Bad Nauheim is a town in the

Wetteraukreis The Wetteraukreis is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the middle of Hesse, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Landkreis Gießen, Vogelsbergkreis, Main-Kinzig-Kreis, district-free Stadt Frankfurt, Hochtaunuskreis and Lahn-Dill-Kreis. History The distric ...

district of

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

state of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. As of 2020, Bad Nauheim has a population of 32,493. The town is approximately north of

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

, on the east edge of the

Taunus The Taunus is a mountain range in Hesse, Germany, located north of Frankfurt. The tallest peak in the range is ''Großer Feldberg'' at 878 m; other notable peaks are ''Kleiner Feldberg'' (825 m) and ''Altkönig'' (798 m). The Taunus range spans ...

mountain range. It is a world-famous resort, noted for its salt springs, which are used to treat heart and nerve diseases. A Nauheim or "effervescent" bath, named after Bad Nauheim, p.797 is a type of spa bath through which carbon dioxide is bubbled. Full text at Internet Archive (archive.org) This bath was one of several types of

hydrotherapy Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy and also called water cure, is a branch of alternative medicine (particularly naturopathy), occupational therapy, and physiotherapy, that involves the use of water for pain relief and treatment. The term ...

used at

Battle Creek Sanitarium The Battle Creek Sanitarium was a world-renowned health resort in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. It started in 1866 on health principles advocated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and from 1876 to 1943 was managed by Dr. John ...

Kellogg, J.H. (1908) pp.79,81,83,170,175,187 and it was also used at Maurice bathhouse, in

Bathhouse Row Bathhouse Row is a collection of bathhouses, associated buildings, and gardens located at Hot Springs National Park in the city of Hot Springs, Arkansas. The bathhouses were included in 1832 when the Federal Government took over four parcels of la ...

in the early 1900s, during the heyday of hydrotherapy. The Konitzky Foundation, a charitable foundation and hospital for those without means, was founded in 1896 and its building occupies a central place next to the Kurpark.

History

Before the Holocaust there was an on-and-off Jewish presence in Bad Nauheim since around 1303. Before the Holocaust nearly 400 Jews lived in the town, making up nearly 3% of the population. On

Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from ...

the schoolhouse was desecrated and ransacked as well as Jewish stores, businesses and the synagogue. Many Jews were taken that night to concentration camps. Some were let out. Of those let out many were rearrested. By the end of the Holocaust there were just three Jews remaining in Bad Nauheim. For the most part those who were not murdered had left the country. On September 29, 1945 General

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

reassigned General Patton from his beloved 3rd Army, the army he successfully led from the

Battle of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norma ...

, to

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

as Eisenhower could no longer keep General Patton in position as the

Military Governor A military government is generally any form of government that is administered by military forces, whether or not this government is legal under the laws of the jurisdiction at issue, and whether this government is formed by natives or by an occup ...

of Bavaria. General Patton was assigned to command the Fifteenth Army, actually a group of historians given status as an Army, with its headquarters in Bad Nauheim. On December 9, 1945, General Patton left Bad Nauheim for a hunting trip near

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...

; he died after a car crash during the trip. The Grand Hotel in Bad Nauheim was also the location of the Gestapo-led internment of around 115 Americans who were working in the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, December 1941. The group would leave Bad Nauheim on May 12, 1942. In addition, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

had a command complex in nearby Langenhain-Ziegenberg called

Adlerhorst The Adlerhorst ("Eagle's Nest") was a World War II bunker complex in Germany, located near Langenhain-Ziegenberg, the later settlement of Wiesental and Kransberg within the districts of Wetteraukreis and Hochtaunuskreis in the state of Hesse ...

