rubble = fragments

[vil]

Dear teachers,

Would you be kind enough to tell me whether I am right with my interpretation of the term in bold in the following excerpt from an NYT’s aricle?

“When my thoughts turn to wreckage, and there’s a lot of it about these days, I tend to think of Germany’s “Stunde null,” or zero hour, the moment in 1945 when a once powerful nation faced its utter moral and material bankruptcy, the rubble of its collective suicide.“

rubble (n) = rough stones of irregular shapes and sizes; used in rough, uncoursed work in the construction of walls, foundations, and paving.

rubble = (figuratively) fragments

Thank you for your efforts.

Regards,

V.

[Tdol]

I'd say so; it's more figurative than literal to me.

[Searching for language]

"Rubble" is also the term used when a buildding is destroyed totally as in a hurricane or a bomb hitting it. So yes, rubble could be used in that sentence.

I am not a teacher.

[Charlie Bernstein]

Also:

debris
ruins
wreckage