History of the city of Düsseldorf

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Idealized cityscape around 1647
View from the south around 1855

This article deals with the history of the city of Düsseldorf from prehistory to the present in today's urban area. Today's city of Düsseldorf has developed from several settlement centers. Düsseldorf itself is first mentioned in writing in 1159. When the then modest settlement of Düsseldorf was elevated to a city in 1288 at the mouth of the Düssel river , there were already several, at that time more important, settlement centers in its vicinity. The written history of Düsseldorf's urban area begins with the founding of a monastery in Kaiserswerth around the year 700. With the imperial city of Kaiserswerth, the women's foundation in Gerresheim and the Freedom Angermund , there were four independent urban foundations in today's urban area as well as several villages, castles and palaces, which have merged over the centuries to form today's city. The cities of Kaiserswerth and Gerresheim, which were only incorporated in the 20th century and which are much older than Düsseldorf itself, each have their own local histories over a thousand years old, which require their own presentation and are only sketched out here in brief.

For centuries, the actual city of Düsseldorf was limited to an approximately one square kilometer, walled and densely populated city center, today's districts of Altstadt and Carlstadt , although the city had extensive lands outside the city walls. It was only at the beginning of the 19th century that Düsseldorf slowly began to grow beyond these humble origins. With the onset of industrialization from 1860, the provincial town developed into one of the most important cities of the German Empire within a few decades . Little by little, the different settlement centers grew together to form a city. In 1882 Düsseldorf became a major city . By 1900 the population had increased eightfold compared to 1850. Although the urban area has been continuously populated for over 2500 years and the origins of Düsseldorf go back over 800 years, the systematic urban historiography and research is barely 200 years old. Only a few documents have survived, particularly from the early city history.

A classic, much-used overall presentation of the history of Düsseldorf comes from the 1920s by Friedrich Lau. As a synthesis of the rich research that followed, a short presentation by the then city archivist Hugo Weidenhaupt was created in the 1960s , which had a total of 9 editions by 1983. Today we refer to a four-volume work published by Hugo Weidenhaupt from 1988–1990, to which several specialists have contributed.

History of the Düsseldorf area

prehistory

Kaiserswerther Menhir - oldest monument in the city area (approx. 2000–1500 BC)

The area around Düsseldorf has been inhabited by people since the Paleolithic Age. Around 100,000 to 40,000 years ago, Neanderthals lived in the Düsseldorf area . It was named after the first find in 1856 in the Neandertal , about 4 km east of the city. The oldest remnants of human culture in today's urban area are pointed stone axes from the Neolithic Age , which are attributed to the Michelsberg culture (around 4300-3400 BC). Earthworks that suggest settlements are also from around 4500 BC. Proven by finds.

From the Bronze Age (around 2100 to 800 BC) the early sections in Düsseldorf have so far hardly been documented by finds. The few remains of the so-called Barrow Bronze Age (around 1600–1300 BC) show an orientation towards southern Germany rather than towards the Nordic Bronze Age . As in the whole of the Rhineland, there is more extensive evidence of the Late Bronze Age (around 1300–800 BC). There are remains of urn grave fields from four areas in the city, of which the one on the Golzheimer Heide was extensive and produced most of the finds. Settlement remains have been recorded in several places, the richest site being the former Germania brickworks in Stockum . During this time there was a cultural boundary at the level of Düsseldorf. The southern Lower Rhine area is based on the southern German urn field culture , while from Düsseldorf the northern Lower Rhine is part of the so-called Kerbschnittgruppe or older Lower Rhine burial mound culture , which also includes large parts of today's Netherlands and Lower Saxony.

In the older Iron Age (around 800–450 BC) the Düsseldorf area was densely populated, the mapping by Th. Ruppel shows 24 sites. In contrast, only a few finds and sites in the city are known from the younger Iron Age (around 450–50 BC). At this time, the urban area no longer belonged to the Celtic Latène culture , but was probably already populated by Germanic groups .

Roman times

In the " Gallic Wars " was around 50 BC. BC the area on the left bank of the Rhine was conquered by Julius Caesar and became part of the Roman Empire . This area between the Meuse and the Lower Rhine was populated by the Eburones , who were probably a Celtic tribe, but were counted among the Germans by the Romans. The area on the right bank of the Rhine was inhabited by the Germanic tribe of the Sugambri , who belonged to the group of the " Rhine-Weser Teutons ". In the armed conflicts between 54 and 53 BC BC the Romans destroyed the Eburones and resettled the defeated Sugambrers, who were formerly on the right bank of the Rhine, in their settlement area.

After around 100 AD, the greater Düsseldorf area on the right bank of the Rhine belonged to the Gau of the Germanic tribe of the Tenkerites . Their settlement area on the right bank of the Rhine reached in Roman times from Walsum in the north to Sieg in the south and in the east to behind Wuppertal and the Bergisches Land . However, a wide strip on the right bank of the Rhine was hardly populated from the beginning of Roman settlement until around 100 AD, as the Romans had driven out the former residents of this area to secure the border and prevented new settlement.

In Roman times, the area on the left bank of the Rhine from Düsseldorf was in the hinterland of centers and military bases such as Gellep / Gelduba , Dormagen / Durnomagus and, above all, Neuss / Novaesium . Large areas of the left and later also the right Rhineland were relatively densely populated with farms (so-called villae rusticae ) that served to supply the centers. Remains of three such villas for the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD have been documented in Düsseldorf on the left bank of the Rhine: at the north-western exit of Oberkassel , in Niederkassel and between Lörick and Heerdt. Finds from late antiquity have not yet been proven in the urban area.

From around 100 AD until the middle of the 3rd century, the right bank of the Rhine was also repopulated. The Romans allowed this if the Teutons in question recognized Roman sovereignty. Stockum is best developed among the complexes of finds that go back to settlements; From the house findings there come not only a lot of Germanic-indigenous ceramics but also Roman roof tiles. Remains of Germanic cremation graves are known from many parts of the city. a. from Rath, Gerresheim, Pempelfort, Flingern-Süd, Oberbilk, Friedrichstadt, Lierenfeld, Eller and Reisholz. The Germanic settlement and grave finds always include Roman objects, which testify to an intensive contact across the Rhine. Ornate Roman bowls from "terra sigillata" were found particularly frequently, including in Oberbilk and Klein Eller . These were used as burial urns. In 2012, broken pieces and settlement remains were found during construction work in what will later be the old town of Düsseldorf in the Neubrückstrasse and Ratinger Strasse area. Century AD belong; they testify to a Germanic settlement in the immediate vicinity of Düsseldorf's old town, to which, however, there is no settlement continuity given a time gap of more than 700 years.

With the unrest from the middle of the 3rd century onwards, all Germanic settlements in the urban area on the right bank of the Rhine broke off, and the landscape became a settlement-free glacis of the Roman military again. In the 4th century there was a Roman fort a little south of the city area, but at that time the Bürgel House , which was still to the left of the Rhine .

The last documented record from Roman times for the greater Düsseldorf area dates from 388 AD. At this point in time, there was a Franconian invasion of Gaul on the left bank of the Rhine. During the retreat, the Franks were defeated by the Roman generals Nanninus and Quintinus . However, part of the Romans under Quintinus were in turn wiped out in the marshy forests on the right bank of the Rhine during the pursuit and after the Rhine crossing at Neuss .

Early Middle Ages

After largely missing finds for the 4th and early 5th centuries, a verifiable Frankish settlement began again in the area of ​​the city from the middle of the 5th century on both sides of the Rhine. The finds initially concerned Hamm and above all Oberlörick . In the latter, among other things, the remains of a rich grave were found, which is comparable to the rich grave 43 from the western necropolis of Gelduba . Grave fields from the 6th and 7th centuries were found in Oberlörick (second site), Niederkassel , Oberkassel , Stockum , Golzheimer Heide and in two different places in Bilk . Among them, the Stockum cemetery is of greater importance, as it has produced numerous finds for the period mentioned (comparable to the grave finds from Duisburg-Walsum ) that are rare elsewhere.

As in the Alps and Kalkar , for example , the medieval city of Düsseldorf was founded in 1288 near the early medieval old settlements, but did not emerge as a new foundation directly from one of these old settlements. A total of eight moths from the city area belonged to the time before the city was founded and parallel to it . This technical term is used to describe low castles belonging to the nobility, who left the usual settlements during this time and settled in these early castles. The only one of these eight systems is the one at Ickter Hof in Lohausen , which was later leveled during the construction of the airport.

Politically, after the division of the Franconian Empire in the Treaty of Verdun (843) , the area around Düsseldorf originally belonged to the kingdom of Lothar I , the Middle Empire . Towards the end of the first millennium, the final affiliation to Eastern Franconia was already largely clarified. At that time it belonged to a countial district between the Rhine, Ruhr and Wupper belonging to Ripuarien , which recent research calls " Duisburg-Kaiserswerther Grafschaft ". The area was under the rule of Count Palatine Ezzo (955-1034) in the first half of the 11th century . Through his successor, it came to the sphere of influence of the nobles von Berg , the later counts and dukes of Berg , until 1148 .

Early centers in the area from the Middle Ages to their incorporation

The cities, towns and mansions mentioned below, which are located in Düsseldorf's urban area today, were all mentioned in documents before Düsseldorf itself.

Kaiserswerth

City view of Kaiserswerth around 1650

In the early Middle Ages, Kaiserswerth was a four-kilometer-long Rhine island ( Werth ), from which one had a good overview of the river. In addition, one of the oldest Rhine crossings was located here. There was already a farm here in Franconian times, which had gradually developed into a castle . 700, the Frankish gave home Meier . Pippin II the Anglo-Saxon missionary Suitbert this Rhine island to where a Benedictine - monastery to found. This was destroyed again in 778 by the Saxons and 880 by the Normans. In 1045 the Kaiserpfalz was in Kaiserswerth by Emperor Heinrich III. founded. Kaiserswerth finally went down in the history books in 1062 during the " Kaiserswerth coup ". In 1174, Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa moved the Rhine customs to Kaiserswerth and built a new imperial palace as a mighty customs fortress. In 1181 the place became an imperial city . As part of several sieges between 1213 and 1215 by Count Adolf III. von Berg built a dam which led to the siltation of an arm of the Rhine and robbed Kaiserswerth of its island location. From 1273, Kaiserswerth came under the influence of the Archbishops of Cologne and was expanded to become the most powerful fortress in Kurköln by 1424 . In 1702, during the War of the Spanish Succession , the fortress and town were badly damaged. The almost completely destroyed imperial palace subsequently served as a quarry for the reconstruction of the city. Since then, the former fortress has been in ruins. In the subsequent period Kaiserwerth became politically and economically insignificant. Theodor Fliedner founded the well-known deaconess institution in the 19th century . In 1900 Kaiserswerth was connected to both large neighboring cities via the electric Düsseldorf-Duisburger Kleinbahn . In 1929 it was incorporated into Düsseldorf.

Gerresheim

Gerresheim Flachsmarkt with the former collegiate church in the background

In the east of today's urban area, the Gerresheimer Frauenstift was established in the 9th century and was one of the oldest canonical monasteries of the Archdiocese of Cologne . Gerresheim was an ecclesiastical and cultural center in the Düsseldorf area from an early age. In 919 the monastery was almost completely destroyed by the Magyars . The abbess and the canons were able to save themselves and the relics of the patron saint, St. Hippolytus, to Cologne . Reconstruction took place in the second half of the 10th century. The new church was consecrated in 970. A village with a market square slowly developed around the monastery. In 1368 the village of Gerresheim was elevated to a town by the Counts of Berg . From the 17th century, however, the small town began to decline as a result of numerous fires and war ravages. In 1803, as part of the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss, the Kanonissenstift was abolished and dissolved in 1806. During the period of industrialization, Gerresheim experienced a new boom, not least through the founding of the Gerresheimer Glashütte in 1864. In 1909 it was incorporated into Düsseldorf.

Angermund

Angermund Castle

Angermund Castle , first mentioned in 1188, is located in the far north of Düsseldorf ; In the 12th century the Counts of Berg acquired Angermund, which had a strategic importance between the imperial cities of Duisburg and Kaiserswerth and at the same time marked the northernmost point of the Bergisch rule. From 1216 under Engelbert von Berg , the castle was heavily fortified. The fortress soon lost its military importance due to the urban surveys of the Bergisch cities of Ratingen (1276) and Düsseldorf (1288). Nevertheless, the castle and the small town that had formed around it remained an important administrative center and was raised to freedom in 1423. In documents from the 15th century, Angermund was occasionally mentioned as a town and was the center of the Angermund office . Angermund itself was incorporated into Düsseldorf in 1975.

More places

Bilk was settled as early as the 6th or 7th century, as shown by grave sites. On February 14, 799 the manor villa Bilici was first mentioned in a document. The parish church of Alt St. Martin dates from the early 8th century. Until 1206 the church in the fishing village of Dusseldorp to the north belonged to the parish in Bilk. (→ main article: Düsseldorf-Bilk ).

This is followed by further documented mentions of places in the urban area, such as 892 Kalkum and 904 that of Himmelgeist . In 950 a mansion and a chapel in Hubbelrath were mentioned in a deed of donation from Archbishop Wichfrid of Cologne . The construction of a church in Benrath was assumed for 1005 . Wersten was first mentioned in documents around 1050, Unterrath in 1072 and the current districts of Derendorf , Golzheim , Stockum and Hamm around 1100 .

Düsseldorf in the Middle Ages

Beginnings and founding of the city

Düsseldorf city seal from 1303
Düsseldorf around 1288

Almost nothing is known about the beginnings of the settlement, in the immediate vicinity of which the core of what would later become the city of Düsseldorf was built. A find in the old town indicates a Germanic settlement in the 5th century or even earlier. With reference to place name research and the ending "-dorf", the origin of the settlement in the 8th or 9th century can be assumed. Even the first written mention of Düsseldorf cannot be dated with certainty. It is located on a shrine map from the 12th century, on which real estate in Dusseldorp is notarized because of later shaves . The document dates back to 1135 at the earliest. On May 23, 1159, Pope Hadrian IV obliged the residents of the small village in a document to pay 5 shillings annually to the Ursula monastery in Cologne. This was a considerable amount at the time and suggests a certain importance of the place. At that time the fishing village was already a ferry and trading base for travelers and goods between the two banks of the Rhine. Around 1189, a good 100 years before the city was founded, the Counts of Berg were able to gain a foothold in Düsseldorf when the Lords of Teveren pledged their entire property on the right bank of the Rhine, including goods in this and some neighboring villages, to Engelbert I. von Berg . The deed of this pledge, however not dated, is still available.

Towards the end of the 12th century, despite the transfer of ownership of the pledged areas of Teveren , the position of the Counts of Berg in the core area of ​​Düsseldorf was not yet consolidated. Both the Counts of Jülich , as Bailiffs of Vilich, as well as the Counts of Geldern , as feudal lords of the Knights of Flingern, also had the opportunity to influence the development of the settlement in addition to Kurköln . The course of history was favorable for the Berger , however, and Düsseldorf became part of the Grafschaft Berg for the next six centuries .

The relationship between the Berg family and the Archdiocese of Cologne , which had traditionally been good until Count Engelbert II von Berg's death , has now deteriorated. After the death, since there was no direct male successor from the von Berg family , the succession fell to Duke Heinrich of Limburg . After the death of Walram V. von Limburg , who was an uncle of Adolf V. von Berg , the Limburg succession dispute broke out .

Walter Dodde and the Bergisch farmers at the Battle of Worringen - historical picture by Peter Janssen the Elder , 1893
The Battle of Worringen - city ​​survey monument by Bert Gerresheim , 1988

The climax of these disputes was the Battle of Worringen on June 5, 1288 . This ended with a victory over the Archbishop of Cologne Siegfried von Westerburg and, among other consequences, also led to the city elevation of Düsseldorf.

Düsseldorf was on the north-western border of the Bergisch territory, only a few kilometers from the archbishopric Neuss. Presumably for strategic reasons, Count Adolf V von Berg granted the village on the Düssel the city rights on August 14, 1288. The original of the town charter was lost in the 19th century, but the content has been handed down in several copies. The area that was listed in the deed for the town elevation comprised an inner district, the local area and an outer district to the east of it. This was an area on which there were five major properties. These included the courtyards of the knights "Adolf von Flingern" and "von Loe", a "Rumpold" in the Pempelfort area and two other goods that were not described in more detail, which were called "The Two Mountains" or "Between the Two Mountains".

When it was elevated to the status of a town, Düsseldorf was little more than a village protected by earth walls and ditches. The foundations of an early city wall were found in the Lambertusstrasse area in 2012, but it is difficult to date them precisely. Since in the deed for the city elevation “ our spot Düsseldorf, as it lies in its current and future ditches ” was stated, this wall could also have been built immediately after the elevation to the city. The length of the moat mentioned in the founding deed was almost 800 m. At 3.8 hectares, the urban area was hardly larger than five soccer fields.

The young city received its own court with eight lay judges elected for life, but the sovereign reserved the right to confirm them. Only capital crimes and proceedings against clergy and nobles had to be tried before the main court in Kreuzberg near Kaiserswerth. The first verifiable mayor of the city was Wilhelm Rumpold in 1303 , whose family was already listed in the town elevation document. A city council can only be proven in 1358, so that initially the city was probably only administered by the lay judges. Whether a mayor was involved in the administration from the beginning cannot be proven.

Ruling house "von Berg" and their legal successors

Duchy of Berg around 1560

The history of Düsseldorf was strongly influenced from the elevation to the city for the next centuries by the ruling house " von Berg " and after the death of the last male successor from this noble family by their legal successors. The personal union , which was common in the Middle Ages and later, sometimes led to new, larger areas via the marriage of daughters to members of other ruling houses. The Berg House was also more frequently affected by this over the centuries and its territory changed.

The last direct male successor from the original line of the noble von Berg had already died with Count Engelbert II von Berg in 1235. Adolf V belonged to the second ruling house and others followed. The sex of origin was followed by:

On the way to the royal seat

With the city elevation by Count Adolf V from the House of Limburg-Berg , the rise of Düsseldorf and with it the city's history began. A small town developed into a residential town, even if it took 100 years for the first "Duke of Berg" to move his headquarters here.

For Count Adolf V. Düsseldorf was strategically important in order to permanently limit the influence of Kurköln on the Lower Rhine. Düsseldorf had a village church since 1206 , which was enlarged to a three-aisled Romanesque church in the 13th century. By founding a monastery , Adolf V tried to increase the importance of the place. After Düsseldorf was elevated to city status in 1288, the village church began to be converted into a collegiate church, called Marienkirche , for the collegiate monastery of St. Maria. The monastery was endorsed by Pope Nicholas IV on September 5, 1288 . On the part of the hostile Kurköln, the required archbishopric “sanction” was not carried out until 1306 after the death of Archbishop Siegfried von Westerburg by the successor but one, Archbishop Heinrich II. , Who issued this confirmation. At that time it was still a small institution with only modest resources, which initially comprised only four canons .

Adolf V was unable to make any other more far-reaching changes for the city until his death. The statement in a Cologne chronicle that he was held captive by the Archbishop of Cologne from 1292 until the end of his life is incorrect. For at least the last two years before his death in 1296 he was free.

During the reign of Adolf V, i.e. towards the end of the 13th century, two stone houses and 300 to 400 inhabitants are assumed for Düsseldorf. The privileges granted when the city was founded were not extensive compared to those of other cities in the area and therefore not particularly cheap. In addition, there was competition from numerous neighboring and more important cities such as Duisburg , Kaiserswerth, Ratingen, Neuss and the European metropolis of Cologne .

When Adolf V died childless in 1296, his brother succeeded him as Count Wilhelm I. King Adolf of Nassau confirmed the imperial fief for the county of Berg in 1297. The king was elected with the support of Archbishop Siegfried von Westerburg. He had contractually promised him extensive support for the lifting of the consequences of the Battle of Worringen. With regard to the “Berger”, these promises were not fulfilled. Wilhelm I also died childless in 1301. His successor was his nephew, Count Adolf VI.

That of Adolf VI. In 1312, through his wife Agnes von Kleve, he obtained the right to collect a Rhine toll and was bound to Duisburg. A first attempt to move this customs to Düsseldorf failed despite the approval of the later Emperor Ludwig IV. In 1324 because of the objection from Kurköln. In 1378 this dispute between Cologne and Berg was only dealt with dilatorily because of the relocation of customs by Emperor Charles IV . It was not until the Roman-German King Wenzel in 1380 that the Bergern again granted permission to levy a Rhine toll in Düsseldorf. However, Duke Wilhelm I later had to make contractual concessions to Kurköln in order to secure it. Further information on the subject of Rhine tolls and the county and duchy of Berg can be found in the article Rheinzoll .

The Counts of Berg resided at Burg Castle and not in Düsseldorf. In addition, the beginning of the 14th century was a period of bad harvests and severe flooding. Under these conditions, the young city was initially only able to grow slowly. The first areas of a city wall made of stones already existed when the city was founded. A city gate is documented for the first time in 1322, the then Liebfrauentor at the eastern end of the old town. The construction of the enlarged and stronger new stone city wall is likely to have started at the end of the 14th century when the old town was expanded.

Among the successors of Adolf V, Count Wilhelm I, Adolf VI. and Gerhard I., there were also no significant growth impulses for the city. These tried primarily to secure and enlarge their power base. Gerhard I was particularly successful here. Through his wife, Margarete von Ravensberg-Berg , he became Count of Ravensberg in 1346. In addition to Ravensberg he acquired from “Heinrich III. von Hardenberg “the rule of Hardenberg , to which various other areas in the Bergisches Land belonged, and thus increased and consolidated the influence in the territory ruled by the Bergers .

Image of Mary in the Lambertus Church, 14th century

Only in the second half of the 14th century under Count Wilhelm II did the small town begin to develop more clearly. From 1370 the reconstruction of the collegiate church into a large three-aisled hall church , which had begun under Count Adolf V and was interrupted after the count's death, was continued. This renovation was completed with the inauguration on July 12, 1394.

Further details and the most important data on the structural development of the old town up to the beginning of the 21st century: see → Düsseldorf Old Town .

With a new market regulation of 1370, on the basis of which the city was allowed to raise a measure and scale money, and the permission to hold a Sunday market from 1371, the financial income of the city was improved by Count Wilhelm II.

