ABSTRACT
Aachen (13 September-21 October 1944) Aix-la-Chapelle, later Aachen, was the capital city of the Holy Roman Empire, the city in which Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas Day 800. Over the next 500 years, thirty-two kings and emperors were crowned in the city. Since Adolf Hitler (q.v.) considered Charlemagne the founder of the First Reich, the city of Aachen on Germany’s western border had near-sacred status for the Fiihrer.
