With a wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial stone, representatives of the Automobile Club of Germany (AvD) commemorated Bernd Rosemeyer today on the occasion of the 85th anniversary of his death. The racing driver, born in Lingen (Ems) in 1909, started his career on a motorcycle. In 1935 he switched to automobile racing and competed in international Grand Prix races as a works driver for Auto Union. Rasch was one of the absolute top drivers of the “Silver Arrow era” and enjoyed great popularity among the population.
As early as 1936, Rosemeyer was able to win the European Grand Prix Championship, which today is comparable to the Formula 1 World Championship. In the course of the season he prevailed against legendary pilots such as Rudolf Caracciola, Manfred von Brauchitsch, Luigi Fagioli and Tazio Nuvolari. When the record week was held at the beginning of 1938 on the Reichsautobahn Frankfurt-Darmstadt, today’s A 5, Rosemeyer started for Auto Union in a streamlined Type C racing car.
After the start of the record attempts had to be repeatedly postponed on that day due to strong gusts of wind, Rudolf Caracciola went out on the track in the late morning and improved the record set by Rosemeyer in autumn 1937 from 406.32 km/h to 432.692 km/h. Then Rosemeyer started. He was determined to get the best back. But as is well known, the catastrophe happened: At 11:47 a.m., the star driver of Auto Union lost control of his vehicle at around 430 km/h, went off the road and died in an accident. When the rescuers reached the scene of the accident, they were faced with a field of debris from vehicle parts, while Rosemeyer’s lifeless body was leaning against a tree trunk, apparently unharmed. To date, the cause of the accident has not been clarified beyond doubt. It is suspected that the car was hit by a gust of wind when passing through a forest aisle and pushed onto the grass verge. The car then rolled over and overturned.
Bernd Rosemeyer left behind his wife Elly Beinhorn, a well-known aviator, and his son Bernd junior, who was only a few weeks old and later became a professor of orthopedics in Munich. His remains were buried in a grave of honor at the Waldfriedhof Berlin-Dahlem. Today, the Rosemeyerweg in Berlin is reminiscent of the racing driver, which connects the Nikolassee S-Bahn station for pedestrians with the Kronprinzessinnenweg, crossing the A 115 in the extension of the former Avus race track. The rest area near the accident site near Mörfelden-Walldorf on the A 5 also bore the name “Rosemeyer” for decades, before it was renamed “Bornbruch-West” a few years ago. What remains is a memorial stone at the southern end of the rest area, which commemorates the accident.
Even if the person Bernd Rosemeyer is controversially discussed historically due to his private CV and SS membership, for the Automobile Club of Germany it is all about the sporting appreciation. (awm)