Holzheim railway accident

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In the railway accident Holzheim derailed on 5 September 1937 with pilgrims busy train on the Düren-Neuss railway in Holzheim . 18 people died.

Starting position

That morning about 800 Roman Catholic pilgrims from Rommerskirchen, Vanikum and Sinsteden had gathered at the train station in Rommerskirchen to take a special train of the Deutsche Reichsbahn to Kevelaer and visit the Chapel of Grace.

The train consisted of 17 Prussian compartment cars pulled by locomotive 38 3756 . The special train passed through Holzheim station at around 8:30 a.m. - a stop was not planned here - at 70 km / h.

In the northern exit of the Holzheim station, work had been carried out on the superstructure that had not yet been completed.

the accident

Since all scheduled trains stopped on the route in Holzheim, the railway foreman responsible for the construction site assumed that they would drive so slowly when driving on the construction site that they could pass it without danger. He had therefore removed the signals that secured the construction site by instructing them to “drive slowly”. He hadn't expected a special train to pass quickly through.

When the special train drove at 70 km / h over the track, which was still relatively loose gravel, it slipped and the locomotive was deflected to the right, derailed and the clutch tore. The locomotive slid another 50 meters on sleepers and gravel and then leaned to the left. The train stayed on the track and drove past the locomotive before the first passenger car also derailed, overturned and was completely smashed by the mass of the following train. The second and third cars were also badly damaged.

consequences

17 people died immediately in the accident - including the train driver - 35 were also injured. The pastor of Oekoven later succumbed to his injuries in hospital. The train driver had been able to save themselves by jumping from the moving locomotive. The locomotive could be repaired and was not taken out of service until 1961.

In addition to local rescue workers, an emergency train from Krefeld , an equipment car from Neuss and the medical train from the Reichsbahndirektion Köln were deployed. Officials from the Reich Ministry of Transport were flown in from Berlin to investigate the accident .

Most of the victims were buried on September 8, 1937 in the cemetery in Rommerskirchen, the place from which most of the victims came, whereby the representatives of the NSDAP directed the event and tried to present themselves as helpers and comforters in need. The Requiem was held by the Cologne Cardinal and Archbishop Karl Joseph Schulte in the parish church of Rommerskirchen.

The responsible railway foreman was arrested, the investigation by the public prosecutor's office was not completed in the following year . Thereafter the tradition is silent

The grave for the victims of the accident has been preserved in the Rommerskirchen cemetery. On June 2, 2010, the Heimatverein Holzheim eV placed a memorial stone near the Holzheim train station. In the Hoeningen Church of St. Stephanus , a wrought iron candlestick - mostly used as a candlestick for the Easter candle - dated September 5, 1937, commemorates the dead on the pilgrimage .

literature

  • Paul-Rolf Essel: The railway accident at Holzheim in 1937. An example of how to deal with gaps in delivery and the controlled reporting of the Nazi press . In: Rhein-Kreis Neuss (Hrsg.): Yearbook for the Rhein-Kreis Neuss. 208, pp. 132-143.
  • Günter Krause: It was the Unna – Hamm route . In: Eisenbahngeschichte 57 (2013), p. 77.
  • Günter Krause: death in the pilgrimage . In: Eisenbahngeschichte 56 (2013), pp. 71f.
  • Peter Schornstein: The memorial is inaugurated . In: online newspaper v. May 21, 2010.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Essel states that there were 13 cars.
  2. ↑ Krause: It was the route , states (without citing the source) that the railway foreman and a foreman were held responsible and each received several months' imprisonment .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Krause: Death in the pilgrimage .
  2. ↑ Essel, p. 136.
  3. ^ Krause: Death in the pilgrimage ; Essel, p. 132.
  4. ↑ Essel, p. 141.
  5. ^ Krause: Death in the pilgrimage .
  6. ↑ Essel.
  7. ↑ So: Essel, p. 138, based on the analysis of archive materials .
  8. ↑ chimney.
  9. ↑ Jakob Mausberg: Chronicle of the parish Hoeningen. (PDF) Parish Association Rommerskirchen-Gillbach, archived from the original on October 22, 2013 ; accessed on October 17, 2018 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 10 ′ 5.2 "  N , 6 ° 39 ′ 58.1"  E