Andernach () is a town in the district of
Mayen-Koblenz, in
Rhineland-Palatinate,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
, of about 30,000 inhabitants. It is situated towards the end of the ''
Neuwied basin'' on the left bank of the
Rhine
The Rhine ; french: Rhin ; nl, Rijn ; wa, Rén ; li, Rien; rm, label=Sursilvan, Rein, rm, label=Sutsilvan and Surmiran, Ragn, rm, label=Rumantsch Grischun, Vallader and Puter, Rain; it, Reno ; gsw, Rhi(n), including in Alsatian dialect, Al ...
between the former tiny fishing village of Fornich in the north and the mouth of the small river Nette in the southeast, just north of
Koblenz, with its five external town districts: Kell, Miesenheim, Eich, Namedy, and Bad Tönisstein.
A few hundred metres downstream of Andernach the Rhine valley narrows from both sides forming the northern part of the romantic ''Middle Rhine'' stretch. Already in Roman times the place the narrow passage begins was named "Porta Antunnacensis" or ''Andernachian Gate''. It is formed by two hills, the ''Krahnenberg'' (engl. ''Crane hill'') and the ''Engwetter'' (''Narrow weather'') on the right bank near the wine village ''Leutesdorf'' (external town district of
Bad Hönningen). The crane hill is named after the old crane beneath his foot (see below); in earlier times (until 1650) the hill was named "Geiersberg" ("Vulture's hill").
After World War II it was the site of two
Rheinwiesenlager temporary prison camps.
The town
Local dialect
As with most German cities, towns and villages, Andernach has its own local
dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety of a language that ...
– the "Andernacher Platt" ("Andernachian dialect") in which "Andernach" and the local dialect itself is named "Annenach" and "Annenache Platt". It belongs to the
Moselle Franconian language subgroup and considerably differs from
High German
The High German dialects (german: hochdeutsche Mundarten), or simply High German (); not to be confused with Standard High German which is commonly also called ''High German'', comprise the varieties of German spoken south of the Benrath and ...
, e. g. the Rhine river is named "Rhein" in High German (pronounced similar to English "Rhine" except for the "r"), but "Rhäin" in the dialect; except for the "r", it sounds similar to English "rain" with a stretched "a". Another examples are words like "Wind" (engl. wind) and "Winter" (engl. winter), which is "Weend" and "Weende" in the dialect. The double "ee" is pronounced like French "é". Unlike other dialects in the surrounding places the Andernachian dialect is strongly relative to the
Ripuarian dialect due its connection to Cologne. For more examples see the German Wikipedia site.
Coat of arms and town seal
The coat of arms of Andernach known since 1344 (the colours appeared first in 1483) shows a black cross on a white
escutcheon
Escutcheon may refer to:
* Escutcheon (heraldry), a shield or shield-shaped emblem, displaying a coat of arms
* Escutcheon (furniture), a metal plate that surrounds a keyhole or lock cylinder on a door
* (in medicine) the distribution of pubic ha ...
(shield) charged with a pair of X-shapedly arranged red keys. It is described in heraldic language as ''Argent a cross sable charged with keys in saltire gules''.
The black cross on silver symbolizes the governance of the
Electorate of Cologne; the keys refer to St. Peter the patron saint of the
Archbishopric of Trier (and of the cathedral of Trier), of which Andernach formed part. The red (key) colour adverts to the red cross (on silver) in the coat of arms of the
Electorate of Trier.
The oldest town seal shows St. Mary sitting on a throne with a church in her right hand and with the left hand holding a town. The seal inscription says: MATER DEI PATRONA CIVIUM ANDERNACENSIUM – Mother of God, patron saint of the Andernachian citizens. The oldest
seal was made before 1200, the oldest seal impression dates from the year 1250.
Description
Founded by the
Romans as ''Antunnacum'' in 12 BC on the site of an old
Celtic settlement probably called Antunnuac, Andernach is one of the oldest towns in Germany which as such held its "Bimillenary feast" in 1988. Both the Roman and the Celtic names mean "village or farm of Antunnos/us"—a man not yet identified. It was the southernmost outpost of the
Electorate of Cologne from the 12th to the 19th century. In addition to the touristically appealing medieval remnants of the old town fortifications, the city of Andernach is the location of several old industrial plants such as a huge malt mill (the last one of more than ten mills and breweries from the 19th and 20th centuries dismantled in 2008). In the 19th century the town was noted for the production of millstones, bricks and clay for making tobacco pipes. Among the more modern of its industrial / manufacturing base is a large steel-mill to produce cold formed tin plate and companies manufacturing medicinal products, raw food materials, cast iron products, engines and engine parts.
