for loading smaller materials or tearing out the foundation, but it can also, for example, be used to pull down a wall that has remained standing.
This house with a length of approximately 14 meters, a width of approximately 8 and a height of one and a half stories plus cellar, that is, of approximately 8 meters, comprises an enclosed space of approximately 900 cubic meters, which multiplied by 0.25 corresponds to 225 cubic meters of material. In order to calculate the number of truckloads that will be required to remove the debris, one must also take into account the fact that the material is not densely packed, which involves multiplying by a factor of 1.3. For this house, then, we can expect a loosely packed mass of approximately 290 cubic meters. Considering that each truckload can remove between 17 and 18 cubic meters of material, it will require approximately 17 trips with the tractor-trailer to transport all the material to one of the many construction rubble collection areas found in the region outside Berlin. Water has a density of 1, wood of 0.25, and brick rubble is estimated as 2.2. These are the respective figures for calculating tonnage. As a matter of principle the weight can be derived from the fixed bulk. The weight of the bathing house, which has no cellar (length 5.5 meters, width 3.8 meters), whose outer walls and interior fittings are made entirely of wood, therefore comprises only a scant 4 tons, while the weight of the main house is approximately 500 tons.
For a period of two weeks, first five men and then three are at work on the property. They stop for breakfast between 9 and 9:30 a.m., and for lunch between 12:00 noon and 1:00. During their breaks, the men sit on the grass to eat or drink, some of them lean against one or the other tree and smoke, looking out at the lake. When they are finished tearing down the house and only a pit remains to mark the place where it once stood, the property suddenly looks much smaller. Until the time comes when a different house will be built on this same spot, the landscape, if ever so briefly, resembles itself once more.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For their financial support that helped with the research and the writing of this book, I am grateful to Indra Wussow, Beate Puwalla, the Berliner Senat and the Robert Bosch Foundation.
For giving me access to a large number of documents and letters as well as film material and photographs that played a central role in my work, I would like to thank: Frau Dr. Diekmann of the Moses-Mendelssohn-Zentrum Potsdam; Frau Vespermann of LISUM Berlin; Frau Pohland of the Kreisarchiv Landkreis Oder-Spree; Frau Wagner of the Bundesarchiv; Frau Kandler of the Brandenburgisches Landeshauptarchiv; Frau Dr. Schroll of the Landesarchiv Berlin; Mr. Jagielski of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw; and the Bauaktenarchiv Köpenick.
For assisting me in my research as well as offering ideas, advice and answers to a great many questions, I would like to thank: Dr. Weißleder, Andreas Peter, Ellen Jannings, Christel Neubelt-Minzlaff, Elisabeth Engel, Sascha Lewin, Gottlieb Kaschube, Irmgard Fischer, Botho Oppermann, Marga Thomas, Bernd and Angela Andres, Bernd Andres senior and Juttadoris Andres, Herr and Frau Benke, Rainer Wagner, Marion Welsch, the Müller-Huschke family, Dr. Faber, Karla Mindach, Herr Mindach, Reinhard Kiesewetter, Hans-O. Finke, Herr Herfurth, Jens Nestvogel, Frank Lemke, Dr. Zaumseil, Herr Torzinski, Dr. Alexander, Klaus Wessel, Dirk Erpenbeck, Anke Otten, Eliza Borg, Frau Erdmann, Rüdiger and Sigrid Galuhn, along with my father and mother.
For listening, and for his infinite patience with all the questions that without him I would only have been able to ask myself, I wish to thank Wolfgang.