Aachen forest
The Aachener Wald ( in the Aachen dialect Öcher Bösch , Dutch Akenerbos ) is located about 3.7 km south of the city center of Aachen and has a size of 2,357 hectares . It essentially comprises the forest areas of the former free imperial city of Aachen south and west of the formerly independent municipalities of Burtscheid and Forst and north and east of the Belgian border. Except for small parcels, it is owned by the city. In July 2003, on the initiative of Greenpeace , the Aachen forest was awarded the environmental seal of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which was extended for a further five years in 2008.
geography
The Aachen Forest is at its widest point (west-east) about 8.2 km wide and at the largest north-south extension about 2.5 km deep. It lies in the transition from the Lower Rhine Plain to the Rhenish Slate Mountains at an average altitude of 220 m to a little over 350 m above sea level. NN. , whereby the Brandenberg with 355.4 m is the highest point, closely followed by the Klausberg with 354.7 m. The southern and southwestern part merges smoothly into the Belgian and the western part in the area of the Vaalserberg into the Dutch state forest. With its ridge running from west to east, the forest area forms a watershed , whereby the streams that arise south of this line, such as the Tüljebach and the Göhl into the Maas and those that arise north, ultimately all flow into the Wurm . The latter Aachen brooks in the city forest, which in addition to the Wurm also include the Pau , Johannisbach , Beverbach and Kannegießerbach, were of epoch-making importance for Aachen's cloth and needle industry.
With the takeover of the forest shares from Burtscheid in 1897 and from Forst in 1906, the Waldfriedhof Aachen with its Bismarck tower was added from the Burtscheid side, the Lintert cemetery from the Forster side and, from 1980, the private forest of the Schönforstes estate, acquired in 1860 by Baron Carl von Nellessen . In 1925, the city finally acquired Von-Halfern-Park from District Administrator Carl von Halfern , which seamlessly borders on the northern edge of the city forest. In addition, two housing estates belonging to the city of Aachen were built within the forest in the 20th century, on the one hand a smaller one in the area of the Pommerotter Weg and on the other the Preuswald district in the southern course of the Lütticher Strasse. The Aachen forest is dominated by the telecommunications tower of Deutsche Telekom , which was built in 1984 and is visible from afar and is known as Mulleklenkes in the Aachen dialect .
According to the handbook of the natural spatial structure of Germany , the Aachen forest forms sub-unit 561.2 in the main unit 561 Aachen hill country . He belongs to the main unit group 56 Vennvorland .
Nature and conservation
After the forest has served mainly as a hunting ground and a resource for the timber industry over the centuries, the City Council of Aachen decided, on the initiative of the city councilor and later mayor Ludwig Pelzer , to put a stop to the increasing uncontrolled overexploitation of the forest and put it for the first time with a "welfare resolution “Of December 22, 1882 under special protection. Thus, the law made it possible to replace the primitive coppice forest management with high forest management , in order to let deciduous and coniferous trees with a life of more than 100 years grow, and to offer the population an extensive recreation area through the establishment of developed forest paths and their equipping with banks and shelters to be able to. In addition, at the end of the 19th century, a branch of the Meteorological Observatory Aachen was built at the foot of the Pelzerturm , which was equipped with an English hut and served until 1945.
For the flora in the Aachen forest, there are good growing conditions thanks to the moderate climate with sufficient rainfall. Due to the direct proximity to the city and its infrastructure , the forest is polluted and in parts even endangered, but the forest damage that has occurred to date is on average for all forests in North Rhine-Westphalia . In order to maintain and secure this condition, Greenpeace applied in 2001 to place the Aachen Forest under the protection of the FSC seal, which was then granted in 2003 and extended in 2008 for a further five years. This meant that no more clear felling and no more pesticides could be used. Furthermore, indigenous tree species should be given preference and parts of the forest should no longer be managed and instead let their natural development be. A signposted educational forest path informs interested hikers about the measures of local forest management and nature conservation.
In Aachen forest include deer , deer , wild boars , badgers , foxes , martens and hares native whose existence lack lack of natural predators such as bears , lynx and wolves that damage is regulated by a legitimate and useful hunting so on by these animals Young trees, tree bark and on adjacent agricultural areas are minimized. The last wolves in the Aachen forest were hunted in the middle of the 19th century, but experts expect both wolves and lynxes to immigrate again in the long term, the latter having already been sighted in the nearby Eifel. In addition, numerous wild animals in the Aachen forest fell ill with rabies in the 1980s , although a nationwide vaccination stabilized the population and the established rabies exclusion zone was lifted again.
