Remagen
Encyclopedia
Remagen is a town in Germany
in Rhineland-Palatinate
, in the district of Ahrweiler
. It is about a one hour drive from Cologne
(Köln), just south of Bonn
, the former West German
capital. It is situated on the River Rhine. There is a ferry
across the Rhine from Remagen every 10–15 minutes in the summer. Remagen has many beautiful and well-maintained buildings, churches, castles and monuments. It also has a sizeable pedestrian zone with plenty of shops.
Overlooking the west bank of the Rhine just north of the city centre is the Apollinariskirche. It has a great observation deck that is only open to parishioners on Sundays. Pedestrians reach the church via a dirt trail that passes a series of roadside monuments representing each of the fourteen Stations of the Cross
. The church grounds contain an outdoor crypt and an abbey. Further down the river is one of the many castles along the River Rhine, perched even higher than the Apollinariskirche.
built a border fort at Rigomagus (or Ricomagus), west of the Rhine. This was about 12 miles north of the site of the first bridge ever built across the Rhine (at Neuwied
). This bridge fought the river current by being built on timbers which were driven into the bed at a slant. Caesar's troops spent nearly three weeks on the east side of the river, then crossed back over, destroying the bridge to prevent its use by German raiders. A second bridge was likewise destroyed by the builders once they were through with it.
The fort was one of a series built by Drusus
, commander of the Roman army along the Rhine. Other Roman construction survived the centuries, including a gateway and Remagen became a tourist destination, popular with history buffs.
Local legend says that a ship carrying various relics from Milan
to Cologne
was stopped in the river in 1164, unable to move despite the strong current, until it mysteriously edged in toward the shore. The remains of St Apollinaris were put ashore, and the ship was then able to sail onward. These remains were interred in a chapel which had been part of the Roman fort, which became the basis for a church which bore his name, and was rebuilt several times over the years.
was originally built during World War I
as a means of moving troops and logistics west over the Rhine to reinforce the Western Front
. The bridge was designed by Karl Wiener an architect from Mannheim
. It was 325 metres long, had a clearance of 14.8 metres above the normal water level of the Rhine, and its highest point measured 29.25 metres. The bridge carried two railway tracks and a pedestrian walkway. During World War II
, one track was planked over to allow vehicular traffic.
at Remagen—the last standing on the Rhine—was captured by soldiers of the U.S. 9th Armored Division
on 7 March 1945, during Operation Lumberjack
.
On 7 March 1945, soldiers of the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion, led by Lieutenant Karl H. Timmermann, from West Point, Nebraska
, approached the bridge, and found it standing. The first American soldier across the bridge was Sergeant Alex Drabik; Lt. Timmermann was the first officer across.
Although the bridge's capture is sometimes regarded as the "Miracle of Remagen" in U.S. histories, historians debate the strategic importance of the capture of the bridge at Remagen. General Eisenhower
said that "the bridge is worth its weight in gold". However, few U.S. units were able to operate east of the Rhine ahead of the main crossings in the south, under Generals Patton
and Bradley
, and in the north, under Field Marshal Montgomery
(Operation Plunder
). Ultimately, only a limited number of troops were able to cross the Rhine before the bridge's collapse. However, the psychological advantage of having crossed the Rhine in force and in pursuit of the retreating Wehrmacht improved Allied morale while communicating disaster to the retreating Germans.
In the immediate days after the bridge's capture, the German Army Command
desperately attempted to destroy the bridge by bombing it and having divers
mine it. Hitler ordered a flying courts-martial that condemned five officers to death. Captain Bratge, who was in American hands, was sentenced in absentia while the other four (Majors Scheller, Kraft and Strobel, and Lieutenant Peters) were executed in the Westerwald Forest
.