The relocation of the Rhine toll to Düsseldorf in 1380 initially did not bring the city any financial share. On May 24, 1380, Count Wilhelm II was appointed duke by King Wenceslaus as a result of an imperial diet and raised to the rank of imperial prince . On April 4, 1384, the duke confirmed the city's privileges. In addition, the urban area was expanded to include the areas of Bilk , Derendorf and Golzheim .

The new Duke Wilhelm I von Berg decided to move his residence from Castle Burg an der Wupper to Düsseldorf and resided in Düsseldorf from 1386. At the time, there was probably no building befitting the status of the small town on the Rhine, as a castle was first mentioned in a document in 1382. As a count's house, a forerunner of the castle originally lay outside the city walls. In the years between 1384 and 1394 the city grew considerably. To the east and south, suburbs had formed, which were included in the protection of a new and expanded city wall during this period. With the construction of the Flinger Strasse and Bolkerstrasse , among other things, the foundation for today's old town was laid at that time . The new city gates Ratinger Tor , Flinger Tor, Berger Pforte, Rheintor and Zolltor belong to this wall ring from the late 14th century and indicate the extent of the city at that time. The castle was now also within the city wall and was expanded into a castle in the 15th century. From 3.8 hectares when it was founded in 1288, the urban area had grown to 22.5 hectares in around 100 years.

However, the residents of the villages of Bilk, Derendorf and Golzheim, which had belonged to Düsseldorf since 1384, only enjoyed the city's privileges if they also had an apartment in the city. In 1394 Hamm was incorporated. Volmerswerth followed in the 15th century . The urban area then remained unchanged until the large incorporations at the beginning of the 20th century.

The existing monastery was increased in terms of staff. It was enlarged to 25 canons by 1392 and provided with the necessary benefices . One of the canons from the college of these clergymen was responsible for the trivial school in the city, which made it verifiable from 1392. The duke also bought numerous relics that were supposed to bring as many pilgrims as possible to the city. For a time Düsseldorf became a place of pilgrimage of national importance. In honor of the city's saint Apollinaris , a procession and a parish festival were held annually from 1392 , the origins of today's Düsseldorf Rhine Fair .

In a document of the Pope of March 1, 1392, the addition of a "Scholasticus" to the collegium of the collegiate church was also cited. This is the oldest written evidence of the existence of a school in the city, although there was certainly a trivial school under the guidance of a clergyman earlier.

Until the middle of the 14th century, the Counts of Berg in today's old town essentially only owned the area on which the forerunner of the later castle lay. More important landowners in the urban area, however, were the knights Haik von Flingern and the lords of Eller . Their property in the old town was only acquired by the Bergers around 1400. The Lords of Eller were also owners of the land on which the Liebfrauenkapelle was located. In order to be able to accommodate and look after pilgrims from abroad, they had already set up the “ Hospital of St. Anna ”next to the chapel. A further indication of the extensive property of the Lords von Eller in Düsseldorf at the beginning of the 14th century can be seen from the granting of a benefice for the collegiate church under Count Wilhelm I. According to a document from the 23rd "first month" 1303, Messrs. Theoderius Senior and Theoderius Junior de Elnere agreed with the Count to endow a benefice for the Church.

Due to the expansion of the urban area after 1384 and the higher number of residents, there was also a need for another church. In addition to the now enlarged collegiate church in the old core area, at the end of the 14th century there was only a chapel in front of the old Liebfrauentor in the city area. With the support of the Duke, construction of another church began in the southern “Neustadt” area around 1396. This was at the end of Bolkerstrasse in front of Hund (s) rückenstrasse. This church is documented for 1417, but before 1435 it was demolished again.

Towards the end of the duke's reign, there were political disputes with other rulers on the Lower Rhine. The trigger for this dispute was a pension from the Rhine toll, which was levied at Kaiserswerth, which the duke demanded for himself. This demand led to the Battle of Kleverhamm in 1397, in which Wilhelm I was defeated. He was captured and only released for a large ransom. The consequences of the lost battle hit Düsseldorf hard. The castle was ransacked and quarrels broke out between the sons and the duke. The development of the city came to a complete standstill as there was no longer any money for it. Due to the loss of abbey pledges on the left bank of the Rhine, the number of canons decreased to fifteen.

These unfavorable conditions for the city changed little even after the Duke's death in 1408. The successor Duke Adolf VII had other interests as well as no money to further promote the city. He married "Jolante von Bar". Since there was no male descendant after the death of his father-in-law, Adolf VII tried to inherit the Duchy of Bar, part of Lower Lorraine. In 1417 he received the imperial loan from King Sigmund for the "Margraviate Pontamousson", which was only part of the Duchy of Bar. He could not prevail against a competitor because he lost a war for the Duchy of Bar, was captured and had to buy himself out against payment of a ransom. Of his claim to the duchies of Jülich and Geldern , he was only able to successfully enforce that for Jülich. As a result, from 1423 he also became Duke of Jülich and thus founder of the House of Jülich-Berg .

Time period Haus Jülich-Berg

Duchy of Jülich-Berg without counties of Mark, Ravensberg, Ravenstein and Zuphen around 1560

With the expansion of the territory by the Duchy of Jülich, the financial situation of Duke Adolf VII apparently improved towards the end of his reign. Düsseldorf was involved in the Rhine toll and from 1426 was allowed to levy a tariff of two white pfennigs for every ship that passed through the city . Furthermore, in 1437 the city received fishing rights for the Düssel for the area from the confluence with the Rhine to Golzheim.

At the beginning of the 15th century the guilds were established in Düsseldorf, but the number of craftsmen is likely to have been small. The data available on this is poor. The oldest surviving guild letter dates from 1472 and concerns the Schumacher. The carpenters' guild can only be documented in 1561 and in 1614 there are a total of 7 guilds. In 1622 the mayor and councilors confirmed the brotherhood and guild of bakers. 1435 confirmed Duke Adolf new statutes of Sebastianus - Schutterij . This brotherhood probably already existed in the early 14th century, since the city defense was one of the duties of the citizens at that time. The Sebastianusschützen are still an important bearer of Düsseldorf customs today.

Only with the reign of Duke Gerhard I began further sustainable urban development. In 1443 this duke brought the Lords of the Cross to Düsseldorf, who took care of the hospital. The order received the donation money from the city of Düsseldorf and the monthly allowance from the city of Düren. Immediately in the same year, a first monastery building was erected with ducal support and the previous chapel was converted into the Kreuzherrenkirche on Ratinger Strasse by 1445 , as both the church and the hospital had been given away to the Order of the Cross . One of the conditions of the donation was that the hospital should give way to the other monastery buildings and a new hospital should be built elsewhere in the city. The Kreuzherren therefore built a new “Hospital of St. John” on Flinger Straße No. 1 in 1450 . Anna ”.

The following decrees of the Duke strengthened the financial and legal situation of the city of Düsseldorf:

  • In 1437 the “ Biergrütrechtesam ” was granted for the entire city, which allowed low- tax beer brewing in the city
  • 1447 fishing rights, initially limited to the city ditches and extended for the Rhine in 1449
  • 1449 Lease of two fulling mills and oil mills to the city
  • In 1451 the city was given the Rompels mill with the "Mahlzwang" for the citizens. In addition, the city received permission to build further mills both in the city and for the city areas as required. In addition, the city was authorized to determine the level of city fees itself.
  • In 1465 it was allowed to operate a free port . Furthermore, the city received the right to levy a shipyard fee, and in addition, the duke granted the citizens of his royal seat free from duty in all territories he ruled.

In 1470 the city received the house "Zum Schwarzen Horn", a building intended exclusively for use as a town hall, although it was only responsible for the new eastern part of the city.

The successor to Duke Wilhelm III. allowed a weekly grain market to be held in the city from 1482. As a result of this, and with the leasing of the town and Rompels mills since 1451, including the "compulsory meal in these mills" for the citizens, there was a further improvement in the town's financial income. This also applies to the transfer of the rights of use of some of the farms to Bilk in 1494 for the city. In addition, from 1498 the lease-free use of the Rhine crane for cargo ships was made possible. Furthermore, in 1489, Duke Wilhelm once again confirmed the responsibilities of 1451 that his predecessor, Duke Gerhard, had granted.

As early as 1496, the duke made an inheritance contract with Duke Johann von Kleve-Mark for their descendants, provided that they marry. Accordingly, the duke's 5-year-old daughter was engaged to the 6-year-old son of Duke Johann von Kleve-Mark, who was also a minor . This laid the foundation stone for the transition of the two noble houses to a unified Duchy of Jülich-Kleve-Berg . Before the Duke's death in 1511, the two descendants married in 1510.

In 1498, Düsseldorf was chosen as the meeting place for a papal commission, which was supposed to mediate in a dispute between the citizens of Cologne and Archbishop Hermann von Hessen . More than 100 citizens and numerous nobles from the neighboring city were called to Düsseldorf as witnesses. Towards the end of the late Middle Ages, the small residential town had achieved the prerequisites in terms of urban planning and infrastructure to become the capital of a larger territory.

Modern times

Period of the Dukes of Jülich-Kleve-Berg

United Duchy of Jülich-Kleve-Berg including the associated counties around 1560
Johann III. from Kleve-Jülich-Berg

Duke Johann , who took over the government in Jülich-Berg in 1511 , also became Duke of Kleve from 1521. From this point on, a large regional duchy on the Lower Rhine with additional areas in Westphalia ( Grafschaft Mark and Grafschaft Ravensberg ) and the present-day Netherlands ( Ravenstein and Zutphen ) was created. For Berg , the largest territorial extent in terms of area was reached with the now formed and united duchies of Jülich-Kleve-Berg . Only from 1538 to 1543 was the Duchy of Geldern briefly a territorial component and thus the area was even larger.

One of the most important measures of the new duke was to provide the united duchies - Jülich-Berg and Kleve and temporarily later also Geldern - with a centralized and uniform administration. In 1534 a new court order was issued for this . This was structured in three ways with the council, chancellery and accounting chamber and was modern and effective for the time.

Only a few significant events in the history of the city of Düsseldorf have come down to us for the reign of Duke Johann. Shortly before taking office, the Düsseldorf Palace was badly damaged by fire . This fire destroyed the north wing of the building on December 23, 1510. After the first makeshift repairs, it was rebuilt and modernized in 1522. Due to the increase in power and the new administrative structure, additional personnel were required, for which additional buildings had to be built. In 1512, the Duke allowed the city to build and operate a windmill on or near the city wall without a lease. This windmill was intended to improve the water supply, as there was not enough fresh water in the city, especially in cold winters.

With regard to the beginning of the Reformation , the Duke remained Catholic, but behaved in a neutral and balanced manner. One of his advisors was the humanist Konrad Heresbach . Even after the death of Duke Johann, he was still an adviser at the court under his son for many years and also one of the tutors of the Hereditary Prince. Accompanied by the Saxon elector Johann Friedrich von Sachsen , who asked for the hand of Princess Sibylle von Jülich-Kleve-Berg , Friedrich Myconius , a friend and follower of Martin Luther , came to Düsseldorf in 1526/27 . He preached not only in the chapel of the castle, but also publicly on the market square. His sermons moved some citizens and nobles to turn to the Reformation.

Under Johann's successor from 1539, Duke Wilhelm V , also known as Wilhelm the Rich , his capital Düsseldorf became the center of humanistic learning and liberal catholicity on the Rhine. Protestant congregations were not officially allowed in Düsseldorf, but they can be found in the city in the second half of the 16th century. Various written evidence is available for this period, especially for an active Reformed church. From 1570 restrictions began for these communities, since the Catholic councils were in the majority at court.

With the reign of Wilhelm V, the successive expansion of the city fortifications into a modern bastion fortress was continued. Already in 1538 under the previous duke the construction of the citadel southwest on the Rhine in front of the city wall and the southern branch of the Düssel estuary had begun. This modernization of the city fortifications was continued. However, the completion of the new facilities dragged on into the 17th century. This measure was in the political context of the dukes' claims to ownership, since Wilhelm V had also temporarily become regent of the neighboring duchy of Geldern in 1538 and wanted to secure his residence city more militarily in addition to the cities of Jülich and Orsoy in the duchy.

The affiliation of Geldern to the united duchy was controversial from the start, as Emperor Charles V had already laid claim to this territory before the duke took office in 1538. He justified this with the Treaty of Gorinchen , which he had concluded with Karl von Egmond in 1525 . This claim of the emperor was confirmed at a diet in 1541. Nevertheless, the duke tried to maintain his claim to possession. This led to the Third War of the Geldrian Succession in 1543 , which quickly developed to the Duke's disadvantage. William the Rich therefore had to renounce his claims to the Duchy of Geldern and the County of Zutphen in the Treaty of Venlo in 1543 and also to assure Emperor Charles V that the Reformation would be combated in his territory. Wilhelm's attempt to develop Jülich-Kleve-Berg into a powerful and largely independent north-western European territorial state from the Kaiser had therefore failed.

Various important building projects were carried out in Düsseldorf under Wilhelm the Rich. In 1548 he called the Renaissance master builder Alessandro Pasqualini to Düsseldorf. From 1549 to 1551, the Düsseldorf Palace was extensively rebuilt. Between 1570 and 1573, the Duisburg master builder Heinrich Tussmann built a new town hall on the market with financial support from the Duke . Along the Düssel from Liefergasse along Mühlenstrasse, a royal stables were built in 1559 and a comedy house next to it.

In 1545 the Duke made a building available on Stiftplatz and had the first Düsseldorf grammar school, the "Seminarium reipublicae", built there, the forerunner of today's Görres grammar school . With Johann Monheim as one of its first rectors, this grammar school became known nationwide. Even students who did not come from the ducal areas came to Düsseldorf to study.

In the 16th century, Düsseldorf was also hit by some major disasters. Plague epidemics occurred both in 1530 and from 1577 to 1580 and resulted in numerous victims among the population. In 1595 there was a severe flood of the Rhine that severely damaged both the Rhine shipyard and the city wall in this bank area. There was a dispute between the city council and the duke over the cost of repairing the damage.

Fireworks on the Rhine in 1585 on the occasion of the wedding of Johann Wilhelm von Jülich, Kleve, Berg with Jakobe von Baden, in the background Düsseldorf Castle

Since the Duke's eldest son, Karl Friedrich , died early, his younger brother Johann Wilhelm von Jülich-Kleve-Berg had to take over the succession. This was trained for high church offices and from 1574 Bishop of Munster . He therefore ended his ecclesiastical career and instead married Jakobe von Baden from June 15 to 24, 1585 . The “princely gülig wedding” was extraordinarily splendid and is documented by court lawyer Dietrich Graminaeus in a volume with splendid copperplate engravings, which contains numerous views of Düsseldorf and the Düsseldorf palace, some of which were engraved by the engraver Frans Hogenberg . The very elaborate festival in the duchy stood in striking contrast to the simultaneous Truchsessian War , which took place in the immediate vicinity in the Electoral Cologne areas on the left Lower Rhine and parts of the Sauerland, and which covered the local population with war atrocities. But also Jülische and Klevische areas were pillaged and plundered at the time of the wedding. Further major armed raids in Jülich-Berg took place in 1587 and 1588.

Johann Wilhelm was sickly from his youth and mentally handicapped more and more with increasing age. At first, like his father, he was not a militant supporter of the Catholic faction in the empire, but quickly changed his views on this. He tried especially in Wesel to suppress the Reformation supporters when he took over government functions in the early 1580s. Among other things, this led to a falling out between father and son. The old duke, meanwhile seriously ill himself, therefore tried to keep his son away from taking over full government until his death in 1592.

From the 1580s onwards, the diseases and rifts made themselves more and more noticeable throughout the duchy. In the Residenz am Hof ​​in Düsseldorf there were intrigues and disputes among the duke's councilors. In 1591 the duke informed the German emperor about his age and health problems. With regard to the "mental stupidity" of his son and successor, he asked for advice and help. An imperial commission was therefore sent to Düsseldorf at short notice. This commission worked out instructions for the councilors at the Düsseldorf court with which the chaotic conditions there were to be ended. Representatives from the royal houses of Brandenburg and Palatinate-Neuburg were called in as possible later heirs. The specifications contained the note that all decisions and measures had to be carried out with the "knowledge and will" of the future Duchess Jacobe. At the end of 1591 these instructions were accepted by the state estates for the duchy.

When Wilhelm V died in 1592, the problems at court did not change under the new duke either. The wife of the new duke, Jakobe von Baden, was murdered in Düsseldorf Castle in 1597. The disputes between the supporters of Catholicism and Protestantism in the duchy and especially at the court in Düsseldorf increased. Despite his renewed marriage, the duke had no offspring. When Johann Wilhelm died in 1609, there was no direct inheritance and the end of the United Duchy was foreseeable.

Time period of the Wittelsbachers

Palatinate-Neuburg noble house

With the death of Johann Wilhelm I on March 25, 1609, a dispute over the succession of Jülich-Kleve-Berg began . The sons-in-law of Wilhelm V, Count Palatine Wolfgang Wilhelm and Count Palatine Johann from the House of Wittelsbach and Elector Johann Sigismund of Brandenburg immediately raised a claim to the succession in the Duchy. In addition, Electoral Saxony also registered inheritance claims for the Duchy of Cleves and the King of France for the United Duchy.

Count Palatine Wolfgang Wilhelm von Pfalz-Neuburg
Düsseldorf in 1609

Shortly after the death of the last duke, Elector Johann Sigismund tried to take possession of the United Duchy through his agent Stephan von Hartefeld accompanied by a notary in Düsseldorf. In addition, he had the coat of arms of the Brandenburgers posted on the "Bergerporz" . The Count Palatine Wolfgang Wilhelm , who had also rushed to Düsseldorf, already interrupted his journey in Benrath and hung up the Palatinate patent for the taking of ownership at the beginning of April 1609 in the Benrath moated castle south of the city . He also had the Neuburg coat of arms posted next to that of the Brandenburgers on the Bergerporz.

Both Count Palatine Wolfgang and Elector Johann Sigismund were Lutherans at the beginning of the inheritance disputes . Landgrave Moritz von Hessen intervened as a mediator in order to avoid the threatening outbreak of warlike actions . On June 10, 1609, the Treaty of Dortmund , also known as the Dortmund Recess , came about , which provided for a provisional joint administration of the duchies under both princely houses. The contract was negotiated by the Count Palatine Ernst of Brandenburg and Wolfgang Wilhelm. However, this provisional agreement was not recognized by the emperor.

The contract concluded by Count Palatine Ernst as governor for his brother violated the express instructions of the Elector. Nevertheless, on June 16, 1609, Elector and Count Palatine Wolfgang Wilhelm entered the Düsseldorf Palace. Both lived together in the castle for a short time.

The common rule led to constant quarrels and problems. A joint consensus was seldom possible, particularly when it came to appointing new councils and distributing benefices . Both sides therefore looked for allies to enforce their claims. As a result, troops of the Emperor, the French, the Protestant Union and the Spaniards moved into different parts of the territory. The city of Jülich, for example, was besieged and taken in 1610. Since the French king died in 1610, the clashes temporarily flared up. In August 1612, Count Palatine Ernst fell ill and gave up his work as governor in Düsseldorf.

In 1613, at a joint meal between Count Palatine Wolfgang Wilhelm and Elector Johann Sigismund in Düsseldorf Castle, there was supposed to be some assault. The offended Brandenburg Elector left the Düsseldorf court angrily. From then on, the Pfalz-Neuburger resided in Düsseldorf and the Brandenburger in Kleve. The relationship between the opponents was made even more difficult by the change of denomination between the two. On July 18, 1613, the Count Palatinate secretly changed to the Catholic faith in Munich. In the same year on December 18, the elector publicly converted to the Reformed faith in Berlin.

After the Pfalz-Neuburg had previously unsuccessfully wanted to take over Jülich, in 1614 the Brandenburgers secretly tried to invade and occupy the city of Düsseldorf. However, the city's vigilantes secured the city walls in good time, so that the attempt to capture the city failed. Instead of driving the Pfalz-Neuburg out of Düsseldorf and thus from Berg, the Xanten contract came about in the same year , ending the previous joint administration. As a provisional solution, Pfalz-Neuhaus was now responsible for Jülich-Berg and Brandenburg for Kleve. The affiliation of the counties Mark and Ravensburg to Brandenburg was also part of this agreement. However, a final clarification should only take place later under “consideration of a unity of territories”. This contract was also not recognized by the emperor. This meant that both sides could not appear as legal dukes of these territories at meetings of the German princes. Furthermore, the treaty point "Unity of Territories" led to constant disputes. Another contract, the “Provisional Tractat” agreed in Düsseldorf in 1624 , attempted to solve this problem without success. However, this treaty was largely the template for the later agreement in the Treaty of Cleve 1666.

Count Palatine Wolfgang Wilhelm, who had secretly changed to the Catholic faith against his father's express wish, thus belonged to the Catholic faction in the empire. After the death of his father in 1614, he succeeded him as Duke of Pfalz-Neuburg and only used Düsseldorf as his residence from 1631 onwards. In order to secure his claims on Jülich-Berg, he expanded the fortifications of Düsseldorf militarily. Four new bastions were built for this, the Flinger Tor relocated and a new Berger Tor built in the southwest of the citadel, which was completed in 1620. In the area of ​​the north-western corner of the city wall, an old watchtower was used as a powder store, which a few years later became the cause of a devastating accident.

The situation of the Reformed and Protestant communities in the Duchy of Jülich-Berg improved in the first 1610s during the joint administrative phase, as both opponents were still part of the Protestant camp. On May 25, 1614, the Count Palatinate publicly professed his Catholic faith during a mass in the St. Lambertus Church. After the Treaty of Xanten, the Catholic faction again determined the situation in the Duchy of Jülich-Berg. From 1620 onwards, increased oppression began, which led to the following decisions for the city of Düsseldorf:

  • In 1624 the free exercise of religion was forbidden
  • From 1630 all councilors at court had to be Catholic.
  • In 1631 the reformed church had to be stopped.
  • In 1638 the reformed rectorate school, founded around 1611, was closed.
  • In 1641 the Protestant church operations were stopped.
St. Andrew from the northeast

In the course of the Counter-Reformation , the Duke called the following Catholic orders to Düsseldorf and supported them financially in the construction of their monasteries, chapels and churches:

Düsseldorf, which was hardly affected by the warlike events in the empire from 1618, was nevertheless severely affected several times. This applies to epidemics, for example. As in 1613, a serious plague epidemic broke out again in Düsseldorf from 1627 to 1629, in which over 2000 deaths were counted in the city. Furthermore, the city suffered a disaster on August 10, 1634 by a lightning strike. A warehouse with about 300 barrels of gunpowder exploded in a tower of the city wall (powder tower), which was located on the site of the later Carmelite convent . The explosion led to extensive destruction and damage in the north-western part of the city, especially in the area of Altestadt and Krämerstrasse . More than 100 people lost their lives in the process. In addition to the complete destruction of around 50 houses and damage to many more, the church of St. Lambertus and the castle were also damaged. Since financial resources were primarily used to strengthen the city's defense, only a few damage could be repaired at short notice. The fallow land around the powder tower, on the other hand, was only rebuilt after 1642.

