Hönnetal
The Hönne valley flows through the Hönne , a tributary of the Ruhr . It is located in the Sauerland in North Rhine-Westphalia and is one of the most important karst areas in Germany . With its many prehistoric caves, as a centuries-old border area between Kurköln and the Grafschaft Mark as well as a monument to the inhuman ideology of National Socialism, it has a special cultural-historical significance in Germany.
Opposing interests in use - economic use, use as environmentally friendly vs. Environmentally harmful traffic areas, protection of flora and fauna, recreational use (climbing, hiking, cycling) and tourism development - meet in an exemplary way in the Hönnetal.
geography
The Hönnetal extends along the 33.4 km long Hönne, which with its tributaries has a catchment area of 262.2 km². It flows first to the northeast, then to the northwest. The Hönnetal connects the villages of Neuenrade , Garbeck , Balve , Sanssouci , Binolen , Lendringsen , Menden and Fröndenberg . The paved road through the Hönnetal was laid out in 1814. Previously, high trails led around the impassable Hönnetal (for example the "Iserlohner Weg" over the Balver Forest). After decades of planning, the Hönnetalbahn was opened in 1912 as a single-track line with a terminus in Neuenrade . Alternative plans included the construction of a viaduct between Balve and Garbeck.
The Hönnetal offered people a settlement area since the Paleolithic . Traces of settlement can be found from different time periods. Leaching of the limestone over thousands of years has resulted in the formation of many caves that are only partially accessible. The change in water levels can be seen on the rock walls of the Reckenhöhle . The following caves are known today: Frühlinghauser Höhle , Balver Höhle , Kepplerhöhle , Preuss-Höhle , Dahlmannhöhle , Volkringhauser Höhle , Karhofhöhle , Burschenhöhle , Reckenhöhle, Leichenhöhle , Honert-Höhle , Feldhofhöhle , Friedrichshöhle , Große Burghöhle and Kleine Burghöhle . There were archaeological finds in some. The Balver cave is used today for cultural events. The Reckenhöhle is a show cave . The German Cave Museum is located in nearby Iserlohn .
The Hönnetal as a borderland
In the Middle Ages, the Hönnetal belonged mainly to the County of Arnsberg and from 1368 to the secularization of 1803 to the Catholic Duchy of Westphalia in the Electorate of Cologne . The town of Neuenrade in the uppermost part of the valley belonged to the Protestant county of Mark .
The border between the Duchy of Westphalia and the County of Mark ran north of Neuenrade in an arc to the west around Balve over the mountain ranges of the Balver Forest until it reached the Hönne south of Klusenstein Castle and followed it for a few kilometers. Then the border turned in a westerly direction, so that in the area of Menden both banks of the river again belonged to the Duchy of Westphalia (cf. the map of the County of Mark by Friedrich Christoph Müller from 1791). This explains the special role of Klusenstein Castle as a 'border fortress' (so-called robber knight castle ) and the centuries-long disputes between 'Märkern' and 'Kurkölnern' in the Balver Forest, in particular about the acorn fattening at the Schweinhude ( Allmende ).
Economic use
Larger quarries have been operated in the Hönnetal and the immediate vicinity since the 19th century. Of these, the quarries east of Balve-Helle and south of Menden- Oberrödinghausen are still in operation. The quarry south of Menden-Oberrödinghausen belongs to Rheinkalk GmbH, a subsidiary of the Belgian Lhoist Group , the world's largest manufacturer of lime and dolomite products.
The quarry is one of the largest limestone quarries in Germany. The excavation depth in the quarry is up to 120 m. There are currently two lakes in the quarry. A large processing plant for the broken limestone is located in Oberrödinghausen. In the Hönnetal plant, Rheinkalk processes the limestone into lime. The quarry between Balve-Helle and Balve-Wocklum belongs to the Brühne Group. The limestone is processed into lime in the Brihne Group's Sanssouci lime works.
With the economic use of the Hönnetal the traffic development went hand in hand. In particular, the opening of the Hönnetalbahn in 1912 served the goal of bringing economy and prosperity to this secluded valley.
The "protection campaign of the Hönnetal"
The acquisition of the entire area east of the Hönnetalstrasse as far as Binolen by the Rheinisch-Westfälische Kalkwerke (RWK) in 1912 and 1913 served the goal of the complete industrial use of the Hönnetal. With the dismantling of the “rocky areas surrounding the Hönnetal, the beauty of the whole valley would have been destroyed for all time” .