Soldiers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers worked long hours to stabilize and repair the bridge (with American combat troops stationed to guard the bridge sometimes shooting out their worklights to minimize visibility of their position to the enemy). To increase traffic capacity, the engineers also laid pontoon bridge
s upstream and downstream of the Ludendorff Bridge. However, ten days after its capture, the bridge suddenly collapsed into the Rhine, killing twenty-eight soldiers of the Army Corps of Engineers. Some speculate that the wear and tear of weeks of bombardment, combined with the vibrations produced when a V-2 slammed into the earth at 4800 kilometres per hour (2,982.6 mph), was enough to cause the collapse of the bridge.
By the time of the bridge's collapse, the Americans had established a substantial bridgehead on the far side of the Rhine and had additional pontoon bridge
s in place. Because the pontoon bridges and other secured crossing points had supplanted the bridge, its loss was neither tactically nor strategically significant. Still, the Ludendorff Bridge remained important as the first point at which Allies crossed the Rhine.
.
In 1968 David L. Wolper produced an American motion picture, The Bridge at Remagen
. The film depicts actual historical background, but is fictional in all other aspects.
The 1946 Frank Capra
film It's a Wonderful Life
includes a brief battle scene with the narration, "Marty (Hatch, Mary Hatch Bailey's older brother) helped capture the Remagen Bridge."
In the video game Panzer Front
for the PlayStation
, the Ludendorff Bridge is assaulted by the player. The simulation demonstrates the strategic problems of capturing the bridge (the placing of 88mm AT/AA guns on the high ground surrounding the bridge, for example).
In the video game Call of Duty: Finest Hour
the player helps to liberate the Ludendorff Bridge in one level. Remagen also appears in Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
as a multiplayer map, though not directly involving the bridge.
In the booster pack
of Battlefield 2142
, Northern Strike, a map is dedicated to the bridge at Remagen. The battle takes place 200 years to the day after the real battle.
Since 2009 there has been a Bridge at Remagen 1945, World War Two Reenactment. This takes place in Tidioute,Pennsylvania along the Allegheny River.The event itself has a Remagen like bridge as part of the battle. This takes place the first weekend in August.
.jpg)
Hans Peter Kürten
, at that time Mayor of Remagen, had long considered the idea of constructing a memorial. The negotiations with the German Federal Railway alone lasted seven years before the city could finally acquire the former railroad property. Announcements sent to government officials concerning the intended preservation of the bridge towers and the construction of a Memorial to Peace stirred no interest.
In the summer of 1976, it was necessary to remove the still intact bridge support pilings in the river. The mayor had the stones deposited on the Remagen river bank, with the idea in mind of selling small pieces of the bridge stones enclosed in synthetic resin and containing a certificate of authenticity.
On 7 March 1978, he went public with his idea and achieved such an unexpected degree of success, that he had realised more than 100,000 DM (around 50,000 EUR) in sales profits.
There has not been another bridge built across the Rhine here, mainly due to opposition from the people of Remagen (and surrounding areas), contending that a bridge located at this point along the Rhine would spoil the view.
In 1945 the U.S. built one of the many enclosures on the west bank of the Rhine—the so called Rheinwiesenlager
—close to Remagen. The camps were used by the Allies to house captured Germans, often under very poor conditions. Several thousand prisoners are estimated to have died in the various camps, including 1,212 who are now buried in the Bad Bodendorf Cemetery. They were deprived of the legal protection that the Geneva Convention provides prisoners of war by being redesignated as Disarmed Enemy Forces
. The International Red Cross was not permitted to investigate conditions in the camps.
. In the crypt is a silver bust of the saint, which is raised from the sarcophagus
every year at the pilgrimage time at the end of July. From the statue of Saint Francis of Assisi on top of the church, there is a lovely view of Remagen and the romantic Rhine Valley
.
now houses a museum devoted to the work of Hans Arp. The 19th century railway station was transformed into a cultural venue for all the arts. Johannes Brahms
, Clara Schumann
and Franz Liszt
gave concerts there. The young poet Guillaume Apollinaire
even fell in love there. The building was almost destroyed after World War II
, but in 1964 the Bonn
art dealer Johannes Wasmuth brought it back to life. Musicians such as Martha Argerich
, Stefan Askenase
, and Yehudi Menuhin
, artists such as Hans Arp, Oskar Kokoschka
and Günther Uecker
, and performers such as Marcel Marceau
have all appeared there.