The United Duchies after the Provisional Division of the Estate

As everywhere in the Holy Roman Empire , the Thirty Years' War , which began in 1618, brought many problems, the chaos of war with destruction and looting cost many lives and worsened living conditions. Many areas in the former United Duchy were also affected. In contrast to the Brandenburgers, Duke Wolfgang Wilhelm managed to keep many areas of his territory temporarily out of the armed conflicts through a clever policy of neutrality. As early as 1621 he was able to conclude “neutralization patents” with both the Spanish and the States General for Jülich-Berg. In addition, in 1630 he reached an agreement with the Dutch and the allies of the imperial side that made Düsseldorf a “neutral city”. As a result, military attacks on the city as a result of the Eighty Years 'War as well as the Thirty Years' War could be largely avoided. Nevertheless, these agreements were not kept even in the immediate vicinity of the city. For example, in 1624 Gerresheim was sacked by the troops of the States General and in 1633 Mettmann by imperial troops.

Even in the years 1636–1648, which belonged to the last Swedish-French phase of the war, when it increasingly relocated to western areas of the empire, the damage and human loss from acts of war were relatively low in his domain up to the beginning of the 1640s.

The Duke accepted the Peace of Prague in 1635 , but Düsseldorf was occupied by imperial troops from 1639 to 1642. Furthermore, in 1641 the Duke was forced by a resolution of the imperial estates at the Reichstag to give up neutrality. The result was the turmoil of war on the Lower Rhine and occasional occupation of parts of the area by troops from all the main actors involved in the war. Düsseldorf was forced to maintain the occupation troops and had to pay high reparations. Since after the withdrawal of the imperial troops after 1642 the Protestant faction also dominated the area around Düsseldorf for a time, Wolfgang Wilhelm had to revoke some religious restrictions for Reformed and Lutherans for Düsseldorf in 1644 .

Although the Thirty Years War formally ended in 1648, this was not yet the case in Jülich-Berg-Kleve and thus also for the residential city of Düsseldorf. As early as 1646, before the end of the war, as in the summer of 1651, in the so-called cow war , Brandenburg troops attacked Jülich-Berg, without the Düsseldorf garrison being able to prevent this. In the latter attack, the Brandenburgers stopped their advance shortly before the city fortifications in what is now the Pempelfort district . In the same year after the end of this war, negotiations between the Elector and Duke followed in Essen , but they did not bring about a breakthrough.

After the negotiations ended in 1651, armed disputes increased again, especially in the Duchy of Kleve and the County of Mark. Since Duke Wolfgang Wilhelm died in 1653, he did not see a solution to the inheritance dispute. His successor, Duke Philipp Wilhelm in Jülich-Berg, tried to find a solution in his favor at the beginning of his reign. For example, the fortified town of Jülich, which had been occupied by the Spanish since 1622 , was evacuated by this occupation in 1659 after the Peace of Pyrenees between France and Spain. However, in the meantime Philipp Wilhelm had realized that maximum demands for the succession could not be enforced in his sense. Through the mediation of the Dutch, who had intervened at the request of the estates in Kleve and in the Mark, new negotiations for the settlement of the inheritance dispute came about. This led to the Treaty of Kleve in 1666 , in which the dispute between Brandenburg and Pfalz-Neuburg could be ended. In addition to Kleve, the counties of Mark and Ravensberg were also left to the Brandenburgers. Ravenstein was still excluded from this contract and in 1671 fell to Jülich-Berg in return for a compensation payment of 50,000 guilders. The formal end of the inheritance dispute did not take place until 1678 with the recognition of this contract by the emperor for the Brandenburgers and for the Palatinate-Neuburg family .

The following data for the Duchy of Berg show the situation after the end of the war with regard to the development of the population. Before 1618 the number of residents was 275,000 and these had decreased to 131,380 by 1650. A census from 1658 for Düsseldorf shows the success of the Counter Reformation . At that time, 13,848 Catholic, 707 Reformed and 213 Lutheran Christians lived in the city.

Painting of the baroque castle

Some major construction projects were also carried out in Düsseldorf under Duke Philipp Wilhelm. The construction of the citadel, which had already begun under his predecessor, was continued. The Rhine Gate was rebuilt, a new bastion was built north of the castle in front of the city wall there. The wall in front of the new bastion was torn down and the Reuterkaserne and the armory were built on part of the new free area between the bastion and the city . The Duke also called the Franciscans to the city in 1659 and supported them in building their monastery, including the church on Schulstrasse . From 1660 to 1666 the moated castle in Benrath , built in the 14th century, was converted into a baroque moated castle. This was used by the ducal couple as a summer residence and hunting lodge.

Under Duke Philipp Wilhelm, the court officials' authority to issue instructions to the Düsseldorf magistrate was terminated in 1661. This was now only subject to the Duke's direct instructions.

A major fire caused severe damage in Düsseldorf in 1669. In the same year both the plague and the Red Ruhr raged with many victims in the city. From 1646 the Protestant faith in Düsseldorf was officially permitted again, albeit with restrictions. After the Treaty of Cölln / Spree in 1672 between the Brandenburgers and Pfalz-Neuburg, the restrictions on Protestants also ended in the entire Duchy of Jülich-Berg.

In 1676 another epidemic occurred in Düsseldorf, the red dysentery , which caused over 900 deaths. Other important events in the city up to the death of Duke Philipp Wilhelm in 1690, but already at the beginning of his son's reign, were:

  • In 1681 the Ursulines were called to Düsseldorf, who in addition to the monastery and chapel also built the city's first girls' school.
  • The Protestant Neanderkirche and Berger Church were built in the mid-1680s
  • From 1684 the still free area between the bastion and the back of Ratinger Straße was opened up. The Ritterstrasse was laid out. Palaces, town houses and the Ursuline monastery were built on land made available by the Duke .
Erzamt : ore treasurer

When the last male successor from the Palatinate-Simmern family died in 1685 , the Palatinate-Neuburg family inherited the electoral dignity and Duke Philipp Wilhelm became Elector Palatinate. In addition to the electoral dignity, he also inherited the office of arch treasurer . In 1687 he moved his residence from Düsseldorf to Heidelberg and thus to the Palatinate. As early as 1679, he transferred the reign of Jülich-Berg to his son Count Palatine Johann Wilhelm , popularly called Jan Wellem on the Lower Rhine . He therefore stayed in Düsseldorf as Duke of Jülich-Berg. He maintained a glamorous court here, which became a center of culture and art in Western Europe. When Jan Wellem also became elector of the Palatinate and arch treasurer after the death of his father in 1690 , he briefly moved his residence to Heidelberg in 1690. From 1688 onwards, the Palatinate was covered with war by Louis XIV and devastated using the scorched earth method . After the destruction of Heidelberg Castle, Jan Wellem moved his residence back to Düsseldorf in 1693.

Jan Wellem became an influential elector who maintained good contacts not only with the imperial family. His first marriage in 1678 was Maria Anna Josefa , a half-sister of the emperor . Thanks to his diplomatic skills, he was enfeoffed with the Upper Palatinate in 1708. In addition to another cure , this fief also brought him a second ore office , that of the ore truchess . But he only retained one ore office and voluntarily renounced the office of arch treasurer in favor of the elector of Hanover . The 1714 peace of Rastatt between the emperor and the French king cost him the fief of Upper Palatinate again and there was a dispute about the corresponding ore office. As he previously optional on the dignity of Erzschatzmeisters was waived at the end of his life was no significant result of his diplomacy longer exists and also be had Erzamt now controversial.

Double portrait of Elector Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz and his wife Anna Maria Luisa de 'Medici ,
Jan Frans van Douven , 1708

Jan Wellem found more lasting recognition in his Jülich-Berg territories and at the court in Düsseldorf. However, his lifestyle was very complex and therefore expensive. Since he constantly applied for new and higher taxes for his high money needs, there were disputes with the estates in his territories, which had to approve them. Because of his lavish court keeping, only limited funds were available for the rebuilding of the destroyed Electoral Palatinate. In contrast to Jülich-Berg, he was therefore unpopular in the Palatinate.

As a patron of art, he called many artists and scientists to his court. He was supported in this by his second wife Anna Maria Luisa de 'Medici , whom he married in 1691. Of the scientists at his court, the following are particularly noteworthy: the architect Matteo Alberti and the mathematician and physicist Nicolas Hartsoeker . Since new operas and music festivals were often performed at court , various musicians who were well-known at the time also lived in Düsseldorf at times, such as Sebastiano Moratelli from 1679. For this purpose he had the first opera house (Electoral Court Opera) built in Mühlenstrasse in 1669. The collection of paintings by the Dutch and Italians, begun by his grandfather Wolfgang Wilhelm , was expanded further. Well-known painters at the time such as van der Werff , Belucci , Weenix and the court painter van Douven were also guests at the court. The sculptor Grupello , the creator of the equestrian monument on Rathausplatz in Düsseldorf, was one of this group of artists.

For its lavish court life, Jan Wellem rebuilt and modernized Düsseldorf Castle from the end of the 17th century. The plan to build a prestigious new castle in the south of the city was not carried out due to lack of funds. New buildings that were needed for court life, such as the page house, riding school, called "electoral Tummelhaus" by the townspeople, new stables, orangery and Hofbräuhaus, were rebuilt. The plan to expand the city in the south, like the new palace, was not carried out due to lack of funds. However, in the south-east of the city, the defense area was significantly expanded and moved forward without demolishing the old defensive structures behind it. The Hubertus Hospital was built in this new free area at the beginning of the 18th century . The predecessor was the St. Anna Hospital on Flinger Strasse . The name change went back to the Hubertus Order , which was revived by Jan Wellem , through whose members the hospital was financed. Fort Düsselburg, built on the banks of the Rhine in 1689, was a further strengthening of the fortifications . This was built opposite the old town on the left bank of the Rhine and thus on the Kurkölner area. In 1702 an infantry barracks was built in this fort for the occupation.

With the support of the Duke were continued

  • 1699 the first stationary Rhine ferry ("flying bridge"),
  • 1701 the monastery with church for the Cölestinerinnen on Ratinger Straße
  • 1710 a new side wing on the castle to accommodate the collection of paintings and
  • from 1712 the Joseph chapel including the construction of new monastery buildings in the old town

built.

During the reign of Jan Wellem from 1702 the publication of the first newspaper in Düsseldorf can be documented. In 1712 the first synagogue was built in the Düsseldorf area outside the city fortifications in Bilk on Neusser Straße .

The period for Düsseldorf as the glamorous residential city of Jan Wellem ended on June 9, 1716 with his death. The elector was buried with an elaborate burial in the crypt of the former court and Jesuit church of St. Andreas . After the completion of a mausoleum attached to this church, Jan Wellem's coffin was moved there.

Since Jan Wellem had no children, his younger brother Karl Philipp succeeded him in 1716. At that time, he was governor of the Habsburgs in Upper and Lower Austria and resided in Innsbruck . He took over heavily indebted territories and, in addition, high financial claims from the widow de 'Medici , which she was entitled to under the marriage contract. He only moved his residence to Neuburg in 1717, from there to Heidelberg in 1718 and from 1720 to Mannheim. His first years in government were characterized by reorganization of the administration with the aim of reducing costs. The administrative effort was reduced especially in Düsseldorf, since only his governor for Jülich-Berg , the Marquis d'Ittre, resided here. The former electoral court was largely dissolved after the departure of the widow de 'Medici in September 1717. This regent did not initiate any significant activities for Düsseldorf and the development of the city stagnated during his reign. The elector was otherwise busy with denominational disputes in the Palatinate and, from 1720, the lavish construction of the Mannheim Palace . In addition, the dispute with Brandenburg over the succession for Jülich-Berg revived, since after the death of this elector there would have been no heir from the Palatinate-Neuburg noble house . Shortly before his death, Elector Karl Philipp succeeded in finally solving this problem in the treaty of 1741 with Electoral Saxony and Friedrich II of Brandenburg.

As part of the administrative reforms from 1720, the Düsseldorf lay judges' court was given the power to negotiate and decide on all criminal offenses in the Duchy of Berg. The only significant structural changes that took place from 1734–1743 were the construction of an enlarged St. Antonius Church including larger monastery buildings for the Franciscans on Schulstrasse. Furthermore, infantry barracks were built in 1735 in the south-east of the city in the forward defense area.

Palatinate Sulzbach noble house

By carefully securing the inheritance requirements for his successor, after the death of Elector Karl III. Philipp 1742 Duke Karl Theodor von Pfalz-Sulzbach from the branching aristocratic family of the Wittelsbach family, in addition to the reign in his duchy, also took over the reign of the Electoral Palatinate and the duchies of Pfalz-Neuburg and Jülich-Berg . To secure his inheritance claim to Jülich-Berg against the Prussian King Friedrich II, Karl-Theodor joined the coalition against Austria on the side of the Prussians. However, this led to the garrison in Düsseldorf being occupied by French troops from 1743 until the Peace of Dresden in 1745.

His residence city was initially Mannheim and, after he became Elector of Bavaria, temporarily Munich. During his reign, the elector only visited Düsseldorf personally five times, the first time in 1746 and the last time in 1785. Nevertheless, many positive developments took place for Düsseldorf in the second half of the 18th century under his reign. His governors in Düsseldorf, including Counts Franz Karl von Hompesch and Johann Ludwig von Goltstein, played a major role in this development . Goltstein in particular, who was governor from 1768 to 1776, made useful suggestions for the development of Düsseldorf. During his tenure, for example, the Higher Appeal Court was set up in the city in 1769.

The first newspapers appeared in Düsseldorf from the middle of the 18th century: the first was the “Stadt Düsseldorfer Post-Zeitung” twice a week from 1745, followed by the “Gülich and Bergische weekly news” from 1769 and from 1798 the “Düsseldorfer Newspaper ” .

Elector Karl Theodor of the Palatinate

The following events have been handed down for Düsseldorf from the beginning of the reign of the Elector up to the Seven Years' War :

  • 1746/1647 first visit of the elector to Düsseldorf
  • 1746/1747 construction of a new comedy house on the market square
  • 1748 Dismantling of the Düsselburg fort on the left bank of the Rhine , as it was often under water during the Rhine flood and, for example, in 1716 when a flood with ice drifts caused great damage.
Plan of the bombing of the city of Düsseldorf on June 28, 1758, copper engraving, 1766

During the Seven Years' War the elector was one of the emperor's allies against the Prussians. After the Battle of Krefeld on June 27th and 28th, 1758 by the Prussians under Prince Ferdinand von Braunschweig , the victorious troops moved to Düsseldorf, in whose garrison both Palatinate and French troops were stationed. On June 28, 1758, the Hanoverians, allied with the Prussians, bombarded the city from the Oberkassler bank of the Rhine. After the elector's approval of the retreat, the defenders withdrew from the city on July 8th and the Hanoverians took over the garrison. Although the bombardment of the city was only relatively brief, 144 houses in the north-western part of the city were damaged, some severely. The churches and monasteries north of Bolkerstraße were also affected by this war damage. At the beginning of August 1758 the Hanoverians were driven out of the garrison again by the French and General Contades maintained his headquarters here for a while. The French stayed in the city until March 1763.

For the owners of the 65 particularly badly damaged houses from 1758, Elector Carl Theodor approved a reduction in the taxes to be paid for the buildings in 1762.

Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi after a portrait by Johann Peter Langer (1801)

The Düsseldorfer Hof as a center of art and science no longer existed, but after the end of the Seven Years' War the city developed into a center of German intellectual life in the 1770s . The focus for this was the country residence of the Enlightenment and philosopher Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi in Pempelfort . In 1772 he was appointed court treasurer of Jülisch-Bergisch and maintained personal contacts with many great German intellectuals at the time, such as Goethe , Herder and Lessing .

With the death of Maximilian III. In 1777 the last regent from the Bavarian line of the Wittelsbach family died. As stipulated in the inheritance contracts in the Wittelsbach aristocratic family, Elector Karl Theodor was also his successor and thus Elector of Bavaria . Austria raised objections to this succession because it made territorial claims on the Upper Palatinate and Lower Bavaria . Since Prussia rejected these claims, this led to the War of the Bavarian Succession in 1778/1779 . Since both main parties had no interest in a war with many losses, the Peace of Teschen was concluded without major action , which essentially confirmed Karl Theodor's claims to inheritance. This also ended the disputes since Jan Wellem about the Erzamt des Erz Truchsess .

Benrath Castle, view around 1900

Like Jan Wellem, the elector was a fan of the arts and science. He supported many structural extensions, especially in the Electoral Palatinate and Bavaria. But the following construction projects were also funded and carried out in and around Düsseldorf with his approval:

  • 1752 to 1763 Jägerhof Palace was built by Johann Joseph Couven
  • 1755 to 1773 Construction of Benrath Palace by Nicolas de Pigage as a widow's residence , but the Electress died before the Elector.
  • In 1755, the now dilapidated and fire-damaged Düsseldorf Castle was rebuilt and renovated according to plans by the court architect Johann Caspar Nosthofen . The northern wing was torn down and renewed.
  • From 1764 to 1768 the governor's palace was built on Mühlenstrasse.
  • In 1787 the defenses between the Flinger and Berger bastions were laid down, which in the meantime lay within the fortified city area due to the expansion of the defensive ring. In 1787, the Carlstadt began to be laid out in the area that was now accessible up to the southern city fortifications .

Around the 1750s, both an electoral law and a medical academy were founded in Düsseldorf. This was followed in 1762 by a drawing school founded by the painter Lambert Krahe , which was appointed the Electoral Palatinate Academy in 1773 and was the nucleus for the famous Düsseldorf Art Academy . From 1782 the academy was housed in the Hondheim Palace for a few years .

The princely garden to the east of Ratinger Tor , which has been verifiable since 1557 , was no longer maintained after Jan Wellem's death and was overgrown. Between 1769 and 1771 , between the city fortifications and Jägerhof Palace, this garden area was converted into an older courtyard garden and in 1770 the court gardener's house was added.

Even around 1780, Düsseldorf was still largely an administrative and service city with only limited economic activities. The cameralism that had emerged in the German principalities had not led to any change in the economic structure of the city. Besides shops, inns and simple craftsmen, there were hardly any manufactories in the city. With the exception of 3 to 4 spinning mills and a few small manufacturers of soaps, mustard, vinegar and letterpress printing, no further ones can be identified. The Rheinhafen, which was the bank of the Rhine from Kohlentor to the Bergerhafen and including this port basin, was turned into a shipyard and was called at by an average of 70 ships per month, about 30 of them with the destination Düsseldorf. It had little meaning beyond the inner-city trade. Trade via shipping was also severely hampered by an old Cologne stacking law . Jan Wellem had already tried three times, the last time in 1694, to have this stacking right revoked for Düsseldorf.

In the following period up to the beginning of the armed conflicts in the last half of the 1790s through the Revolutionary Wars, particularly strong and high floods occurred in 1784 and 1795, which caused some damage in the city. In 1785 the elector visited Düsseldorf for the last time. From 1787, the Carlstadt was laid in the southeast of the city. This new urban area was partly built on the abandoned area of ​​the older former city fortifications. These building measures were among the most important that were carried out in the city during the reign of this elector. Apart from the citadel area, this was the first major expansion of the city within its fortifications since the end of the 14th century. Many additional city palaces and town houses were built in this new quarter. From 1790 to 1792 the first synagogue in the city was built here. The first numbering of houses in the city was done in 1794.

Fire in the city and the old residential palace after being bombarded by French artillery on October 6, 1794.

The First Coalition War, which broke out in 1792 between most of the Western European states on the one hand and France on the other, reached the left Lower Rhine in 1794. In the late summer of 1794, the Palatinate administration in Düsseldorf began to prepare for military action by the French troops. For example, from mid-September to the beginning of October this year, the paintings in the Düsseldorf Gemäldegalerie were temporarily relocated and transported to Osnabrück via Unna and Hamm.

Although the Elector did not initially take part in this war, Düsseldorf was nevertheless briefly shelled by French artillery on October 5, 1794 from the left bank of the Rhine. The bombardment started an hour before midnight and lasted only about 2 hours, but still caused great damage. In the city, the stables , the monastery of the Cölestinerinnen , 25 houses and the castle were set on fire by the French bombardment. Three-quarters of the castle burned out and the north wing collapsed.

In 1795 the French began to occupy areas on the right bank of the Rhine. On the night of September 5th to 6th, they crossed the Rhine, resisting the Austrians, first at Uerdingen. The troops of the Austrians, who were stationed in the southern Neustadt in front of the fortress, could not prevent the almost simultaneous crossing at Hamm and in the Lausward area, despite resistance. The surrender of the city then demanded by the French was accepted by the Electoral Palatinate under Minister von Hompesch and the fortress city was surrendered practically without a fight. While the Austrians withdrawing from Neustadt towards Grafenberg continued to be fought by the French, the Palatinate troops located in the fortress were able to withdraw without a fight. Except for their cannons, which had to be returned outside the city, they were able to take most of their equipment with them. The French did not leave the occupied city until 1801.

During the French occupation from 1795 onwards, the defenses of the city were upgraded and the area in front of the bastions was cleared of trees and houses that could obstruct the view. This should improve the defense possibilities in an attack on the city. The Hofgartenhaus , for example, was blown up during these actions in 1796 and its remains leveled.

After 1795, the Duchies of Bavaria and Berg also actively participated in the war against the French, but had to conclude the Pfaffenhoven armistice in September 1796 . The agreed contribution of 16 million guilders would also have had unfavorable financial consequences for Düsseldorf. However, since the warlike situation of the opponents of the French improved somewhat, the contribution was not paid. At the Rastatt Congress from 1797 to 1799, the entire area of ​​the Left Bank of the Rhine was "temporarily" ceded to France. With this, the elector Karl Theodor, who was now ill and temporarily fled to Saxony, lost his two duchies, Kurpfalz and Jülich, which also ended the centuries-old union of the duchies of Jülich and Berg. It was the beginning of the end of these two duchies. On February 16, 1799, Elector Karl Theodor died and his reign, which was largely positive for Düsseldorf, ended.