A "protection campaign", convened by the Arnsberg regional president von Bake, "achieved the preservation of a backdrop-like rock face to preserve the beauty of the Hönnetal for all time" . Started in 1912/1913, the protection campaign to preserve the landscape in the Hönnetal was taken up again after the First World War in 1919 and successfully completed in 1920, with the support of the Province of Westphalia and its towns and districts. More than 350,000 Reichsmarks were required to carry it out . The ownership rights went to the Arnsberg district as the sponsor of the protection campaign in order to keep the Hönnetal "untouched as a nature reserve for all time". The protective action included the stretch from the Asbecker to Eisborner Kreisstraße, in which the particularly beautiful rocky areas are located. A quarry area of 23.5 hectares of rock was acquired in exchange from the RWK. With this negotiation result, a backdrop-like 50 to 100 meter wide facade with the dominating rock sections could be saved from limestone mining.
To commemorate this protective action, which can be seen as an early model of nature and landscape protection in Germany, a bronze plaque was placed in the rock just before Klusenstein, with the following hexameter in the pathos of time:
- “In the bitterest times the people of Westphalia gave joyfully
- for the beauty of the valley rich of meager property
- proudly saved the ancient towering rocks:
- His homeland for protection, even for lasting fame. "
The memorial plaque was restored in August 2019 by the Natural History Association Hönnetal , with public support of € 2,000 through the “Heimat. Future. North Rhine-Westphalia. We promote what connects people ”(Heimatscheck).
natural reserve
Since 1920 parts of the Hönnetal with the high cliffs have been a nature reserve (NSG) under nature protection . In 2015 the NSG was expanded to 144.15 ha. In the same size and boundaries, the Hönnetal is also designated as a European protected area under Natura2000 as an FFH area (DE-463-301). The reasons are preserved ravine forests, numerous rocks with lime pioneer lawn and crevice vegetation, caves with specialized fauna that are not open to tourists, large woodruff beech forests, orchid-lime-beech forests and occurrences of FFH-relevant species (especially bats). Above all, the patchy limestone pioneer lawn and the canyon and slope mixed forests are designated as priority habitats and are subject to special protection. The bat species pond bat , great mouse- eared bat , great bearded bat , water bat and fringed bat were detected.
The Hönnetal is a former breeding ground for eagle owls and peregrine falcons. As early as 1841 there is evidence of eagle owls in the Hönnetal in the book The picturesque and romantic Westphalen . The authors write about the former castle ruins of Klusenstein and the surrounding "rocky reefs" "... when the great deer-eating owl Schufut circles around them at dusk." Schufut was one of the old names for the eagle owl.
The romantic Hönnetal
Levin Schücking and Ferdinand Freiligrath write in "The picturesque and romantic Westphalia" in 1841 about the Hönnetal:
- “It's a romantic wandering; the valley is becoming more and more wild and gloomy at last to form a narrow gorge; the narrow honeysuckle rushes down over angular boulders, simmering and hurling strokes across the footpath, until finally the frothing and foaming of a mill rush out of a deep kettle towards us. Here the danger has been overcome, a bold and domed rock face jumps up in front of us, over there protrude the circular walls and ruins of an old castle, from which a new dwelling peeps out like a wealthy tenant of an old knighthood. (...) The vault is beautiful and wide, a bold structure; the first room is about 60 m long. On the ceiling and side walls, hanging stalactites shimmer with a reddish color and peculiar formations; At each tip a grayish, shiny drop that falls slowly and lulls the cave with a monotonous noise. In the background two dark crevices open up, which one enters with torchlight, shy of the water that is seeping away everywhere, stooped in front of the stalactite cones threatening like spikes, steps carefully through and finally creeps through. After an arduous journey, the shimmer of the day dawns on us, we are back in the entrance hall before we even thought about it and are amazed to have described a semicircle while we thought we were getting closer and closer to the bowels of the earth. "
- “From Klusenstein, the Hönnethal continues up to the nicely situated Sanssouci inn, past the town of Balve, near which the area is less wildly romantic, but also has a strange monument of natural forces in the“ Balver Höhle ”- like the limestone mountains between the Ruhr and Lenne generally has a remarkable wealth of grottos and caves. The Balver cave is characterized by the great arched doorway, which is used as an entrance. She has many remains of Antediluvian animals - teeth of primeval creatures weighing up to seven pounds can be found ” .
