Huertgen

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Huertgen
community Hürtgenwald
Coordinates: 50 ° 42 ′ 37 "  N , 6 ° 22 ′ 32"  E
Height : 388 m above sea level NHN
Area : 13.41 km²
Residents : 789  (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density : 59 inhabitants / km²
Incorporation : 1st July 1969
Postal code : 52393
Area code : 02429

Hürtgen is a district of the municipality Hürtgenwald in the Düren district , North Rhine-Westphalia .

The administrative seat of the municipality of Hürtgenwald is Kleinhau , while Hürtgen is the namesake for the municipality and the surrounding forest area Hürtgenwald (forest) .

location

The place is in the Eifel National Park in the Rureifel and in the North Eifel Nature Park in the North Eifel . Neighboring towns are Vossenack and Kleinhau .

The Wehebachtalsperre is located near Hürtgen .

history

According to historical researchers, the place name comes from the medieval word hurt = environment. According to legend, has a hunting lodge here umhegte Charlemagne confessed.

Archaeological finds suggest the first settlement in the Neolithic between 3000 and 1800 BC.

On February 21, 1903, there was a major fire in Hürtgen. A total of 84 of 115 houses that were closed together fell to rubble, including the church and school.

In the municipal area which found 1944 All Souls to Vossenack and Hürtgen instead, died at about 60,000 soldiers. Although the Americans ultimately won because of their numerical superiority, they suffered the worst defeat in the West during the entire Second World War in the "Hell in the Huertgen Forest" . General James Gavin, the commander of the 82nd Paratrooper Division, ruled after the fight:

"It was the most costly, unproductive and worst-fought battle that our army has fought."

The battle in the Hürtgen Forest raged from September 1944 to February 1945. During this time, the Hürtgen forester's house changed hands several times. On November 26, 1944, the Americans opened the attack on Huertgen. On that day they succeeded in finally taking the long-fought forester's house and penetrating the town. Two days of heavy house-to-house fighting followed, during which the already badly damaged place was almost completely destroyed. It was not until the afternoon of November 28, 1944 that the Americans, who had brought their tanks forward, got Hürtgen completely under their control.

The TV anti-war film The Sound of War is about the battle in the Huertgen Forest.

Reorganization

On July 1, 1969, the formerly independent municipalities of Bergstein, Brandenberg, Gey, Großhau, Hürtgen, Kleinhau and Straß, administered in the Straß-Bergstein District Association, voluntarily merged to form the municipality of Hürtgenwald. As part of the municipal reorganization ( Aachen law ), the municipality of Hürtgenwald was created in its current size through the incorporation of Vossenack on January 1, 1972.

church

Holy Cross (2019)

The completely destroyed church building of the Holy Cross was rebuilt in 1949. Only in 1966 came another of rubble added brick church tower. This was the fourth church building since the first chapel in 1684. In 1804 Hürtgen became an independent parish . Today's church is called the “Peace Memorial Church”.

War cemetery

The war cemetery (2004)

The Hürtgen war cemetery is located about 500 m from the site, directly on the main road . The expansion of this military cemetery was started by the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge in the summer of 1950 and ended in 1952. The occupancy of this place of honor is 2997, and the number of unknown deaths is still 524 today.

traffic

Federal highway 399 runs through the center of the town . BVR buses run through the town on line 286.

Web links

Commons : Hürtgen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.huertgenwald.de
  2. ↑ militaerhistorie.de (page no longer available)
  3. ↑ Martin Bünermann: The communities of the first reorganization program in North Rhine-Westphalia . Deutscher Gemeindeverlag, Cologne 1970, p. 98 .
  4. ^ Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Historical municipality directory for the Federal Republic of Germany. Name, border and key number changes in municipalities, counties and administrative districts from May 27, 1970 to December 31, 1982 . W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart / Mainz 1983, ISBN 3-17-003263-1 , p. 307 .