Palatinate-Birkenfeld noble house

After the death of Elector Karl Theodor , who died without a direct heir, his nephew, Duke Maximilian Joseph, succeeded Elector Maximilian IV of Bavaria on February 16, 1799 . He came from a branch of the Wittelsbach family, the Palatinate-Birkenfeld family . As early as 1795, this Duke of Pfalz-Zweibrücken had become the heir to the Electorate of Palatinate-Bavaria and was thus entitled to his successor. He also inherited the Duchy of Jülich-Berg, from which Jülich had been annexed by France since 1797 in 1799 and Dusseldorf in Berg was occupied by French troops since 1795.

Wilhelm in Bavaria

After the Treaty of Lunéville in 1801, the Duchy of Berg and with it Düsseldorf was released by the French and the French troops withdrew to the left bank of the Rhine. Maximilian Joseph's activities for Berg and Düsseldorf were essentially geared towards the implementation of the requirements for this area in accordance with the text of the peace agreement. The main focus of his activity, however, was in Bavaria with the introduction of a new constitution, reorganization of the administration and the establishment of a Bavarian army capable of acting. From November 30, 1803 until the cession of the Duchy of Berg to the French, the elector's brother-in-law, Wilhelm in Bavaria , was his representative in Berg. Since the city palace was destroyed, Wilhelm resided in Düsseldorf first in inns and the residence , then from 1804 to 1806 in Benrath Palace .

In the peace treaty, Art. VI prohibited the restoration of the fortifications of Düsseldorf that had been blown up when the French withdrew. The elector therefore decided to demolish the useless fortress ruins and to redesign their areas. In order to do this, he ordered the formation of a commission by decree of January 28, 1802. Head of this commission was the councilor Georg Arnold Jacobi , the philosopher's son. Other members included the court architect Kaspar Huschberger and the hydraulic engineer Christian Wilhelm Bauer, and later the garden architect Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe . Their task was a meaningful conversion of the bastions with their protective waters for the purpose of opening up the city to the partially built-up surrounding area and the southern districts outside the city fortifications.

Around the old town, including the newer Carlstadt, the first green spaces were laid out in the area of ​​the former bastions between 1802 and 1804. The older court garden was extended to include the new court garden and the leveled former court gardener's house was rebuilt in 1802. In 1803 Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe , who worked in Cologne, was hired as an additional court gardener. This brought a lot of impulses for the formation of the parks as English gardens . Between the city and the southern part of the Hofgarten, work began on creating an avenue, today's Heinrich-Heine-Allee . To the southeast of it, the city moat was built in 1804 with a tree-lined promenade in front of its eastern bank, the then avenue outside the city , the forerunner of the later Königsallee . The redesign of the protective waters in the area south of the citadel and Carlstadt to the Spee'schen Graben and Schwanenspiegel with Kaiserteich did not take place until later in the 1830s and 1840s. The water flow through the southern Düssel remained, but the continuation of these waters to the moat of the later Königsallee was waived.

Some territorial lords suffered extensive territorial losses through the loss of areas of their dominion to France. The secularization already introduced in France served as compensation . As a result, ecclesiastical monasteries, abbeys and monasteries were expropriated and their lands, buildings and property passed into the possession of the territorial lords largely without compensation. In the annexed areas on the left bank of the Rhine, this secularization took place since 1802, as the French were already the sovereigns here. In the areas on the right bank of the Rhine, this was only possible a year later. Based on agreements in the Treaty of Lunéville , it was decided at the last session of the Perpetual Diet on February 25, 1803 to transfer secularization to the imperial territories. This law came into force on April 27, 1803. This resulted in the extensive expropriation of church property in the Duchy of Berg and thus also in Düsseldorf. This led to many changes, especially for Catholic institutions in the city. The monasteries were closed, their property sold or auctioned and the use of the buildings adapted to the requirements of the new owners. Of the churches, in addition to the garrison church of St. Anna, only the St. Mary's Church, now called St. Lambertus since the Marienstift was abolished, and St. Antonius continued as churches in the core city. The latter, however, was not secularized as the second parish church and renamed St. Maximilian until after resistance from the population to desecration by order of the Elector Maximilian in 1805 .

Examples of the changed use of church properties are:

  • the Kreuzherrenkirche was first a horse stable
  • the monastery of the Carmelites became the Theresien Hospital with a time lag
  • the monastery of the Cölestine nuns , mostly in ruins after 1794, was auctioned and new town houses built on the site;
  • The church was torn down from the Capuchin monastery and the remaining buildings including the monastery brewery were sold.

On September 25, 1805, Elector Maximilian concluded an alliance with France in the Bogenhausen Treaty and ended that with Austria and Russia in the 3rd coalition war . This war ended on December 26, 1805 with the Peace of Pressburg . Bavaria received Austrian territories and royal dignity for renouncing the Electoral Palatinate and Duchy of Jülich . As Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria , the elector was the first Bavarian king from January 1, 1806 and was briefly a ruling prince in the Holy Roman Empire . In the Treaty of Schönbrunn on December 15, 1805, the Duchy of Berg was expanded between France and Prussia to include the areas on the right bank of the Rhine from the former Duchy of Kleve and a short time later it was converted into a Grand Duchy of Berg administered by France . The Wittelbach phase for Berg and Düsseldorf was thus close to its end.

Before these changes came into force, the elector Maximilian instructed his administration in Düsseldorf to outsource the paintings in the Düsseldorf Gemäldegalerie and bring them to his territory. The collection, which had been started by Duke Wolfgang Wilhelm and expanded by Electors Jan Wellem and Karl Theodor, was transported from Düsseldorf and was not to come back later.

Time period Grand Duchy of Berg

States of the Rhine Confederation in 1806 before the defeat of the Prussians

In accordance with the agreements of the Peace of Pressburg , Elector Maximilian became King of Bavaria on January 1st. On March 15, 1806, he renounced his reign for the Duchy of Berg and left it to France. On the same day Napoléon Bonaparte appointed his brother-in-law Joachim Murat as the new Duke of the Duchy. This sent his general Dupont to take over power to Düsseldorf and followed himself with a solemn entry on March 24, 1806. On July 12, 1806 Murat was promoted to Grand Duke by imperial decree.

At that time, the new Grand Duchy of Berg included the former areas of the Duchy of Berg including the Electoral Cologne enclaves, the areas on the right bank of the Rhine of the Duchy of Kleve, four Munsteran lordships and the Orange parts of the County of Nassau-Diez . A total of 536,802 inhabitants lived in this area in 1806. The capital for the Grand Duchy was Düsseldorf. After the defeat of the Prussians in 1807, the county of Mark and the Münsterland were also connected. Further details and additional area changes: see → Grand Duchy of Berg

Dusseldorf thus became a residential city again 90 years after Jan Wellem's death. As a founding member of the Rhine Confederation , which was founded in Paris on July 12, 1806, the Grand Duchy of Berg left the German Empire on August 1 under Murat . With the abdication of the last German Emperor Franz II on August 6, 1806, the German Empire formally ended .

As one of Napoleon's most important generals, Murat stayed mainly outside his Grand Duchy with the French troops and after his solemn entry was only once in Düsseldorf from July to October 1806. In addition to the governor's palace, he predominantly chose Benrath Palace as his residence. The actual leadership of the Grand Duchy in Düsseldorf took over under Murat Graf Beugnot , who was not appointed governor, but who had practically comparable rights. One of the most important ministers in the Grand Duchy was Count Johann Franz Joseph von Nesselrode-Reichenstein , to whom the interior, justice and war ministries were subordinate. Count von Boecke and mayor of Düsseldorf Freiherr von Pfeil was prefect in the Düsseldorf department .

Notable activities and changes in Dusseldorf and Berg could only be started during the time under Murat, as he was promoted to King of Naples by Napoleon on July 15, 1808 . From this point on, Napoleon himself took over the reign of the Grand Duchy. As early as March 3, 1809, Napoleon appointed his five-year-old nephew Prince Napoléon Louis Bonaparte, who lived in France, to succeed him as Grand Duke. But he continued to rule for this.

Napoleon's entry into Düsseldorf on November 2, 1811. View of the triumphal arch erected especially for him in Elberfelder Strasse, designed by Adolph von Vagedes
(J. Petersen, watercolor, Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf)

The French made many serious changes in the Grand Duchy of Berg and thus also in Düsseldorf. The old feudal system with feudalism and serfdom was abolished, the judiciary reformed and the civil code introduced. The administration was modernized. The Grand Duchy was divided into four departments , namely 1. Rhine, 2. Sieg, 3. Ruhr and 4. Ems. These in turn consisted of four arrondissements each with a total of 79 cantons . For department Rhine included the districts of Dusseldorf , Elberfeld , Essen and Mülheim am Rhein . The arrondissement of Düsseldorf comprised the cantons of Düsseldorf, Mettmann, Opladen, Ratingen , Richrath and Velbert , with the canton of Düsseldorf consisting of the city of Düsseldorf, the capital of the department and the arrondissement.

New regulations improved the administration, removed many old privileges and, for example, introduced regulations for the quality of food and monitored compliance with them. Due to these measures, the French were initially not unpopular with the population. However, France levied high taxes to finance its wars and for the first time introduced cadastre for real estate tax to ensure more precise recording . Since the new conscription forced many young men to serve in the armies of the states of the Confederation of the Rhine allied with France, the reputation of the French deteriorated with increasing duration. Napoleon and his wife personally visited Düsseldorf only once from November 2nd to 5th, 1811. They stayed at the Jägerhof Palace . He was warmly received by the people of Düsseldorf.

As far as construction work was carried out in Düsseldorf during this period, these were particularly encouraged by an imperial decree of 1811. This contained the provisions that 100,000 francs per year should be spent on the beautification and development of the city and that the city continued to own all land in the area of ​​the former bastions. This made it possible to create a ring of parks around the old town including Carlstadt, which later gave the city the name Garden City .

In detail, the following were carried out or started:

  • Around 1806 the Carlstadter swamp in the area of ​​the southern Hohestrasse was drained
  • from 1808 to 1810 demolition of the Flingertor and construction of the first houses on Boulevard Napoleon , today's Heinrich-Heine-Allee,
  • 1811 Construction of a new security harbor north of the city and extension of the Rhine shipyard up to this; the excavated earth was piled up on the Napoleonsberg in the courtyard garden,
  • From 1811 construction of a new Ratinger Tor in front of the old town by Adolph von Vagedes , which could only be completed after the withdrawal of the French and
  • Around 1811 the rue de l'Émpereur , today's Kaiserstraße, was laid outside the city center.

Already under Murat it was planned to found a university by merging several Düsseldorf technical schools . By an imperial decree of November 2, 1811, issued during Napoleon's visit to the city, the university was to be founded on March 1, 1812. Due to a lack of money, however, this deadline could not be kept and was no longer feasible after the campaign to Russia and its consequences.

Economically, the city experienced years of decline at the beginning of the 19th century, even after the expulsion of the French into the Prussian era. Due to the short reigns with twice the French, once the Bavarians and then the Prussians, regulations and laws changed constantly. The frequent wars until after Napoleon's final exile also caused additional problems. The general legal environment improved from the beginning of the Grand Duchy, as the privileges for merchants, guilds and guilds were lifted on December 3, 1809. In 1803 a ban on the import of English colonial goods was issued, followed in 1806 by a general ban on all English goods. From 1810, all English goods had to be delivered; if they were not done, they were confiscated and publicly burned. Furthermore, the customs duties that had to be paid on the delivery of goods to other German states as well as to France hindered trade. All of this created disruptions and obstacles to trade.

The settlement of businesses in the city has hardly changed compared to the past. Although the number of small businesses in the city had increased to around 35 by 1812, their economic importance for the city was still only minor. During the visit of Emperor Napoleon to Düsseldorf in 1811, a trade exhibition with goods from the textile and metal industries from 14 companies from the Grand Duchy was held in the old chancellery on the market square. It was hoped, through this exhibition, that the emperor would obtain lower tariffs for the delivery of goods to France. Although the emperor assessed the quality of the goods positively, the tariffs were not reduced. Only the products mustard and punch from the commercial enterprises from Düsseldorf were shown in this exhibition , a clear indication of a lack of industry in the city.

The oppressive tax levies in the worsening economic situation for financing French military spending and the extremely high death rate for those taking part in the failed Russian campaign at the end of 1812 led to a rapidly growing displeasure with the French. In January 1813 there was the so-called revolt of the Knüppelrussen in the Grand Duchy , also known as "Speckrussen" in the Bergisch area . The young men, whose forced recruitment for army service in the warlike actions of the French, was very likely to lead to their death, took part in this. The main focus of the uprising was the south-east of the Bergisches Land. But in Düsseldorf, too, over 100 people are said to have been executed during the violent suppression of the uprising by the French army. The short phase of consolidation after the suppression of the uprising was followed by the French defeat in the Battle of Leipzig on October 16-19, 1813 . Then began their withdrawal from the old Reich territory. The governor of the Grand Duchy, Count Beugnot , left Düsseldorf on November 4th .

The French troops of the Düsseldorf garrison under General Rigoud first wanted to prevent the Allied troops from crossing the Rhine in the area of ​​the city. But when the Cossacks had already reached the Elberfeld area on November 12th, both ministers of the previous government and Düsseldorf citizens tried to prevent a fight over Düsseldorf. After paying a sum of 30,000 francs, the French were ready and vacated the city on November 13 and withdrew to the left bank of the Rhine. The next day, November 14, 1813, Russian troops took over the garrison in Düsseldorf. A day later, the Russian general Graf von Priest announced the liberation of the Grand Duchy from the French. The short French episode for Berg and with it Düsseldorf was over.

Time period of the Prussians

Prussian period until 1871

Justus von Gruner

After the withdrawal of the French was born on 25 November 1813 by decree of Baron von Stein , the General Government mountain formally established. Düsseldorf still had a residence function as the official seat for the administration . The highest employer at this time was the central administrative authority for the areas liberated from the French. This authority was subordinate to a diplomatic council of the Allies, the main members of which had been appointed by Russia, Austria and Prussia.

The Imperial Russian State Councilor Justus Gruner had already been appointed by the Central Administrative Authority as the first Governor General on November 19, 1813 . The extent of the area corresponded to the Grand Duchy without the Old Prussian areas .

Jülich-Kleve-Berg (red), area from May 1815, Prussia (blue)

Justus Gruner arrived in Düsseldorf on November 20th and immediately took over the management of the General Government. One of Justus Gruner's first measures, in addition to lifting the continental blockade for trade, was mobilizing the people to strengthen their military strength. A Bergische Brigade was set up, which was involved in the expulsion of the remaining French troops in the area of ​​the left Lower Rhine in early 1814. For the administrative structure of the Generalgouvernement, the municipal organization introduced under the French was largely taken over, with the use of German instead of French designations for functions and names. On January 27, 1814, Berg was divided into four districts: Elberfeld, Düsseldorf, Mülheim a / Rhein and Wipperfürth.

On February 2, 1814, Justus von Gruner took over the new Generalgouvernement Mittelrhein and was succeeded by Prince Alexander von Solms-Lich in Düsseldorf . After the Peace of Paris , on June 15, 1814, Prussia was provisionally responsible for the administration in the Berg Generalgouvernement and replaced the previous central administrative authority . After this point in time, all decrees and regulations were no longer issued in the "name of the central administrative authority" but in the "name of the King of Prussia" and the old seals from the French era were replaced by new ones.

August Sack took over the management of the new General Governments of the Middle and Lower Rhine combined from the two General Governments of the Middle and Lower Rhine on June 16, 1814 with its seat in Aachen. Justus Gruner was again governor general in Berg and thus had his official seat in Düsseldorf again. As early as April 30, 1815, a new organization was put into effect for the entire Rhenish territories of Prussia. Two provincial authorities were formed, namely the province of Jülich-Kleve-Berg with its headquarters in Cologne under August Sack and the province of Lower and Middle Rhine with its headquarters in Koblenz. Since Justus Gruner was not responsible for Jülich-Kleve-Berg, he left Düsseldorf on May 15, 1815. This finally ended the last residence function of Düsseldorf. The Jülich-Kleve-Berg provincial authority was responsible for the areas of the former duchies of Jülich, Kleve and Berg. However, south-western areas of the former Duchy of Jülich, including the city of Jülich, were no longer included. But all the former areas of Kurköln north of Cologne were part of the territory. The “Jülich-Berg” domain , which had existed for centuries, was now a thing of the past and replaced by new administrative structures.

At the end of the Congress of Vienna on June 9, 1815, the entire Rhineland finally became part of the Kingdom of Prussia . The two General Governments of the Middle and Lower Rhine and Jülich-Kleve-Berg were dissolved in March 1816, but for the time being the division into the two provinces of the Grand Duchy of Lower Rhine and Jülich-Kleve-Berg remained . Friedrich Graf zu Solms-Laubach , based in Cologne, took over the executive committee for the province of Jülich-Kleve-Berg . This province was divided into the three administrative districts of Düsseldorf, Kleve and Cologne. According to an official order of April 24, 1816, the administrative district of Düsseldorf was divided into four districts on the left bank of the Rhine and eight on the right bank of the Rhine, including the urban district of Düsseldorf and the district of Düsseldorf . The urban district consisted of the mayor's office of Düsseldorf, while the district comprised the mayorships of Angermund, Benrath, Eckamp , Gerresheim, Hilden , Hubbelrath , Kaiserswerth, Mintard and Ratingen.

Map of the Empire with the Rhine Province (red)

The next and last major organizational change in the Rhineland took place after the death of Graf zu Solms-Laubach on February 22, 1822. The two Prussian provinces of the Grand Duchy of Lower Rhine and Jülich-Kleve-Berg were combined to form the Rhine province with the headquarters in Koblenz . This new Rhine province comprised 5 administrative districts and the administrative district of Düsseldorf was one of these five. The administrative district of Kleve had already been dissolved on January 1, 1822 and merged with the Düsseldorf district. With this reorganization, the many short-term restructurings after the French period of the Rhineland came to an end.

The Prussian administrative order valid in the Rhine Province was essentially based on the municipal reform of 1808. These had been modernized in accordance with the guidelines of the Prussian reforms for the administration of 1805. The city received self-government, as the citizens were given the right to vote in elections for city councilors. However, the suffrage was based on a census and was a three-tier suffrage . Prerequisites for the right to vote were city property or higher income or payment of a fee. As a result of these conditions, poor city dwellers were largely excluded from voting in an election. The administrative reforms for the municipalities of 1831 and 1850 brought some improvements, but changed little in the Zenzus. As a result, practically only craftsmen, merchants and wealthy townspeople were allowed to vote.

Franz Schnabel, appointed by Gruner, was the first Lord Mayor of the Prussians in Düsseldorf from December 2, 1813 . On April 18, 1814, the tribunal judge Degreck followed for about a year , who in turn was replaced by Engelbert Schramm . He was the first to be confirmed by the citizens in an election on January 25, 1818 and held the office until June 1820.

With the beginning of the Prussian period, a difficult phase began for Düsseldorf. The bad harvest of 1816 led to a great famine throughout Germany, which inevitably also affected the residents of Düsseldorf. Due to the loss of the residence functions, many administrative offices were superfluous with correspondingly reduced staff requirements. The meanwhile lower importance of Düsseldorf can be seen in the loss of the freedom of the district. The city district of Düsseldorf was dissolved again by a government ordinance of July 27, 1820 and the city of Düsseldorf was incorporated into the district of Düsseldorf .

Due to a lack of money, construction activity between 1814 and 1820 was limited. The new Ratinger Tor in front of the old town, construction of which began in 1811, was one of the few construction projects to be completed by 1815. The gate was used as a customs post to collect a city excise on food brought into the city. Other important events at the beginning of the Prussian period in Düsseldorf were:

  • In 1815 the church tower of St. Lambertus burned down ; During the subsequent restoration, the crooked church tower was created , one of the city's landmarks that are still present today,
  • In 1817 a Prussian mint was opened, which existed until 1848 and
  • In 1819 the art academy was re-established as the "Royal Prussian Art Academy" under the director Peter von Cornelius and began teaching again in 1822.
Ship bridge over the Rhine and a view of Düsseldorf around 1830, contemporary steel engraving

The political upheavals and the consequences of the war caused unfavorable conditions in Düsseldorf. The trade by ship transport on the Rhine via the Düsseldorf harbor was severely hindered by a handling law in Cologne . In addition, the city lost the privilege of a free port , although this was granted in 1465 and was last confirmed on October 30, 1805 by electoral Bavarian ordinance. Already under Justus Gruner the cancellation of Cologne's handling rights for the Düsseldorfers had been applied for via Berlin, but it remained in place until 1831. An attempt was made to improve trade through a trade exhibition held in Düsseldorf and Elberfeld in 1817 . The new customs laws of 1818 in Prussia, however, made the conditions for trade even worse, so that the exhibition did not generate any positive impulses.

When the Prussians first came to power in Düsseldorf, many army units were stationed in the city of Düsseldorf. For example, for the period from July 1 to December 31, 1824, a total of 44,865 billets of the army in the city area. The majority of them, 31,702 people, were housed in the core city area. In the other outskirts, which belonged to the Lord Mayor of Düsseldorf, the number was 13,125. The 44,865 billeting in Düsseldorf was very high, as the proportion of civilian citizens of Düsseldorf in the city was only around 25,000.

Tensions arose in the city under Joseph von Fuchsius , who was mayor from 1833 to 1848. The cause of social problems was the decline of the textile industry in Düsseldorf after the mid-1840s, as some factories were closed due to high tariffs and some were relocated to Belgium. In addition, there was religious tension, as the population was predominantly Catholic, but the Prussian officials, with a few exceptions, were Protestant.

The first improvements in the general situation for Düsseldorf began in the 1820s with the following events:

  • In 1824 Düsseldorf became the seat of the Rhenish provincial estates .
  • In 1825, both a city savings bank and a pawnshop were founded and it followed
Memorial plaque for the construction of the Düsseldorf-Elberfelder Railway in Düsseldorf Central Station (north tunnel)

A noticeable improvement in the economic situation began in the 1830s. In 1831 the Düsseldorf Chamber of Commerce was founded. At that time, however, industrial production in Düsseldorf was still low. In an investigation for the Oberpräsident on April 3, 1836, there were only 28 factories in Düsseldorf with a total of 850 employees. Most of the employees were also children.

