Lahneck by Lahnstein is a castle from the 13th century on the banks of the Rhine, near Koblenz, and well-known by the death of Idilia Dubb in June 1851. In her holidays the 17 year old girl mounted the high tower of castle Lahneck, when suddenly the wooden stairs collapsed behind her. Nobody heard her crying and calling on the point of the tower, because it was surrounded with an insurmountable wall 3 meters high. The last sentences in her diary: All I know is that there is no hope for me. My death is certain. ... Father in heaven, have mercy on my soul (drawn down with two hearts). She was only found after years in 1860, her diary hidden in the walls some weeks later.

The castle features in Gene Garrison's account of the US 3rd army's crossing of the Rhine river on the morning of March 25 1945. The story is recorded chapter 14 of the book "Unless Victory Comes" by Gene Garrison and Patrick Gilbert, first published by Penguin in 2004.

External links

• Castle Lahneck and Miss Idilia Dubb
• More information about the death of Miss Idilia Dubb (in German)
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