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 ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

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

and west of

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 ...

History

* Celts (first ore mining) and Romans (roads and villae rusticae). * 828 First mentioned by Einhard, the biographer of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first E ...

. * 1394

Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

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 The Pietà (; meaning " pity", "compassion") is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus after his body was removed from the cross. It is most often found in sculpture. The Pietà is a specific for ...

. * 1794 To

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. * 1800 French municipal rights and capital of the Canton of Eschweiler in the French Département de la Roer. * 1816 To

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

. 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 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 ...

, the last coal mine was flooded during the war and never been re-opened. * Part of the federal land of

. * 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 ...

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 t ...

. 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 Sauerbraten is a traditional German roast of heavily marinated meat. It is regarded as a national dish of Germany, and is frequently served in German-style restaurants internationally. It can be prepared from a variety of meats, most often from ...

Potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Uni ...

fritter A fritter is a portion of meat, seafood, fruit, vegetables or other ingredients which have been battered or breaded, or just a portion of dough without further ingredients, that is deep-fried. Fritters are prepared in both sweet and savory v ...

s (''Reibekuchen'') with

black bread Rye bread is a type of bread made with various proportions of flour from rye grain. It can be light or dark in color, depending on the type of flour used and the addition of coloring agents, and is typically denser than bread made from wheat ...

, 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 ...

(''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 The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

swamp forest dominated by ''

Castanopsis ''Castanopsis'', commonly called chinquapin or chinkapin, is a genus of evergreen trees belonging to the beech family, Fagaceae. The genus contains about 140 species, which are today restricted to tropical and subtropical eastern Asia. A total o ...

'', 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 Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

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-Ex ...

'' (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 The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track' ...

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 2 ...

(born 1991), fraudster * József Ács (born 1948), composer, conductor, director of the Franz Liszt Society of Eschweiler * Theo Altmeyer (1931–2007), tenor *

Heinrich Boere Heinrich Boere (27 September 1921 – 1 December 2013) was a convicted German-Dutch war criminal and former member of the Waffen-SS. He was on the Simon Wiesenthal Center's list of most wanted Nazi war criminals. Early life Heinrich Boere w ...

(1921–2013), German-Dutch war criminal *

Götz Briefs Götz Briefs (born 1 January 1889 in Eschweiler; died 16 May 1974 in Rome) was a Catholic social theorist, social ethicist, social philosopher and political economist, who together with Gustav Gundlach, SJ influenced the social teachings of Pope P ...

(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 Serv ...

* Andreas Gielchen (born 1964), soccer player * Susanne Kasperczyk (born 1985), soccer player *

Claus Killing-Günkel Claus Killing-Günkel (born Günkel; 9 October 1963), in Esperanto also known as Nikolao Günkel, is a German teacher and interlinguist. Life Claus J. Killing-Günkel was born Claus J. Günkel in Eschweiler, a city in western Rhineland, whe ...

(born 1963), esperantologist *

Sascha Klein Sascha Klein (born 12 September 1985) is a German diver. Competing in the 2008 Summer Olympics, he won a silver medal in the men's synchronized 10 metre platform with teammate Patrick Hausding. At the 2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 ...

(born 1985), water jumper *

Kevin Kratz Kevin Kratz (born 21 January 1987) is a German professional 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 After spending three seasons with ...

(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 Franz Reuleaux (; ; 30 September 1829 – 20 August 1905), was a German mechanical engineer and a lecturer of the Berlin Royal Technical Academy, later appointed as the President of the Academy. He was often called the father of kinematics. He w ...

(1829–1905), mechanical engineer *

Michaela Schaffrath Michaela Schaffrath (' Jänke; born 6 December 1970) is a German television actress and former pornographic actress. A former nurse, she got started in the adult film industry after she posed nude for ''Coupé'', a German adult magazine. She ...

(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 in Ki ...

(born 1961), ghostwriter, editor and publisher in Berlin and Norfolk / Virginia (USA) *

Ralf Souquet Ralf Souquet ( ; born 29 November 1968) is a German professional pool player. His nickname is "The Kaiser". Since 1988, he has won more than 200 tournament titles, including 23 Euro Tour titles, 20 European Pool Championship and 12 German Pool ...

(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 ThyssenKrupp AG (, ; stylized as thyssenkrupp) is a German industrial engineering and steel production multinational conglomerate. It is the result of the 1999 merger of Thyssen AG and Krupp and has its operational headquarters in Duisburg and ...

in 1997 *

Joseph Thyssen Joseph Thyssen, also Josef Thyssen (14 February 1844 – 15 July 1915), was a German industrialist. He was the son of Friedrich Thyssen and the younger brother of August Thyssen, who was also his closest colleague and confidant. Biography ...

(1844–1915), industrialist and the younger brother of August Thyssen

Notable people from Hehlrath

* Martin Schulz (born 1955), SPD -

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

, Chairman of the Group of the Social Democratic Party of Europe in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...

Twin towns – sister cities

Eschweiler is twinned 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