Old postcards show the early tourist interest in this region:
Bridge in the Hönnetal
Seven virgins
Balver Cave 1895
Balver Cave 1904
The mystical Hönnetal
The originality of the Hönnetal encouraged the formation of numerous legends . The numerous small and large caves were used by humans during the Iron Age , probably as burial places and probably also as places of worship.
Even today human remains from the Bronze Age are still being found there, from which it can be concluded that the caves are on the one hand used as a place to live but also as a burial place, e.g. B. the Germanic , were used. From the type and nature of the finds it cannot be concluded with certainty that there was possibly religiously motivated cannibalism at the time. Among others, Dr. Bruno Bernhard, assistant doctor at the psychiatric clinic in Würzburg, who, along with the geologist Emil Carthaus and the local historian Wilhelm Bleicher, was an advocate of the cannibalism thesis. Finds from 1891 were typically interpreted in this sense. Most recently this thesis was taken up again by Harald Polenz .
Around 1730 there was a forger's workshop in the rearmost part of the Honert Cave, which was excavated by private lecturer Dr. Julius Andree was discovered in the summer of 1926.
Armaments project and forced labor in the Hönnetal
In the quarries of the Hönnetal there is a gigantic tunnel system called Schwalbe I , one of the largest and most secret construction projects of the underground relocation of the Third Reich . The facility with the code name " Eisenkies " (the mineral name is the identifier for a new, specially set up tunnel system ) was one of the largest National Socialist armaments projects shortly before the end of the war. Many well-known companies were involved in the project.
The purpose of the projects was the construction of hydrogenation plants in the absence of aviation fuel. From mid-1944, more than 10,000 people of various nationalities - skilled workers, workers, forced laborers, prisoners, concentration camp prisoners - were used as work slaves. The number of forced laborers in the Sanssouci camp was the highest. The work slaves were housed in several camps in the Hönnetal, from Balve Helle to Lendringsen (Biebertal). Gestapo man Karl Gertenbach, chief criminal secretary from Lüdenscheid, was responsible for organizing forced labor in this valley of death (he committed suicide while in custody on May 15, 1945).
Many of the forced laborers were killed, starved or died in accidents in the lime works. Dead people from all over Europe were buried in the Lendringsen cemetery. Some victims from Western European countries were transferred to their homeland after the war. A memorial at the Lendringsen cemetery names 132 names, including 41 Germans. The actual number of victims is likely to be many times higher, the exact numbers are unknown. Reports to the registry office in Balve (with falsified diagnoses) were not made after the turn of the year 1944/45.
The US Army occupied Balve and the Hönnetal on April 12 and 13, 1945 and freed the forced laborers who were still alive. From April 15 to the end of June there were repeated attacks by former prisoners, with individual deaths. In the book Heimat unter Bombs - The Arnsberg District in the Second World War , the incidents were documented in the chapter Terror from the camps in the Hönnetal . At the end of June, the raids decreased as the British occupation authorities took action against them. The raids came to an end with the evacuation of the Asbeck camp.
The main access to the tunnel system was easily accessible until 2019. It contains fixtures from the 1960s (crusher system). In 2019, the main access to the tunnel system with quarry material was closed.
To this day, there is no public reference to the armaments project and no memorial to the victims of Schwalbe I in the Hönnetal - with the exception of the honorary grave erected by Poland at the Lendringsen cemetery and a memorial plaque on the police site, which is not accessible to the public is largely unknown to the population. Guided tours are not offered.
The Hönnetal as a climbing area
The Hönnetal is one of the historically significant climbing areas in Germany. The Hönnetal has been climbing since the mid-1940s. Intensive development with climbing routes began in 1955. In 2012, the Arnsberg district government closed the rocks entirely for climbing. The limestone walls, up to 60 m high, offered mostly technically demanding climbing. Around 500 routes were developed on 40 rocks.
The climbing rocks are divided into five areas. To the west of the Hönne and north of Binolen there were climbing rocks with imaginary names such as Binoler Wand, Feldhofstein, Burgfelsen, Klusenstein, Mooswand and Sirenpfeiler. To the north followed rocks with names such as Dohlenstein, Schluchtstein, Löwenstein (also called Habichtsley), Kreuzfelsen (also called Hosterley), Kanzelstein, Tafelstein, Eulenwand, Uhuturm and Uhuwand. Climbing rocks to the north of the Binol train station were called Bärenstein, Waldstein, Waldsteinchen, Troll, Gnom and Hausstadtfelsen, and to the south of the Reckenhöhle there were rocks with the following names: Reckenhöhle, Linker Burschenfelsen, Rechter Burschenfelsen, Loch Näss. South of the road to Grübeck, in the so-called Little Hönnevalley, were The Little Rock, Karhoff Cave, Afrikafels, Open Rock and Hidden Rock.