Tourists who come to the region usually visit the
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
fortifications such as the tall "Round Tower" (
Ger. "Der Runde Turm") finished in 1453, the archiepiscopal (
Electorate of Cologne)
castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
ruins with a well-preserved
keep, and the remains of the town wall with several well-restored wall
towers and two
gates: the "Rhine Gate" (das "Rheintor") built around 1200 as the "Grain Gate" (die "Kornpforte"; last renovation and reconstruction in 1899 after 17th century plans) and the "Coblencian Gate" ("Koblenzer Tor"), originally called the "Castle Gate" ("Burgpforte"); in medieval and
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...
times up to the 19th century the German word "Pforte" (from
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
"porta") was used for town and church gates instead of "Tor".
Another attraction from its ancient industrial past is the "Old Crane" of Andernach (Ger. der "Alte Krahnen"), a 16th-century stony land based
treadwheel tower
crane
Crane or cranes may refer to:
Common meanings
* Crane (bird), a large, long-necked bird
* Crane (machine), industrial machinery for lifting
** Crane (rail), a crane suited for use on railroads
People and fictional characters
* Crane (surname) ...
in diameter and high situated outside the town downstream close to the river bank of the old harbour where it replaced an even older 14th century wooden floating treadwheel crane. For 350 years it was in operation from 1561 to 1911. Two to four men were required to rotate the crane top by means of a huge double ended lever (horizontal wooden bar) attached to the vertical wooden crane "beam" and four others on a (
treadwheel men or menials) to operate the huge wooden twin treadwheels (more than in diameter) which lifted and lowered the load—mainly
millstones,
tuff
Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock ...
-stone blocks for the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
and wine casks. This treadwheel crane with stone walls (most cranes had a timber housing) is one of only a few of its kind in Europe to have survived. A
prince-elector
The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, la, Princeps Elector), or electors for short, were the members of the electoral college that elected the Holy Roman Emperor, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
From the 13th century ...
al order or permission was needed to build and operate such a crane in the times of the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...
.
The Catholic "St. Mary
Assumption Parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...
Church" locally known as "Church of Our Lady" or "St. Mary's
Cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...
" (Ger. "Pfarrkirche Maria Himmelfahrt", "Liebfrauenkirche", or "Mariendom") is the oldest historical attraction in Andernach, some of which date back to the 11th century.
The town
palais
Palais () may refer to:
* Dance hall, popularly a ''palais de danse'', in the 1950s and 1960s in the UK
* ''Palais'', French for palace
**Grand Palais, the Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées
**Petit Palais, an art museum in Paris
* Palais River in t ...
"von der Leyen house" (Ger. "Haus von der Leyen"), named after its builder district magistrate and governor of the prince-elector, "Georg III von der Leyen," dates back to 1600. Built in
renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...
and
baroque styles it now houses the town museum since 1936 and again since 1969. It displays among others a fine model of the Roman "
castrum
In the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, the Latin word ''castrum'', plural ''castra'', was a military-related term.
In Latin usage, the singular form ''castrum'' meant 'fort', while the plural form ''castra'' meant 'camp'. The singular and ...
" ''Antunnacum'', a 17th-century town model in ~1:600 scale and a thoroughly assembled model (~1:90) of the prince-electoral town castle.
One of Andernach's natural attractions is the world's highest (max. )
cold-water geyser, driven by
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is t ...
with force generated in a fashion similar to that in a shaken bottle of table water. It is located a little less than half a mile downstream from the "Crane" in the
Nature Reserve of "Namedyer Werth" (
MHG for "island of Namedy") now a
peninsula. Activated for the first time in 1903, the geyser was shut down in 1957 but reactivated early in the current century as yet another city attraction.
Jewish history
In the 12th century,
Benjamin of Tudela
Benjamin of Tudela ( he, בִּנְיָמִין מִטּוּדֶלָה, ; ar, بنيامين التطيلي ''Binyamin al-Tutayli''; Tudela, Kingdom of Navarre, 1130 Castile, 1173) was a medieval Jewish traveler who visited Europe, Asia, and ...
described Andernach as one of the 13 on the
Rhine
The Rhine ; french: Rhin ; nl, Rijn ; wa, Rén ; li, Rien; rm, label=Sursilvan, Rein, rm, label=Sutsilvan and Surmiran, Ragn, rm, label=Rumantsch Grischun, Vallader and Puter, Rain; it, Reno ; gsw, Rhi(n), including in Alsatian dialect, Al ...
with important
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
communities.
