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You meet a sculpture in an alcove in the outer wall of the convent church; it figures Saint Lazarus, the patron of the lepers. In our days this is the only hint at the infirmary in Bonn ("Leprosenhaus auf den Höhen"), which had been located at this place since the late Middle Ages (first mentioning in 1345). Far beyond the city walls, the persons ill with leprosy or other epidemics were cared for in numerous  ooms, small and cellar-like, until the early 18th century. Ill 2.1 shows the Lazarus chapel at the beginning of the 17th century, which presumably replaced another building. Next to it was located the unpretentious "Hoeheguetchen" until 1868. These were the first buildings in today's Auerberg area. Opposite the entrance to the convent church, you can find a plaque commemorating the geographical survey of the Rhineland in 1847, in short: the "Bonner Basis".

In 1868 the socially committed Catholic Club of Bonn bought the entire estate of the "Hoeheguetchen", including the chapel. Their aim was to establish the scholastic and educational institute "Sankt Josef an der Hoehe". Its purpose  was to "provide poor and left behind boys of Catholic belief with a sound education in religous and ethical affairs and with the indispensible teaching of skills that would be essential for their later lives and that would make them, with the mercy of the Lord, good Christians and citizens." In 1872 the institute put up its operation and in the subsequent years it considerably added more buildings for housing, teaching and working (Ill 2.2). At the location of the Lazarus chapel the neogothic church "Sankt Josef auf der Hoehe" was erected between 1883 and 1887, which now enjoys the status of a listed building, just as the adjacent buildings do. The architect was Heinrich Wiethase (1833-1893) who also designed the Stiftskirche. Since 1884 it developed as a favourite stop on the itinery from the city to the new cemetry.

Due to problems related to their personel and to their economic situation the Catholic Club sold the big estate to the Order of the Redemptorists, which had been founded in 1732. The struggle between the Prussian state and the Catholic Church had made them run their school "Collegium Josephinum" in Vaals, close to Aachen in the Netherlands. It was designated to raise the scholars of their order. It was pure coincidence that the local patron was named after Joseph as well. The steadily growing population of the region flocked to this convent church to become an important spiritual centre in their lives. The Fathers of the convent themselves did likewise and played their parts in the lives of the neighouring parishes. It did not take long that the boys living in  the boading school of the order (the "Juvenists") came more from the entire Reich than from Bonn itself. From January 1940 to March 1945 the National Socialists closed the school, temporarily ran a military hospital, an institution for the training of teachers, and eventually provided a quarter for the police and for the forces responsible for the air raid  protection. In December 1944 a mine not only immensely damaged the school building but also caused 14 fatalities. With the American occupation on 8th March  1945 the Redemptorists again moved in and relaunched school life. When Bonn was declared to be the provisional capital of the Federal Republic places in the communal Gymnasiums (similar to secondary schools) became so rare that in 1950 the city administration asked the Collegium Josephinum to open up to boys whose career was not necessarily devoted to becoming a priest or to joining the order. In the subsequent decades, the numbers of the pupils rose from 200 in 1950 to 800 in 1980. Yet, in the same period the number of the "Juvenists" dropped so much that the boarding school was eventually closed in 1983. Now, there are just three boys-only Gymnasiums in the whole of Germany (in Regensburg, Mainz and Bonn); and as for the Realschule there are not any, except for the one in Ehingen (in Baden-Württemberg)  and the one run by the Collegium Josephinum in Bonn (Northrhine Westphalia). A shameful chapter of the school’s history dates back to the 1950s and 1960s, but had not surfaced before 2010. It challenges the fact that in the Collegium Josephinum some Fathers sexually mistreated several boys as their carers. Acknowleging the profound psychological injuries inflicted to the boys the order tries to honour their responsibilities. Both the Gymnasium and the Realschule have been well sought-after in Bonn and the region to the left and to the right of the Rhine.

Yet more additions and refurbishments of the old buildings had to be undertaken after the Realschule had been opened in 1976  and the Gymnsium had been built anew in 1980 (Ill 2.3). The convent church was renovated comprehensively from 1981 to 1983, the old school building was torn down in 1983, while in 1986 a new youth centre was designated and new lodging appartments offered to the Fathers. The old convent building was in part redesigned for assisted accommodations, furthermore the care home for seniors "Josefshoehe" was built in 2004 where the historic studios used to be (Ill. 2.4).

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All traces of the knacker's yard in the southern part of the "Nordfriedhof" (Northern cemetery) have been lost. Since the High Middle Ages this was the place where, century after century, those executed or the carcasses of animals were disposed of, and it was the place of the Bonn gallows - for the population to be deterred. The year 1777 witnessed the last executions. And yet, the old names of some streets tell us something about this historical chapter. The "Gerichtsweg", the "way to the court", is testimony of the High Court, as does the "Galgenpfad", the path to the gallows (Ill 3.1).

In the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Ages the deceased were mostly buried in the cemetries within the city. But in 1715 Elector (Kurfürst) Joseph Clemens had the "New cemetery" established beyond the city walls. Although this one was extended several times it reached its full capacity as early as 1884, due to the rapid growth of Bonn in the 19th century. It just became the "Old cemetery". In the same year, another cemetery with 15,000 burial places could be dedicated far beyond the city limits in Koelnstraße, on an area as big as 8 hectars. It was designed like a park (Ill 3.2). Its old trees and its pompous burial memorials leave behind impressions of those bygone times. It did not take long, before the size of the area doubled in 1900. It was renamed as "Northern cemetery", when in 1910 the "Southern cemetery" (Südfriedhof) was opened in Dottendorf. In 1913/14 the chapel and the momentous entrance gate at Koelnstrasse were erected with the inscription "Resurrecturis" (To those who will resurrect). Its massive body earned it its nickname as the "Egyptian Portal" (Ill 3.3). As parking lots were planned in 1962 the portal was demolished. These plans however never materialized, and neither did another attempt to restore it on the remaining pillars.

When the regional railway line from Bonn to Cologne along the Rhine, the so-called Bonn-Koelner Rheinuferbahn, started their operation in 1906 it ran direct behind the Nordfriedhof with an extra stop "Bonn-Nord", which made it  much easier for the people coming from Bonn to access the cemetery. Later the line was redirected towards Tannenbusch. The stop was a prerequesite for the nearby metal works. World War I (1914-1918) urged the city to have a cemetery to honour not only its civilian vicitims but also those soldiers who died in the military hospitals, the prisoners of war, and the relatives of the occupying forces later on. It was not designed before 1933. The surrounding area was predominantly farm land and as such it was sparsely populated. Between 1933 and 1939 about 1,000 persons moved to the "Nordrandsiedlung" and to the houses in Richthofenstrasse.

Four years after WW II, the honorary cemetery was overhauled and redesigned in 1966 to commemorate some 2,000 casualties: the victims of the air raids, the soldiers, the prisoners of war, the forced labourers. In the year 1980 the Memorial for the Victims of the Wars and of the tyrannies was moved here from the Hofgarten in the city. It was here that the wreath-laying ceremonies accompanying the protocol of state visits took place. After the German reunification the Neue Wache in Berlin took over. Plans to build a crematorium on the Nordfriedhof came to nothing neither in 1981 nor in 2000.  It became a listed place in 1984 und it was enlarged again, covering 25 hectars this time. Today the Nordfriedhof, the biggest cemetery in Bonn, is part of Auerberg with its 10,000 inhabitants. With its array of fine trees and its well looked-after design the cemetery is the only outstanding forest park in the region as regards to plant and animal life (Ill 3.4). It carries many associations, not only of the history of Bonn. Over a timespan of nearly 140 years, various nationals and members of different faiths have been buried here, partly in their designated sections (since 1987 for Muslims, since 2017 for the Chinese). Meanwhile many burial memorials have been taken down, while more and more urns take their places. Since 1988 there has been a section for the anonymous dead and since 2006 there have been collective graves for urns. In the publication for the 100th anniversary of the Nordfriedhof you can read in 1984: "Cemetries are open history books." How true is that!

