In October of 2022, my wife Kathleen and I vacationed in France with a week in Paris and two weeks in Colmar. While in Colmar, we tried to visit nearby sites that were mentioned in the book. Of course, the landscape has changed since the early 1800’s, but surprisingly, many landmarks still exist. There are still the Catholic and Protestant cathedrals, and indeed, the Protestant cathedral holds the heart of General Rapp, as mentioned in the novel. Colmar has many of its old buildings, but Ostheim was totally destroyed in WW II with only one wall remaining standing. The hill near Ostheim that Jean-Luc and Anna Lise rode up and where Jean-Luc is buried, does exist. Ironically, it is now the “Nécropole Nationale de Sigolsheim” a necropolis holding the graves of 1,600 men who died fighting on this hill or nearby during WW II. The Germain soldiers refer to it as “Blood Hill”. While standing on the hill and taking in the view, an eagle soared above us, just like one did for Jean-Luc and Anna Lise. I saw no other eagles on this trip.
| Arriving in Colmar |
Statue of General Rapp Greets Us
From Chapter 1: A Bridge Over the Lauch River About Where Jean-Luc and Adrien Were Fishing
A building at geographically the right spot and vintage where Jean-Lucs’ family had their hotel
A remaining wall near the above building that could be the remains of the Bauck Butcher Shop
From Chapter 1, a meal of Salmon on a bed of Sauerkraut with white sauce
This is the only wall that survived WW II in Ostheim. Note the stork’s nest.
The La Fetch river that flows through Ostheim and the Ostheim Barracks (the Barracks no longer exist)
The Vosges Mountains rising above the Alsace plain.
Road going through the Vosges Mountains like the one Jean-Luc took going the Rheims
Bridge across the Rhine River at about the same spot Jean-Luc and the army took in his first campaign
The Rhine River
The night before we went to Ostheim, I used Google Earth to search for a hill near Ostheim with good elevation for viewing the Rhine Valley. Found one and when I zoomed in, saw that there is a WW II memorial graveyard on its top now. The hill was called ” Blood Hill” by the German soldiers and holds over 1,600 graves.
View from the Necropolis.
The eagle flying over the Necropolis much like the one that flew over Jean Luc and Anna Lise when they rode up this hill
A remarkable achievement and trip highlight was finding the memorial holding General Rapp’s heart. In the last chapter of the book, it says that when General Rapp died, he was buried in the Colmar cemetery except for his heart. His heart was placed in a solid silver box and put in a bronze enclosure and placed in a wall at St Mattieu Cathedral.
In the two weeks we were in Colmar, we have tried multiple times to get into the church, but it was locked. Finally, we learned there was an event at the church and we went early in hopes to get in. At the church, we talked to a man, who we learned was the caretaker for the church and he said we couldn’t see it that night, but he would be happy to show it to us the next afternoon.
To my amazement, we not only saw the bronze door holding the heart, he opened it and showed us the solid silver box holding the heart. He handed me some white gloves and said I could take it out. The silver box weighed about 20 or more lbs. He then said to put it on one of the chairs and he then opened the silver box. After removing some linen, there it was. In silver, the heart shaped container holding his heart.
Never in a million years did I expect all this to happen!!
