Germany's oldest autobahn turns 90 - why the Nazi myth is wrong

Created: 07/31/2022, 18:30

By: Benjamin Stroka

On August 6, Germany's first autobahn celebrates its 90th birthday.

The A555 between Cologne and Bonn is also proof that the Nazis did not invent the autobahn.

Cologne/Bonn – The entire motorway network in Germany measures around 13,200 kilometers.

That is more than twice as long as the distance from Cologne to New York (around 6000 kilometers).

This means that Germany has the second largest motorway network in Europe, after Spain.

But around 90 years ago, things started out very small.

Because the first autobahn in Germany was only 20 kilometers long.

It connected the cities of Cologne and Bonn.

On August 6th, the A555, long known as the "diplomatic racetrack", celebrates its 90th birthday - and looks back on a moving history, reports 24RHEIN.

A555: Konrad Adenauer already called the Autobahn “road of the future” in 1932

It is August 6, 1932. Flags and garlands adorn the distribution center in the south of Cologne.

The newspapers in the cathedral city are filled with special inserts.

The radio is also on site and reports.

The reason for all the hustle and bustle: a new street is being inaugurated in Cologne.

But it's not just any street, it's the first autobahn in all of Germany.

"This is what the streets of the future will look like," says Konrad Adenauer, then Mayor of Cologne and later the first Federal Chancellor.

A green ribbon is cut and the Germany song sounds.

After that, a whole caravan of cars makes its way from Cologne to Bonn to try out the region's new flagship road.

Then and now: The A555 between Bonn and Cologne when it opened in August 1932 (left) and in October 2021 (IDZRW assembly).

© United Archives International/Imago & Manngold/Imago

Germany's first autobahn turns 90: it was built before the Nazis

Construction began in October 1929. At the same time, the autobahn now known as the A555 dispels a decades-old myth.

Namely the belief that Adolf Hitler and the Nazis invented the autobahn.

"It (the A555; ed.) is Germany's oldest public highway, and thus clear proof that the National Socialists are not the fathers of the highway, but honorable gentlemen before them," explains Autobahn GmbH on the anniversary.

The impetus for the construction of the autobahn came from Konrad Adenauer, a car enthusiast and then mayor of the city of Cologne, his counterpart in Bonn, Wilhelm Lürken, and Johannes Horion, governor of the Rhine province.

They wanted to counteract the ever-increasing number of cars and thus accidents in the region.

Although it was not an easy time economically back then, they pushed through the construction of the autobahn.

After all, it cost 8.6 million Reichsmarks (today around 31 million euros), half of which was taken over from Berlin, capital of the Weimar Republic at the time.

The archive picture of the Rhineland Regional Council shows the celebration of the opening of the A555 in Cologne in August 1932. © Landschaftsverband Rheinland/dpa

also read

Fire brigade saves dog from overheating with turntable ladder – holder threatens consequences

Sauerlander meets Olaf Scholz in an unusual place - the chancellor is on first-name terms

Germany's first autobahn turns 90 - it was built by unemployed people

The construction of the Autobahn was real manual work.

Excavators and conveyor belts were forbidden, only carts could be used.

That had to do with the cash injection that Adenauer and Co. were hoping for from Berlin.

Because the people of the Rhineland sold the capital the construction of the autobahn as so-called “emergency work”, i.e. a government job creation measure.

Accordingly, over 5500 unemployed were used to build the highway.

And there was no alternative for them.

"Anyone who resists the work will receive no support," it said at the time.

In less than three years they built the first German autobahn.

On August 8, 1932, i.e. two days after the opening, the line was opened to public transport.

Four lanes, two in each direction, each three meters wide are now available to all motorists.

A speed limit was considered unfashionable at the time and was therefore avoided.

Except for a longer curve near Wesseling, the route is almost straight.

Golf club was against construction of the highway

No matter how ceremoniously the autobahn between Cologne and Bonn was opened in 1932, not everyone was enthusiastic about the construction of the route.

The Cologne Golf and Country Club, for example, was clearly against the plans at the end of the 1920s.

The club lost five holes of its own golf course due to the construction of the motorway.

Later, the golfers decided on a complete change of scenery and moved to Refrath.

But the former municipality of Urfeld, now part of Wesseling, also complained.

The highway route was cut right through some of their farmers' fields.

A555: Germany's first autobahn was initially forbidden for motorcycles

It doesn't take long before around 4,000 cars are on the road there every day.

Shortly before that, a number of important rules were laid down, including “that stopping, parking or turning around is prohibited”.

Just like the "herding of animals or driving on horse-drawn carriages, bicycles or motorbikes." Motorbikes were therefore initially not allowed to use the autobahn.

The ban was later overturned, also after heavy criticism from the ADAC.

Curious: the rules for the Autobahn could previously be read in key words on boards at the beginning and end of the route.

The section with the ban on motorcyclists was simply painted over by hand after it was lifted.

The only exit is in Wesseling.

Then, just like today, the beginning and end of the autobahn are the large roundabouts in Cologne and Bonn.

By the way: Unlike today, there was no boundary in the middle of the roadway back then.

A555: Germany's first autobahn – the Nazis demoted it to a country road

In 1933 the National Socialists came to power in Germany.

And that soon had consequences for the Cologne-Bonn Autobahn.

The Nazis simply demoted it back to being a country road.

The plan of the NSDAP: Adolf Hitler should be able to be celebrated as the inventor of the autobahn.

A few years earlier, the Nazis had actually wanted nothing to do with autobahns, and were even clearly opposed to roads purely for cars, which were seen as a luxury for the richest.

But that changed after the takeover.

The work of Reich Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels gave rise to the myth of the "Streets of the Führer".

The Nazis had autobahns built on the basis of plans already drawn up by the previous government.

A555 between Kökn and Bonn: Autobahn becomes a diplomatic racetrack

The later A555 between Cologne and Bonn remains unnoticed for the time being.

It would be many years before it became a freeway again.

It was not until April 1, 1958 that the road was reintegrated into the German autobahn network, initially as the A72.

The widening to a total of six lanes follows shortly afterwards.

The route has borne the name A555 since June 1974. To this day, the motorway also has a special nickname: diplomatic racetrack.

The A555 between Cologne and Bonn was expanded to a total width of 40 meters in the 1960s.

© Wolfgang Weihs/dpa

The reason for this: Except for a short period in the 1960s, there is no speed limit on the A555.

Bonn government employees who live in Cologne, foreign diplomats and state visitors therefore liked to use the A555 to race back and forth at top speed between Cologne and the then federal capital Bonn.

A speed limit on the A555 has only existed since 2004.

A555 today: Around 100,000 cars a day between Cologne and Bonn

To this day, the A555 is an important traffic axis in the Rhineland.

80,000 to 100,000 cars use the route between Cologne and Bonn every day – and the trend is rising.

And so that the motorway can still be used well beyond its 90th birthday, it is constantly being renovated.

Renovation work on the A555 in the Wesseling area is currently ongoing until 2025.

Among other things, noise protection walls and low-noise asphalt are to be applied.

Measures designed to ensure that Germany's oldest autobahn remains modern and moves with the times.

After all, they want to celebrate their 100th birthday in around ten years.