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Most inhabitants of Auerberg would not notice the big industrial area off their habitual routes. It extends along Friedrich-Wöhler-Strasse, between the back of the Northern Cemetry and the motorway to Cologne (A 555). Since 1918, in its initial stage, metal was processed here in an iron rolling mill ("Bonn Eisenindustrie Ltd"), which however was closed in the same year, shortly before the end of World War I (Ill 4.1).

On 15th June 1921, the Erftwerk Ltd in Grevenbroich bought all shares of the disused works. This company became a 100 percent subsidiary of the Vereinigte Aluminiumwerke ("United Aluminium Works, VAW). They started off under the name "Eisen- und Metallindustrie Ltd" (Iron and metal industry ltd), running an aluminium rolling mill with 60 employees. In 1926 the factory was extended to now roll alloys as well ("Aluminium-Legierung Lautal Ltd), extending the staff to 200.

Its name then was "Lautal Walzwerk Ltd", but was changed into "Vereinigte Leichtmetall-Werke Ltd (Light Metall Works) just one year later, this time coining the company's image in Bonn up until now.  This location was profiting from the regional railway between Bonn and Cologne (the Rheinuferbahn) that offered a junction, which was in use until 2007. From 1917 to 1968 they could even call an extra stop ("Bonn-Nord")  their own. With the use of first an extrusion press from 1929 on, then of more presses, the production of rods, pipes and profiles from aluminium and its alloys became possible. More and more sheet rollings were deployed and the development of extremely hard ("hochfest") alloys ("Bondur" and "Albondur") in their own enterprise proved very successful from 1932 on. Basically, the company was geared up to play their part in the aviation industry, offering jobs to about 1,300 employees before WW II. The plant was spared from the air raids of the allied forces although those had classified it as relevant for the German warfare (spare parts, components and fuses of bombs). From 1941 on, countless labourers were forced to work there to uphold the production, the majority deported from Ukrania; they were held prisoners in a camp in Dellweg near Koelnstrasse.

At the end of WW II, the plant was confronted with its dismantling and with a temporary production ban. However, the location soon enjoyed an upgrade when the central administration of the VAW was transfered from Berlin to Bonn into the vicinity of the alloy works (25, Georg-von-Boeselager Strasse). After the company had encouraged housing projects in the late 1930ies in the Nordrandsiedlung in Saarbruecker Strasse (Ill 4.3), they again committed themselves to the housing sector, when the era of German reconstruction was passing by and when the company was expanding, employing about 1,800 workers in the 1960ies. The production was restructured internally, which led to a relocation of the rolling mill – and to a reduction of the staff: in the late 1980ies about 700 workers were busy in the production process.

Since 1964, the importance of aluminium for Bonn is underlined by a research institute next to the main VAW headquarter, focusing on alloys. In 2002 it was taken over by Hydro, which again was taken over by a New York-based hedgefond, on 1st June 2021. Since then the branch based in Bonn is now being called "Speira". The investor, Cube Real Estate, acquired a somehow bigger plot, on which they intend to establish an industrial park along some housing units.

In 2002 the entire VAW group, which had been part of the E.ON group, changed into the hands of Norsk Hydro, thus making the main administration in Bonn redundant. From 2015 to 2019, 200 refugees mainly from Syria temporarily found shelter in a part of the administration building. It should be mentioned that VAW had sold the alloy works to the Dutch Hoogovens Group back in 1996. Four years later, in 2000, they amalgamated with British Steel, which from then on was named "Corus Aluminium Profiltechnik Bonn Ltd". Six more years into the new millenium, in 2006, ownership changed hands again. This time its name was "Aleris Aluminium Bonn Ltd" (Ill 4.4). It took Aleris nine years before they sold their aluminium branch to the Japanese Sankyo Tateyama Inc.; they, again, possess "ST Extruded Products Germany" (STEP-G) with their plant located in Bonn, employing more than 300 members of staff. The company is a global leader in manufacturing extruded aluminium profiles. Currently VW has placed a big order to produce system components for electric cars, while ready-to-use components for the bodyworks of the high speed trains have already been delivered for years. In 2014, DHL aquired a part of their site to establish a logistics centre, where 12,000 parcels are distributed by 100 employees.

