I watch a lot of stuff about the Battle of Stalingrad, Bombing of Dresden, Leningrad, Battle of Britain, etc. Does anyone have a book or documentary recommendation about how the people and governments rebuilt all of these places? What do you do with a city of rubble? Or if this is your area I would love to know how they did it. Especially, what was it like for the people doing this work and living through that process? Thank you!
I am commenting, because I find this a very interesting question and would love to get some reading recommendations on the topic.
I am very interested in the battle of Stalingrad in particular, and can tell you a little bit more about the reconstruction, but I do not have quite the right source materials to cite for you here - so do not consider this a full answer!
The victory over the Germans in Stalingrad was one of big pride to the Soviets and was also lauded by many other countries during and after the war. This is why, because the city had become a symbol of sorts the creation of memorials began very quickly after the battle had ended (but the war still ongoing). Stalingrad also was strategically located (on the Volga river), and was an industrial powerhouse before the war, making reconstruction efforts very worthwhile, especially so that it could continue to fuel the Soviet war machine during the war.
However, many wanted to flee the city in the years after the battle, as Stalingrad was diminished to rubble, virtually no building still standing. Many (most?) local men had died, so it was mostly women who started the early reconstruction work, as well as many imported workers from around the Soviet Union. German prisoners were also used to help with rebuilding the city, and were not released for several years after the war in many cases. Construction work was initially mostly rather makeshift work to provide quick shelter to survivors (remember the winters!), I just found this little article from a Canadian newspaper from during the war: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19430605&id=A_ouAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8tsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4170,1049723
It would however take many years for Stalingrad to be fully functioning again, and for all the remnants of the war to have disappeared. Even today, you can start digging in the fields around the city, and find never recovered bodies, artillery shells, mines... I don't think it is a scar that will ever fully disappear.
I do not know much more detail without becoming too imprecise, so I hope another poster can tell us more.
As a little bonus, they built this colossus in Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) to commemorate the battle, easily one of the most impressive monuments I have ever seen, it's called the Motherland Calls and was completed in 1967:
