There was no zero hour in 1945 when everything was new. However, everything was put to the test in 1945: the people, the city and its streets and buildings, even the city's location, culture, economy, and trade. In the restart of the early post-war period, the most important decisions were made for the development of the following decades. Yet the journey to the present rarely went smoothly and without disruptions. As we have all lived through the gradual changes of the past decades, some things happened almost unnoticed. Others have left a deep imprint on our memory. This volume focuses on the reconstruction and the new shape of Cologne, the new political life in the city, the development of the economy and transportation, and the changes in urban society and its culture. This was not a straightforward path. Wishes, goals, plans, and hopes were repeatedly conceived, discussed, realized, or forgotten in new forms.