The end of the war at the Francke Foundations and the period after 1945

The bombing raid on Halle on March 31, 1945 hit the Francke Foundations hard. The prayer and singing hall building, the Francke residence and the Latina were partially destroyed by bombs and there were numerous casualties in the Latina. After the end of the war, the government of the province of Saxony-Anhalt appointed by the Soviet occupying power dissolved the foundations and incorporated them into Martin Luther University as the “Pedagogical Institute”. Care for orphans was discontinued in 1948, and at the same time the newly founded “Workers‘ and Farmers’ Faculty” moved into some of the buildings, for which new buildings were also erected on the foundation grounds. A tour of the foundations, accompanied by eyewitness accounts, presents the far-reaching changes of those years.