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After WW I, whilst the inflation made the contributions of the better-off people to the tax revenues of the city dwindle, the administration of Bonn intended to balance this with immense locations of businesses. Large areas were set aside for this purpose between Koelnstrasse, the Rhine and the northern limits of the city. Key to this project should have been the "Werftbahn", a railway line that had connected the Rheinuferbahn with the new port in Graurheindorf since 1924. Four branch lines should have helped develop the entire area, which extended from Obersten Hoehweg (now "An der Josefshöhe") to Englaenderweg (Ill 5.1). The economic problems of the Weimar Republic however frustrated the implementation of this industrial area. And yet, the track of the "Werftbahn" turned out to be decisive: it defined the northern limit of Bonn's settlement.

"At the fringes of the big cities settlements and allotment garden colonies should be established for unemployed people," the Rheinische Zeitung detailed on 10th November 1931. Even though the Homestead Act of the Weimar Republic had supported the building of settlements for unemployed craftsmen since 1920, it did not materialize in Bonn before 1931. In 1932 and 1933, all in all 40 homesteads were erected in the DIY way, the first ones in Tannenbusch (Berta Lungstras-Strasse) and at the Mondorfer Bach (Mondorfer Strasse) (Ill 5.2, red circle 1 and 2). Those who had been keen on banding together as individuals did so in the settling community of Bonn-Nord. From 1933 on, they were obliged to become members of the "German Settlers‘ League", the Nazis decreed. In the same year, construction of the "Nordrandsiedlung", as it was called, started (Ill 5.2, red circle 3). Until 1938, 71 semi detatched units were being erected with the development of electricity and water supply lines and of the roads going hand in hand. But the sewage lines were missing. In fact, from the start up until 1934, those involved were the unemployed artisans without financial resources, but with many children. Between Koelnstrasse and Flensburger Strasse and along Eupener and Allensteiner Strasse they built two types of houses, depending on the famliy size. The settlers did so semi-autonomously. Most of the houses did not have cellars in full scale and the communal plots were leased as hereditary tenancies. They were 800 to 1,200 sqm large (Ill 5.3). In the second phase from 1934 onwards the houses beyond Eupener and Allensteiner Strasse, opposite Flensburger Strasse, were added. These settlers, in contrast, could call some of the resources their own. The houses along Saarbrücker Strasse were the last ones to be built. Their tenants worked predominantly in the light metal works and enjoyed the support of their employers. Sheds for small animals were attatched to all houses and the gardens should help the people become self-sufficient (Ill 5.4).

In 1936/37 another housing project with 35 units was managed in Richthofenstrasse by the "Bonner Wohnungsbaugenossenschaft", a housing cooperative (Ill 5.2., red circle No 4). Before World War II this "early Auerberg" totalled 1,000 inhabitants. In the winter of 1940/41, a subterranean water tank to extinguish fires was built near Eupener Strasse and Flensburger Strasse. And indeed: the local railway to the port, the port itself, the light metal works, the ferry to Mondorf and the anti-aircraft deployments at Englaenderweg were potential targets of air raids. In 1943/44 three air-raid shelters were added at a depth of 14m with a connection of Koelner and Eupener Strasse on theone side and Allensteiner Strasse on the other side. Although they had not been completed, they did offer the population shelter. What has remained until today are the massively armoured access points next to the Schuetzenhaus at 584, Koelnstrasse, and at the "Buscher Plaetzchen" at 17, Allensteiner Strasse. In gratitude for surviving the war without major devastations, citizens of the north of Bonn and of the Nordrandsiedlung inaugurated the "Heiligenhaeuschen" in 1953.