is on the Left Rhine line and the Ahr Valley Railway. It is served by InterCity
, Regional-Express (the Rhein-Express, at hourly intervals) and Regionalbahn
services (MittelrheinBahn, at hourly intervals) operating between Cologne
and Koblenz
. It is also served by Rhein-Ahr-Bahn services on the Ahr Valley Railway to Ahrbrück
at hourly intervals.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
, in the district of Ahrweiler
Ahrweiler
Ahrweiler is a district in the north of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the districts Euskirchen, Rhein-Sieg and the city Bonn in the state North Rhine-Westphalia, and the districts of Neuwied, Mayen-Koblenz and Vulkaneifel.- History :The region was conquered by the Romans under...
. It is about a one hour drive from Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
(Köln), just south of Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
, the former West German
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
capital. It is situated on the River Rhine. There is a ferry
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
across the Rhine from Remagen every 10–15 minutes in the summer. Remagen has many beautiful and well-maintained buildings, churches, castles and monuments. It also has a sizeable pedestrian zone with plenty of shops.
Overlooking the west bank of the Rhine just north of the city centre is the Apollinariskirche. It has a great observation deck that is only open to parishioners on Sundays. Pedestrians reach the church via a dirt trail that passes a series of roadside monuments representing each of the fourteen Stations of the Cross
Stations of the Cross
Stations of the Cross refers to the depiction of the final hours of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion. The tradition as chapel devotion began with St...
. The church grounds contain an outdoor crypt and an abbey. Further down the river is one of the many castles along the River Rhine, perched even higher than the Apollinariskirche.
History
The Roman EmpireRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
built a border fort at Rigomagus (or Ricomagus), west of the Rhine. This was about 12 miles north of the site of the first bridge ever built across the Rhine (at Neuwied
Neuwied
Neuwied is a town in the north of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, capital of the District of Neuwied. Neuwied lies on the right bank of the Rhine, 12 km northwest of Koblenz, on the railway from Frankfurt am Main to Cologne...
). This bridge fought the river current by being built on timbers which were driven into the bed at a slant. Caesar's troops spent nearly three weeks on the east side of the river, then crossed back over, destroying the bridge to prevent its use by German raiders. A second bridge was likewise destroyed by the builders once they were through with it.
The fort was one of a series built by Drusus
Drusus
Drusus was a cognomen in Ancient Rome originating with the Livii. Under the Republic, it was the intellectual property and diagnostic of the Livii Drusi. Under the empire and owing to the influence of an empress, Livia Drusilla, the name was used for a branch of the Claudii into which she had...
, commander of the Roman army along the Rhine. Other Roman construction survived the centuries, including a gateway and Remagen became a tourist destination, popular with history buffs.
Local legend says that a ship carrying various relics from Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
to Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
was stopped in the river in 1164, unable to move despite the strong current, until it mysteriously edged in toward the shore. The remains of St Apollinaris were put ashore, and the ship was then able to sail onward. These remains were interred in a chapel which had been part of the Roman fort, which became the basis for a church which bore his name, and was rebuilt several times over the years.
The Bridge at Remagen
The Ludendorff BridgeLudendorff Bridge
The Ludendorff Bridge was a railway bridge across the River Rhine in Germany, connecting the villages of Remagen and Erpel between two ridge lines of hills flanking the river...
was originally built during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
as a means of moving troops and logistics west over the Rhine to reinforce the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
. The bridge was designed by Karl Wiener an architect from Mannheim
Mannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
. It was 325 metres long, had a clearance of 14.8 metres above the normal water level of the Rhine, and its highest point measured 29.25 metres. The bridge carried two railway tracks and a pedestrian walkway. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, one track was planked over to allow vehicular traffic.
