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Bitburg (; English - "Bit Castle") is a city in Germany , capital of the district Bitburg-Prüm , in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate . It is situated approx. 25 km (16 mi.) north-west of Trier , and 50 km (31 mi.) north-east of Luxembourg (city) . Two American Airbase s, Bitburg Air Base and Spangdahlem Air Base , are located nearby. HISTORY The city’s name derives from its Celtic Toponym , ''Beda''. Bit Castle was created approximately 2000 years ago as a stopover for traffic from Lyon , through Metz and Trier to Cologne . The first mentioned name was “Vicus Beda”. Emperor Konstantine expanded the settlement to a road castle around 330, the central part of which forms the town centre to the present day. Bit Castle is first documented only after the end of the Roman Empire around 715 as “castrum bedense”. Bitburg subsequently became part of Franconia . In 1262, the castle gained municipal rights. In the middle of the tenth century the city came under the county of Luxembourg (later duchy), and in 1443 to the county of Burgundy . After 1506 the place belonged first to the Spanish Netherlands, and from 1714 to the Austrian Netherlands. In 1794 the city came under French administration, and in 1798 principal place of a canton of the forest section (Département of the Forêts). This led to a short lived economic upturn, and Bit Castle received among other things a court and a land registry. In 1815 by the resolution of the Congress Of Vienna , Bit Castle transferred to the Kingdom of Prussia, where it belonged administratively as district town until 1822 to the province Niederrhein, then to the Rhine province. Like the remaining parts of Eifel , Bit Castle was very poor. Economic ascent began again with the seizure of power of Adolf Hitler and the measures for the creation of war-important infrastructure, particularly the West Barrier , new armed forces barracks and with the development of the Kylltaleisenbahn. It is said that the building used as the Post Office at Bitburg Annex (what is left of Bitburg Airforce Base) was the headquarters building for Hitler when he was in the city. On 24 December 1944 , Bit castle was 85% destroyed by air raids, and later explained by the Americans as officially a “dead city”. Subsequently, Luxembourg soldiers occupied the city, replaced by the French from 1955. In 1965 a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) base was opened under American leadership. At the end of the 1980s, the French withdrew their last troops and NATO took over the former French barracks. After the First Gulf War large parts of the USAF 53rd were moved into the larger Spangdahlem base. In 1994, NATO finally quit most of the castle for the airport. REAGAN VISIT CONTROVERSY The proposed visit began as part of a plan to observe the 40th anniversary of V-E Day . As U.S. President Ronald Reagan was scheduled to attend a G7 economic summit in Bonn that week in 1985, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl saw an opportunity to demonstrate the strength of the friendship that existed between Germany and its former foe. During a November 1984 visit to the White House , Kohl appealed to Reagan to join him in symbolizing the reconciliation of their two countries at a German military cemetery. It was suggested that the Kolmeshöhe Cemetery near Bitburg was both suitably close and relevant, as 11,000 Americans attached to a nearby airbase lived in harmony with the same number of Germans. Reagan agreed, and later told an aide he felt he owed Kohl, who despite considerable public and political opposition had stood steadfast with Reagan on the deployment of Pershing II Missiles in West Germany, when Reagan had been determined to respond to the placement of Soviet missiles that threatened Europe. Planning In February 1985, then White House deputy chief of staff Michael Deaver made an advance-planning visit to Bitburg. The 32 rows of headstones were covered with snow. Deaver was usually very skillful in carrying out his role as public relations maestro for Reagan, but this time he and his team failed to discover that 49 members of the Waffen-SS were buried at Kolmeshohe. A decision was made by the Reagan team not to include a visit to a Concentration Camp , as had been previously suggested by Kohl. The president said he didn't want to risk ''"reawakening the passions of the time"'' or offend his hosts by visiting a death camp. Announcement On 11 April 1985 , then White House press secretary Larry Speakes informed the media of the planned visit to Bitburg. When asked who was buried at Kolmeshohe, Speakes said he thought both American and German soldiers were there. Reporters soon discovered that no American servicemen were in the cemetery (in fact, the remains of all U.S. soldiers had long since been removed from German soil), and the distinctly close location of the Waffen-SS graves to the proposed ceremony. When questioned, Bitburg Mayor Theo Hallet pointed out, all German military cemeteries were likely to contain at least a few SS graves. Such distinctions, though, failed to placate those who were opposed to Reagan's visit on moral grounds. Controversy
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