In the interests of nature conservation, the cliffs west of the Hönne and north of the exit to Eisborn have been closed by the authorities since the 1970s. In 2012, the Arnsberg district government informed the local climbing associations, the DAV and the IG Climbing, as well as the Lower Landscape Authority of the Märkisches Kreis that climbing was generally absolutely prohibited in the Hönnetal FFH area , a protected area of European importance. Fierce disputes ensued between interest groups for sport climbers and the responsible authorities, which continue to this day. Arguments are in particular with the contradictions that result from the approval of the naturally polluting lime industry in the Hönnetal and the use of the Hönnetal as a heavily frequented traffic route (federal road), and on the other hand the prohibition of a nature-friendly use of the Hönnetal as an area for sport climbing.
Use of the Hönnetal as a bike route
The Hönnetal represents a natural connection between the RuhrtalRadweg and Lenneroute . The designation of a continuous cycle path alongside the federal road has been announced for a long time and is expressly demanded and supported by the local authorities.
However, it is evidently prevented or delayed by the state authorities with normative arguments (necessary width of the cycle path also at the narrow points: 2.5–3 meters). The nature-friendly use of a cycle path is therefore still not relevant.
Other leisure activities
The Hönnetal offers picturesque routes, also suitable for the inexperienced hiker ( Christine-Koch-Weg ). The Hönnetal in its entirety and the surrounding area presents many different sights. In addition to the caves and Klusenstein Castle already mentioned in the text, the Oberrödinghauser Hammer is located directly in the Hönnetal.
Transport links
The Hönnetal is opened up for private traffic by the federal highway 515 and the federal highway 229 , but also by the Hönnetal-Bahn . To protect the B 229 from falling rocks, large-scale work was repeatedly carried out in the rock. Nets were set up to protect against falling rocks and secured with rock anchors. The original shape of the protected Hönnetalfelsen has been greatly changed despite being designated as a nature reserve. Most recently, massive security measures were carried out in August 2011. Before that, a boulder with a diameter of about 1.5 meters fell onto the road from a height of around 30 meters. This boulder had jumped over a protective grille and fell onto the street. On the road, the boulder had cracked into three parts and damaged the guardrails there and a car driving by. After that, the B 515 was completely closed in this area for some time until rock protection measures were carried out.
See also
literature
- Martin Arnswald: The rocks in the Hönnetal. IG Climbing North Rhine-Westphalia e. V., 1999, 2nd edition 2007.
- Fritz Blach: Land of a Thousand Mountains. Sauerland climbing guide. Geoquest, Halle 2012, ISBN 978-3-00-038258-1 . Chapter Hönnetal , pp. 76-109.
- Philipp Humpert: About the Sauerland dialect in the Hönne-Thale . Georgi, Bonn 1876 ( digitized version ).
- Horst Hassel, Horst Klötzer: No jet fighter fuel from Schwalbe 1. Zimmermann Verlag, Balve 2011, ISBN 978-3-89053-127-4 .
- Fritz Schumacher: Home under bombs - The Arnsberg district in World War II. Gebrüder Zimmermann Verlag, Balve 1969.