The capture of the bridge
The Ludendorff BridgeLudendorff Bridge
The Ludendorff Bridge was a railway bridge across the River Rhine in Germany, connecting the villages of Remagen and Erpel between two ridge lines of hills flanking the river...
at Remagen—the last standing on the Rhine—was captured by soldiers of the U.S. 9th Armored Division
U.S. 9th Armored Division
The 9th Armored Division was an armored division of the United States Army in World War II. In honor of their World War II service, the 9th was officially nicknamed the "Phantom Division."-History:...
on 7 March 1945, during Operation Lumberjack
Operation Lumberjack
Operation Lumberjack was a military operation conducted in the last stages of the war in Europe during World War II. It was launched by the First United States Army in March 1945 to capture strategic cities in Germany such as Cologne, and to give the Allies a foothold along the Rhine River.With the...
.
On 7 March 1945, soldiers of the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion, led by Lieutenant Karl H. Timmermann, from West Point, Nebraska
West Point, Nebraska
West Point is a city in and the county seat of Cuming County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 3,660 at the 2000 census.-History:West Point was first founded in the spring of 1857, when Omaha businessmen formed the Nebraska Settlement Association in order to find suitable townsites in...
, approached the bridge, and found it standing. The first American soldier across the bridge was Sergeant Alex Drabik; Lt. Timmermann was the first officer across.
Although the bridge's capture is sometimes regarded as the "Miracle of Remagen" in U.S. histories, historians debate the strategic importance of the capture of the bridge at Remagen. General Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
said that "the bridge is worth its weight in gold". However, few U.S. units were able to operate east of the Rhine ahead of the main crossings in the south, under Generals Patton
George S. Patton
George Smith Patton, Jr. was a United States Army officer best known for his leadership while commanding corps and armies as a general during World War II. He was also well known for his eccentricity and controversial outspokenness.Patton was commissioned in the U.S. Army after his graduation from...
and Bradley
Omar Bradley
Omar Nelson Bradley was a senior U.S. Army field commander in North Africa and Europe during World War II, and a General of the Army in the United States Army...
, and in the north, under Field Marshal Montgomery
Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein
Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO, PC , nicknamed "Monty" and the "Spartan General" was a British Army officer. He saw action in the First World War, when he was seriously wounded, and during the Second World War he commanded the 8th Army from...
(Operation Plunder
Operation Plunder
Commencing on the night of 23 March 1945 during World War II, Operation Plunder was the crossing of the River Rhine at Rees, Wesel, and south of the Lippe River by the British 2nd Army, under Lieutenant-General Sir Miles Dempsey , and the U.S. Ninth Army , under Lieutenant General William Simpson...
). Ultimately, only a limited number of troops were able to cross the Rhine before the bridge's collapse. However, the psychological advantage of having crossed the Rhine in force and in pursuit of the retreating Wehrmacht improved Allied morale while communicating disaster to the retreating Germans.
In the immediate days after the bridge's capture, the German Army Command
Oberkommando des Heeres
The Oberkommando des Heeres was Nazi Germany's High Command of the Army from 1936 to 1945. The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht commanded OKH only in theory...
desperately attempted to destroy the bridge by bombing it and having divers
Frogman
A frogman is someone who is trained to scuba diving or swim underwater in a military capacity which can include combat. Such personnel are also known by the more formal names of combat diver or combatant diver or combat swimmer....
mine it. Hitler ordered a flying courts-martial that condemned five officers to death. Captain Bratge, who was in American hands, was sentenced in absentia while the other four (Majors Scheller, Kraft and Strobel, and Lieutenant Peters) were executed in the Westerwald Forest
Westerwald
The Westerwald is a low mountain range on the right bank of the River Rhine in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a part of the Rhine Massif...
.