, "the Eagle's Nest" (not to be confused with

Kehlsteinhaus The (known in English as the Eagle's Nest) is a Nazi-constructed building erected atop the summit of the Kehlstein, a rocky outcrop that rises above Obersalzberg near the southeast German town of Berchtesgaden. It was used exclusively by membe ...

of Obersalzberg, which was never referred to as "the Eagle's Nest" by the Nazis). On March 29, 1945, Bad Nauheim was occupied by troops from the Third Army. It was used as a residential area for American occupation forces after

. Despite its proximity to Frankfurt am Main and Hitler's command complex, Bad Nauheim was totally spared from Allied bombing. American occupants from that time were told that President Roosevelt had loved the town so much from his days there that he ordered it spared. Elvis Presley in Germany

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

lived in Bad Nauheim from 1958 to 1960 while in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

. At the time, he was assigned to the 1st Medium Tank Battalion, 32d Armor, 3d Armored Division, at

Ray Barracks Ray Barracks was a United States Army installation in Friedberg, Germany until it was closed by the U.S. government in 2007 and returned to the German government. Located in the southern part of the city near the industrial area, the barracks h ...

near Friedberg. Since 2002, Bad Nauheim has hosted an annual Elvis festival. Other famous people who have stayed in the town include Jamshetji Nusserwanji Tata – founder of Tata Group of Companies (he died in Bad Nauheim on 19 May 1904 aged 82), the Irish novelist and man of letters Patrick Sheehan holidayed at the Hotel Augusta Victoria in Bad Nauheim 6–23 September 1904,

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

(as a boy, FDR had been taken for several extended visits to Bad Nauheim where his father underwent the water cure for his heart condition), the Saudi Arabian football team during the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

, General

George S. Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...

, who celebrated his sixtieth birthday in the grand ballroom of the Grand Hotel and

Albert Kesselring Albert Kesselring (30 November 1885 – 16 July 1960) was a German '' Generalfeldmarschall'' of the Luftwaffe during World War II who was subsequently convicted of war crimes. In a military career that spanned both world wars, Kesselring beca ...

, Nazi General who died there in 1960.

Education

* Freie Waldorfschule Wetterau * Ernst-Ludwig-Schule (Gymnasium) * St. Lioba Gymnasium (Gymnasium) * Stadtschule an der Wilhelmskirche (Grund- und Hauptschule) * Stadtschule Am Solgraben (Haupt- und Realschule)

Mayors

* 1945–1948: Adolf Bräutigam (SPD) * 1948–1954: Krafft-Helmut Voss (independent) * 1954–1960: Fritz Geißler (FDP) * 1960–1981: Herbert Schäfer (SPD) * 1981–1993: Bernd Rohde (CDU) * 1993–1999: Peter Keller (SPD) * 2000–2005: Bernd Rohde (CDU) * 2005–2011: Bernd Witzel (UWG) * 2011-2017: Armin Häuser (CDU) * since September 2017: Klaus Kreß (independent)

Popular culture

The novel ''

The Good Soldier ''The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion'' is a 1915 novel by the British writer Ford Madox Ford. It is set just before World War I, and chronicles the tragedy of Edward Ashburnham and his seemingly perfect marriage, along with that of his two A ...

'' by

Ford Madox Ford Ford Madox Ford (né Joseph Leopold Ford Hermann Madox Hueffer ( ); 17 December 1873 – 26 June 1939) was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals ''The English Review'' and ''The Transatlantic Review'' were instrumental in ...

(published 1915) is set in part at Bad Nauheim.

Twin towns – sister cities

Bad Nauheim is twinned with: *

Bad Langensalza Bad Langensalza (; until 1956: Langensalza) is a spa town of 17,500 inhabitants in the Unstrut-Hainich district, Thuringia, central Germany. Geography Location Bad Langensalza is located in the Thuringian Basin, the fertile lowlands along t ...

, Germany *

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.

, England, United Kingdom *

Chaumont Chaumont can refer to: Places Belgium * Chaumont-Gistoux, a municipality in the province of Walloon Brabant France * Chaumont-Porcien, in the Ardennes ''département'' * Chaumont, Cher, in the Cher ''département'' * Chaumont-le-Bois, in the C� ...

, France *

Oostkamp Oostkamp (; vls, Ôostkamp) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the villages of Hertsberge, Oostkamp proper, Ruddervoorde and Waardamme. On January 1, 2019, Oostkamp had a total populatio ...