They had been motivated to do so by Father Michael Kremers, then the Catholic priest in the parish of Sankt Josefs-Hoehe. In the post-war years and in the years of the "German economic miracle", the strong solidarity of the Settlement Community of Bonn-Nord proved helpful in many ways: they organized tools and materials for landscape gardening, they cooperated with the setting up of the sewage system in 1965 or they assisted the population in legal matters. What is more, social clubs, just to name the "Männerreih (?) Gemütlichkeit" (1948), the "Sonnige Siedlerinnen" (literally "the Sunny Settlement Ladies")(1949), and the "Sebastianus Schuetzenbruderschaft" (1950), were livening up the festivities and parties in the decades to come. In those days the area was expanding heavily towards the city of Bonn, but had not officially been named "Auerberg" before 1966. Three steps strengthened the development of a social centre: the inauguration of the Bernhard Church in 1956, the relocation of the kindergarden St Theresa from the "Auerberghaus", which became the home of the Schuetzen in 1984, to the new kindergarden and the opening of the vicarage in 1974. In the years between 1976 and 1978 many settlers of the Nordrandsiedlung accepted the offer of the city administration to convert their leases into property. Nowadays you can hardly find a house in its original state but with additions and conversion, with decorative gardenings instead of gardens proper (Ill 5.5). "The settlers" cherish their traditional community and they nurture their pride to have created a respectable setting in Bonn, having started up from the modest circumstances, which in those years were marked by suffering and privation (Ill 5.6).

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From today's point of view, the location of the Catholic church "St Bernhard", somehow marginal within the parish of Auerberg, raises questions. When it was built in 1955/56 the area stretching towards the city of Bonn was nothing but farmland. So, the location of the church followed the "Nordrandsiedlung" from the 1930s (Ill 6.1). In a short timespan, more than 1,000 people had moved here and to Richthofenstrasse, among them many Catholics. They expected religious guidance form the Parish of Graurheindorf with its Margaretenkirche and the convent church St Josef an der Hoehe in Koelnstraße. As for the space and the staff needed for this role, neither of the two churches could meet the expectations in any way. The Pastor of Graurheindorf should be supported: upon the proposal of the local dean, Father Michael Kremer from the Redemptorists took over the duties of the "Pastoral district of St. Josephs Hoehe", including the Nordrandsiedlung and Tannenbusch, which at that time did not have a church of their own. In 1943, Father Kremer organized a "makeshift church" in his flat in the privately owned house of Family Reuter (399, Koelnstraße), while the convent church was being shut down by the Nazis in the years 1941 to 1945.

As modest venues for the people to meet and contemplate their religion, the Lourdes Grotto was built in 1949 south of the light metal works and so was the Heiligenhaeuschen (Little Holy Hut) four years later, in 1953, near the Nordrandsiedlung. In the spring of 1951, the episcopal vicarage in Cologne acknowledged the urgency to build a new church for the Nordrandsiedlung. The acquisition of a suitable site, however, was dragging on for another three years. The Bonn architects Toni Kleefisch and Carl Leyers designed the plans, so the building of the church and the adjacent Parish could start on 27th June 1955, the foundation stone was laid on 21st August and the topping-out ceremony took place on 19th November in the same year. This process was unfolding, while Father Paul Kerzmann was in office. Before the new church was completed on 23rd December 1956, the fourth advent of that year, a "Kirchbauverein", a charity to accompany the development, had been committed to furnishing the new church. The Auxiliary Bishop Josef Ferche conducted the consecration ceremony, establishing at the same time a new parish in its own right. Nominating the church and the parish "St Bernhard" should appreciate its link to the parish in Graurheindorf, which, historically speaking, stems from the monastry of the Cisterians ("Grey Sisters"). This order had venerated Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.