Soldiers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers worked long hours to stabilize and repair the bridge (with American combat troops stationed to guard the bridge sometimes shooting out their worklights to minimize visibility of their position to the enemy). To increase traffic capacity, the engineers also laid pontoon bridge
Pontoon bridge
A pontoon bridge or floating bridge is a bridge that floats on water and in which barge- or boat-like pontoons support the bridge deck and its dynamic loads. While pontoon bridges are usually temporary structures, some are used for long periods of time...
s upstream and downstream of the Ludendorff Bridge. However, ten days after its capture, the bridge suddenly collapsed into the Rhine, killing twenty-eight soldiers of the Army Corps of Engineers. Some speculate that the wear and tear of weeks of bombardment, combined with the vibrations produced when a V-2 slammed into the earth at 4800 kilometres per hour (2,982.6 mph), was enough to cause the collapse of the bridge.
By the time of the bridge's collapse, the Americans had established a substantial bridgehead on the far side of the Rhine and had additional pontoon bridge
Pontoon bridge
A pontoon bridge or floating bridge is a bridge that floats on water and in which barge- or boat-like pontoons support the bridge deck and its dynamic loads. While pontoon bridges are usually temporary structures, some are used for long periods of time...
s in place. Because the pontoon bridges and other secured crossing points had supplanted the bridge, its loss was neither tactically nor strategically significant. Still, the Ludendorff Bridge remained important as the first point at which Allies crossed the Rhine.
The bridge in the media
A large number of books and articles in newspapers and magazines on the subject of the bridge have been published. The best-known work on the battle is 1957's The Bridge at Remagen by the American author Ken HechlerKen Hechler
Kenneth William Hechler is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented West Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1959 to 1977 and was West Virginia Secretary of State from 1985 to 2001....
.
In 1968 David L. Wolper produced an American motion picture, The Bridge at Remagen
The Bridge at Remagen
The Bridge at Remagen is a 1969 war film starring George Segal, Ben Gazzara and Robert Vaughn. It was directed by John Guillermin and was shot on location in Czechoslovakia....
. The film depicts actual historical background, but is fictional in all other aspects.
The 1946 Frank Capra
Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...
film It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern....
includes a brief battle scene with the narration, "Marty (Hatch, Mary Hatch Bailey's older brother) helped capture the Remagen Bridge."
In the video game Panzer Front
Panzer Front
Panzer Front is a World War II tank simulation game first released in Japan by Enterbrain for the PlayStation and Dreamcast game consoles in 2000.-Gameplay:...
for the PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
, the Ludendorff Bridge is assaulted by the player. The simulation demonstrates the strategic problems of capturing the bridge (the placing of 88mm AT/AA guns on the high ground surrounding the bridge, for example).
In the video game Call of Duty: Finest Hour
Call of Duty: Finest Hour
Call of Duty: Finest Hour is a first-person shooter developed for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube. It was released on 16 November 2004. It was the first console installment of Call of Duty, developed by Spark Unlimited and published by Activision. It was followed up by a sequel, Call of Duty...
the player helps to liberate the Ludendorff Bridge in one level. Remagen also appears in Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault is a first-person shooter computer game developed by 2015, Inc. and created by Steven Spielberg. It is the 3rd installment of the Medal of Honor series...
as a multiplayer map, though not directly involving the bridge.
In the booster pack
Booster pack
In collectible card games and collectible miniature wargames, a booster pack is a sealed package of cards or figurines, designed to add to a player's collection....
of Battlefield 2142
Battlefield 2142
Battlefield 2142 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Digital Illusions CE and produced by Electronic Arts . It is the fourth game in the Battlefield series...
, Northern Strike, a map is dedicated to the bridge at Remagen. The battle takes place 200 years to the day after the real battle.
Since 2009 there has been a Bridge at Remagen 1945, World War Two Reenactment. This takes place in Tidioute,Pennsylvania along the Allegheny River.The event itself has a Remagen like bridge as part of the battle. This takes place the first weekend in August.
Memorial
Hans Peter Kürten
Hans Peter Kürten was the mayor of Remagen from 1964 to 1994 and opened the Peace Museum at Remagen in 1980.Hans Peter Kürten was extremely successful at selling bits of the Ludendorff Bridge support pylon stones as souvenirs which had to be removed from the Rhine because they were inhibiting...
