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 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 ...

. It is situated on the

Lippe Lippe () is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Herford, Minden-Lübbecke, Höxter, Paderborn, Gütersloh, and district-free Bielefeld, which forms the region Ostwestfalen-Lippe. ...

and the

Wesel–Datteln Canal The Wesel–Datteln Canal (german: Wesel-Datteln-Kanal) is a long canal in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It runs along the northern edge of the Ruhr Area, from the Rhine near Wesel () to the Dortmund-Ems Canal near Datteln (). It forms an i ...

, 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 indust ...

. The town is about north of

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in ...

History

Former ''Halteren'' was founded on February 3 in 1289. They received the town charter by the prince-bishop of

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state di ...

, Everhard von Dienstag. During

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 (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation fro ...

(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 The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

: Alexander Lebenstein, 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 in Haltern, were killed in the

Germanwings Flight 9525 Germanwings Flight 9525 PDF of the English translation of the final report and thoriginal French version(which the BEA notes on PDF p. 2/110 of the English PDF is the primary work of reference) was a scheduled international passenger flight fr ...

crash in the French Alps. They were on their way home from a student exchange with the Giola Institute in

Llinars del Vallès Llinars del Vallès ( es, Llinás del Vallés, link=no) is a village and a municipality in the comarca of Vallès Oriental, in the province of Barcelona and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. That village forms part of the county of Bai ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

. Haltern's mayor, Bodo Klimpel, 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

, was born in the city * Joseph König (1843–1930), chemist, after whom the Joseph-König-Gymnasium is named, was born in Lavesum in Haltern * Alexander Lebenstein, Holocaust survivor, after whom the Alexander-Lebenstein-Realschule is named, was born in Haltern *

Christoph Metzelder Christoph Tobias Metzelder (born 5 November 1980) is a German former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Most of his professional career, which was spent mostly at Borussia Dortmund, was blighted by injuries. He did manage, how ...

, former footballer for

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...

and Schalke 04, was born in the city * Bodo Klimpel, 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 surrou ...

, State of Odisha,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

* 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 with: *

Roost-Warendin Roost-Warendin () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Population Twin towns Roost-Warendin is twinned with: * Haltern am See, Germany Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of th ...

, 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