Recreation and sports area
The Aachen Forest is one of the most important local recreation areas for the population of the city of Aachen and offers over 100 km of cross-border and marked trails for hikers and joggers. A large part of these trails are also available to touring cyclists , although an official cross-border bike park near the border triangle has been set up for ambitious mountain bikers since summer 2013. In addition, a separate and challenging network of bridle paths was set up for the numerous Aachen riding clubs and private riders. In addition, a selective ropes course has been available to climbing enthusiasts for several years , which can be climbed under qualified guidance and with different degrees of difficulty from spring to autumn. A special attraction are the various reservoirs on the edge of the forest, where recreational anglers and model boat builders can pursue their hobby, and the Aachen Forest Stadium, built in 1927, for athletes .
After the Aachen Forest was opened up for tourism at the end of the 19th century and a little later also on its main thoroughfares, the Aachener Kleinbahn-Gesellschaft provided sidings on its main thoroughfares.Now , in addition to the normal day tourists, the Aachen spa and bathers flocked into the forest in droves As a result, several excursion restaurants were soon set up or newly built there, easily accessible by public transport. For example, in 1893/94 the old Linzenshäuschen was expanded to include a building for catering, in 1896 the waiting hall Waldschenke, the forester's house Siegel and before 1901 Gut Entenpfuhl converted into a restaurant, and in 1886 the Pelzerturm with outdoor catering, in 1902 the so-called Waldschlösschen an der Lütticher Straße and a little later, among others, the excursion restaurants Ronheide, Grüne Eiche, Köpfchen , Karlshöhe, Neu-Linzenshäuschen and the Waldhotel built in 1910, some with large terraces as well as music and dance pavilions. Of these excursion restaurants, there are currently only Alt-Linzenshäuschen, Waldschenke and Entenpfuhl, the remaining buildings have meanwhile been demolished or rededicated due to dilapidation or insufficient occupancy. More recently, Aachen has set up an urban barbecue area near the Adamshäuschen forester's house on the edge of Von Halfern Park as an additional attraction .
In addition, from the turn of the century until the 20th century, the Aachen forest was also increasingly used as a climatic health resort and the Aachen and Munich fire insurance company built the Kaiser Wilhelm convalescent home on the southern Lütticher Straße together with the Aachen Association for the Promotion of Labor between 1906 and 1909 . This sanatorium for lung patients, consisting of the forest recovery home for women and the convalescent home for men, is now used under the name Maria im Tann as a center for child, youth and family assistance as well as professional assistance for young people.
- Excursion restaurants
Waldschenke
Good duck pond
Old license booth
formerly new licensing house
former Waldschlösschen
history
Cyclops stones
Tumulus on the Klausberg
In the Aachen forest there are numerous land and natural monuments as well as other features and references that are an expression of the eventful history of the city of Aachen but also of individual events that have taken place there. The oldest finds are the Cyclops stones near Köpfchen on the German-Belgian border, which are geologically tertiary quartzites and formed several million years ago. A not so old finds are discovered around 1900 by Josef Liese burial mounds , some of which as well as some at the height of Klaus Berg's more than twenty on the ridge to Moresnet many scattered towards Vaalserberg back and similar. They can be dated to the Early to Middle Bronze Age and consist of loosely stacked, uncut stones that cover a sarcophagus below.
The Aachener Landgraben dates from the time between 1346 and 1611 , which formed the border fortifications of the Aachen Empire and is heavily weathered in the city forest along today's German-Belgian border over the Vaalserberg down to Vaals , but is still clearly visible with its numerous imposing head beeches . At crossroads, this border was decorated with eagle stones, which got their name from the engraved heraldic animal of the city of Aachen and of which there are still approximately 10 in this section. About six so-called Burgundy stones can also be found from that time, which mark and separate the so-called Königswald west of the Moresneter Weg, which was assigned to the Duchy of Limburg and previously belonged to the Free Imperial City of Aachen. Four of them are carved with the St. Andrew's Cross, which commemorates the apostle and patron saint of the House of Burgundy , and two show the signet of the Habsburg rulers.
When the Reformation spread in the area of Aachen and the neighboring Duchy of Limburg in the 16th century and the Reformed were for the most part forbidden to practice their new religion, many of them moved, especially Flemish and the Geusen (French: "Gueux" = beggars ) related or associated persons, up to the 18th century from both the Duchy of Limburg and Aachen itself and from Burtscheid via secret paths through the Aachen forest to neighboring Vaals, where they were not persecuted and could continue their church rituals there in the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands after liberation from Spanish rule during the Eighty Years' War the freedom to practice one's religion was allowed. One of these secret routes on the German side near the Vaalserberg was later named Geusenweg.
