Franklin D. Roosevelt and Bad Nauheim

I recently watched the first episode of Ken Burns’s documentary “The Roosevelt’s – Get Action (1858-1901)”. As the narration turned to Franklin Roosevelt’s stay in Germany, I immediately recognized the spa where he had stayed with his parents four times during 1891-1896 as Bad Nauheim, located about 20 miles north of Frankfurt am Main. His father had sought the water cure there for his heart condition and Franklin even went to the town’s public school school for 6 weeks.

The picture of the fountain above (courtesy of Hiltrud Hölzinger, Germany) .made me recognize the town and brought back memories of my school years. I passed the “Sprudelhof” - as the square around the fountain in Bad Nauheim was called - every day for 13 years. Now the complex surrounding the fountain is also recognized as one of the largest examples of Art Nouveau in Germany.

The mineral waters that were believed to benefit various heart ailments made Bad Nauheim between the second part of the 19the and the first part of the 20th century a well-known spa. European royalty and other famous people, including Mark Twain and Albert Einstein stayed there; Elvis Presley lived in the town during his military service in Germany 1958-1960.

You’ll find an expanded post on Franklin Roosevelt and Bad Nauheim on our Gamesforlanguage.com Blog.