In 1831, the Rhine Shipping Convention made all privileges and customs duties that previously existed for trade by ship invalid for the German area of ​​the Rhine. The barriers to trade for navigation on the Rhine were largely lifted. In 1834, with the approval of the Berlin tax authorities, a new free port was set up in the area of ​​the former Rhine Gate. From 1851 the last taxes for the movement of goods in the Dutch area of ​​the Rhine were ended. With the revised Rhine Shipping Act of 1868, all former trade barriers to transport on the entire Rhine ended. In addition, there was again a free port in Düsseldorf.

From 1832, the volume of trade that was handled via Düsseldorf increased significantly. The German Customs Union , which from January 1, 1834, simplified and partially abolished domestic German trade tariffs in large areas of the empire, also improved the environment for trade. Another trade exhibition was held in 1837 in the "Casino" of house no. 20 on Flinger Strasse . 113 exhibitors took part, most of whom came from the Bergisches Land and the Lower Rhine region. This exhibition was successful and was the cornerstone for the later development of Düsseldorf into a trade fair city .

This favorable development in trade was further promoted by the commissioning of the first west German railway line between Düsseldorf and Erkrath in 1838, which continued to Elberfeld in 1841. In 1839 the first permanent ship bridge was built between the old town and the left bank of the Rhine, which made trade even easier. The following data for the port of Düsseldorf show how strong the increase in trade was after 1831:

  • 1831: Quantity of goods in “Centner” = ..142.126; Number of cargo ships:?
  • 1832: Quantity of goods in “Centner” = ..738.407; Number of cargo ships: 1,425
  • 1840: Quantity of goods in "Centner" = 1,160,952; Number of cargo ships: 2,763

In 1836, the Düsseldorfer Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft was founded for the Lower and Middle Rhine , which in addition to transporting goods also carried out passenger shipping . In 1853 this company agreed a joint venture with a Cologne steamship company. This resulted in the "Cologne-Düsseldorf Deutsche Rhein-Schiffahrts AG" in 1867 . This was the forerunner of the current “ Köln-Düsseldorfer ”, also known as “KD” for short.

Construction activity also revived. Especially in the area of ​​the new streets and avenues on the edge of the old town, new aristocratic palaces and residential houses were built. The area in front of the bastions, which had been abandoned in the meantime, was only sparsely built up until the end of the 1830s and was opened up for development by laying out roads such as Schadowstraße , Jägerhofstraße , Hofgartenstraße, Haroldstraße and Schwanenmarkt . Already existing, older small settlement centers in the surrounding area were connected to the city's road network. The area in the area of Schloss Jägerhof was officially named the Pempelfort district in 1854 . In the second half of the 19th century, many of the upper classes and artists had their elegant townhouses here. The first houses were built in the area of Kastanienallee , which later became Königsallee.

Commercial exhibition, 1852

The rebuilding of the largely destroyed Düsseldorf Palace , intended as early as 1811 under Napoleon, was carried out by the architect Rudolf Wiegmann from 1845 onwards. The provincial parliament and the art academy moved into the repaired building complex. In the completed 24 halls of the palace, which the provincial parliament occupied, the first larger “Provincial Trade Exhibition for Rhineland and Westphalia” took place in Düsseldorf from July 15 to October 1, 1852. 756 companies exhibited goods of all kinds and the number of visitors was over sixty thousand. The exhibition was very successful and consolidated Düsseldorf as a trade fair location.

At the beginning of the "Preussenzeit" in Düsseldorf, the following newspapers and regular publications appeared in print editions: Daily: "Düsseldorfer Zeitung", "Düsseldorfer Abendblatt" and "Niederrheinische Blätter", weekly: "Official Journal of the Royal Government" and "Wochen- oder Intellektivenblatt" and once a month "monthly roses".

A swampy area south of Carlstadt was developed for a new part of the city from 1846, and construction of new buildings there began in 1854. The result was the Frederick city , named after the ruling at that time Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV.

Old Tonhalle

The cultural life in the city increasingly revived. Here is some related data: Karl Immermann founded the theater association in 1832. The theater on Rathausplatz was rebuilt by Vagedes in the same year . From 1833 to 1835 Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and from 1850 to 1854 Robert Schumann were city ​​music directors. The Düsseldorf School of Painting began to develop and many painters who later became known nationwide were students at the Royal Prussian Art Academy . The old house of the Jacobi family and a garden property belonging to Jägerhof Palace was acquired with the help of the city in 1860 and a festival house, the Malkasten, was added from 1864 to 1867 . This building became a focal point for festive events of the Düsseldorf society. The operator, the Düsseldorfer Malkasten-Gesellschaft , was an organization of Düsseldorf artists that was founded in 1848 in the context of the March riots . In 1818 the first Lower Rhine Music Festival took place in a Düsseldorf garden bar in Golzheim. Over the next few decades this location developed into a center for music events and was already called the Tonhalle . In 1863 the property was acquired by the city and in 1865 the old sound hall was built here.

The development of the population is a reflection of the economic situation in the city. The following data show the initially unfavorable conditions, which improved significantly after 1830. The numbers indicate both the number of residents in the core city and the total with the outskirts in brackets:

  • 1809 = 13,263 (20,263)
  • 1812 = 14,472 (missing)
  • 1817 = 15,587 (22,587)
  • 1841 = 24,000 (32,000)

For the growing population in the city, from the end of the 1830s either schools were built by the city, such as the Humboldt Realschule in 1838, which later became the Humboldt Gymnasium, or by the middle classes through a school association , such as the evangelical Luisen School for girls in 1837 . In 1842 St. Andreas was named the second parish church for the old town without Carlstadt.

City gas began to be produced and used in Düsseldorf around the middle of the 19th century . The first gas lighting can be detected as early as 1840. In 1851 this was also installed in the town hall and the city theater. In 1866 the municipal gas works went into operation. In connection with the construction of the gasworks, allegations of corruption were raised against the mayor at the time, Ludwig Hammers , but these were not verifiable.

The industrialization that began in the German states in the first half of the 19th century brought not only trade and production improvements, but also disadvantages, especially for the common people. Many handicraftsmen and DIY enthusiasts lost their economic basis and became impoverished, as they could only earn their living as poorly paid workers in industry. The poor harvests of 1846 in many areas of the empire aggravated the problems due to rising food prices, which increased in the following year. Further factors for the dissatisfaction with the conditions in the many individual German states, including Prussia, were both the emerging German national consciousness and the desire for a democratization of political conditions in areas of civil society.

Contemporary illustration of the festival of German unity on August 6, 1848 on Friedrichsplatz in Düsseldorf

An uneasiness about the situation and the ruling Prussian authorities was widespread in Düsseldorf. This was already expressed in 1843 at the Cologne-Düsseldorf Fraternization Festival , when Düsseldorf citizens rejected a draft for the introduction of a Prussian penal code by the members of the 7th Provincial Parliament of the Rhine Province, who were meeting at the time in the Stadthalterpalais on Mühlenstrasse, together with the citizens of Cologne who had traveled there welcomed a celebration. The impression that Düsseldorf was a "main focus of anarchy and disorder for the Rhine Province" was conveyed to King Friedrich Wilhelm IV personally on August 14, 1848, when he wanted to visit Prince Friedrich, who resided in Düsseldorf, after the Cologne Cathedral Festival and at that time Kastanienallee was received with anti-Prussian protests and pelted with horse droppings. A few days earlier, on August 6, 1848, the city, which was a center of the democratic movement , had celebrated the festival of German unity and thus expressed the hope for a new democratic order in Germany, to which the Prussian crown should also submit. The anti-Prussian mood in the city and the events of August 14th led Berlin to even briefly consider closing and relocating the garrison in Düsseldorf.

General dissatisfaction with the political situation was widespread throughout the entire Reich. The March Revolution began in 1848 and began in the Grand Duchy of Baden in 1848. This covered all German states and was crushed by the army in Prussia in the summer of 1849. In the Rhine province in the vicinity of Düsseldorf, strong local unrest broke out, particularly in Elberfeld, Siegburg, Solingen and Prüm .

Düsseldorf was also affected by the unrest. Under the leadership of Lorenz Cantador an established vigilantes , who were up to November 1848 joined about 2,500 men. The revolutionary actions culminated in November 1848 with the declaration of a tax boycott , the royal ban on the vigilante group, the declaration of open resistance by the Cantadors house on the market square, and bloody barricade fights on May 9, 1849 with the army and 14 dead, including the young painter Ludwig by Milewski . On the morning of May 10th, there were further shootings by the military despite no further resistance from the vigilante group. According to witness statements in a defamation process at the end of 1949, at least seven citizens who were not involved in the riots were fatally injured in the area of ​​Rathausplatz and the adjacent streets for no reason. These incidents put an additional strain on the reputation of the Prussians among the ordinary citizens of the city during this period. Other dramatic events in the city were a cholera epidemic with 111 deaths in 1866 and a smallpox epidemic in 1871 with 524 deaths.

After the unrest in 1849, Ludwig Hammers was temporarily appointed Lord Mayor. In the next elections in 1850 he was also elected by the citizens and was in office until 1876.

View from the north around 1850

For the care and treatment of the sick, poor and orphans in the city and to adapt to the growing population, nursing homes and hospitals were opened or built both in the city center and in the outskirts. In detail these were:

  • 1831 the Theresienhospital in the old town in the buildings of a former monastery.
  • In 1859 a St. Martinus nursing home for the poor servants of Jesus Christ in Bilk, which was expanded into a hospital at the end of the century.

It followed:

  • In 1860 a municipal eye clinic with Albert Mooren as first director, then from
  • 1864 Construction of the Evangelical Hospital in Friedrichstadt . As early as 1849, a foundation for the construction of a hospital by Protestant citizens in the city had been established. A small hospital initially set up in the rectory of the Berger Church was replaced by the new building. Furthermore was
  • In 1865 the Catholic citizens of the city founded an association for the construction and operation of a hospital. In 1867 a piece of land was bought and construction of the Marienhospital started and was completed by 1872.

From around the middle of the 19th century, the beginning of industrialization in Germany began a period of stronger growth for Düsseldorf as well. Since there was no space for this in the densely built-up core city, factories settled in the immediate vicinity in areas that belonged to the city. In addition to the textile industry that also exists in Düsseldorf, metal processing plants have now also been founded. From 1852, Belgian entrepreneurs such as the Richard, Gobiet, Bourouxhe and JP Piedbœuf brothers built the first steel processing plants using the puddle method in Düsseldorf-Oberbilk. The Poensgen family was another important company founder for heavy industry . This moved its older factories in the Eifel to Düsseldorf. Albert Poensgen was the first of the five members of this family, who all built their own factories in Düsseldorf . In 1860 he first built a steel pipe factory in Oberbilk . Further metal, steel and rolling mills, also from the others in this family, followed in Oberbilk and Lierenfeld by 1870 . The foundation stone for an important location for the manufacture of steel products and pipes was thus laid in Düsseldorf. It followed:

  • In 1864 the young entrepreneur from Bremen, Ferdinand Heye , who founded the Gerresheimer Glashütte , at that time still outside the city, in Gerresheim , which developed into one of the largest glass producers in the Reich, and
  • 1866 the engineer Ernst Schiess , who first set up a workshop in which the first machine tool was built in 1870 . From this a company developed that was one of the most important German manufacturers of such machines.

A further expansion of the infrastructure was necessary for the transport of the materials and products to and from Düsseldorf. Important dates for the expansion of the railway network with a connection for Düsseldorf were:

Photo from the late 1970s, on the right the ruins of the first bridge from 1870
  • Since October 1847 the connection to an already existing network from Minden to Berlin had taken place. Farther:
  • In 1852 the iron line from Düsseldorf to Gladbach was operational. It was completed by Aachen in January 1853.
  • In 1853 the railway line between Neuss and Oberkassel went into operation .
  • In 1857 the Düsseldorf-Elberfelder was merged with the Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahngesellschaft, after the latter had largely opened up the Bergisches Land as early as 1849. With the construction of the first permanent bridge over the Rhine near Düsseldorf
  • 1868 to 1870, the Hammer Railway Bridge ,

the connection with the railway for the transport of goods and people from Düsseldorf to the surrounding area and beyond was largely achieved. The city had become an important staging area for the trade and transport of industrial and agricultural products for the Lower Rhine and Bergisches Land.

With the beginning of industrialization, the influx of people to Düsseldorf increased. According to an official census of December 3, 1861, lived at this time

  • 37,902 Catholic people
  • 11,737 Protestant people
  • 3,358 military personnel

and thus a total of 52,997 people in the city. The number of military personnel was thus significantly reduced compared to the numbers in the 1820s, although a few smaller Prussian army units were still stationed in Düsseldorf.

Düsseldorf was hardly affected by the German War in 1866 and the Franco-German War in 1870/71, as these did not take place in the immediate vicinity. However, people from Düsseldorf also served in the Prussian Army, some of whom were killed in the acts of war. The latter is documented on the public plaques for these wars. The consequences, especially of the Franco-German War, were also of importance for the further development of Düsseldorf. By 1871, the restructuring of Düsseldorf from a residential and administrative city to an industrial and commercial city had already largely been initiated. Although this development was relatively slow at the beginning, it was already apparent by the end of the 1860s at the latest that it would lead to an important and large commercial and industrial center.

Prussian period from 1871 to 1900

Even before the preliminary treaty of Versailles and the Peace of Frankfurt on May 10, 1871, the German Empire was founded on January 18, 1871. There were no direct changes for Düsseldorf, as the Rhine Province remained a province of Prussia. One result of the peace was the payment by France of a reparation payment of 5 billion francs to the empire. This sum of money triggered a short-term boom in industry, trade and construction activity in the German Empire. After Black Friday on May 9, 1873, a bank crash in Vienna, the Quistorp'sche Vereinsbank collapsed in Berlin in October 1873 . In Europe, rising tariffs, higher interest margins and the formation of cartels led to a severe economic crisis. This only changed again towards the end of the 1870s.

Wilhelm Becker, portrayed by Julius Schrader (1889)

Düsseldorf was also affected by this general situation in the Reich, although the city's development was only slowed down for a short time. Due to the growth of the city from the middle of the 1850s with an ever increasing population, the establishment of industrial companies in the urban area and high trading volume, Düsseldorf became an important economic center in the Rhine province. By a cabinet order of April 20, 1872, the city of Düsseldorf left the Düsseldorf district and formed its own urban district again .

In 1873 Düsseldorf became the official seat of the governor of the Rhine Province. This was the highest civil servant in Prussia who was elected by the provincial association according to the new constitution for the provinces that came into force in 1875. He headed the provincial self-government, while the king-appointed chief president of the Rhine Province represented the central government, whose official seat was in Koblenz . The governor was elected for a minimum of six and a maximum of twelve years.

Ludwig Hammers, who was appointed after the March riots in 1849, was the city's mayor until 1876 . For the last re-election in 1874, however, he only received the recognition of the election required by the German Kaiser with a delay. His successor from 1876 to 1886 was Wilhelm Becker , who was the first Mayor of Düsseldorf to be a Protestant. During his tenure, the city's financial administration was modernized, the large trade exhibition of 1880 was held in what is now the Düsseltal district , and a development plan for Düsseldorf was drawn up by city ​​architect Buch in 1884/85. This plan was designed for an urban area of ​​2,400 hectares and a population of 600,000. The key points were the expansion of the banks of the Rhine, the creation of ring roads, the construction of a new Rhine port and the construction of a main station to remove the annoying blind stations in the area of Graf-Adolf-Platz . This development plan was basically valid until the Second World War . Wilhelm Becker was succeeded as Lord Mayor from 1886 to 1899 by Ernst Heinrich Lindemann and from 1899 by Wilhelm Marx .

For the above-mentioned trade exhibition for the Rhineland and Westphalia from 1880, over 100 new exhibition structures were erected on the exhibition grounds for the first time. In addition to the used zoo grounds, the zoo animals housed here were relocated during the duration of the fair, a forest area to the east of the zoo was newly developed. 3049 companies exhibited their products. The number of visitors with over one million shows both the great interest shown by industry and the population in this trade fair and the success of this event. With the trade exhibition, which opened on May 9, 1880, an art exhibition was held in the city at the same time.

By 1882, the population in Düsseldorf rose to over 100,000, making it a major city . With the industrial settlements in the area surrounding the core city and the steadily increasing population there, the need for religious meeting rooms in these suburbs, which already belong to Düsseldorf, also increased. New local religious communities emerged, the forerunners of the new communities that were forming outside the city center. At first there were no parish churches for them. Between around 1850 and 1880, the Christians therefore used existing chapels and smaller churches from monasteries and religious institutions. Examples of holding regular Catholic services outside a parish church were:

  • from 1850 in Derendorf in the chapel of the orphanage of the sisters of the poor child ,
  • from 1853 on Klosterstrasse in Düsseldorf-Mitte in the Church of the Franciscans,
  • from 1859 on Kaiserstraße in Pempelfort in the chapel of the Order of Clarissen and
  • from 1872 in the Marienhospital in the chapel of the Franciscan nuns serving there.

The proportion of Catholic Christians in the total population in Düsseldorf still clearly predominated in the mid-1885s. At that time it was around 100,000 out of a total of 130,000 inhabitants. For Protestant Christians, regular services outside the two churches in the old town are known only from 1876 in the chapel of the Evangelical Hospital in Unterbilk.

Original Rochus Church until the Second World War

As the population continued to grow, it was necessary to build larger churches outside the city center. As early as 1865, the chapel of the Poor Clare monastery on Kaiserstraße was converted into the Sacred Heart Chapel . This was followed in 1870/72 by the construction of the Church of St. Josef in Oberbilk, initially without a church tower, which was completed in 1880. Other new buildings and renovations at Catholic churches before 1900 were:

Since the proportion of the population of Protestant Christians was significantly lower than that of Catholics, only a few new Protestant churches were built in Düsseldorf before 1900. The building decision for the

  • The Johanneskirche in Düsseldorf-Mitte, built in 1875/81, was built in 1859 and was planned as a new Protestant town church. As another church became
  • The Friedenskirche in Unterbilk was built in 1896/99 .

The number of Jews in Düsseldorf had also increased in the 19th century. Since the synagogue on Kasernenstrasse, which was built in 1792, was now too small for the community, it was rebuilt and enlarged in 1873/75.

New town hall in Düsseldorf Partial view, before the tower was converted
Old Düsseldorf main station around 1900

The Düsseldorf Palace was largely destroyed in a fire caused by lightning strikes in 1872, with the exception of the gallery building in the south wing, and was removed by 1892. Only the castle tower, which had already been redesigned by Rudolf Wiegmann , remained. In the same year, this fire led to the professionalisation of the fire service and the establishment of a professional fire service in Düsseldorf.

In November 1882 and from the end of December to January 1883, two unusually strong floods of the Rhine flooded all areas of its river basin and thus also the administrative district of Düsseldorf. Düsseldorf was inevitably also badly affected by these events. In the urban area, the groundwater rose sharply and flooded many cellars and low houses in the old town that were under water. The water level of the Düssel also flooded many areas near the bank, this also affected large parts of the courtyard garden .

Noteworthy non-religious new buildings in and in the vicinity of the old core city up to the end of the 19th century were:

  • 1875 the construction of a new city ​​theater , today's opera, on what was then Alleestraße and
  • In 1876/80 the new building of the estate building on the Kaiserteich in Friederichstadt as a replacement for the part of the building in the burned down castle. Also as a replacement for the elimination of the castle was
  • In 1878 a new art academy was built on Eiskellerstraße . It followed
  • 1878/81 the construction of the Alte Kunsthalle on what was then Wilhelmsplatz and
  • 1883 the establishment of the arts and crafts school south of the castle ruins as well
  • 1884 the extension of the town hall to include the so-called New Town Hall in place of the old theater on the market square, which was demolished in 1882 . The huge, massive tower overstrained the statics of the building and had to be reduced in size around 1900. Further urban construction work was done
  • 1888 The opening of the first indoor swimming pool in the city on Grünstraße near Königsallee and the construction of a new large train station for the city, which was not, however, in the direct vicinity of the old city center. Its commissioning took place
  • 1891 as the main train station and replaced three former blind stations that had been in the area of Graf-Adolf-Platz . Of the
  • Düsseldorf RhE passenger station, opened in Derendorf in 1877, was laid out for the connection between Düsseldorf and Dortmund via Wuppertal. This station was expanded after 1890 to include the Derendorf freight station and in 1889 a new station building for passenger traffic.

In order to open up the old core city to the Rhine, the banks of the Rhine were moved to the west from 1896 to 1897. In addition, the area was freed by the demolition of the ruins of the castle and the houses on the west side of Krämerstrasse . From 1898 to 1900 a new Rheinuferstraße with a promenade and a lowered shipyard could be created.

With the increasing development of the areas outside the former core city, the eight hectare site with the barracks and the garrison church of St. Anna on Kasernenstrasse was now in the middle of the city. As early as 1870, the city had offered the military 250,000 thalers to take over this area. This offer, as well as another offer from Killing & Co. for 900,000 thalers, was rejected by the Prussian War Ministry in 1872 . The reason given was that building a comparable garrison on the outskirts of the city would cost at least 1.4 million talers. It was not until 1905 that the city was able to acquire the parade ground and the barracks between Königsallee and Kasernenstrasse for urban use.

Industrialization with the establishment of new industrial companies and the merger of existing companies continued in the area around the city in Bilk, Oberbilk, Lierenfeld and Derendorf. The settlement of new companies was not limited to the vicinity of the old city center. Another large industrial area developed from the mid-1870s, particularly south of the city in the greater Benrath area. These local companies were only located in the city of Düsseldorf at the end of the 1920s, after the southern localities were incorporated. One of the consequences of the significantly increasing economic volume and the settlement of banks was the foundation and opening of the Düsseldorf stock exchange in 1884.

Below are some of the more important company foundations, some of which still exist today, with their founding years:

Düsseldorfer Röhren- und Eisenwalzwerke AG: Steelworks and tube works II and III in Lierenfeld

The Düsseldorfer Röhren- und Eisenwalzwerke AG , the

  • 1872 through the merger of various works of the industrial family Poensgen in Oberbilk and Lierenfeld and the tube factory Eller JP Piedboeuf & Co. was born. Almost at the same time were on Grafenberger Allee
  • 1872/73 the stock corporation for locomotive construction Hohenzollern and
  • The machine factory Haniel & Lueg was founded by Franz Haniel and Heinrich Lueg in 1873 in Düsseltal . It followed
  • In 1878 Ferdinand Emil Jagenberg opened a trading company for paper . This began in 1890 with the manufacture of cutting machines for paper rolls and developed into the important engineering company Jagenberg in Bilk .

