Hammerbrook

Hammerbrook is a quarter in Hamburg-Mitte, a borough of Hamburg. It lies where the Bille river meets the Elbe. The name comes from the old swampy land called ‘brook’ near the Hamm forest. Hamburg took control of the area in 1383. For centuries it was used as grazing land with drainage ditches cut across it. The district changed after the Great Fire of 1842. William Lindley, a British engineer, planned to drain the land fully and build streets in a grid. Debris from the fire raised the ground level. By 1910 the area had 40,000 people and was called Jammerbrook because of overcrowding. In 1943 Operation Gomorrah’s firestorm destroyed most of Hammerbrook, killing 36% of its residents. A memorial now stands on Ausschläger Weg to remember the victims. Today Hammerbrook is mostly an office district. The S-Bahn station opened in the early 1980s connects it to the city. Wide roads and bridges link the quarter to central Hamburg. Open spaces remain where buildings once stood. The population is small, with many residents originally from other countries. The quarter shows how Hamburg rebuilt after war and fire.