This exhibit in the museum belonged to Friedrich Louis Pabsch and he, along with 73 others, died in an air raid on 4 December 1943 whilst sheltering at Nostitzstraße (Reichpietschstraße) 19 and 21. His pocket watch stopped at the time of the air raid, at 03:44.
The air raid on the city that night was one of their worst of the war, when over 500 RAF bombers dropped around 1,800 tons of explosives in a massive attack aimed at crippling industry and transport but which instead ravaged residential areas. Fires tore through the city, merging into a firestorm that destroyed large parts of the centre, killing around 1,800 people and leaving tens of thousands homeless. Historic buildings, factories, and railway yards were obliterated, with survivors later recalled fleeing through smoke-filled streets as shelters collapsed.
The museum notes that there are traces in basements to this day throughout the city when residents wrote “Luftangriff 04/12/1943”, meaning air raid, given the ferocity of the night’s bombings.