As early as 1876, Fritz Henkel founded a company for detergent products in Aachen, the

  • In 1878 it was moved to the building of a former soap factory in Düsseldorf. In 1879/80 a new factory was built in Oberbilk and around 1899 the company moved to new buildings in Holthausen . From this, the Henkel Group developed into one of the world's leading group of companies for detergents and adhesives.

The inventor Heinrich Erhard had developed a process for the production of seamless metal hollow bodies. For the use of this invention was

  • Rheinische Metallwaren und Maschinenfabrik was founded in Derendorf in 1889 , the forerunner of the current company Rheinmetall .

The brothers Max and Reinhard Mannesmann founded several tube factories in Europe for the production of seamless steel tubes using a new process they had developed . Due to initial problems and the manufacturing process was not yet fully developed, these were combined in 1890 to form a new German-Austrian company based in Berlin. The management of this company was made

  • Relocated to Düsseldorf in 1893 and founded Deutsche Röhrenwerke AG here in 1897 . In 1897 a plant for the manufacture of tubes was built in Rath , at that time still outside of Düsseldorf. From this developed the Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG, one of the world's most successful group of companies for the manufacture of seamless and welded pipes until the end of the 20th century .

In addition to the establishment of industrial plants, there was also an increasing settlement of the surrounding area belonging to Düsseldorf. Additional infrastructure measures were required for this and this included in particular:

  • Schools:

From 1870 the school systems for the elementary schools were expanded and some new buildings were built for them. By 1884 the number of elementary schools in the entire city area increased to 26. Of these, five were Protestant schools and one auxiliary school. The Kulturkampf in Prussia from 1871 to 1886 led to the temporary closure of the St. Ursula High School in Düsseldorf in 1875 , which was only reopened in 1888. Furthermore, in 1876 the high school Luisen-Schule was taken over from the evangelical private to the municipal sponsorship. A “Latin-free” citizen school was opened at additional secondary schools in 1872, the current Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium . In 1878 the municipal secondary school for girls was opened on Oststraße and in 1883 an arts and crafts school.

  • St. Vincent Hospital

In Derendorf, too, the number of industrial workers rose sharply at the end of the 18th century. To improve the local conditions, the local Catholic community called the Order of the Vincentian Sisters from Cologne. In 1894, in addition to other charitable institutions, they also founded an outpatient nursing home for the elderly in which particularly poor women were treated free of charge. From 1898 to 1914, this facility was expanded into the St. Vinzenz Hospital through renovations and new buildings.

  • New creation of cemeteries:

The communal Golzheimer Friedhof , which was opened in 1805, reached its maximum capacity after the mid-19th century and was closed in two stages in 1884 and 1897. As a replacement, the Stoffeler Friedhof was laid out and opened in the south of the city in 1879 and the Nordfriedhof in the north in 1884 .

Florapark: former concert hall
  • Green areas:

Around 1870, the Florapark was created in Unterbilk by private individuals . The concert hall , also known as the Tonhalle des Südens, which was also built on the edge of the park , was replaced by the Karl-Arnold-Haus after it was destroyed during the war . The zoological garden on Brehmplatz was opened in 1876 with municipal participation . Furthermore, additional public parks were built, namely in 1891 the Volksgarten in Oberbilk and in 1894 the Ostpark in Grafenberg. In addition, the city bought the private racecourse in 1892, which was laid out in 1876 ​​on the Lausward . This was followed in 1897 by the acquisition of the Grafenberg Forest , which, contrary to its name, was mainly in Ludenberg and thus outside the city limits in the Düsseldorf district at that time . This led to a dispute between the Düsseldorf government president and the mayor Ernst Heinrich Lindemann , which in 1899 led to the latter's early retirement.

The old Oberkasseler Bridge (in the background) on a postcard from 1909

For the transport of people within the city area, private trams pulled by horses were put into operation from 1876. In 1892 the city bought these railways and leased them. The electrification of these railways took place between 1896 and 1900. In the course of the conversion to electricity for the drive, Heinrich Lueg founded the Rheinische Bahngesellschaft AG on March 25, 1896 . The task of this company was the planning, construction and operation of a new electrically operated small railway between Krefeld and downtown Düsseldorf. For this it was necessary to cross the Rhine. The construction of the first road bridge over the Rhine in Düsseldorf for general traffic and for this tram was therefore planned and implemented. The bridge, called Oberkasseler Brücke , was put into operation on August 12, 1898. The first tram drove over the bridge on December 15 of the same year. Also in 1898 Oberbilk was connected to Vohwinkel and Ohligs by a small railway . The operator of these lines was Bergische Kleinbahn AG . Furthermore, a tram line between the city center and Ratingen began operating in 1898 . The Düsseldorf-Duisburger Kleinbahn company was founded in 1896 for a small railway between the city center and Duisburg , which planned and built this connection. At the end of October 1899, operations began between downtown Düsseldorf and Kaiserswerth . From August 26, 1900, the entire line was in operation.

  • Other facilities:

At the end of the 19th century, additional facilities for the population and industry were needed in the city. In 1891, a steam engine with an electric generator with an output of 720 kW was put into operation on the site of the gas works in Flingern. The generated electricity was supplied to both the gas works and customers in the city from the first electric power plant, later called Plant I. A large central fire station, Fire Station No. 1, was built on Hüttenstrasse in 1889 for the professional fire brigade founded after the fire in Düsseldorf Castle in 1872. Further details on the development of the fire service in Düsseldorf can be found under " Düsseldorf Fire Service ".

Building of the former slaughterhouse and cattle yard

With the increasing volume of trade, the capacity of the quays for ship transports in the new security port under Napoleon and on the banks of the Rhine in front of the old town was no longer sufficient. From the end of 1886, a new Rhine harbor was therefore planned and built south of the old town in the Lausward area. The opening of this new port took place on May 30, 1896.

Furthermore, a slaughterhouse and cattle yard with market halls was planned in Derendorf from 1896 . These new facilities including the slaughterhouse for supplying the population with meat were put into operation in 1899. In 1886 the first Düsseldorf department store, the Hartoch department store, was opened in the old town on Bolkerstraße , followed by the Tietz department store in 1899 on Schadowstraße .

Housing cooperatives were founded to provide inexpensive living space for the less well-off residents of the city. One of the first was the Düsseldorf housing cooperative in 1898.

Prussian period from 1900 to 1918

In the first decade of the 20th century, Düsseldorf grew significantly. Wilhelm Marx , Lord Mayor from 1899 to 1910, resigned before the end of his last term for health reasons. His successor was Lord Mayor Adalbert Oehler .

Lord Mayor Wilhelm Marx

The increase in population was due to the expansion of existing industrial plants and the additional relocation of companies and the additional jobs created as a result. The number of residents grew from 1900 to around 213,000 by 1910 to over 360,000 and in April 1913 reached the number of 400,000. At the same time, the urban area was enlarged for the first time since the Middle Ages through the incorporation of 1908 and 1909. These incorporations from the beginning of the 20th century affected the current districts of Heerdt with the associated settlements Lörick , Ober- and Niederkassel as well as Eller , Gerresheim , Himmelgeist , Lichtenbroich , Ludenberg , Rath , Stockum , Unterrath and Vennhausen . Wersten was incorporated in 1908, one year earlier, at its own request. With the incorporation of Heerdt and its associated settlements, the city of Düsseldorf now also included areas on the left bank of the Rhine until 1801, Kurköln . The incorporations doubled the area of ​​the city by an additional 62.5 km² and let the population increase by 63,000.

With the support of important Düsseldorf personalities such as Heinrich Lueg , August Bagel , Ernst Poensgen , Ernst Schiess and Hermann Heye as city councilors or patrons, Wilhelm Marx had a strong influence on the modernization of the city and its infrastructure. The following more important buildings and facilities date from this period and then up to the First World War :

  • 1902 the Stadtbad on Münsterstrasse and from 1901 to
  • In 1903 the Düsseldorf District House , the administrative seat of the Düsseldorf district, was built, completed and moved into, and it followed in the same year
  • In 1903 the new Great Synagogue , which was inaugurated in 1904

Were put into operation

  • 1904 the south cemetery ,
  • In 1905 the first middle school for boys, from 1905 to 1907 the newly built building for the Luisen School for girls, the grammar school in Oberkassel in 1912, the Lessing Realschule in 1913 and the Lyceum on Lindemannstrasse in 1914
  • In 1906 on the former barracks site between Stadtgraben and Kasernenstrasse, the newly built theater , which was known nationwide under the leadership of Louise Dumont and Gustav Lindemann , and the Stahlhof , which was built from 1906 to 1908 by the steelworks association founded in 1904 and is still present today and which is between Breite Straße and Kasernenstraße. It followed
  • 1907 the government building on Cecilienallee and in the same year the general municipal hospitals and academy for practical medicine in Bilk ,
Mannesmann administration building, old part of the building from 1912, the Behrensbau
  • 1908 the inauguration of the Oberpostdirektion on Karl-Theodor-Straße,
  • 1909 the commissioning of an enlargement of the port area on the Lausward, as well as the new racecourse in the Grafenberg forest. Other events were
  • 1910 the construction of the airship port on Golzheimer Heide and the opening of the Volksbildungshaus on Flinger Strasse 11 and the opening of the Higher Regional Court on Cecilienallee. From
  • From 1911 to 1912, a modern administration building, named after its architect, Behrensbau , was built for Mannesmann-Röhrenwerke in the area of ​​what was then Berger Ufer on the Rhine promenade .

The great industrial, commercial and art exhibition of 1902 was, like the fair of 1880, a great success. For the exhibition, 37 hectares of land on Golzheimer Insel in the north of the city were raised, developed and, from April 1900, new pavilions and halls were built. For the fair, the construction of the nationally known Parkhotel am Hofgarten next to the opera, which was completed in 1902, began in 1901 .

The fair, which lasted from April 1 to October 20, attracted 5 million visitors, many of them from abroad. The new art palace built for the art exhibition was not dismantled after the end of the fair and continued to be used as a trade fair building. Notable exhibitions in the Kunstpalast were: the international art exhibition in 1904, a book exhibition in 1905, an international urban development exhibition in 1910 and the exhibition on urban development in Düsseldorf in 1912. The latter was based on the incorporations of 1909 with suggested solutions for their meaningful connection. Another successful exhibition was the Great Art Exhibition of 1913 , which opened on May 3 and lasted until October 12.

Kunstpalast (drawing)

In addition to the periodically large exhibitions, an increasing number of conferences, congresses, general meetings and cultural events of state, municipal and commercial associations and clubs have taken place in Düsseldorf since the end of the 19th century. Examples of the period from the beginning of 1900 to the time of the First World War are the festival of the Düsseldorf Goethe Association , the annual general meetings of the Association of German Ironworkers , whose first meeting and establishment took place in Düsseldorf in 1860, and the implementation of the Rhenish Provincial Parliament .

Further construction measures in this period before the beginning of the First World War concerned the improvement and adaptation of the infrastructure for the growing population. In addition to additional state and private administrative buildings, this affected elementary schools, fire protection facilities, hospital extensions, the expansion of the tram network and the construction of further churches outside the old city center. In 1909, the municipal vehicle fleet and street cleaning companies were combined to form the new municipal vehicle fleet .

While the inner-city trams had been operated by the city of Düsseldorf since 1899, private companies owned the trains that served lines to the cities of Krefeld, Duisburg, Ohligs and Vohwinkel. In 1907, the city bought a larger block of shares in the Rheinische Bahngesellschaft AG and thereby had an influence on the business policy of this company, whose lines mainly connected destinations on the left bank of the Rhine with Düsseldorf. The city also acquired the small-gauge railway in 1910 , which led from the southern districts to Vohwinkel and Ohligs.

In order to meet the need for churches for the rapidly growing population, around 16 new Catholic and five new Protestant churches were built outside the old city center until the outbreak of World War I. The number of the Catholic population was higher than that of the Protestants, especially in those parts of the city where there were not many industrial establishments. In some parts of the city, instead of a church, for example in Wersten in 1911 and in Unterrath in 1913 , only Protestant parish houses with an attached prayer hall were built for the Protestant Christians . The names of the new churches with the year of inauguration are given in the → Church List.

Due to the increasing development of the urban area outside the old core city, an expansion for effective fire protection of the entire urban area became more and more important. Therefore, more large fire stations were set up during this period: "Fire station No. II" in 1902 in Golzheim on the exhibition grounds at the time, "Fire station No. III" in 1911 on Münsterstrasse and "Fire station no. IV" in 1914 on Behrenstrasse.

The capacity of the existing hospitals, the Theresien Hospital in the old town and the Marien Hospital in the city ​​center , was increased by new buildings. The Theresienhospital was rebuilt from 1910 to 1912 and expanded to include the currently still existing double building on Altestadt No. 2 and 4.

Carsch-Haus with the music pavilion of the Wilhelm-Marx-Haus

With the mobilization of August 2, 1914 for the First World War , the decade-long growth and development phase of the city was first slowed down and then came to a standstill for many years after the projects that had been started in peacetime expired. For example, the Carsch-Haus , built from 1913 to March 1915, and the tram depot in Wersten , opened in 1916, were put into operation during the first years of the war. Although Düsseldorf was locally far from the acts of war, the airship LZ 25 was destroyed in the airship hangar of the airfield in Golzheim on October 8, 1914 by an English air raid. Düsseldorf became a replenishment center for the war and a location for many military hospitals that were set up in hospitals, schools and larger bars.

In order to secure supplies for the population, food ration cards were issued as early as the beginning of 1915. Nonetheless, in early 1916 the supply of food and fuel in the city deteriorated noticeably. In order to support the poorer population, lunches began to be served by the war kitchens at the tram depots on Erkrath and Münsterstrasse on July 26, 1916. As the situation continued to deteriorate, many people in Düsseldorf were dissatisfied with the supply situation in the city and blamed this on the local administration and especially on Mayor Adalbert Oehler as mismanagement. The first hunger riots and looting broke out in mid-1917. On November 8, 1918, revolutionary unrest began in Düsseldorf and a workers 'and soldiers' council close to the USPD was formed. This was followed on December 4th by Belgian troops occupying the districts on the left bank of the Rhine .

1918-1945

November Revolution: Soldiers on a street corner in Düsseldorf

From the November Revolution to the end of the Weimar Republic

The incipient in Dusseldorf on November 8, 1918 November Revolution was triggered by coming from Cologne sailors. Parallel to the occupation of the main train station , the barracks and the liberation of prisoners from the prison in Ulmenstrasse, a provisional workers and soldiers council was established . After a reshuffle on November 11, 1918, a sixty-member council was formed equally from the MSPD and USPD and soldiers. Due to the armistice agreement, which made Düsseldorf part of the neutral zone, the soldiers left the workers' and soldiers' council and the council was re-established as a workers' council. Because of disagreements about the modalities of a new election, the MSPD also withdrew from the council. It had been a minority in Düsseldorf since the party split in 1917 and relied almost exclusively on the bureaucracy in the free trade unions . The workers' council was now formed from representatives of the USPD and the Spartakusbund still working within the USPD (ratio 50:10). Between January 7 and 9, 1919, after strikes, newspaper occupations and a mass demonstration against the Ebert - Scheidemann government, power was taken over by an executive council of the workers' council, which was composed of members of the Spartakusbund and left-wing USPD members. During a civil demonstration against the Executive Council on January 10, 1919, 15 people were killed in shootings.

Robert Lehr (1950)

The mayor, Adalbert Oehler , who was in office up to this point, fled the city to Oberkassel, which was occupied by Belgians, on January 10th, together with the Düsseldorf police chief Robert Lehr and the Düsseldorf government president Francis Kruse . The mayor was then deposed by the city's workers' council and replaced by Karl Schmidtchen as deputy mayor. On February 28, 1919, Düsseldorf was conquered by reactionary Freikorps troops and the Executive Council was deposed. Karl Schmitchen and various leaders of the Spartakists escaped from the city in time before the conquest.

The workers' council has also been reduced to a powerless role. In Düsseldorf, as a result of the general strike movement on the Ruhr from 8th to 13th April again to mass fights and street battles by workers, in which the Freikorps also used artillery and on April 13th the market in the workers' district of Oberbilk was stormed. As a result of the November Revolution, Düsseldorf was a “red city” until 1933, in which first the USPD, then the KPD, is always stronger than the SPD. In the Reichstag elections in 1930 , in July and November 1932 , the KPD remained the strongest party in Düsseldorf.

Mayor Adalbert Oehler, who fled to Oberkassel for a short time and was also unpopular with many Düsseldorfers, was prevented from resuming his work and had to take early retirement on July 1, 1919. The chef , who was elected as his successor by the city council at the end of September, was not confirmed by the Prussian government. At the end of October, Emil Köttgen was elected and confirmed the new mayor of the city.

On March 3, 1921, French troops moved into the cities of Düsseldorf, Duisburg , Mülheim and Oberhausen because of outstanding reparations . With the occupation, France secured a key position for a possible later occupation of the Ruhr area. Freedom of assembly was abolished and the press was censored. In the years that followed, many public buildings and apartments were confiscated by the occupation in Düsseldorf. Furthermore, many people from Düsseldorf were expelled from the French. In total, over 10,000 residents left the city. Despite these politically unfavorable conditions, general conditions began to normalize again. For example, on January 1, 1922, the city leased the trams it operated to the Rheinische Bahngesellschaft . With the opening of the Great Art Exhibition (May 27), the Düsseldorf Model Show ( August 13) and the Agricultural Exhibition (September 9), the first major exhibitions were held again in 1922.

At the end of 1922, there were serious differences of opinion between France and the Reich government over the reparations payments. As a result, the entire Ruhr region was French and Belgian troops from the bridgeheads Duisburg and Dusseldorf from 11 to 16 January 1923 occupied . This was followed by actions by supporters of the separatists in Düsseldorf . They wanted to separate the Rhineland from Prussia and thus Germany and form an independent state. These separatists organized a procession in the city on September 30, 1923, which led to protests from many Düsseldorfers. This led to an exchange of fire with the police, in which over 70 people were injured. The police officers involved were disarmed and interned by French troops. This led to further unrest and looting in October of that year.

The occupation of the Ruhr area led to strong tensions between the Germans and the occupiers, as reparations deliveries were sabotaged with the approval of the Reich government. From the end of January 1923, many German officials in Düsseldorf were arrested and deported by the French. Since the Lord Mayor Emil Köttgen also refused to comply with the requirements of the French, he was arrested on February 19 and banished from the city. Furthermore, money was often confiscated from offices and companies. For example, on March 21st, both the city treasury and the wages of the postal administration were confiscated.

As acts of sabotage increased throughout the occupied territory, participants in such acts were arrested and sentenced to a greater extent as a deterrent. A special event was the verdict against Freikorps member Albert Leo Schlageter , who was sentenced to death in Düsseldorf on May 9, 1923 for participating in acts of sabotage . The sentence was on 26 May enforced , whereby the resistance in the population continued to grow. As a result, further unrest broke out in the city in late summer and autumn of that year.

The Wilhelm Marx House in 2010

Since Mayor Emil Köttgen was forbidden to return to the city, he was given early retirement on May 5, 1924. Robert Lehr was elected as his successor on June 6th and was confirmed by the Prussian government. In 1924, too, there were multiple disputes between the occupiers and offices, companies and especially the employees of the post office, the railroad and the police force until late autumn of that year. At the height of the confiscations in mid-1924, around 3700 apartments, 26 public buildings, 18 schools and 30 factories in the city had been confiscated in whole or in part. In addition, 90% of the hotel rooms were also confiscated.

Hyperinflation: 20 billion postage stamp, canceled November 28, 1923

Due to the increased inflation that began after 1918, which increased to hyperinflation by November 1924 , both political problems and the economic environment were unfavorable for further development of the city in the first years after the end of the war. Nevertheless, the first office tower in Germany, the Wilhelm-Marx-Haus , was built by the architect Wilhelm Kreis from 1922 to 1924 .

From the end of November 1923 to September of the following year, the Franco-Belgian Commission agreed the MICUM Agreement with heavy industry in the occupied territories . This enabled production in heavy industry, which had practically been idle since the occupation of the Ruhr area, to resume. Through these negotiations, the general situation was calmed down. For example, on November 15, 1924, Düsseldorf Central Station was opened again. The French troops withdrew from the districts of Düsseldorf on the right bank of the Rhine on August 25, 1925, and French control officially ended there at midnight on the same day. This "liberation" led to a big celebration on August 30th on the market square in front of the town hall. However, the districts on the left bank of the Rhine remained occupied until January 31, 1926.

In addition to the positive political developments from 1925 on, there were two floods in the city that year, which caused major damage. As early as February 25, the Eller district was particularly affected by a flood in the Düssel . The Rhine followed on December 31st with a water level of> 8 m. The highest level was reached on January 1st at 9.10 m. The flooding caused severe damage, especially in the old town and on the exhibition grounds.

After the end of the occupation, the economy in Düsseldorf experienced a strong upswing. This period belonged to the "Roaring Twenties". The improvement in general conditions led to the resumption of a “Rose Monday procession” in 1927. An event worth mentioning was the start of operations in the first radio studio in Düsseldorf in 1926. In addition, construction activity in the city picked up. The following major new construction projects were carried out at this time:

  • 1925 to 1926 the Rheinstadion,
  • 1926 Expansion of the airship site in Lohausen to a civil airport with the start of passenger transport by Deutsche Lufthansa in 1927. Then
  • At the end of 1926 a new gas works went into operation, followed by a new district heating and electricity works in the first days of the following year in Flingern and
  • 1927 to 1929 the south bridge as the second Rhine bridge for public transport. Furthermore was
  • 1928 to 1930 the waterworks "Am Staad" built and on
  • On October 19, 1930, the inauguration of the municipal swimming pool on Kettwiger Strasse and the following year on October 17, the opening of a new freight yard in Reisholz.
Tonhalle Düsseldorf, view from the courtyard

For the 1926 GeSoLei , a large exhibition with around 7.5 million visitors on the subject of "health", extensive new buildings were erected on the exhibition grounds from 1925 to 1926. Both the court of honor with the reconstruction of the Kunstpalast, the Rhine terrace and a large multi-purpose hall were built for this purpose. The multi-purpose hall, then called the Rheinhalle , was later the planetarium and was converted into a Tonhalle at the end of the 1970s .