Jewish residents in Andernach were first mentioned in the
Köln archives in 1255.
[http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1495-andernach ] The Jewish community was periodically persecuted during the 13th to 15th centuries. On 3 August 1287 Archbishop
Siegfried II of Westerburg issued a protection decree for the town Jews from the local Burghers.
Persecutions occurred especially during the 14th century by the
Arnold von Uissigheim
Arnold III von Uissigheim, also ''blessed Arnold'' und "König Armleder", (c.1298-1336) was a medieval German highwayman, bandit, and renegade knight of the Uissigheim family, of the village Uissigheim of the same name. He was the leader of the ...
"Armleder" persecutions and in 1348–1349, as a result of the
Black Death Jewish persecutions
There were a series of violent attacks, massacres and mass persecutions of Jews during the Black Death. Jewish communities were falsely blamed for outbreaks of the Black Death in Europe. Violence were committed from 1348 to 1351 in Toulon, Barcelo ...
.
It appears as if between the 15th and the 19th centuries no Jews lived in Andernach. In 1860, a new Jewish community was founded in Andernach. Its cemetery, dated to 1888, is part of the city cemetery on KoblenzerStrasse.
On
Kristallnacht
() or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's Sturmabteilung, (SA) paramilitary and Schutzstaffel, (SS) paramilitary forces along ...
in 1938, the town
synagogue was set on fire and most of the young men were taken to
Dachau
,
, commandant = List of commandants
, known for =
, location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany
, built by = Germany
, operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS)
, original use = Political prison
, construction ...
.
At least 11 Jews who used to live in Andernach were murdered during
the Holocaust, and no Jews lived in Andernach after 1945.
Several sites commemorate the history of Jewish community of Andernach. An ancient Jewish
Mikveh, dated to the 13th century, is one of the oldest ones in Europe and can be found under the old town house, built in the 16th century close to the site where the synagogue stood. The Mikveh can be visited.
Population development
Lord Mayors
Till 1969 the Lord Mayor was named Mayor.
* 1946–1948: Egon Herfeldt (CDP, later FWG)
* 1949–1964: Johann Füth (CDU)
* 1965–1974: Walter Steffens (CDU)
* 1974–1994: Gerold Küffmann (CDU)
* since 1994: Achim Hütten (born 1957), (SPD)
Mayors
* 1965–1975: Werner Klein (SPD) (1928–1985)
* 1975–1982: Helmuth Günter (CDU)
* 1983–1993: Rainer Krämer (SPD)
* 1993–1994: Achim Hütten (SPD)
* 1994–2002: Franz Breil (FWG)
* 2002–2010: Josef Nonn (CDU)
* since 2010: Claus Peitz (CDU)
Literature
Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly , ; born Honoré Balzac;Jean-Louis Dega, La vie prodigieuse de Bernard-François Balssa, père d'Honoré de Balzac : Aux sources historiques de La Comédie humaine, Rodez, Subervie, 1998, 665 p. 20 May 179 ...
places his short story ''
L'Auberge rouge'' in Andernach. It is also the birthplace of twentieth century
American author
Charles Bukowski
Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambience of his adopted ...
.
Music
The Dutch folk song "
T'Andernaken" (In Andernach) was very popular all over western Europe in the 15th/16th century and set to music by numerous composers of the period such as Obrecht, Brumel, King Henry VIII, Agricola, Hofhaimer, Senfl.
Places of interest
The famous
Lake Laach
Laacher See (), also known as Lake Laach or Laach Lake, is a volcanic Volcanic crater lake, caldera lake with a diameter of in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, about northwest of Koblenz, south of Bonn, and west of Andernach. It is in the Eifel ...
(Ger. "Laacher See", literally "'Laachian' or 'Laky' Lake", i.e. "Lacustrine Lake" or "Lake of the Lake", comparable to the naming of "
Loch Lochy" in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...
) is the largest
maar-like lake in the
Eifel (more precisely a water-filled
caldera) and has a 12th-century
Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, found ...
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...
. The famous
Abbey of Maria Laach is west of the town in the southern
Fore-Eifel (Ger. ''Südliche Voreifel'' or ''Vordereifel'', the south-eastern forelands of the Eifel).
Namedy Castle
Namedy Castle (or Burg Namedy) is located in the Rhine valley, close to the village of Namedy in Andernach, Germany. Late gothic, moated castle (middle of the 14th century) originally belonging to the Husmann Knights of Andernach.
