A Day in Heilbronn where Rudolf Laemmlen attended school

After church in Heilbronn, we went into town and spent a few hours seeing the sights here. I wanted to walk in places where Grandpa Rudolf walked when he was a student here.

My Grandpa Rudolf was a bright child and a good student. Of all the children in his family, he was selected to attend a better school in Heilbronn. The railroad ticket cosh 10 DM (about $2.50) for three months of transportation.

Rudolf visiting the school he attended in Heilbron (1970s visit).

In 1914, when Rudolf was 15 years old, World War I broke out. His brother, Hermann joined the Ulanen cavalry regiment in Ludwigsburg in 1912, survived the war. Grandpa said he came home at the end of 1918 half deaf and nervous. Hermann was in the infantry from 1915 to 1918. Grandpa was drafted in July 1917 into Regiment 122 based in Heilbronn. After three months, he asked to be transferred to the mountain artillery, Sonthofen Allgau. He was only in one bloody battle–at the Marne, against the Americans. He returned home January 1919.

Here is how Heilbronn looks today:

We went into the Altstadt, or old part of town, and stopped first at the Kilianskirche, the old protestant church there.

These are parts and pieces of the church that were salvaged after the bombing.

The interior of the church is really beautiful.

Most churches today have displays with before and after the war photos, telling their history.

Heilbronn was heavily bombed.

Here’s how it looks today. The church is in the heart of Heilbronn.

This is the old City Hall in the square near the church.

We walked over to the bridge over the Neckar River.

You can see above and below the water level markers from years when it flooded here.

Here is another old church in Heilbronn, dating back to 1240. It also was bombed and rebuilt.

The story of the destruction and rebuilding:

Below is another old Schloss/palace, now re-purposed.

We happened upon the city archives (that made me feel rather excited), and found it contained a museum that was open today. Inside we watched several interesting films in both English and German about the history of Heilbronn.