From Aachen, from the end of the 18th century, a lively pilgrimage developed across the city forest to a Madonna figure in Moresnet, which was attached to an old oak and which originally came from Aachen and was said to have miraculous healings and the prevention of epidemics. From 1829 these pilgrimage processions were organized by the church and since then a crowd of believers have made a pilgrimage every Wednesday from Adamshäuschen on this pilgrimage route, which is equipped with numerous crosses, which has meanwhile also become part of the Way of St. James , to the pilgrimage site of Moresnet-Chapelle , where, due to the large crowds in 1831, a chapel, In 1880 a pilgrimage church and five years later a monastery building were built.
A prominent and now overgrown hill near the Karlshöher Hochweg and directly next to the small telecommunications tower formerly used by the Belgian military bears the name Kronprinzenrast . On Saturday, July 3rd, 1883, the then Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm and later for 99 days Emperor Friedrich III stayed here. on the way to Monschau and enjoyed the previously unobstructed view of the city of Aachen in the valley basin. This event gave the hill its name and two memorial stones provide the hiker with the necessary information.
The remains and course of the former high-voltage barrier , which was built at the beginning of the First World War and ran from Vaals along the German-Dutch border in the Aachen forest up to the Vierländereck and from there to the mouth of the Scheldt , are difficult to find and hardly recognizable . This electric fence, which was fed with electricity from Aachen, was supposed to prevent Belgians from being able to escape military service by fleeing to the Netherlands. Several civilians and soldiers were killed in this section.
Twenty years after the First World War, in the run-up to the Second World War, the Aachen Forest was included as part of the Aachen-Saar program for the construction of the West Wall . The still existing sections of the hump line at Köpfchen and individual bunkers scattered in the forest, including a well-preserved special construction of a combat bunker at Gut Entenpfuhl, bear witness to this. The ruins of a bunker that was blown up after the Second World War are located in the Nellessenpark east of the Waldfriedhof receiving water at a T-road crossing. But the pioneer spring created in 1939/40 near the Pommerotterweg also served to supply the German troops encamped in the forest.
After all, from 1945 to 1953 the Aachener Wald was part of the Aachener Kaffeefront, and many of the still existing smugglers' trails, lined with tall bracken , give an idea of the danger the smugglers were exposed to at the time. In total, more than 50 people died in these actions in the Aachen forest, including both customs officers and smugglers, and more than 60 were seriously injured.
In addition, the Aachen Forest has always been a place where murders have occurred time and again and where memorial stones or crosses are reminiscent of the crime scenes today, such as those for the murder victims Johann Greber, Etmund Kever, Horst Klinger and Elisabeth Schmitz.
Web links
- Information on the website of the city of Aachen
- The Aachen city forest on AASTRA ( Memento from April 12, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
- Impressions and history from and in the Aachen forest
Individual evidence
- ↑ FSC seal for the Aachen Forest ( Memento from July 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Certification report for forest management
- ^ Brandenberg - Topographical Map 1: 2000. In: TIM-online (Topographical Information Management). District government of Cologne , accessed on April 15, 2016 .
- ^ Klausberg - Topographical Map 1: 2000. In: TIM-online (Topographical Information Management). District government of Cologne , accessed on April 15, 2016 .
- ↑ http://www.aachen.de/de/stadt_buerger/umwelt/wald/gemeindeforstamt_0/Wohlfahrtsbeschluss_22_12_1882.pdffont> GenealogieToter Link | url = http: //www.aachen.de/de/stadt_buerger/umwelt/wald/gemeindeforstamt_0 /Wohlfahrtsbeschluss_22_12_1882.pdf | date = 2018-08 | archivebot = 2018-08-21 18:47:23 InternetArchiveBot}} (link not available)
- ↑ The lynx has rediscovered the Eifel , in: Aachener Zeitung of September 2, 2011
- ^ André Schäfer: Starting shot for the new bike park , in Aachener Zeitung on July 28, 2013
- ↑ A changeful history surrounds Maria im Tann , in: Aachener Zeitung of July 29, 2009
- ↑ Series of pictures The Cyclops in the Aachen City Forest
- ↑ series of pictures head beeches along the land ditch
- ↑ Picture series Adlersteine
- ^ Burgundy stones in the royal forest
- ↑ Place of pilgrimage Moresnet-Chapelle
- ↑ Herbert Ruland: The electric fence in the border region from 1915-1918 , in: Rundbrief Grenzgeschichte , 2005 edition, pp. 2–3 ( Memento from October 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 826 kB)
- ↑ Cusp line of the west wall near Köpfchen ( Memento from January 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Bunker in the city forest near Entenpfuhl
- ^ Ludwina Forst: Johann Greber murder case ; in: Rundbriefe Grenzgeschichte , Edition 2005, p. 4 ( Memento from October 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 826 kB)
- ↑ murder Etmund Kever
- ↑ Horst Klinger murder case
- ↑ The murder of Elisabeth Schmitz
Coordinates: 50 ° 43 ′ 59 ″ N , 6 ° 4 ′ 23 ″ E