The 2009 collapse of Cologne's archive killed two people, destroyed innumerable historical documents and caused millions in damage. Over nine years later, a court found that the builders were largely not to blame.
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A look at the collapse of Cologne's city archives
On March 3, 2009, the Cologne city archives suddenly caved in on itself, killing two people and destroying countless historical documents. Nearly 10 years later, a court will rule on who was at fault for the catastrophe.
Image: picture-alliance/imagebroker/H. Blossey
Buried under debris
In 2009, Cologne's historical archives, the most significant such archive north of the Alps, suddenly caved in. Bakery apprentice Kevin, 17, and design student Khalil, 24, lost their lives, and valuable medieval manuscripts and historical photographs were destroyed forever. Mismanagement and faulty construction of a metro tunnel was the cause of the collapse.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Treasures of city history
This handwritten medieval document shows parts of the 1437 Cologne statutes. More than 1,000 years of regional history were documented in the archive. Among the items are original manuscripts of significant personalities including medieval philosopher and scientist Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, French leader Napoleon Bonaparte and former German chancellor Konrad Adenauer.
Image: Kölner Stadtarchiv
Rescue efforts under time pressure
Aid workers hurried to save whatever could still be saved, and time was running out. The first priority was to fix damage that might cause even more damage. Whereas at first it was feared that almost all irreplaceable manuscripts had vanished forever, it then turned out that almost 95 percent of the items could be saved.
Image: Kölner Stadtarchiv
Collect, wrap and freeze
Resulting from the building's dramatic collapse, roughly 10 percent of the documents landed down below ground water level. First, these lost items needed to be located and picked up. Wet parts had to be carefully cleaned of dirt and sludge and wrapped into a sheeting before being shock frozen at -22 Celsius to later be defrosted in a special dryer to prevent the formation of moisture.
Image: Kölner Stadtarchiv
Recovery, renewed identification
Countless documents were heavily damaged, deformed or torn apart – and almost worse, tangled-up in total confusion. Thousands of pages needed to be identified, ordered and filed anew if researchers were to be enabled to study them once again. Only a thorough cleansing process could prevent tiny dust particles from slowly eating away at the material.
Image: Kölner Stadtarchiv
Cleaning by hand
Even books that did not get soaked needed to be meticulously cleansed before being archived anew. Each single sheet of paper had to be restored by hand. It was particularly important to remove almost invisible traces of mold. Experts wearing gloves and masks took great care to clean the material by hand.
Image: Kölner Stadtarchiv
With tender hands
“Von zarter Hand“ ("Of a tender hand") is the fitting title of this 19th century novel by Johannes Richard zur Megede being carefully cleaned. The restoration experts need to take great care, using particular sponges, brushes and paintbrushes. Dust and dirt must be meticulously removed, lest the paper becomes porous so that, over time, it will decompose.
Image: Kölner Stadtarchiv
Restoration of historical evidence
Manuscripts that needed to be frozen must be dried in special machines before dirt and dust may be removed from them. Books are given a new binding. Every single page needs to be polished and burnished before the book can be put in order anew. All materials are also digitized so that researchers can make better use of them.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Limits of restoration
The technology available today cannot restore all damaged seals and signets. But as such technology may be improved in the future, the single components of the items are being preserved, explained the former head of the restoration team, Nadine Thiel, in 2011.
Image: DW
Project to last for decades
The experts and aid workers not only examine and restore paper objects, but also film reels. The restoration of the entire inventory of Cologne's historical archive is a very huge task. It's estimated that the works will have to continue for at least 30 years.
Image: Kölner Stadtarchiv
New home for Cologne's history
A new site for archiving Cologne's treasures is in the works, set to be finished by 2020. It will not only house the manuscripts formerly kept in the old archive, but also a collection of photographs. Meanwhile, the dispute about who is to be held responsible for the 2009 disaster continues, although soon, it will be too late anyway. In March 2018, the statute of limitations will be over.
A fourth defendant was handed a suspended sentence of eight months. The defendant is part of the construction management department of the city's public transportation operator KVB, which was overseeing the construction of a new subway line in front of the building at the time of the accident.
After a years-long investigation, prosecutors said that the faulty construction of an underground station was to blame for the collapse, which killed two people and caused more than €1 billion ($1.1 billion) in damage.
Of the defendants who were found not guilty of negligence, one is also a KVB worker while the other two are from private construction companies that were working on the subway tunnel.
Judge: Subway error sole cause of accident
Presiding judge Michael Greve said the cause of the building's collapse was "clearly and without a doubt" caused by a serious error in the construction of a diaphragm, or slurry wall, in the new subway station. He said that this was the sole cause of the accident and that nothing else was to blame.
In the case of the the three acquitted defendants, "no breach of duty" could be proven, Greve said, adding that the court was certain that nobody intended for the building to collapse.
The judge added that he was aware that Friday's ruling would "possibly cause a certain lack of understanding" with the public, but that they could not make a ruling based on public outcry.
Prosecutors had argued that the defendants had not monitored, documented or communicated about the construction work in front of the building as was required. They'd previously called for three of the four defendants to receive suspended sentences.
"The accident could have been prevented," Cologne public prosecutor Torsten Elschenbroich told the court in late September.
Devastating collapse
The collapse of the city's archive building in March 2009 killed two people in neighboring apartment buildings who were buried underneath the rubble.
Investigators said that a flaw in the slurry wall of one of the subway station tunnels caused so much gravel, sand and water to flow underneath the city archive, that the building's foundation crumbled beneath it.
The shocking accident also damaged tens of thousands of historical documents in the archive, whose collection was originally started in the Middle Ages. Prior to its collapse, the building housed Germany's largest municipal archive.
First responders and volunteers were able to recover almost all of the documents that were buried in the mud and water of the collapse, but many were severely and irreparably damaged. Work to restore the documents that can be salvaged is still ongoing.