On July 10, 1929, the Prussian Landtag approved the second major incorporation of neighboring communities into Düsseldorf in the third reading. On August 1, 1929, 36,400 inhabitants were admitted to the urban area on an area of ​​47.8 km². This reorganization affected the following current districts in the north and south of the city: Kaiserswerth , Lohausen , Benrath with its localities Garath , Hassels , Holthausen , Itter , Reisholz and Urdenbach . The large incorporation made the city grow and increased the population to almost 500,000 people. The large community of Benrath with a high tax revenue from the extensive industry there had tried in vain to prevent this incorporation.

In 1929, the optimistic mood of the Roaring Twenties in Düsseldorf was suddenly ended by the series of murders of the " Vampire of Düsseldorf ". Given the unsuccessful police investigation, unprecedented violence and mass hysteria broke out. The mood that arose looked like an anticipation of National Socialism: Citizens demanded the death penalty even though the perpetrator had not yet been caught, neighbors denounced each other and vigilante groups formed in rural districts.

In the first few months of 1930 foreign lenders increasingly withdrew funds from Germany. The global global economic crisis now led to a rapid decline in production in industry and trade in Germany and thus also in Düsseldorf, and thus to a rapidly increasing level of unemployment and workers plunged into poverty. This mass crisis led to political radicalization. The city was, for example, a real stronghold of the communists. In the Reichstag elections in 1930 and November 1932, the KPD became the strongest party in Düsseldorf. Since 1930 Düsseldorf was the "capital" of the Gaus Düsseldorf , a regional administrative unit of the NSDAP for large parts of the Lower Rhine and Bergisches Land, which from 1933 accessed state and communal agencies and directed them in accordance with National Socialism. The new Gauleiter Friedrich Karl Florian stirred up the “people's slogans” against the established parties with slogans of hatred in his own newspaper. The radical right-wing parties DNVP and NSDAP gained increasing popularity as many citizens became increasingly dissatisfied with the Reich governments and parliament. Since many militant supporters of the right-wing and left-wing parties increasingly took part in demonstrations, public violent clashes with street battles began in Düsseldorf as well. In addition, important industrialists were ready to accept the NSDAP as a party. This led to Hitler's speech at the Düsseldorf Industrial Club on January 26, 1932 .

With the appointment of Hitler as Chancellor on January 30, 1933, the end of the first parliamentary term in Germany began. In Düsseldorf, shortly thereafter, on March 10th and 11th, the municipal administration was brought into line with the leave of absence from the first mayor and some councilors.

The time of National Socialism

Immediately after taking power

Schlageter National Monument in Düsseldorf during a celebration; Postcard sent in 1934
NSDAP district leadership in Kaiserstraße 48

Immediately after the National Socialists came to power , persecution of dissenters began in Düsseldorf. The monumental Schlageter National Monument on Golzheimer Heide , which was built in 1931, was stylized as a place of pilgrimage by the Nazis. On May 26, 1933, on the 10th anniversary of the shooting of Leo Schlageter by the French, a huge parade took place in the Golzheimer Heide in the presence of Hermann Göring . 300,000 Nazis had come from all parts of the Reich. The staging of the Schlageter cult was largely funded by the Gauleitung Düsseldorf.

Starting from the “Schlageterheim” on Haroldstrasse 26, the SA troops carried out raids and house searches. From January to the summer of 1933 there were assaults, ill-treatment, torture and murders everywhere. At first, political opponents in particular were intimidated and humiliated. Members of the SA , SS and the right-wing radical Stahlhelm Association also launched personal revenge campaigns against communists, social democrats and trade unionists. Numerous people were taken to the torture cellars of the STAPO in the police headquarters at Mühlenstrasse 29, the Reuterkaserne (SS torture prison), the "Schlegelkeller" under the Schlegel brewery on Bismarckstrasse 44 or the former vaults of the Mitteldeutsche Bank at Königsallee 21-23 (location today's Trinkaus Bank ) abducted and mistreated.

The city administration was brought into line. The Gauleiter Friedrich Karl Florian was Mayor Robert Lehr arrested in the middle of a city council meeting out as councilor and the Savings Bank Director. Experienced officials were transferred and instead Nazis who had been in the party before 1933 were hired. The new police president was the 29-year-old journeyman locksmith Fritz Weitzel , an inexperienced but deserving NSDAP member and head of the SS security service in Düsseldorf .

Several weeks before the first nationwide actions, Düsseldorf Nazis are already carrying out boycott measures against Jewish businesses. There were murders not only for political, but also for racist reasons. As early as April 11, 1933, the Hitler Youth burned “unwanted literature”, including books by Heinrich Heine , in front of the planetarium, today's Tonhalle, and the left-wing press was banned. The cultural workers were also harassed by the National Socialists. They fired art professors, confiscated pictures from galleries and issued bans on painting.

In the Gerresheim district , a communist stronghold, 3000 men from the SA, SS, police, steel helmets, fire brigade and building authorities attacked the working-class district around the Gerresheimer Glashütte in the “Gerresheim raid” .

The time before World War II

With the invasion of the demilitarized zone in 1936, Düsseldorf resumed its function as a garrison town. The armaments industry, which is strongly represented in Düsseldorf, including Rheinmetall , experienced an upswing. The " NS-Reichsausstellung Schaffendes Volk " in 1937 provided strong impetus for urban design . This exhibition was set up by the German Labor Front , an organization in which all employees were compulsory members at the time after the union was broken up.

Since the exhibition area at the Ehrenhof and in the Rheinpark was not sufficient, the Nordpark was created in the area of ​​the "Golzheimer Heide", to which the Golzheimer Siedlung and the Nordparkiedlung came, known as the "Siedlung Schaffendes Volk", from 1937 "Schlageterstadt" in Golzheim and " Wilhelm-Gustloff-Siedlung “in Stockum was to become National Socialist model settlements. If the down-to-earth element of National Socialism was more of a reality in the Schlageter settlements, then from the mid-1930s on, the Gau leadership began thinking about expanding Düsseldorf into the Gau capital . At the end of the 1930s, Gauleiter Friedrich Karl Florian founded a city planning company that prepared a general development plan based on the Berlin model for the entire city center. The plans for this fantastic redesign of the city were continued during the war and received new food as the city was increasingly destroyed. In 1943 an architectural competition was announced for the large conference and congress hall at the southern end of Königsallee. The designs, some of which have been preserved, show that large parts of the city center were to be sacrificed to these gigantic construction measures.

On November 16 and 17, 1938, there was a state of emergency in Düsseldorf. On November 17, 1938, Ernst vom Rath's state funeral took place in the north cemetery in the presence of Adolf Hitler . He had been shot nine days earlier by the 17-year-old Jew Herschel Grynszpan in Paris and died of his injuries. This act gave the National Socialists the pretext for the pogrom that evening. That the pompous ceremony took place in Düsseldorf, although Rath had never lived in the city, was due to the commitment of the NSDAP Gauleiter Friedrich Karl Florian. He saw the November pogroms as an opportunity to consolidate his position in the party and to make a glamorous appearance at the side of the Führer.

Persecution of Jews and other groups and slave labor

As early as 1933 smear campaigns against Jewish businesses were started. The town's approximately 5,000 Jewish residents were systematically ostracized from 1935 onwards, initially through the dissolution of Jewish organizations and institutions, and then through forced resettlement, expropriation and the compulsion to adopt Jewish first names. From 1938 arrests became more frequent. On November 10, 1938, during the Night of the Pogroms, the synagogues in Düsseldorf were burned down, the city's Jewish population was persecuted, Jewish apartments were destroyed, and at least 18 people were murdered.

The central collection point for the Jews in Düsseldorf was the Düsseldorf slaughterhouse and cattle yard . The Jews were deported from here. On October 27, 1941, the first train with Jews from Düsseldorf drove from the Derendorf freight yard to the German concentration camps in occupied Poland . 6,000 Jews from the entire administrative district were deported from Derendorfer Bahnhof (see Düsseldorf State Police Headquarters ). Numerous Düsseldorf Sinti who had been interned in a forced camp on Höherweg since 1937 were deported to Auschwitz via Cologne-Deutz and murdered there.

In 1944, around 35,000 foreign civilian workers, several thousand prisoners of war and concentration camp prisoners who had to do forced labor lived in the approximately 400 camps in Düsseldorf. For example, from October 1942 to March 1943 in Düsseldorf-Stoffeln on Stoffeler Kapellenweg, northeast of the restaurant "Haus Kolvenbach", there was a camp with half the SS Construction Brigade I from Sachsenhausen concentration camp , which was used to clear rubble.

At the time of National Socialism reminiscent memorial Dusseldorf in the mill road 29 as well as Düsseldorf memorials for victims of National Socialism .

The second World War

Aerial photo of the destruction in the districts of Carlstadt, Stadtmitte, Friedrichstadt, Bilk and Unterbilk one week after the air raid on June 12, 1943

→ See also: Air raids on Düsseldorf

At first, the people of Düsseldorf did not notice much of the beginning of the war on September 1, 1939, although the first prisoners of war were used as forced laborers. In early 1940, nine British aviators who had been shot down were buried with a military ceremony of honor. On May 14, 1940, the first bombs fell on the city. For Düsseldorf, the destruction of the city by the bombing began with the major attack on August 1, 1942 on residential areas in Friedrichstadt, Oberbilk, Oberkassel and in the area of ​​Königsallee. The "Whitsun attack" on June 12, 1943 led to severe destruction in the area around the main train station and Derendorf. By the end of the war, nine heavy and 234 other air strikes were supposed to completely destroy the city. Less than ten percent of all buildings remained undamaged. The city burned over an area of ​​several square kilometers. Jägerhof Palace , the paint box , the Tonhalle and numerous churches burned out. The zoo district was destroyed in November 1943 . Another heavy attack took place in November 1944. From February 28, 1945, Düsseldorf became a city on the front for seven weeks with continuous American fire from the left bank of the Rhine and more and more encircled in March. The lack of living space and the constant air raids made them flee into the country. If 540,000 people lived in the city at the beginning of the war, at the end of the war there were still 235,000.

In April, some citizens tried Düsseldorf resistance to Attorney Karl August Wieden Hofen at police commander Franz Jürgens fixing the Chief of Police August Korreng to obtain to the city to surrender without a fight to the Allies. The coup attempt initially succeeded, but was then betrayed. After Korreng was liberated by loyal forces from Gauleiter Friedrich Karl Florian , who had five of the resistance members shot dead (including Jürgens), the last two members, lawyer Wiedenhofen and architect Aloys Odenthal, managed to escape and reach the American armed forces advancing east of the city and avert the final destruction of the city by an already prepared large air raid. Düsseldorf was the last city in the Ruhr basin to be occupied (see Aktion Rheinland ).

When the Americans marched into Düsseldorf on April 17, 1945, 49.4% of all residential buildings were seriously or completely destroyed, 55.1% of public buildings and 41.3% of industrial buildings. Only 7% of the total building stock remained undamaged. The Allied air strikes had killed more than 5,000 civilians. All Rhine bridges, most of the roads, flood dikes, underpasses and overpasses as well as the urban drainage network were largely destroyed. The amount of debris was estimated at around ten million cubic meters.

After the Second World War

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Debris removal 1948

Immediate post-war period

After several weeks of bombardment, US troops of the 97th Infantry Division moved into Düsseldorf on April 17, 1945 , coming from Mettmann. The occupation of the largely destroyed city went almost without a fight. More than 240 air strikes, in which over a million bombs were dropped over the city, had turned Düsseldorf into a desert of rubble. More than ten million cubic meters of rubble lay on the plots of the destroyed houses and in the streets. More than half of the residential buildings and almost all public facilities were destroyed. Only the districts further away from the city center, including Gerresheim, Benrath, Kaiserswerth, Wersten, Eller and Vennhausen, were largely spared from the destruction of the bombings, as was Golzheim and Oberkassel. The now bridged Rhine also cut the city in two. The population had halved compared to the pre-war period. Thousands of people lived in cellars and bunkers. The supply situation for the population was precarious. In the first time after the war the most urgent task was to ensure the supply of food and electricity, water and gas.

Normalization and reconstruction

The British military government established German local government as early as June 1945. The offices moved to the outer parts of the city were settled in the former Jesuit college on Mühlenstrasse, which was henceforth called the town hall . To accommodate their own administration, the British confiscated, among other things, the Stahlhof , the Oberfinanzpräsidium on Kavalleriestrasse and the Nordpark .

On August 23, 1946, the British founded the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with Düsseldorf as its capital. With housing emergency programs, around 70,000 apartments had been made available by 1947. In 1947 the first trade fair was held again in Düsseldorf. In 1949 the population almost reached the pre-war level again.

While the first five years after the war were mainly characterized by normalizing the supply situation, quickly making living space available and repairing the infrastructure, we can only speak of reconstruction from the 1950s onwards. The almost complete destruction of the inner city made a new plan possible, some of which came from the pre-war period or had been developed during the National Socialist rule . Since 1954, the Düsseldorf urban planning and thus the reconstruction was largely led by Friedrich Tamms , an advocate of a car-friendly city . At the end of 1957 the Theodor-Heuss-Brücke was opened to traffic. On November 3, 1957 , a DC-4 crashed in Düsseldorf-Derendorf . From 1954 to around 1962, large parts of today's Berliner Allee and the adjacent buildings as well as the Dreischeibenhaus were built; from 1961 to 1962 the overpass over Schadowstrasse, the millipede (demolished in 2013) , was built. Berliner Allee is a north-south axis about 1.1 kilometers long.

Urban expansion in the 1960s and 1970s

Düsseldorf becomes a university town in 1965 The first S-Bahn line (Düsseldorf-Garath / Ratingen) opens in 1967. The Rheinkniebrücke is completed in 1969. The new theater opens in 1970. The new fair opens in 1971. Third incorporation takes place in 1975: 56,900 inhabitants, 81.7 km². However, the incorporation of the city of Monheim with its almost 40,000 inhabitants was reversed a year later. Lateral displacement of the new Oberkassel bridge in 1976. The opening of the Tonhalle takes place in 1978, and construction work on the Rhine Tower begins . The Fleher Rhine Bridge opens in 1979.

The 1980s

725 years of Düsseldorf: flag on the old town hall , festival year 2013.

The first underground line goes into operation in 1981. Completion of the Rhine tower serving as the telecommunications tower of the Deutsche Bundespost in 1982. The converted main station opens in 1985. One year later, in 1986, the North Rhine-Westphalia art collection was opened. In 1987 the Federal Garden Show takes place and the Aqua Zoo opens . U-Bahn operations started in 1988, the newly built state parliament opened on the Rhine, and the university was named after Heinrich Heine .

The 1990s

Three years later, in 1991, the WDR-Funkhaus Düsseldorf was opened, the port was converted to the MedienHafen, the city museum was expanded, the house where Heinrich Heine was born was purchased and converted for literary purposes. The north bypass was opened to traffic in 1992 ( A 44 ). Opening of the film museum in 1993, opening of the Rhine bank tunnel . The extension of the Hetjens Museum / German Ceramics Museum opens in 1994, when Marie-Luise Smeets was elected as the first female mayor in the history of the city of Düsseldorf. The Rhine embankment promenade is opened. In 1998, the renovation of the courtyard begins, and construction of the Rhine bridge for the A 44 begins .

In the runoff election in 1999, Joachim Erwin (CDU) emerged as the first full-time mayor (head of administration and chairman of the council) after the Second World War.

The 2000s

The largest exhibition hall in Europe and the Düsseldorf Airport train station went into operation in 2000, as did the airport terminal. Also in 2000 the Museum Kunstpalast opened , two years later, in 2002, the Museum K21 in the Ständehaus as part of the North Rhine-Westphalia art collection for contemporary art. In the same year the Rheinstadion was blown up and construction of the new LTU arena began. In addition, the airport bridge, the seventh Düsseldorf Rhine bridge, was opened in 2002 .

The DEG Metro Stars changed the venue from Brehmstrasse to the new ISS Dome multifunctional hall . The Düsseldorf China Center was opened. In 2004, the mayor Joachim Erwin (CDU) was re-elected in the first ballot. Under his leadership, the city became debt-free in 2007. This was achieved in particular through the sale of shares held by the City of Düsseldorf in Stadtwerke Düsseldorf AG to EnBW in 2001 and 2005. The following year Erwin died of cancer. Dirk Elbers became his successor.

On May 25, 2009, the city received the title “ Place of Diversity ” awarded by the federal government .

Since 2010

Major international achievements for the city in the 2010s were the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 and the Grand Opening of the Tour de France 2017 in Düsseldorf.

In addition to the formation of the Knittkuhl in 2014 as the fiftieth district of Düsseldorf, a further increased modernization of various areas in the center of the city began in the 2010s. These are:

  • The construction of the Wehrhahn Line , which began in 2007, was used to redesign the city center and the first section of the Kö-Bogen opened in 2013 . From 2017, the so-called Kö-Bogen II followed , with the redesign of the site east of the new buildings on the old Jan-Wellem-Platz up to Gustaf-Gründgens-Platz in front of the Düsseldorf theater and the construction of the buildings for the Ingenhoven Valley .
  • From 2012 to 2017, in the Mühlenstrasse / Ratinger Strasse / Liesegasse / Neubrückstrasse square, apart from the old district and regional court and the facade of the former Palais Spinrath, all existing buildings and facilities were demolished. New buildings with luxury apartments were erected on the cleared site. The courthouse , which has been converted into luxury apartments, also belongs to this new old town area, called Andreasquartier .
  • From 2015, construction of the Carlsquartier began in the central western part of Kasernenstrasse .
  • This was followed in 2015 by the redesign and partly new construction of the Kö-Quartier between Breite Straße and Königsallee south of Benrather Straße .

On June 9, 2014, a storm front caused by the low pressure area Ela destroyed parts of the Düsseldorf tree population.

In a rampage on March 9, 2017 on the grounds of Düsseldorf Central Station , nine people were injured with an ax.

See also

literature

Standard works on city history

  • Friedrich Lau: History of the city of Düsseldorf . Bagel, Düsseldorf 1921 in two volumes (reprint from the city archive from 1980)
  • Clemens von Looz-Corswarem (Hrsg.): Düsseldorf in the course of the times . Grupello, Düsseldorf 1925. (Reprint: 1994, ISBN 3-928234-19-6 )
  • Edmund Spohr: Düsseldorf: city and fortress. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1978. (2nd combined and extended edition. 1979, ISBN 3-590-30241-0 )
  • Hugo Weidenhaupt: A Brief History of the City of Düsseldorf. 9th edition . Triltsch, Düsseldorf 1993, ISBN 3-7998-0000-X
  • Hugo Weidenhaupt (Ed.): Düsseldorf. History from the origins to the 20th century. Volume 1-4 . Schwann / Patmos, Düsseldorf 1988, ISBN 3-491-34221-X

Edited volumes and individual aspects

  • Irmingard eighth: Düsseldorf-Kaiserswerth . Rheinische Kunststätten, issue 252, 2nd edition. Cologne 1988, ISBN 3-88094-595-0
  • Clemens Graf von Looz-Corswarem , Benedikt Mauer (Hrsg.): The large Düsseldorf-Lexikon . Greven Publishing House. Cologne 2012, ISBN 978-3-7743-0485-7
  • Else Rümmler: Essays on the topography and history of old Düsseldorf . Verlag des Stadtarchiv, Düsseldorf 1992, ISBN 3-926490-01-2
  • November pogrom 1938 in Düsseldorf , on behalf of the Düsseldorf Memorial ed. by Angela Genger and Bastian Fleermann, Klartext-Verlag, Essen 2008
  • Bastian Fleermann , Hildegard Jakobs: rule of violence. The National Socialist takeover of power in 1933 in Düsseldorf , published by the support group of the Mahn- und Gedenkstätte eV and the German Trade Union Federation Düsseldorf / Middle Lower Rhine (= Small series of the Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Düsseldorf, 2), Droste, Düsseldorf, 2013, ISBN 978-3-7700- 1493-4
  • Bastian Fleermann, Hildegard Jakobs: Düsseldorf deportations - mass deportations from 1933 to the liberation in 1945. Droste Verlag, Düsseldorf, 2016. In: Small series of the Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Düsseldorf . 60 pages. ISBN 978-3-7700-6002-3

city-guide

  • Udohaben (ed.): Düsseldorf on foot, 17 city tours through history and the present . VSA, Hamburg 1989, ISBN 3-87975-485-3
  • Michael Brockerhoff: Places in Düsseldorf . Droste, Düsseldorf 2009, ISBN 978-3-7700-1339-5
  • H. Ferber: Historical walk through the old city of Düsseldorf. C. Kraus, Düsseldorf 1899 (reprint 1980)
  • Alexander Scherer, Maik Kopleck (eds.): PastFinder Düsseldorf . PastFinder, Hong Kong 2008, ISBN 978-988-99780-5-1

