Preserved under the ruins of the World War: Lübeck archaeologists find 79

The Holsten Gate is the landmark of the city of Lübeck (archive image)

Photo: Sven Hoppe / dpa

Lübeck archaeologists made an unusual find: 79 years after the Allied bombing raid on the city, they found a largely intact cake in the basement of a house that was destroyed in the attack.

The first investigations had confirmed that it was a nut cake with a brittle coating, announced the Hanseatic city of Lübeck.

The baked goods, finely decorated with glaze, border decorations and spray decoration, were buried under mountains of rubble in the former kitchen of the house and so survived the years. Although it had shrunk to a third of its original size due to the heat, all the details were still visible.

According to the archaeologists, the find tells a lot about the history of the air raid on the city: Since Lübeck was bombed on the night of Palm Sunday 1942, many people had prepared for a festive day.

A coffee service was found next to the cake, and shellac records and a gramophone were nearby: “It took 79 years for these special contemporary witnesses, who also reflect the direct moment of destruction through their own transience and fragile materiality, again Light came, ”said Dirk Rieger, head of archeology.

The cake is the only pastry of its kind that has been archaeologically uncovered in northern Germany and is an extremely important find, Rieger said.

It is now to be preserved and exhibited.

sol / dpa