Heßler, Martina, and Christian Kehrt (eds.), Die Hamburger Sturmflut von 1962: Risikobewusstsein und Katastrophenschutz aus zeit-, technik- und umweltgeschichtlicher Perspektive. Umwelt und Gesselschaft, edited by Christof Mauch, Helmuth Trischler, and Frank Uekötter, vol. 11. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co, 2014.
In February 1962 Hamburg was devastated by a major storm flood: 315 were killed, 20,000 evacuated, and the dykes were damaged in more than 60 places. The catastrophe shocked not just Hamburg, but the entire German nation. Although the flood was a key event in the history of the German Federal Republic, it has seldom been the topic of in-depth historical study. The articles in this volume offer comparisons with other floods in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as well as examining the relationship between humans and nature. Risk awareness and disaster protection in modern societies are recurring topics. The volume also considers the role of technology and the socio-cultural context, for example the roll of the German armed forces and the debates of the time about catastrophe protection. (Text adapted from Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht and the Rachel Carson Center)
Read an excerpt here.