Fiction

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hugo Weidenhaupt: Brief history of the city of Düsseldorf . 7th edition. Triltsch, Düsseldorf 1981, foreword to the 7th edition, ISBN 3-7998-0000-X , p. 7.
  2. ^ Friedrich Lau: History of the city of Düsseldorf. From the beginning until 1915. Düsseldorf 1921, unaltered reprint 1980.
  3. ^ Hugo Weidenhaupt: Brief history of the city of Düsseldorf. Düsseldorf 1962.
  4. ^ Hugo Weidenhaupt (ed.): Düsseldorf. History from the origins to the 20th century. 4 vols. Patmos - Schwann, Düsseldorf 1988–1990, ISBN 3-491-34221-X . - There Volume 1, pp. 10–12, a more detailed review of older “city stories”.
  5. ↑ Thomas Ruppel: Prehistory and pre-Roman metal times. In: Hugo Weidenhaupt (Ed.): Düsseldorf, History from the Origins to the 20th Century Volume 1 . Patmos, Düsseldorf 1988, ISBN 3-491-34221-X , p. 99 ff.
  6. ↑ Thomas Ruppel: Prehistory and pre-Roman metal times. In: Hugo Weidenhaupt (ed.): Düsseldorf, history from the origins to the 20th century Volume 1 , Patmos, Düsseldorf 1988, pp. 102-109 with supplement Fundkarte I, ISBN 3-491-34221-X . - Thomas Ruppel: The Urnfield Time in the Lower Rhine Bay. Rhenish excavations 30. Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne 1990, ISBN 3-7927-1135-4 .
  7. ↑ Thomas Ruppel: Prehistory and pre-Roman metal times. In: Hugo Weidenhaupt (Ed.): Düsseldorf, History from the Origins to the 20th Century Volume 1 . Patmos, Düsseldorf 1988, pp. 109–118 with the supplement Fundkarte 1, ISBN 3-491-34221-X . - Cf. Uwe Schönfelder: Investigations on burial grounds from the late Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age on the Lower Rhine. Studies in Modern Archeology 5, Bonn 1992. - Ralf Lommerzheim, Bernd C. Oesterwind: The Hallstatt period settlement of Düsseldorf-Rath. Rhenish excavations 38. Cologne, Bonn 1995.
  8. ^ Hugo Weidenhaupt, In: Düsseldorf, history from the beginnings to the 20th century. 2nd Edition. 1990, Volume 1, ISBN 3-491-34221-X , pp. 126/127.
  9. ↑ Festschrift for the 600th anniversary; In: History of the City of Düsseldorf. 3rd volume, 1888, p. [16] 10.
  10. ↑ Festschrift for the 600th anniversary; In: History of the City of Düsseldorf ; 3rd volume, 1888, p. [20] 14.
  11. ^ Frank Siegmund: Early history from Roman times to the early Middle Ages. In: Hugo Weidenhaupt (Ed.): Düsseldorf, History from the Origins to the 20th Century Volume 1 . Patmos, Düsseldorf 1988, pp. 125–160 with supplement Fundkarte 2, ISBN 3-491-34221-X , here: 126–128 with nos. 46–50.
  12. ↑ Festschrift for the 600th anniversary; In: History of the City of Düsseldorf ; 3rd volume, 1888, p. [21] 15.
  13. ↑ Numerous reports of finds since the 1940s; summarizing Frank Siegmund, in: Weidenhaupt 1988, p. 150 No. 53.
  14. ↑ Festschrift for the 600th anniversary; In: History of the City of Düsseldorf ; 3rd volume, 1888, p. [16] 10.
  15. ↑ a b Rheinische Post, in: Article by Michael Brockerhoff , July 16, 2012.
  16. ↑ Festschrift for the 600th anniversary; In: History of the City of Düsseldorf ; 3rd volume, 1888, p. [22] 16.
  17. ↑ Frank Siegmund, in: Weidenhaupt 1988, p. 143 Fig. 56.
  18. ↑ Michael Müller-Wille: Medieval castle mounds ("Motten") in the northern Rhineland. Supplements of the Bonn yearbooks 16. Cologne, Graz 1966. - Günther Binding : Two moths on the Lower Rhine: Ickt and Luttelnau. Zeitschrift für Archäologie des Mittelalters 7, 1979, pp. 85-106.
  19. ^ Sönke Lorenz : Kaiserswerth in the Middle Ages. Genesis, structure and organization of royal rule on the Lower Rhine . In: Studia humaniora . Volume 23. Düsseldorf 1993, p. 48 .
  20. ↑ J. Schneider; Festschrift for the 600th anniversary; In: On the oldest history of the city and district of Düsseldorf ; 1888, p. [39] 22.
  21. ^ In: Stadtgeschichte Düsseldorf , under the timeline "Early Middle Ages" .
  22. ^ Hugo Weidenhaupt (ed.): Gerresheim 870–1970 contributions to local and art history . Schwann, Düsseldorf 1970, without ISBN, p. 9.
  23. ^ Frank Siegmund: Merovingian time on the Lower Rhine. Rhenish excavations 34 . Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne 1989, pp. 276-278.
  24. ^ Friedrich Lau: History of the City of Düsseldorf - Volume 1, First section: Presentation. Bagel, Düsseldorf, 1921. Reprint from 1980, 3rd edition. P. 5.
  25. ↑ Lacomblet, Theodor Joseph: Document book for the history of the Lower Rhine and the Archbishopric of Cöln, document 627. Part 4, 1858, p. [803] 777. Online edition 2009 [1]
  26. ↑ Franz Greeting: History of the Bergisches Land. Completely revised new edition, Bücken & Sulzer, Overath 2007, ISBN 978-3-936405-06-4 , p. 164.
  27. ↑ Academic contributions to gülisch and Berg, Volume 3, 1781, in: Certificate XXXIX. S. [281] 62.
  28. ^ Hugo Weidenhaupt, in: Düsseldorf, history from the beginnings to the 20th century. 2nd Edition. 1990, Volume 1, ISBN 3-491-34221-X , p. 167.
  29. ↑ Heinrich Gottfried Philipp Gengler: Regesten and certificates of constitutional and legal history of German cities during the Middle Ages , Erlangen, 1863, p 933. .
  30. ^ Friedrich Lau: History of the City of Düsseldorf - Volume 1, Second section: Documents and files. Bagel, Düsseldorf 1921. Reprint from 1980, 3rd edition. P. 5.
  31. ↑ Düsseldorfer Geschichtsverein, in: Festschrift for the 600th anniversary. 1888, p. [69] 52. Digitized edition of the ULB Düsseldorf.
  32. ^ In: Journal of the Düsseldorfer Geschichtsverein . 1883, No. 6, p. [138] 128. Online version
  33. ^ Hugo Weidenhaupt: Small history of the city of Düsseldorf, Triltsch, Düsseldorf, 9th edition. 1983, p. 30.
  34. ↑ Erich Wisplingshoff: Middle Ages and early modern times . In: Hugo Weidenhaupt (Ed.): Düsseldorf. History from the origins to the 20th century. Volume 1. Schwann / Patmos, Düsseldorf 1988, ISBN 3-491-34221-X , pp. 175ff.
  35. ^ Hugo Weidenhaupt, in: Düsseldorf, history from the beginnings to the 20th century. 2nd Edition. 1990, Volume 1, ISBN 3-491-34221-X , p. 248.
  36. ↑ a b c in: Internet version for St. Lambertus (Düsseldorf / Altstadt), section: History .
  37. ↑ Theodor Joseph Lacomblet, in: Document book for the history of the Lower Rhine or the Archbishopric of Cöln, document 39. 1853, part 3, 1301–1400, p. [48] 28.
  38. ↑ Erich Wisplinhoff: Middle Ages and early modern times. From the first written messages to the end of the Jülich-Klevischen inheritance dispute (approx. 700–1614). In: Hugo Weidenhaupt (ed.): Düsseldorf, history from the origins to the 20th century. Volume 1, 1988, Patmos, Düsseldorf, ISBN 3-491-34221-X , pp. 301f.
  39. ^ Düsseldorfer Geschichtsverein: Festschrift for the 600th anniversary. 1888, p. [83] 66. Digitized edition of the ULB Düsseldorf
  40. ^ CH August Mindel, in: Geschichtliche Nachrichten about Düsseldorf and the Duchy of Berg. 1817, p. [94] 85.
  41. ^ The Düsseldorf Atlas. Emons, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-89705-355-1 , p. 26.
  42. ↑ Ch. J. Kremer, in: Academic contributions to Gülch and Bergische Geschichte / Certificate II. From 1297. 1781, Volume 3, p. [223] 4.
  43. ↑ Otto von Stolberg-Werigerrode, in: New Biography. 1953, Volume 1, p. 76.
  44. ↑ In: Blätter für deutsche Landesgeschichte (BDLG) online version at the Munich digitization center by Janssen, Wilhelm: Karl IV. Und die Lande an Niederrhein und Untermaas , 1978, p. 239.
  45. ^ A b c d e Otto Reinhard Redlich:  Wilhelm I. (Count of Berg and Ravensberg) . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 42, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1897, pp. 723-727.
  46. ^ Edmund Spohr: Düsseldorf: city and fortress. Schwann, Düsseldorf, 2nd edition. 1979, p. 56 ff.
  47. ↑ Theodor Joseph Lacomblet, in: Document book for the history of the Lower Rhine or the Archbishopric of Cöln, document 548. 1853, part 3, 1301–1400, p. [469] 457.
  48. ^ Düsseldorfer Geschichtsverein: Festschrift for the 600th anniversary. 1888, p. [84] 67. Digitized edition of the ULB Düsseldorf
  49. ^ Düsseldorfer Geschichtsverein: Festschrift for the 600th anniversary. 1888, p. [72] 55. Digitized edition of the ULB Düsseldorf
  50. ↑ JF Wilhelmi, in: Panorama of Düsseldorf and its surroundings. 1828, p. [23] 9.
  51. ^ Wilhelm Jansen: Residence formation on the Lower Rhine and the castle in Düsseldorf. In: Düsseldorfer Jahrbuch, Vol. 71, Droste, Düsseldorf 2000, ISBN 3-7700-3046-X , pp. 19f.
  52. ^ Düsseldorf around 1500 by Ilka Jaroch / Emons Verlag.
  53. ^ Edmund Spohr: Düsseldorf: city and fortress. Schwann, Düsseldorf, 2nd edition. 1979, p. 71 ff.
  54. ↑ H. Kniffler. In: Contributions to the history of the school system , 1889, magazine of the Düsseldorfer Geschichtsverein. 4th volume, pp. [14] -.
  55. ↑ Erich Wisplinhoff: Middle Ages and early modern times. From the first written messages to the end of the Jülich-Klevischen inheritance dispute (approx. 700–1614). In: Hugo Weidenhaupt (ed.): Düsseldorf, history from the origins to the 20th century. Volume 1, 1988, Patmos, Düsseldorf, ISBN 3-491-34221-X , pp. 304-308.
  56. ↑ Düsseldorfer Geschichtsverein: in: Festschrift for the 600th anniversary in 1888, p. [273] 256.
  57. ↑ Christoph Jakob Kremer, in: Academic contributions to Gülch and Bergische history. 1781, vol. 3, document CCXXX, p. [461] 242.
  58. ^ Contribution to the history of the Lower Rhine, in: Yearbook of the Düsseldorfer Geschichtsverein , 1894, 8th volume, p. [254] 247
  59. ^ Düsseldorfer Geschichtsverein: Festschrift for the 600th anniversary. 1888, p. [88] 71. Digitized edition of the ULB Düsseldorf
  60. ↑ Theodor Joseph Lacomblet, in: Document book for the history of the Lower Rhine or the Archbishopric of Cologne, document 104. 1846, volume 4, 1401 to 1609, p. [141] 115.
  61. ^ Düsseldorfer Geschichtsverein: Festschrift for the 600th anniversary. 1888, p. [477] 460. Digitized edition of the ULB Düsseldorf
  62. ↑ a b J. F. Wilhelmi, in: Panorama of Düsseldorf and its surroundings , 1828, p. [24] 10.
  63. ^ Hugo Weidenhaupt: Brief history of the city of Düsseldorf. 7th edition, 1981, Triltsch, Düsseldorf, ISBN 3-7998-0000-X , p. 34, preface to the 7th edition.
  64. ^ Hugo Weidenhaupt, in: Düsseldorf, history from the beginnings to the 20th century. 2nd Edition. 1990, Volume 1, ISBN 3-491-34221-X , p. 232.
  65. ^ Eschenbach H., in: Documents on the history of the city of Düsseldorf / Düsseldorfer Geschichtsverein. 1889, Volume 4, p. [127] 120. Online version
  66. ↑ Theodor Joseph Lacomblet, in: Document book for the history of the Lower Rhine or the Archbishopric of Cöln, document 249. 1858, part 4, 1401–1609, p. [320] 294. Online version
  67. ↑ Düsseldorfer Geschichtsverein, In: Festschrift for the 600th anniversary of the city of Düsseldorf. 1888. Web version, p. [88] 71.
  68. ↑ a b c d Düsseldorfer Geschichtsverein: Festschrift for the 600th anniversary . 1888, p. [73] 56. Digitized edition of the ULB Düsseldorf
  69. ^ Yearbook of the Düsseldorf History Association. In: Documents on the history of the city of Düsseldorf, Certificate No. 5 . 1890, volume 5, p. [39] 35. Online version
  70. ^ Düsseldorfer Geschichtsverein: Festschrift for the 600th anniversary of the city of Düsseldorf. 1888, p. [500] 483.
  71. ^ Karl Leopold Strauven; In: History of the Palace in Düsseldorf. 1872, p. [26] 22.
  72. ↑ Düsseldorf History Association. In: Festschrift for the 600th anniversary of the city of Düsseldorf . 1888, p. [72] 55.
  73. ^ Düsseldorfer Geschichtsverein: Festschrift for the 600th anniversary. 1888, p. [478] 461. Digitized edition of the ULB Düsseldorf
  74. ^ Yearbook of the Düsseldorf History Association. In: Documents on the history of the city of Düsseldorf, Certificate No. 22 . 1890, volume 5, p. [56] 52. Online version
  75. ^ Johann Josef Scotti, in: Collection of laws and ordinances from Cleve and Mark to 1816. 1826, pp. [37] 16 to [51] 30. Online version
  76. ↑ a b Wilhelm Janssen:  Johann III. Duke of Kleve-Mark. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 10, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1974, ISBN 3-428-00191-5 , p. 493 f. ( Digitized version ).
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  239. ↑ Düsseldorfer Stadtchronik, under: Events after year from 1909 , year 1916.
  240. ↑ Düsseldorfer Stadtchronik, under: Events after year from 1909 , year 1914.
  241. ↑ Clemens von Looz-Corswarem, in: Düsseldorfer Stadtgeschichte , Chapter 5.
  242. ↑ Düsseldorfer Stadtchronik, under: Events after year from 1909 , year 1916.
  243. ↑ Düsseldorfer Stadtchronik, under: Events after year from 1909 , year 1918.
  244. ↑ Düsseldorfer Stadtchronik, under: January 10, 1919 .
  245. ↑ Düsseldorfer Stadtchronik, under: February 28, 1919 .
  246. ↑ Düsseldorfer Stadtchronik, under: April 13, 1919 .
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  249. ↑ Düsseldorfer Stadtchronik, under: Events after year from 1909 , year 1922.
  250. ↑ a b c d Düsseldorfer Stadtchronik, under: Events after year from 1909 , years 1922 to 1924.
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  252. ↑ Düsseldorfer Stadtchronik, under: Events by year from 1909 , years 1923 to 1926.
  253. ↑ a b Düsseldorfer Stadtchronik, under: Events by year from 1909 , years 1925 to 1926.
  254. ↑ Düsseldorfer Stadtchronik, under: Events by year from 1909 , years 1925 to 1931.
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  261. ^ November pogrom 1938 in Düsseldorf, on behalf of the Düsseldorf memorial, ed. by Angela Genger and Bastian Fleermann, Klartext Verlag, Essen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8375-0085-1 .
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  264. ↑ Andreas Kussmann (scientific work): 1933–1945 Individual fates and experiences, Volume III: A satellite camp in Düsseldorf-Stoffeln. Publisher of the State Capital of Düsseldorf, District Administration 3 and City Archives, Düsseldorf 1988.
  265. ↑ Jörg Friedrich : The fire. Germany in the bombing war 1940–1945 . Propylaen, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-549-07165-5 , p. 253.
  266. ↑ Peter Hüttenberger: Düsseldorf in the time of National Socialism . In Hugo Weidenhaupt (ed.): Düsseldorf. History from the origins to the 20th century. Volume 3 . Schwann, Düsseldorf 1989, ISBN 3-491-34223-6 , p. 632.
  267. ^ State capital Düsseldorf (Ed.): 1872–1997: 125 years of the Düsseldorf professional fire service , Düsseldorf, 1997, pp. 80–81.
  268. ↑ Andreas Kussmann: the war in Dusseldorf . In: Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf: 1946 New Beginning: Life in Düsseldorf . Rheinisch-Bergische Druckerei- und Verlagsanstalt, Düsseldorf 1986, without ISBN, p. 18.
  269. ↑ Weidenhaupt, p. 184 (here information: around 6000 civilians)
  270. ↑ Falk Plan Düsseldorf with a representation of all partial and total destruction, 1st edition. 1949, Falkverlag Hamburg.
  271. ↑ Falk Plan Düsseldorf with a representation of all partial and total destruction, 1st edition. 1949, Falkverlag Hamburg.
  272. ^ Hugo Weidenhaupt: Little history of the city of Düsseldorf , Triltsch-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1979, ISBN 3-7998-0000-X , p. 198.
  273. ^ Hugo Weidenhaupt: Little history of the city of Düsseldorf , Triltsch-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1979, ISBN 3-7998-0000-X , p. 199.
  274. ^ Hugo Weidenhaupt: The city history of Düsseldorf in the 50s. In: From Düsseldorf's past. Essays from four decades . Verlag der Goethe-Buchhandlung, Düsseldorf 1988, ISBN 3-924331-17-0 , p. 298f.
  275. ↑ d-chinacenter.de ( Memento of the original from October 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , own homepage @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.d-chinacenter.de
  276. ↑ Company profile | Stadtwerke Düsseldorf. In: www.swd-ag.de. Retrieved November 20, 2016 .
  277. ^ In: RP Online, October 12, 2010 . That is why Düsseldorf is the right choice
  278. ↑ In: Tour Online from June 21, 2017 . Everything about the start of the tour in Düsseldorf
  279. ↑ rp-online.de: Twenty times as many trees kinked as in Hurricane Kyrill , June 13, 2014
  280. ↑ In: RP Online of March 10, 2017 . Alleged gunman is a 36-year-old from Wuppertal
  281. ↑ greven-verlag.de: The great Düsseldorf Lexicon ( memento of the original from November 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.greven-verlag.de

Remarks

  1. ↑ In 1933 Rudolf Stampfuß examined a Merovingian grave field with 44 individual graves that were found when a colliery port was established in Walsum. These originated from the end of the 6th to the middle of the 7th century. Clay vessels, iron weapons and tools were found. Evidence: In the section "State expansion under the Franks" ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.duisburg.de
  2. ↑ There is no documentary evidence for the date 1005. Only the inscription on a stone, which was found when the old church was demolished, contained this date of the year.
  3. ↑ The previous assumption that only earth walls and moats were present is now disputed by recent finds. According to the RP of July 16, 2012, remains of the first city wall were found in the area of ​​Liefergasse and Lambertusstrasse. However, it cannot be clearly proven whether the wall already existed in 1288.
  4. ↑ The numbering of the "Adolfs" is controversial. According to the more recent counting of historians, for example, Adolf V would be wrong and now the VII . (According to Otto von Stolberg-Werigerrode, in: Neue Biographie. 1953, Volume 1, p. 76)
  5. ↑ Adolf VI. was the son of another brother of Adolf V, namely Heinrich von Windeck .
  6. ↑ Ludwig IV. Approved Adolf VI. to collect the Rhine toll in Düsseldorf instead of in the Duisburg Forest area (according to certificate CCIII, CJ Kremer, Academic Contributions to Gülch and Bergische Geschichte, 1781, Vol. 3, p. [482] 263. Online version)
  7. ↑ Today's districts in Düsseldorf Stadtmitte, Pempelfort, Düsseltal, Flingern and Grafenberg were sparsely populated areas with predominantly forests and only partially smaller areas used for agriculture with the associated individual farms. Honors (communities) did not exist in this area until the beginning of the 19th century. For the collection of taxes, the following additional areas were recorded in the tax book of 1632 from the city area outside the city wall: Flehe, Flingern, Gravenberg, Honsfort, Icklack, Lierenvelt, Pempelfort, stones and fabrics . Some areas that were required for the older court garden, Jägerhof Palace and the Düsseltal monastery , for example , were used by the dukes as part of the urban area outside the city walls from around the 18th century .
  8. ↑ With the Duke's death in 1408, the main proponent of this church could no longer support its continued existence positively. Presumably the sponsors of the collegiate church also saw competition in this other church. Since there was also a lack of money due to the lost war, they no longer wanted to maintain the new church.
  9. ↑ One of the services of the baker was the brewing of beer. In 1712, Elector Jan Wellem in Düsseldorf allowed the formation of his own guild “the brewers” ​​and thus the separation from the guild of bakers. Evidence: Certificate 30 in Volume 3 of the Zeitschrift des Düsseldorfer Geschichtsverein, 1883, p. [147] 144.
  10. ↑ This inheritance agreement is cited as document no. 10 in the collection of laws by Johann Josef Scotti for Cleve and Mark, from 1826, on p. [37] 16 to [51] 30, online version [2] digitized edition of the ULB Düsseldorf
  11. ↑ According to a more recent count Johann III. von Jülich-Kleve-Berg (Wilhelm Janssen, in: Neue Deutsche Biographie , Vol. 10, 1974, p. 493)
  12. ↑ Controversial, as a slap is mentioned in ancient scriptures, but there is no clear evidence of this
  13. ↑ The widow's dowry, amounting to 400,000 Reichstaler, had to be repaid if the elector died before his wife and the marriage was childless
  14. ↑ In addition to 1746 and 1785, KL Strauven also lists the years 1755, 1756 and 1784 for Karl Theodor's stay. Other sources only give a total of 3 visits.
  15. ↑ In order to simulate a defense, a brief fire with cannons on wasteland by the French was part of the surrender conditions.
  16. ↑ Despite the name, these were Germans and not Russians. The use of the word Russians is probably based on their appreciation at the time, since in 1812 only Russia was the only serious military opponent of the French.
  17. ↑ At this point Gruner was briefly in the service of the Russian Tsar.
  18. ↑ Only areas to the left of the Moselle that had belonged to the General-Gouvernement Mittelrhein became part of the new General-Gouvernement. The only exception was Koblenz.
  19. ↑ In 1804, with the Octroi Convention for Rhine shipping and trade, the French repealed the old stacking rights of the Cologne residents, but left the right of handling in place.
  20. ↑ Until 1897, the official name was regional director instead of regional governor
  21. ↑ Up until 1872, this brick church was one of the two only churches in the city of Düsseldorf that lay outside the city walls and that were the religious center of the parishes of Bilk and Derendorf, alongside “Alt Martin” in Bilk. However, the two other parishes Hamm and Volmerswerth had chapels. In Hamm these were the Kreuzkapelle from the middle of the 17th century and the Rochus Chapel from 1709 and the St. Dionysius Chapel in Volmerswerth from around 1300. Proof: Yearbook of the Düsseldorf History Association. In: A politically ecological description of the Duchy of Berg from 1740 . 1900, Volume 15, pp. [176] 168.