Neuenburg

During the night of June 10 to 11, 1940, Neuenburg on the Rhine became the first German city to be destroyed entirely during the Second World War. French artillery did a thorough job, and "powerless, the severely tested Neuenburg residents looked out from the hills of the vineyards across to the Rhine, where their Heimat (homeland) had fallen victim to senseless destruction" as a citizen wrote in his diary.

  

This was all the more tragic because a ceasefire with France came into force on June 15. When those who had been evacuated as a precautionary measure returned home the following day, Neuenburg was still partially burning.

Salzstraße. The ruins of the Church of Our Lady are seen in the background.

The homecomers were met with a sad sight of buried streets, smoking piles of rubble, and bombed-out houses. The Arbeitsdienst (labor service) immediately began clearing up the debris.

A memorial of destruction and reconstruction

After the ruins were demolished and the rubble cleared, the people of Neuenburg began rebuilding the city. It was not the first time in its history that the city was destroyed, but this time it was rebuilt from scratch according to a new plan. This almost-completed reconstruction was followed by destruction once more, as the front line approached Neuenburg in 1944. On November 22, a hail of bullets and grenades rained down on Neuenburg. Once again, the city was evacuated.      

Neuenburg has a long history dating back to 1175, when Duke Bertold IV of Zähringen founded the town of Neuenburg between Breisach and Basel as a new transport link across the Rhine. Bertold was not pleased that the loyal advisor to Emperor Barbarossa, Bishop Ortlieb von Frohburg, had founded a merchant settlement on Breisach's Münsterberg in 1146, thereby competing with Freiburg for the east-west trade.

With their Neuenburg, the Dukes of Zähringen gained complete political and economic control over a Rhine crossing.

Then, in 1460, the meandering Rhine started to eat into the elevation on which Neuenburg was built.

In 1664, Matthäus Merian engraved the misery and wrote in his Topographia Germaniae:
Allhier rinnet der Rhein so starck an die Stadt / und frist dergestalt umb sich /
daß er die Kirch (so vor diesent von dem Fluß abgelegen) jetzunder halber hinweg geflöst /
daß nur das Chor allda übrig ist / und thut noch täglich Schaden an Gebäuen.

Here, the Rhine flows so strongly toward the city and erodes the area so severely that the church, which was previously located away from the river, has been washed away, leaving only the choir, and continues to cause damage to buildings daily.

The breakoff edge ran right through Neuenburg's church

And that was not all. The city was utterly destroyed in 1675 during the Dutch War and again in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession.

During the War of the Spanish Succession, the Neuenburgers attempted to rebuild their fortifications.

A: Work has begun where the enemy has dug a trench directly opposite and is constantly firing at the workers.

B: Here, the old city walls are being cleared away and searched for, upon which to build.

C: Is where the works are to be laid out.

D: Is where the dilapidated gate has been cleared away.

E: Is the other gate.
F: and B: are the two works where the enemy is continuously firing and trying to prevent our work.

A dug-out iron cannonball at the Stadtmuseum

An entry in the parish register reads: "The people of Neuenburg had become destitute when they returned to their devastated homeland in May 1714 after ten years of exile following the Peace of Rastatt and were allowed to begin rebuilding the leveled city."

Freiburg's chief archaeologist, Dr. Bertram Jenisch, invited history buffs to a guided tour of his archaeological finds, which he, as usual, combined with his extensive historical knowledge. That's why Red Baron Bertram loves his lectures and guided tours and has often blogged about them.

In the past, Bertram gave a lecture on the Freiburg Wall and, as curator, guided visitors through the exhibition "900 Jahre Leben in der Stadt (900 Years of Life in the City)".

His lecture on the excavation of a burial ground outside the city gates was fascinating, and he finally talked about the Breisach Gate.

After the people of Neuenburg rebuilt their city several times on the rubble of total destruction, it was necessary to dig up to eight meters deep to reach the foundation layer of the Zähringers.

Such opportunities arise during underground parking construction, so our first stop was a garage under the Neuenburg town hall.

Dr. Jenisch guided us to the breakoff edge. After Johann Gottfried Tulla straightened the Rhine in the 19th century, the river now flows one kilometer away from the city, leaving only a few pools of water.

He had us look down Marktstraße through the latest achievement in archaeology: The telescope into the past, or Archeoloscope.

Instead of the Volksbank, there used to be a trading house
with a deep wine cellar on Marktstraße (©Hans-Jürgen van Akkeren)

We ended our guided tour at and in the Stadtmuseum, where we saw artifacts found in the depths of Neuenburg.

Here is the potter working on the preliminary stage of sherds.

And here is painter Otto Rümmele's colered view of Merian's engraving.
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