, at that time Mayor of Remagen, had long considered the idea of constructing a memorial. The negotiations with the German Federal Railway alone lasted seven years before the city could finally acquire the former railroad property. Announcements sent to government officials concerning the intended preservation of the bridge towers and the construction of a Memorial to Peace stirred no interest.
In the summer of 1976, it was necessary to remove the still intact bridge support pilings in the river. The mayor had the stones deposited on the Remagen river bank, with the idea in mind of selling small pieces of the bridge stones enclosed in synthetic resin and containing a certificate of authenticity.
On 7 March 1978, he went public with his idea and achieved such an unexpected degree of success, that he had realised more than 100,000 DM (around 50,000 EUR) in sales profits.
There has not been another bridge built across the Rhine here, mainly due to opposition from the people of Remagen (and surrounding areas), contending that a bridge located at this point along the Rhine would spoil the view.
Prisoner enclosures
Rheinwiesenlager
The Rheinwiesenlager , official name Prisoner of War Temporary Enclosures , were a group of about 19 transit camps for holding about one million German POWs after World War II from spring until late summer 1945...
—close to Remagen. The camps were used by the Allies to house captured Germans, often under very poor conditions. Several thousand prisoners are estimated to have died in the various camps, including 1,212 who are now buried in the Bad Bodendorf Cemetery. They were deprived of the legal protection that the Geneva Convention provides prisoners of war by being redesignated as Disarmed Enemy Forces
Disarmed Enemy Forces
Disarmed Enemy Forces , and—less commonly—Surrendered Enemy Forces, was a U.S. designation, both for soldiers who surrendered to an adversary after hostilities ended, and for those previously surrendered POWs who were held in camps in occupied German territory at that time. It is mainly referenced...
. The International Red Cross was not permitted to investigate conditions in the camps.
Apollinariskirche
The Apollinariskirche was built 1839-1842 on the site of the medieval Martinskirche. The frescos on the inside of the neo-Gothic church were painted by members of the artists group called the "Nazarenes". Three cycles show the life of Jesus, the life of Mary, and the history of Saint Apollinaris, legendary Bishop of RavennaRavenna
Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...
. In the crypt is a silver bust of the saint, which is raised from the sarcophagus
Sarcophagus
A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek σαρξ sarx meaning "flesh", and φαγειν phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos...
every year at the pilgrimage time at the end of July. From the statue of Saint Francis of Assisi on top of the church, there is a lovely view of Remagen and the romantic Rhine Valley
Rhine Valley
The Rhine Valley is a glacial alpine valley, formed by the Alpine Rhine , i.e. the section of the Rhine River between the confluence of the Anterior Rhine and Posterior Rhine at Reichenau and its mouth at Lake Constance....
.
Peace Museum "Remagen Bridge"
The museum is housed in the towers of the famous bridge built between 1916 and 1918. It opened in 1980 and tells the story of the bridge and the prison camp, "Golden Mile."Arp Museum housed in the Bahnhof Rolandseck
The historic railway station at RolandseckRolandseck railway station
Rolandseck station in Rolandseck near Remagen, Germany, built in 1856, is considered an important part of the cultural heritage of the Rhineland and a significant early Germany railway building...
now houses a museum devoted to the work of Hans Arp. The 19th century railway station was transformed into a cultural venue for all the arts. Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
, Clara Schumann
Clara Schumann
Clara Schumann was a German musician and composer, considered one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era...
and Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
gave concerts there. The young poet Guillaume Apollinaire
Guillaume Apollinaire
Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki, known as Guillaume Apollinaire was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic born in Italy to a Polish mother....
even fell in love there. The building was almost destroyed after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, but in 1964 the Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
art dealer Johannes Wasmuth brought it back to life. Musicians such as Martha Argerich
Martha Argerich
Martha Argerich is an Argentine pianist.-Early life:Argerich was born in Buenos Aires and started playing the piano at age three...