Since 1909 in ...
is situated in a village on the Rhine, adjacent to Andernach in north-western direction. In 1909 it was purchased by
Prince Karl Anton of Hohenzollern and his wife
Princess Joséphine Caroline of Belgium
Princess Joséphine Caroline of Belgium (18 October 1872 – 6 January 1958) was the youngest daughter of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders and Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. She was an older sister of Albert I of Belgium.
Biograph ...
. Today it is managed by their grandsons' widow, Princess Heide of Hohenzollern, housing concerts, theatre plays, art exhibitions, dinners and other events.
Maria Laach fg03.JPG, Maria Laach Abbey
Burg Namedy 004.JPG, Namedy Castle
Andernach mirror container
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, a transit camp for the
Nazi Euthanasia Action T4 victims was active in town. The institute in Andernach sent mentally ill patients and disabled people to the
Hadamar Euthanasia Centre, where victims were murdered. Between 1941 and 1944, about 1,560 people were sent to Hadamar through the Andernach transit hospital. In 1996, a memorial was built at the city center, commemorating the victims. The interior of the memorial is lined with mirrors on which the names of the known victims are engraved. 400 other dots stand for victims whose names are unknown.
Infrastructure
Andernach station
Andernach station is the transportation hub of the city of Andernach in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is a mid-sized station with thousands of passengers each day. It is currently classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 3 stati ...
is on the
Left Rhine line and the
Eifelquer Railway
The Cross Eifel Railway (German: ''Eifelquerbahn'') is a non-electrified railway line between Andernach and Gerolstein in the Eifel in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. From Andernach to Mayen Ost (East), it is classified as main line an ...
. It is served by
InterCity,
Regional-Express (the ''
Rhein-Express'', at hourly intervals) and
Regionalbahn services (''
MittelrheinBahn'', at hourly intervals) operating between
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
and
Koblenz. It is also served by Regionalbahn on the Eifelquer Railway to
Kaisersesch at hourly intervals.
Twin towns – sister cities
Andernach is
twinned
Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to:
* In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so;
* Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning
* Twinning inst ...
with:
*
Dimona, Israel
*
Ekeren (Antwerp), Belgium
*
Farnham, England, United Kingdom
*
Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, France
*
Stockerau, Austria
*
Zella-Mehlis, Germany
Notable people
*
Johann Winter von Andernach
Johann Winter von Andernach (born Johann Winter; 1505 – 4 October 1574) was a German Renaissance physician, university professor, humanist, translator of ancient, mostly medical works, and writer of his own medical, philological and humanities w ...
(1505–1574),
humanist physician
*Adolf Kolping (1909–1997), Catholic theologian, university professor
*
Charles Bukowski
Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambience of his adopted ...
(1920–1994), poet and writer
*
Puig Aubert (1925–1994), French
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
footballer
*
Hans Belting (born 1935), art historian and media theorist
*
Ralf Walter
Ralf Walter (born 15 March 1958, in Andernach) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany who served as a Member of the European Parliament from 1994 until 2009. In Parliament, he served as vice-chair of the Committee on Budg ...
(born 1958), politician (SPD), Member of the European Parliament 1994–2009
*David Wagner (born 1971), writer
*
Christian Sturm
Christian Sturm (born 18 January 1978 in Andernach, West Germany) is a German tenor.
Life
He began his training as a singer at the University of music and dramatic arts in Graz, Austria, before moving to the University of music and performing art ...
(born 1978), opera and concert singer
*
Daniel Bauer (born 1982), footballer
*
Markus Pazurek
Markus Pazurek (born 18 December 1988) is a German footballer who plays for SSVg Velbert
SSVg Velbert is a German association football club located in Velbert, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club was founded in 1902 as ''Velberter FC 02'' and is ...
(born 1988), footballer
*
Stefan Bell (born 1991), footballer
Associated with Andernach
*
Inge Helten
Ingeborg "Inge" Helten (born 31 December 1950) is a former athlete from West Germany, who competed mainly in the 100 metres. She was born in Westum, Sinzig, Rhineland-Palatinate.
Biography
She won her first international Gold medal at the 1971 ...
(born 1950), athlete (sprinter) of the DJK Andernach up to 1971, 1976 100-metre world record, as well as silver and bronze at the Olympic Games 1976
*
Stephan Ackermann (born 1963), theologian, made 1981 his abitur at the Kurfürst-Salentin-Gymnasium, since 2009 Bishop of Trier
See also
*
Andernach chess
References
External links
Coat of arms of Andernach
{{Authority control
Populated places on the Rhine
Mayen-Koblenz
Districts of the Rhine Province
Holocaust locations in Germany
Middle Rhine