From late 1955 to 1961, Josef Schaefer served as the pastor of St Bernard. Thanks to his commitment, the artist Paul Magar (1909 – 2000) created the inspiring and precious mural behind the altar. When he encountered a fresco of that artist in a church in Pronsfeld (Eifel), the pastor fervently wished something similar for St. Bernhard; he wanted his favourite song "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme") (composed by Philipp Nicolai in 1599) to be graphically transposed. It took the artist the short time-span from autumn 1961 to Christmas of the same year to finish his great oevre. The space around the altar underwent reconstructions in 1986 and in 2011, 50 years after the fresco had been installed. On that occasion the view on that piece of art from the church goers' perspective was unblocked. What is more, the charm of the fresco was doubled when in 2020 the benches of the church were removed, due to the Covid pandemic.

Paul Magar created an aluminium relief, entitled "Ite missa est". It translates as "You may part, the service is over" and alludes to the ceremonial words "Depart in peace". He made offered this remarkable work of art to the church, because the congregation of St Berhard had donated it to their pastor, Father Matthias Harren (1968 – 1986), to mark his Silver Jubilee in 1977. Using layered aluminium plates to design the motifs expresses the close relationship to the VAW light metal works and to the quarter, which is home to many people and the work place of many employees. This way, the fresco of the altar along with the aluminium relief by Magar are part and parcel of an impressive ensemble that attracts the visitors' eyes upon their arrrival, their remaining and their leaving the church.

Since the 1960ies, the development of Bonn as the capital city of the Federal Republic of Germany is reflected in the massive build-up of the new quarter, which was called "Auerberg" in 1966 (Ill 6.4). A new Kindergarden (1966, extended in 2013, Ill 6.4) and a parish house (1974) close to the church complemented the institutions of St Bernhard, which was sovereign until 2002. A shortage of clergymen in the Cologne diocese as early as the late 1980ies made a reorganization of the parishes in Bonn necessary. There were districts in close range and "pastoral districts". From 10th September 2002, the parishes of St Aegidius (Buschdorf), St. Bernhard (Auerberg), St Hedwig (Bonn-North), and St Margareta (Graurheindorf) constituted a pastoral community, which later, on 1st January 2010, merged into the parish union "Im Bonner Nordwesten" ("in the North West of Bonn") together with neighbouring St Antonius (Dransdorf), St. Laurentius (Lessenich), St Paulus (Old Tannenbusch) and St Thomas Morus (New Tannenbusch). Three years later, this union evolved to form the pastoral community of "St Thomas Morus", encompassing eight churches, with St Bernhard in Auerberg being one of them.

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There is not the faintest hint at the big container with its fire fighting water. It is still located below the street at the round about infront of Bernhard Church, and at the entry of Eupener Strasse. In late autumn 1940, two semicircular pipes were built. They measured 21 resp. 29 metres in length, were 3.2m by 3.8m wide inside and were equipped with two pumps. (Ill 7.1 and 7.2), 4m below the surface. They were meant to provide suffient water to extinguish fires caused by air raids. Luckily enough, they never had to be made use of; today the firebrigade of Graurheindorf services the facility.

Since the end of 1942, plans had been elaborated to build an air raid shelter, with the name "Siedlung Kölnstrasse", just as the Nordrandsiedlung was called. Fears were running high that the light metal works, which produced military items, were at risk of air raids, just as the Werftbahn to the harbour of Bonn was, which could cause lateral damages in the housing areas nearby. On March 10th, 1943, the building the project was launched. 14m deep under, three tributary tunnels, one from Kölnstrasse, from Eupener Strasse and from Allensteiner Strasse each, should be connected like a big T. The daily work force counted 30 men, among them up to 20 French prisoners of war. And yet, the site was never completed before the end of WW II. The tunnels, whose walls were 2.2m high, 2m wide and 20 to 50 cm thick (Ill 7.4), suffered from temporary ground water leakages and were lit only sparsely. But they did offer shelter, which, luckily, was never tested. The buildings on the ground, offering access to the facility, were armoured so heavily that tearing them down would have been too costly. In the end, these testimonies of WW II are still visible in today's building stock: at 584, Kölnstrasse (Ill. 7.6) more than at 17, Allensteiner Strasse, at the "Buscher Plätzche" (Ill 7.6), or at 10, Eupener Strasse (Ill 7.7). The buildings accessing the internal stairs, however, were sealed with concrete shortly after WW II.

