Aachen district

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Railway lines, mines and ownership of the trade unions in the Aachen district, around 1937

The Aachen Revier is the northeastern part of the Limburg coal mining area, which stretches from Belgium via the Netherlands to the Wurm and Inde valleys in Germany . Other names are - depending on your point of view - Aachen-Hückelhovener Revier (because of the geographic extent) or Aachen-Eschweiler Revier (because of the EBV ). Even if the area was primarily characterized by hard coal , the deposits and mining of lead, cadmium, iron and zinc ores in the Eschweiler-Stolberg area are also included.

The lignite opencast mines in the Eschweiler / Inden and Herzogenrath area can also be counted as part of this mining area.

View from Vetschauer Berg north of Aachen to the mining dumps in the Aachen area

Geological foundations

The hard coal deposits in the Aachen region are separated by the Aachener Sattel, which runs from south-west to north-east. In the north, the coal fields are in the Wurm lowlands and on the German side extend east to Aldenhoven. The southern deposits are located under the Inde lowlands. Four tectonic faults run across the Aachener Sattel: from west to east these are the Richtericher Sprung near Aachen, Feldbiss, Sandgewand between Alsdorf and Eschweiler and the Frauenrather Sprung near Aldenhoven. The deposits north of the Rur extend into the Meinweg and Schwalm-Nette areas .

History of coal mining in the Aachen district

Beginnings in the Middle Ages

The origins of the coal mining in the district lie in the river valleys of the Inde and Wurm, which cut the seams . The Aachen mining area is considered to be the oldest coal mining area in Europe , as evidence from 1113 and from the 13th century can be found in Kohlscheid and in the documents of the Rolduc monastery in Kerkrade (NL). The first documented mention of the Eschweiler Kohlberg , which suggests coal mining, dates back to 1394 as "Koylberg zu Eschwylre" . Furthermore, the first signs of the use of coal can already be found among the Celts and Romans, for example in the Propsteier Villa and in the Korkus .

Age of industrialization

Postcard of the Gouley mine around 1900

In 1841 the railway connection Cologne-Aachen of the Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft was completed and in 1853 the railway line Aachen – Mönchengladbach opened. This offered new sales channels for coal in the district via the Rhine ports of Neuss and Cologne. At the same time, the production was also in competition with the hard coal of the Ruhr area and the coal of the Liège area.

The number of mines operated over the centuries cannot be precisely determined. In the 19th century, ownership increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few mining associations and stock corporations. The Eschweiler Mining Association (EBV), founded by Christine Englerth in 1834, played the leading role . This was also the main shareholder of the "Pannesheider Mining Association" founded in 1842. This in turn merged until 1858 with the " Association for Hard Coal Construction in the Wurmrevier " founded in 1836 , so that the EBV also gained increasing influence here and finally merged with the Association in 1907. In addition, since 1914, the Sophia-Jacoba colliery on the Rur , as a new competitor in the area, mined hard coal and in 1919 the Carolus Magnus mine in Übach-Palenberg began mining. The Carl Alexander mine in Baesweiler, which opened in 1921 , was taken over by the Eschweiler Mining Association in 1965.

In 1930 the Alsdorf mine disaster occurred , killing 271 people. An estimated 850 slave laborers died in the Aachen district during the Second World War .

Shutdowns and end of coal production in the Aachen district

Water tower of the Carolus Magnus pit in Übach-Palenberg

The mining ended in 1997 with the closure of the northernmost mine, the Sophia-Jacoba mine in Hückelhoven . Today the numerous mine dumps , colliery settlements , administration buildings, water towers as well as the still-preserved winding towers of the Anna and Sophia-Jacoba mines are a reminder of centuries of mining in the region. Occasionally, when opening new building sites, shafts below the surface have to be filled. Individual testimonies to mining history have been prepared as museums of industrial history. Corresponding museums can be found in Aldenhoven , Alsdorf and Hückelhoven and in the Netherlands in Kerkrade and Heerlen . Landmarks such as the Millicher heap or the heap of the Carl Alexander mine have been approved by the mountain authorities as recreational areas and are provided with viewing platforms as part of a cross-border heap route ("Route de terrils") of the Euregionale 2008 .

Hard coal mines (Aachen region)

In the Aachen region, a distinction is made between Inderevier , Wurmrevier and the Hückelhoven area.

Hückelhoven

Hückelhoven colliery in the 1950s

Inderevier

Worm area

Mining monuments in Alsdorf Annapark

Hard coal mines (Limburg (Netherlands)) from the 19th century

Headframe of the Nulland shaft in Kerkrade

For production periods and quantities, see

Ores in the Aachen district

Birkengang zinc works in Eschweiler

Please refer

Lignite in the Aachen district

The lignite opencast mines in the city triangle of Düren / Eschweiler / Jülich mark the western part of the Rhenish lignite mining area .

See also

Portal: Aachener Revier  - Overview of Wikipedia content on the topic of Aachener Revier

literature

  • Friedrich Schunder: History of the Aachen hard coal mining. Glückauf Verlag, Essen 1968.
  • Daniel Salber: The Aachen area. 150 years of coal mining at Wurm and Inde. Schweers + Wall publishing house, Aachen 1987.
  • Eschweiler Bergwerks-Verein (ed.), Hans Jakob Schaetzke: History and stories of a mining company in the Aachen area. Aachen 1995, ISBN 3-923773-15-3 .
  • Matthias Kaever: The social conditions in coal mining in the Aachen and South Limburg districts. (= Geography, Research and Science , Volume 3.) Berlin / Münster 2006.

Web links

Commons : Aachener Revier  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hansjakob Schaetzke: history and stories of a mining company in the Aachen area. Aachen 1995. pp. 10-12
  2. ↑ Dutch Production. ( MS Excel ; 50 kB) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 31, 2012 ; Retrieved November 29, 2012 .
  3. ↑ De Domaniale Mijn in Beeld. Archived from the original on September 27, 2006 ; Retrieved November 29, 2012 .
  4. ↑ Limburgse mijnen - Laura mijn. Retrieved November 29, 2012 .