Mayen, the "Gateway to the Eifel," captivates with its picturesque townscape featuring historic defensive towers, the charming Clemens Church, and idyllic alleys at the foot of Genoveva Castle. Today, little indicates that the city was nearly 90 percent destroyed during World War II. The devastating air raids, particularly those on December 24, 1944, and January 2, 1945, claimed the lives of 395 residents of Mayen and left a landscape of ruins. However, shortly after the end of the war, the people of Mayen, under the leadership of city architect Fritz Braun, began the reconstruction. Within a few years, the townscape was revitalized while preserving the typical character of the historically developed streets and buildings. Following his successful photo book "Mayen in the Empire," Hans Schüller, chairman of the Historical and Antiquities Association, presents the first photographic documentation of this dramatic era.