There are several bottle banks on a concrete platform at the junction of Flensburger Strasse and Saarbrückener Strasse, embraced by railings. Inconspicuous as they are, these are the last remains of a "station" of an aerial cableway that was under construction since the end of 1944 to facilitate the transport of weapons and other material from the left bank of the Rhine to the right bank, in case the Mondorf Ferry should not operate. The construction was aligned parallel to the Werftbahn before it would cross the river and its flood plain on a few pilones. Only a few steps could be developed before the end of the war. After the occupation of the American forces in Bonn on March 8th, 1945, the Nordrandsiedlung did come under heavy fire from the direction of Mondorf. An American tank, deployed near the "station" of the cableway, answered back and flatted the church tower in Mondorf.

All in all, the Nordrandsiedlung survived the years of WW II without major losses. 44 men of the settlement lost their lives at various fronts, a man and a woman were killed in an air raid. In 1953 people from the settlement showed their gratitude by building the Heiligenhäuschen (Holy Hut). Close to Bernhard Church, the local community inaugurated in 2001 a cenotaph with the names of the victims of WW II.

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How to conjure a place of contemplation in an area that was not only far beyond the city limits but also untouched by any religious and economic pivot - apart from some housing estates?

The pre-history

Father Michael Kremer, who was the pastor for the Nordrandsiedlung and for Tannenbusch from 1933 to 1938, had heeded the plan long before. He was keen to "add pietous colours to the grey and cool Nordrandsiedlung that lay at quite a distance from the church in Graurheindorf." These are the words the Father used in the "Chronicles of the Parish St. Josefs-Hoehe from 1938 to 1956", from which more quotations will follow. (archive of the parish of Bonn, St. Thomas Morus, part Auerberg). But that wish to realize was unthinkable in the times of the Nazis and of WW II. When he was convalescing in Lower Bavaria in 1947, he encountered a "Heiligenhaeuschen" (Holy Chapel). "It literally shielded the lingering visitors from their environment and lured them into the sacred space the next moment." Soon after, a wooden model was kept in his office for years.

The "Lourdes grotto", 1949

In 1949, Father Kremer got to know a "Lourdes grotto", when he was on a health spa in Camberg. "Could perhaps a similar grotto edify and console the faithful of St.Josefs-Hoehe as well as revive the veneration of Virgin Mary?" Within a couple of weeks locals and donators got active and built the Lourdes Grotto and inaugurated it on 8th December 1949. It was located on private land at the corner of Hoehweg and the way to the motorway bridge, opposite the light metal works where now the Maltese have their office.  That way, the inhabitants of the Tannenbusch-Siedlung found an opportunity for a short prayer when heading to the service in "St Joseph an der Hoehe". But in the mid 1960ies, the extension of the motorway had the grotto torn down.

Building the "Heiligenhaeuschen" (Holy Chapel) in 1952/53

After the urgent building of the kindergarden St Theresia (now the house of the Schützen in 584, Koelnstrasse) was completed, Father Kremer could concentrate on the building of the "Heiligenhaeuschen". Initially, it should have been dedicated to the "Mother of Permanent Help", who was venerated above all by his order, the Redemptorists, in the convent at 415, Koelnstrasse. "However, when on 1stNovember 1950, Pope Pius XII announced the dogma of Virgin Mary's bodily transfer into heaven, the theme of Queen Mary was brought to the fore." A municipal piece of land between Buschdorfer Kirchweg and the Hafenbahn grants a glimpse from a little hill onto the flood plains of the rivers Rhine and Sieg with their villages of Graurheindorf and Mondorf. "That is the place for a little silent prayer, off the busy traffic nearby." Toni Kleefisch, the architect from Bonn who had already overseen the building of the Bernhard Church, provided for the plan for the Holy Chapel. Many local craftsmen from the Nordrandsiedlung, from Tannenbusch and from Bonn-Nord got involved into the project; it was eventually consecrated on 24th March 1953. What was missing, however, was an image of Queen Mary's coronation; for a start, it was replaced by an image of the "Mother of permanent help" from the local kindergarden.