Web links
- "Hönnetal" nature reserve in the specialist information system of the State Office for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection in North Rhine-Westphalia
- Natura 2000: Hönnetal (PDF; 15 kB)
- Area map ( FFH area according to FFH directive 92/43 / EEC): Area name Hönnetal No. DE-4613-301
- Information from the Hönnetal working group
- Historical film from the Hönnetal
swell
- ↑ Süderländer Volksfreund 1912: The opening of the Hönnetalbahn
- ↑ 100 years of protective action to save the Hönnetal ( memento of the original from March 7, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Heinrich Haslinde : The protection campaign to preserve the beauty of the Hönnetal. In: Hans Menne (Ed.): Balve - Book of becoming and being of the city. Published for the 500th anniversary of the city charter being awarded in 1930. Breer & Thiemann, Hamm 1930; Reprinted by the working group on Romania aid of the Kolping family Balve in 1993, Zimmermann-Druck + Verlag, Balve, pp. 406–408. Quote: “The home authorities had been aware of the dangers threatening the Hönnetal for a long time; The press, too, had raised its warning voice several times, calling it not only a crime against nature but also a mockery of the German homeland security if this incomparably beautiful valley were to fall victim to industry. This danger became particularly threatening and immediate in 1912 and 1913, when the Rheinisch-Westfälische Kalkwerke succeeded in acquiring the entire area stretching east of the Hönnetalstrasse to Binolen with the mighty white-gray limestone cliffs reaching up to 100 meters to use it industrially. It was the then Arnsberg regional president von Bake who, realizing this imminent imminent danger, convened a conference, as a result of which the unanimous view emerged that along Hönnestrasse, from Asbeckerweg upwards, at least one backdrop-like rock face to preserve the beauty of the Hönnetal must stop at all times. In an accommodating manner, the RWK declared their consent if the loss of quarry land would be fully compensated by means of an exchange by assigning other workable lime land after their operation. [...] But immediately after the end of the war this action came alive again, and despite the hardship and misery that had fallen over the country, it was carried out by all those involved with all the more inner warmth and joyful drive, as the value of our threatened homeland was recognized in the war years had recognized anew, and now wanted to serve the homeland with double strength in spite of all adversity. [...] The fact that this valley could be preserved in all its natural beauty, and that it can now continue to serve thousands of hikers every year for recreation and enjoyment, must fill everyone with great satisfaction who were able to participate in this protection campaign at the time, and must all deeply delight. who love their German homeland with every fiber of their heart. Truly, this protective action was practical home care, it was true service to the home! That it could be carried out at one of the darkest times in German history makes it particularly valuable. "
- ↑ Restoration of the memorial plaque in the Hönnetal Naturhistorischer Verein Hönnetal eV
- ↑ Märkischer Kreis: 2nd amendment to the landscape plan No. 2 "Balve - Mittleres Hönnetal" , Lüdenscheid 2015, pp. 23-25.
- ↑ Martin Lindner: News about the former breeding site in the Hönnetal , 2009, JB. AGW-NRW, 17-18
- ^ Levin Schücking, Ferdinand Freiligrath: The picturesque and romantic Westphalen. Volckmar, Leipzig 1841, p. 200.
- ↑ Theo Bönemann, Sauerland , photos Friedhelm Ackermann, magazine of the Sauerländer Heimatbund, No. 2 / June 2004
- ↑ Stefan Enste: Cannibalism in Westphalia Quote: The cannibal who sneaked into the Westphalian caves in the course of the 20th century can return to where he came from: into the realm of fantasy or ideology.
- ↑ Harald Polenz: Unearthed history. Klartext Verlag, Essen 2005, ISBN 3-89861-403-4 .
- ↑ Dr. Rennepohl: A counterfeiter workshop in the Hönnetal. In: Hans Menne (Ed.): Balve - Book of becoming and being of the city. Published for the 500th anniversary of the city charter being awarded in 1930. Breer & Thiemann, Hamm 1930; Reprinted by the working group on Romania aid of the Kolping family Balve in 1993, Zimmermann-Druck + Verlag, Balve, pp. 319–321.
- ↑ Terror underground. Forgotten Nazi tunnel system
- ↑ Horst Hassel & Horst Klötzer: No jet fuel from Schwalbe 1
- ^ Antonius Fricke: 10,000 workers in the valley. Lecture in the tanner's house of Heimwacht Balve on October 28, 2010.
- ↑ Involvement of the police in Nazi terror. Matthias Wagner, Der Westen, February 5, 2009
- ^ Fritz Schumacher: Home under bombs. Balve 1969.
- ↑ Swallow 1 today
- ↑ Fritz Blach: Land of a Thousand Mountains. Sauerland climbing guide . Geoquest, Halle 2012, chapter Hönnetal , pp. 76–109.
- ↑ Martin Arnswald: The rocks in the Hönnetal. IG Climbing North Rhine-Westphalia e. V., 1999, 2nd edition 2007.
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from March 7, 2018 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. Hönnetalradweg - public discussion
- ↑ Michael Koch: The cycle path between Menden and Balve is coming - but it takes time. In: Der Westen, July 12, 2012, accessed May 9, 2020.
- ^ Carsten Menzel: Slope protection in the Hönnetal. In: Westfälische Rundschau , August 29, 2011, accessed on May 23, 2015.
Coordinates: 51 ° 22 ′ 50.8 ″ N , 7 ° 51 ′ 11.6 ″ E