, Stefan Askenase
Stefan Askenase
Stefan Askenase was a Polish-born Belgian classical pianist and pedagogue.-Biography:Askenase was born in Lemberg. He studied with Theodor Pollak, a professor and director of the Ludwik Marek School of Music in Lemberg. Then with Emil von Sauer, a pupil of Liszt, at the Vienna Academy of Music...
, and Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...
, artists such as Hans Arp, Oskar Kokoschka
Oskar Kokoschka
Oskar Kokoschka was an Austrian artist, poet and playwright best known for his intense expressionistic portraits and landscapes.-Biography:...
and Günther Uecker
Günther Uecker
Günther Uecker, also known as Guenther Uecker, is a German sculptor, op artist and installation artist.- Biography :...
, and performers such as Marcel Marceau
Marcel Marceau
Marcel Marceau was an internationally acclaimed French actor and mime most famous for his persona as Bip the Clown.-Early years:...
have all appeared there.
Infrastructure
Remagen stationRemagen station
Remagen station is on the Left Rhine line in the city of Remagen in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 4 station. The station is served by regular regional services as well as Intercity and EuroCity services...
is on the Left Rhine line and the Ahr Valley Railway. It is served by InterCity
InterCity
InterCity is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe...
, Regional-Express (the Rhein-Express, at hourly intervals) and Regionalbahn
RegionalBahn
The Regionalbahn is a type of local passenger train in Germany.-Service:Regionalbahn trains usually call at all stations on a given line, with the exception of RB trains within S-Bahn networks, these may only call at selected stations...
services (MittelrheinBahn, at hourly intervals) operating between Cologne
Köln Hauptbahnhof
Köln Hauptbahnhof is the central railway station in Cologne, Germany.The station is an important local, national and international hub, with many ICE, Thalys and Intercity trains calling there, as well as regional RegionalExpress, RegionalBahn and local S-Bahn trains...
and Koblenz
Koblenz Hauptbahnhof
is the Hauptbahnhof for the city of Koblenz in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is the focal point of rail transport in the Rhine-Moselle-Lahn area. It is a through station in southern Koblenz built below Fort Großfürst Konstantin and opened in 1902 in the Neustadt , which was built...
. It is also served by Rhein-Ahr-Bahn services on the Ahr Valley Railway to Ahrbrück
Ahrbrück
Ahrbrück is a municipality in the district of Ahrweiler, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The municipality comprises the three districts of Ahrbrück , Brück and Pützfeld.-History:...
at hourly intervals.
Personalities
- Peter Maech, 23rd abbot of Maria Laach (1512–1552)
- Henriette Jügel (born 1778 in Remagen), painter
- Emilie Storck (born 1827 in Remagen), wife of Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen
- Thomas GottschalkThomas GottschalkThomas Johannes Gottschalk is a German TV host. He is best-known for hosting the popular show Wetten, dass..?, which he has led to a huge success in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and South Tyrol.-Early life:...
(born 1950), German TV presenter, lives at Schloss Marienfels - Rudolf CaracciolaRudolf CaracciolaOtto Wilhelm Rudolf Caracciola , more commonly Rudolf Caracciola , was a racing driver from Remagen, Germany. He won the European Drivers' Championship, the pre-1950 equivalent of the modern Formula One World Championship, an unsurpassed three times...
(born 1901 in Remagen; died 1959 in Kassel), racing driver - Bernhard Philipp (born 1948 in Remagen), Capuchin, theologian, artist
- Klaus Barth (born 1935 in Remagen), retired ambassador, assistant chairman of the German Nepal Friendship Association
- Jean Lessenich (born 1942 in Remagen), tracer, author
- Baptist Schneider (1867–1946), photographer in Remagen
- Roland Ries (born 1930 in Remagen), prelate, first clerk of the Catholic bureau in Mainz, president of the Deutsche Krankenhausgesellschaft (German hospital association)
- Willi Ockenfels (born in Remagen), missionary in South AfricaSouth AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
- Stefanie Manhillen (born 1973 in Remagen), artist
- Charles Rettinghaus (born 1962 in Remagen), actor and dubbing artist