The Votive Tablet

In the following, the chronicles of the parish of St Josefs-Hoehe say: "The one votive tablet of marble that Willi Moehle produced says what the people from the Nordrandsiedlung considered to be the initial motiv for building the Holy Chapel. It was their gratitude to God and His sacred Mother for protecting them in the last war (1939-1945). It was just at the very spot of the chapel that the only bombs were dropped right across the settlement, on Easter Monday 1942. Little damage was caused at the house of Family Neuhaus at 1, Danziger Strasse.

The inscriptions of the votive tablet read:

"TO THE LADY TRANSFERED INTO HEAVEN"

Pope Pius XII on 1st November 1950

THE SETTLEMENT OF BONN-NORD IN GRATITUDE FOR THEIR PROTECTION IN WW II (1939 – 1945)

25TH MARCH  AD 1953

Now the faithful of the Nordrandsiedlung had a spiritual focus on their way to the service in the church St. Margareta in Graurheindorf (Ill 8.1).

Father Kremer wrote a letter to his superiors on 28th December 1953 to postpone his transfer. "Just to mention, I would like to see our Holy Chapel of Queen Mary being completed by a picture painted behind glass and by two stained glasses. Thanks to my commitment, the respectable chapel has been made up purely from donations of potent friends."

The picture "Queen Mary", 1954

The glass painter Felix Senger from Berlin-Dahlem was commissioned to not only paint the "Coronation of Mary" behind glass, but also two leaded pictures for the windows on the side, portraying angels. Due to a heavy work load, the picture with Mary was delivered one year later, in March 1954. But the two pictures that were offered for choosing were broken on their way to Bonn. "After four weeks a newly painted picture, this time on safety glass, was well packed to arrive safe and sound. It could be fitted into its niche at the end of May 1954. (Ill 8.2). The painter had been inspired by a mural painting from 1886/87 in the church St. Joseph an der Hoehe, which was the convent church of the Redemptorists since 1920 (Ill 8.3). The windows on the sides of the Holy Chapel with its angelic motifs were vandalised in the 1970ies and have been sealed with stones since then.

In WW II, Felix Senger got to know Father Wilhelm Lueckerath, a Redemptorist from Bonn. After his release from American captivity he spent some months in the Bonn convent and sketched stained glasses for all the broken windows there. "Unfortunately these sketches could not be realized at that time (in 1946), because the British military government had not licensed the necessary production of the antique glasses in the glass factory in Sindorf." Not before 14th May 1951 was one of his sketches fitted into the facade of the convent curch; it honored the victims of the war and carried the inscription: "He who sleeps, shalt wake up and be enlightened by Christ." This certainly was the occasion when Father Kremer and artist Senger encountered each other. More works by Felix Senger are drawings in a gallery in Berlin (1935), a painting of a lignite open cast mining with a power station in Milwaukee (USA) (1939), a window titled "The Birth of Christ" in the side ailse of the Liebfrauenkirche in Koblenz (1953), and a glass window in the city hall of Berlin-Zehlendorf (1955).

The Holy Chapel today: The landmark of Auerberg

The consecration of these churches paid tribute to the religious needs of a rapidly growing population in the northwest of Bonn: the Catholic St Paulus Church in Tannenbusch (1953), the Catholic Church St Bernhard in the Nordrandsiedlung (1956), the Protestant Church of the Apostles in Tannenbusch (1956), the Catholic St Hedwig Church in Bonn-Nordstadt (1962) and the Protestant Community Forum (1974). And yet: the Holy chapel has turned out to become the landmark of Auerberg. Since 1982, the annual ecomenical Gotteslob has been celebrated there. The local club carried a motion with the city council for the chapel to be listed as a monument, which was first rejected in 1986, but accepted four year later, in 1990.