Eschweiler (, Ripuarian: ) is a municipality in the district of

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany on the river

Inde Indian English (IE) is a group of English dialects spoken in the republic of India and among the Indian diaspora. English is used by the Indian government for communication, along with Hindi, as enshrined in the Constitution of India. E ...

, near the German-Belgian-Dutch border, and about east of

and west of Cologne.

History

* Celts (first ore mining) and Romans (roads and villae rusticae). * 828 First mentioned by Einhard, the biographer of Charlemagne. * 1394 Coal mining first mentioned. * For some centuries part of the

Duchy of Jülich The Duchy of Jülich (german: Herzogtum Jülich; nl, Hertogdom Gulik; french: Duché de Juliers) comprised a state within the Holy Roman Empire from the 11th to the 18th centuries. The duchy lay west of the Rhine river and was bordered by th ...

. * 1678 Completely destroyed except one house and the valuable leather Pietà. * 1794 To France. * 1800 French municipal rights and capital of the Canton of Eschweiler in the French

Département de la Roer Roer was a department of the French First Republic and later First French Empire in present-day Germany and the Netherlands. It was named after the river Roer (Rur), which flows through the department. It was formed in 1797, when the left b ...

. * 1816 To Prussia. The French Cantons of Burtscheid and Eschweiler are put together to form the Prussian Kreis Aachen. * 1838 Foundation of the first joint stock company in the then Kingdom of Prussia: Eschweiler Bergwerksverein (i.e. Eschweiler Coal Mining Company) EBV. * 1858 Prussian municipal rights. Its quarters Hehlrath, Kinzweiler and St. Jöris are released in order to form the new municipality of Kinzweiler. * 1932 Hastenrath and Nothberg become a part of Eschweiler. * 1944 Heavily destroyed in World War II, the last coal mine was flooded during the war and never been re-opened. * Part of the federal land of North Rhine-Westphalia. * 1960s Complete modernization of Eschweiler's downtown and regulation of the Inde in order to prevent the regular inundations. * 1972 Reorganization of administration in North Rhine-Westphalia: Eschweiler increases overnight from some 38,000 inhabitants to about 55,000 by receiving the villages Dürwiß, Laurenzberg, Lohn and Weisweiler. Kinzweiler, after 114 years, comes back. * 1970s Eschweiler loses seven quarters because of the brown-coal opencast mining: Erberich, Hausen, Langendorf, Laurenzberg, Lohn, Lürken and Pützlohn.

Main sights

Eschweiler main sights include: *Artificial lake '' Blausteinsee'' ("Blue Stone Lake") *the Old Townhall (which is now the restaurant and conference wing of a hotel) *two pilgrim churches *main parish church of St. Peter und Paul with the Leather ''Pietà ''from 1360 *the chapel *dwelling house of the former

Cistercians The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

nunnery of St. Jöris, skull relic in St. Jöris' church, baroque altar in Hehlrath's church *Old Mill of Gressenich. Also present is a series of castle and manors: *Castle of Eschweiler (only three towers from the 13th century are left) *Castle of Kambach (beautiful

water castle A water castle is a castle whose site is largely defended by water. It can be entirely surrounded by water-filled moats (moated castle) or natural waterbodies such as island castles in a river or offshore. The term comes from European castle st ...

besides the golf course) *Castle of Kinzweiler *Castle of Nothberg *Castle of Palant *Castle of Röthgen *Castle of Weisweiler (only the towers and the outer walls are left) *Manor of Broich *Manor of Drimborn *Manor of Nothberg

Culture

Eschweiler has three municipal halls (Dürwiß, Kinzweiler and Weisweiler), a cinema, a municipal art collection and the so-called Culture Centre Talbahnhof for cabaret and music events. Every summer the ''Eschweiler Music Festival'' EMF takes place. People go to the numerous pubs around the ''Market Place'' and in the old-town alley ''Schnellengasse'' as well as to the large-scale discothèque ''Klejbor's''.

Carnival

Eschweiler is a center of Rhineland

carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...

. It has more than 20 active

clubs, and every Monday before Lent it has the third of Germany's longest carnival processions.

Culinary specialities

* Sauerbraten * Potato

fritter A fritter is a portion of meat, seafood, fruit, vegetables or other ingredients which have been Batter (cooking), battered or breading, breaded, or just a portion of dough without further ingredients, that is deep-frying, deep-fried. Fritters ar ...

s (''Reibekuchen'') with black bread, apple syrup, sugar beet syrup or stewed apples *

Blood sausage A blood sausage is a sausage filled with blood that is cooked or dried and mixed with a filler until it is thick enough to solidify when cooled. Most commonly, the blood of pigs, sheep, lamb, cow, chicken, or goose is used. In Europe and the A ...

(''Blutwurst'') crude or fried * ''Hemmel on Äed'' (i.e. Heaven and Earth) mashed potatoes with stewed apples and fried blood pudding or fried panhas * Rice pies, apricot pies, pear pies ("Schwatze Flaam") - 20 cm in diameter; the pear pies, also called black pies, are traditionally served at funerals * Horse and horse by-products

Medical care

Eschweiler is home to the St. Antonius Hospital with 443 beds and 13 departments. Every year, there are some 15,000 in-patients and 25,000 out-patients. The Euregio Breast Centre is part of the hospital.

Sports

Soccer, ice hockey, golf, open-air swimming pool, indoor swimming pool, horse sports, handball.

Industry

Chemicals and goods are the main products, while it also has a lignite-powered power plant rated at 2.8 GW.

