Neubrücke: One of Our Cradles

Monique was born this day at the 98th General Hospital of the United States Army in the little village of Neubrücke, Germany. These days it is a place of some 416 inhabitants; in those days American military swelled the numbers. Neubrücke was then and still remains part of Hoppstädten, a township that actually makes its mark on the south-western side of the German map, an economically somewhat modest region in easy driving distance of Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. The county (Kreis) is Birkenfeld; I was good friends with the County Commissioner and therefore knew something about the struggles of this region.

 We lived just ten miles from Hoppstädten in one of Germany’s two largest artillery firing ranges, Baumholder. That place is still there, still housing some 10,000-plus U.S. troops…when they happen to be there. Most of them today are “temporarily” in Afghanistan and in Iraq. The crest and the photograph are of Hoppstädten itself; Neubrücke is out of the picture but would have presented a continuation of the scene we see here had the camera panned to the left a little more. The nearest serious hospital to us, then, was in Neubrücke—and the 98th was a very serious, very modern, 1,000-room general hospital.

It lost its status in the 1970s when another large military hospital was completed in Baumholder itself. For a while this complex of some 50 buildings, of which the hospital itself was the largest, served various elements of the U.S. Army, Air Force, and Marines. Later it became property of the German government and served as a school and as residential district. I’m delighted to have found a photograph of one end of this actually much, much larger building. This photo was taken during the hospital’s period of abandonment and on a dreary day. It had quite a different look on sunny day when it was at its peak and filled with life. I was also lucky. This picture shows that end of the hospital where I actually parked my little grey VW bug on the day of Monique’s arrival and on subsequent visits. Then I walked the whole seemingly interminable half-length of the building to enter it in the middle.

Like so many places in the old world, Neubrücke has a deep history. To give a glimpse of that, here is a quote from GlobalSecurity.org, from an article titled “Neubruecke Kaserne, Germany”:

The history of Neubruecke can be traced back to 2,000 B.C. The area at that time was occupied by tribes of Celts who began a series of fortifications along the Idar Mountain range as protection against Germanic tribes to the Southeast. These fortifications continued until approximately 100 B.C. The defense line which ran between the Mosel and Rhine rivers was initially built of wood, but was rebuilt in stone during the Roman Era. The site of the old hospital complex covers a Celtic burial ground called …“Tumuli.” Twelve of these large earthen mounds or tombs were excavated before construction of the hospital complex. Relics typical of the Bronze Age were found. Bodies of the dead were entombed in wooden coffins fashioned by hollowing out whole tree trunks and personal items such as jewelry, vases, urns, and bowls were placed with them. Most items unearthed were of Celtic origin, but also found were bronze artifacts which probably dated back to Greek times. All the relics unearthed can be seen on display at the Landesmuseum at Trier.

John will be happy to know that the Celts were already guarding the place of his future wife’s birth before, you might say, time began. And it is strangely appropriate that a place once a tomb honoring the brave should have in time become transformed into a place where many thousands of babies saw the light for the first time ever.