, Belgium

The ''Sprudelhof''

The Sprudelhof is recognized as the largest center of ''

Jugendstil ''Jugendstil'' ("Youth Style") was an artistic movement, particularly in the decorative arts, that was influential primarily in Germany and elsewhere in Europe to a lesser extent from about 1895 until about 1910. It was the German counterpart of ...

'' within Germany. File:Bad Nauheim 2010 20597.jpg, Bathhouse No. 4 File:Sprudelhof 32.jpg,

Centaur A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse. Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being ...

File:Badehaus 7 Schmuckhof Brunnen Heinrich Jobst.jpg, Courtyard File:Bad Nauheim 2010 20598.JPG, Fountain File:Badehaus 3 Ludwigsbrunnen Brunnenfigur Natur Heinrich Jobst.jpg,

Mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes asso ...

File:Badehaus 7 Wartesaal Tritonenkind Karl Huber.jpg,

Triton Triton commonly refers to: * Triton (mythology), a Greek god * Triton (moon), a satellite of Neptune Triton may also refer to: Biology * Triton cockatoo, a parrot * Triton (gastropod), a group of sea snails * ''Triton'', a synonym of ''Triturus' ...

File:Bad nauheim p 013.jpg, Bathhouse No. 5

Notable residents

* Julian Dudda (born 1993), professional football player. *

Holger Geschwindner Geschwindner taking a jump shot for the West German national team during the 1972 Summer Olympics Holger Geschwindner (born September 12, 1945 in Bad Nauheim, Hessen) is a German former professional basketball player. He is known as the long- ...

(born 1945), basketball player. *

Rainer Philipp Rainer Philipp (born 8 March 1950 in Bad Nauheim) is an ice hockey player who played for the West German national team. He won a bronze medal at the 1976 Winter Olympics The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Ga ...

(born 1950), hockey player. *

Klaus Hentschel Klaus Hentschel (born 4 April 1961) is a German physicist, historian of science and Professor and head of the History of Science and Technology section in the History Department of the University of Stuttgart. He is known for his contributions in ...

(born 1961), physicist and historian of science. *

Caroline Link Caroline Link (born 2 June 1964) is a German film director and screenwriter. Life and work Caroline Link is the daughter of Jürgen and Ilse Link. From 1986 to 1990 she studied at the University of Television and Film Munich (HFF), and then wo ...

(born 1964),

Director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

, won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and ''

Deutscher Filmpreis The German Film Award (), also known as Lola after its prize statuette, is the national film award of Germany. It is presented at an annual ceremony honouring cinematic achievements in the German film industry. Besides being the most important ...

'' for ''

Nowhere in Africa ''Nowhere in Africa'' (german: Nirgendwo in Afrika) is a 2001 German drama film that was written and directed by Caroline Link. The screenplay is based on the 1995 autobiographical novel of the same name by Stefanie Zweig. It tells the story o ...

'' (2001). *

(1935–1977), American singer and actor, lived at Goethestrasse 14 from 1958 to 1960 while stationed at

near Friedberg. *

(1885–1945), U.S. Army general, commanded the Fifteenth Army at Bad Nauheim from October 1945 until his death in December. *

Jessica Wahls Jessica Martina Wahls (born 2 February 1977), also known under her nickname Jess, is a German pop singer and television host, who rose to fame as one of the founding members of the successful all-female pop band No Angels, the " biggest-selling ...

(born 1977), singer, former member of the

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

No Angels No Angels are an all-female pop group from Germany, formed in 2000. Originally a quintet, consisting of band members Nadja Benaissa, Lucy Diakovska, Sandy Mölling, Vanessa Petruo, and Jessica Wahls, they originated on the debut season of th ...

. *

Sina-Valeska Jung Sina-Valeska Jung (born June 17, 1979) is a German actress best known for her portrayal of Sarah Hofmann on the long-running German soap opera ''Verbotene Liebe ''Verbotene Liebe'' (, "Forbidden Love") was a German television soap opera cr ...

(born 1979), actress.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 9th-century establishments in the Holy Roman Empire Holocaust locations in Germany Populated places established in the 9th century Spa towns in Germany Wetteraukreis