Science

The

lignite Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...

(brown coal) deposits in the region are former Miocene swamp forest dominated by '' Castanopsis'', a type of chinkapin. Such plants do not occur naturally in Europe. A type of fossil wood has been described from logs found in Eschweiler mines. It was named ''Castanoxylon eschweilerense'' in reference to the town; the name would translate as "Eschweiler chinkapin wood", as it probably belonged to ''Castanopsis'' but perhaps to some other genus of chinkapin.

Transport

Eschweiler has six railway stations: ''

Eschweiler Hauptbahnhof Eschweiler Hauptbahnhof is the largest station in the city of Eschweiler in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is on a slight curve on the Cologne–Aachen high-speed line. Regional services of the Regional-Express lines RE 1 (NRW-Exp ...

'' (central station), ''Eschweiler-Aue'' (from 2009), ''Eschweiler-West'', ''Eschweiler-Talbahnhof'', ''Eschweiler-Nothberg'', ''Eschweiler-Weisweiler'' and ''Nothberg'' (till 2009). ''Eschweiler-St. Jöris'' is planned. Eschweiler has two bus terminals and bus lines in every quarter and in its whole vicinity. Autobahn exits on the A 4 include ''Eschweiler-West'', ''Eschweiler-Ost'' and ''Weisweiler''. The city can be reached also by three exits on the A 44: ''Aldenhoven'', ''Alsdorf'' and ''Broichweiden''.

Notable people

Anna Sorokin Anna Sorokin (russian: Анна Сорокина; born January 23, 1991), also known as Anna Delvey, is a con artist and fraudster who posed as a wealthy heiress to access the upper echelons of the New York social and art scenes from 2013 to ...

(born 1991), fraudster * József Ács (born 1948), composer, conductor, director of the Franz Liszt Society of Eschweiler * Theo Altmeyer (1931–2007), tenor * Heinrich Boere (1921–2013), German-Dutch war criminal * Götz Briefs (1889–1974), national economist and social philosopher * Willibert Kauhsen (born 1939), racing driver * Johannes Bündgens (born 1956), auxiliary bishop of Aachen *

Markus Daun Markus Daun (born 10 September 1980) is a German former professional footballer who played as a striker, spending seven seasons in the Bundesliga with Bayer 04 Leverkusen, SV Werder Bremen, 1. FC Nürnberg and MSV Duisburg. He finished his care ...

(born 1980), soccer player *

Gerhard Fieseler Gerhard Fieseler (15 April 1896 – 1 September 1987) was a German World War I flying ace, aerobatics champion, and aircraft designer and manufacturer. From birth to the 1918 armistice Born in Glesch (near Cologne), Fieseler joined the Air S ...

Andreas Gielchen Andreas Gielchen (27 October 1964 – 3 February 2023) was a German professional footballer who played as a defender and midfielder. Honours 1. FC Köln * UEFA Cup finalist: 1985–86 * DFB-Pokal finalist: 1990–91 * Bundesliga The Bu ...

(born 1964), soccer player *

Susanne Kasperczyk Susanne Stephanie Kasperczyk (born 1 August 1985) is a German footballer who played as a left-back or midfielder. She made appearances in the Bundesliga for Bayer Leverkusen and also played for Brauweiler Pulheim, SG Essen-Schönebeck, 1. F ...

(born 1985), soccer player * Claus Killing-Günkel (born 1963), esperantologist * Sascha Klein (born 1985), water jumper *

Kevin Kratz Kevin Kratz (born 21 January 1987) is a German professional manager (association football), football manager and former player who is the current technical director and head coach of MLS Next club Atlanta United U-16. Playing career Europe Af ...

(born 1987), footballer *

Wilhelm Lexis Wilhelm Lexis (17 July 1837, Eschweiler, Germany – 24 August 1914, Göttingen, Germany), full name Wilhelm Hector Richard Albrecht Lexis,Obituary by Felix Klein(in German) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lexis, Wilhelm 1837 births 1914 deaths People from ...

(1837–1914), economist, national economist and statistician * Franz Reuleaux (1829–1905), mechanical engineer * Michaela Schaffrath (born 1970), porn actress (''Gina Wild'') and actress *

Karl-Heinz Smuda Karl-Heinz Smuda (born January 24, 1961 in Eschweiler) is a German radio- journalist, media-expert, ghostwriter and major in the German Air Force. He was speaker of the NATO detachment in Siauliai and the German detachment of EUFOR RD Congo ...

(born 1961), ghostwriter, editor and publisher in Berlin and Norfolk / Virginia (USA) * Ralf Souquet (born 1968), poolbillard player * Martin Stevens (born 1929), politician *

August Thyssen August Thyssen (; Eschweiler, 17 May 1842 – Landsberg Castle, Ratingen, near Kettwig, 4 April 1926) was a German industrialist. Career and marriage After he had completed his studies at the RWTH Aachen University, University of Karlsruhe and ...

(1842–1926), founded the Thyssen-Foussol & Co. in Duisburg in 1867, and later on other steelworks. The company entered the ThyssenKrupp AG in 1997 * Joseph Thyssen (1844–1915), industrialist and the younger brother of August Thyssen

Notable people from Hehlrath

* Martin Schulz (born 1955), SPD - politician, Chairman of the Group of the Social Democratic Party of Europe in the European Parliament

Twin towns – sister cities

Eschweiler 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: * Reigate and Banstead, England, United Kingdom (1985) * Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Germany (2019) * Wattrelos, France (1975)

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control Aachen (district) Castles in North Rhine-Westphalia