Haltern am See (''Haltern at the lake'', before December 2001 only Haltern) is a town and a municipality in the district of Recklinghausen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated on the Lippe and the Wesel–Datteln Canal, approx. north of

Recklinghausen Recklinghausen (; Westphalian: ''Riäkelhusen'') is the northernmost city in the Ruhr-Area and the capital of the Recklinghausen district. It borders the rural Münsterland and is characterized by large fields and farms in the north and indus ...

. The town is about north of Düsseldorf.

History

Former ''Halteren'' was founded on February 3 in 1289. They received the town charter by the prince-bishop of Münster, Everhard von Dienstag. During Kristallnacht (1938), the town's synagogue, Jewish cemetery and the houses and shops belonging to the town's Jews were vandalised. Jews were deported to concentration camps, the last five of whom were deported in January 1942. Only one of the town's Jews survived the Holocaust:

Alexander Lebenstein Alexander Lebenstein (November 3, 1927 – 28 January 2010) was a German-American Holocaust survivor. He was the sole surviving Jew in the Shoah from Haltern am See. The Alexander-Lebenstein junior high school in his hometown is named after him. ...

, after whom a school is named. In March 2015, the town received international attention when 16 students and two teachers from the

Joseph-König-Gymnasium Joseph-König-Gymnasium is the only Gymnasium (Germany), gymnasium in the Westphalian city of Haltern am See. With 1,360 students, it is one of the larger high schools in North Rhine-Westphalia. The school is named after the German chemist Joseph ...

in Haltern, were killed in the Germanwings Flight 9525 crash in the French Alps. They were on their way home from a student exchange with the Giola Institute in Llinars del Vallès, Catalonia, Spain. Haltern's mayor,

Bodo Klimpel Bodo Klimpel (born 12 November 1963) is a German politician ( CDU). He was the mayor of the North Rhine-Westphalian town Haltern am See and is now the Landrat (district chief) of the District Recklinghausen. Life Klimpel was born in Rourkela ...

, described it as "the darkest day in the history of our city."

Gallery

File:Haltern am See, kerk2 foto5 2010-08-07 14.24.JPG, Church File:Haltern am See, Alte Rathaus Dm2 in straatzicht foto4 2015-04-20 13.52.jpg, Former town hall File:Haltern am See, der Siebenteufelsturm Dm3 foto8 20216-08-15 13.34.jpg, Tower: der Siebenteufelsturm

Notable people

* Benedikt Höwedes, former footballer for Juventus F.C. and Germany, was born in the city * Joseph König (1843–1930), chemist, after whom the Joseph-König-Gymnasium is named, was born in Lavesum in Haltern *

, Holocaust survivor, after whom the Alexander-Lebenstein-Realschule is named, was born in Haltern * Christoph Metzelder, former footballer for Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04, was born in the city *

, mayor of Haltern am See between 2004 and 2020, was born in

Rourkela Rourkela is a planned city located in the northern district Sundargarh of Odisha, India. It is the third-largest Urban Agglomeration in Odisha after Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. It is situated about west of state capital Bhubaneswar and is surro ...

, State of Odisha, India * Luba Goy, German-Canadian actress and comedian, was born in Haltern in 1945 and emigrated to Canada with her parents in 1951

Twin towns – sister cities

Haltern am See 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: * Roost-Warendin, France *

Sankt Veit an der Glan Sankt Veit an der Glan (; sl, Šentvid ob Glini) is a town in the Austrian state of Carinthia, the administrative centre of the Sankt Veit an der Glan District. It was the historic Carinthian capital until 1518. The famous chef Wolfgang Puck was ...

, Austria

References

External links

Livius.org: Roman fortress Haltern
{{Authority control Towns in North Rhine-Westphalia Members of the Hanseatic League Recklinghausen (district) Holocaust locations in Germany