Horbach (Aachen)

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Horbach
City of Aachen
Coat of arms of Horbach
Coordinates: 50 ° 50 ′ 0 ″  N , 6 ° 2 ′ 40 ″  E
Height : 158  (149-176)  m
Postal code : 52072
Area code : 02407
Passage through the village with St. Heinrich Church
Passage through the village with St. Heinrich Church

Horbach is a village in the north-western Aachen district of Richterich .

history

The area of ​​the Horbach area was already settled in Roman times. This is proven by a Roman grave uncovered in 1862 on the “Mittelfrohnrath” estate. There were u. a. Clay grave objects and coins from the time of the Roman emperors Hadrian (117–138) and Mark Aurel (161–180) found. The place was mentioned in a document as "Horbach" as early as 1073 in a deed of donation from Deutz Abbey. The name of the place "Horbach", which can be freely translated from Franconian as "Sumpfbach", comes from the fact that the area was partly swampy and a heath landscape that was made arable by Celtic tribes. After the Romans occupied the area west of the Rhine, they built stone-paved roads between the individual camps. One of these connecting roads ran west of Horbach via today's Laurensbergerstraße. In addition to the "Steinstraß" manor, which is now located at Oberdorfstraße 100, the name "Steinstraß" appears in the years 1360–1600 for the entire settlement and was probably used next to the name "Horbach" for a long time.

The Roman occupation ended in the 5th century. Settlement became denser and the manors on the fertile soils in the Horbach area developed. Some of the important manors were so-called side courtyards of the Aachen Palatinate. The first documentary mentions of the manors date back to 1112 (Frohnrath), 1224 (Steinstrass), 1240 (Geucht), 1274 (Rosenberg). The local history is closely connected with the Heydener Ländchen and the Heydener Burg, which lies in the Horbach area and is mentioned as early as the 13th century.

Gradually, more or less closed rows of houses formed next to the manors and on two crossing old paths, at the intersection of which the Church of St. Heinrich stands today. No population figures have survived for the period before 1800. In 1814 there are said to have been 541 inhabitants.

Administratively, the place Horbach belonged from 1361 to the "Heydener Ländchen" or "Ländchen zur Heyden". At that time, Duke Wilhelm II von Jülich united the villages of Richterich, Bank, Steinstrasse (name for Horbach), Berensberg and Eygelshoven to form a Jülich sublordship, which he offered as pledge to the knight Godart von Bongart, the lord of the Heyden family. The French Revolution and the occupation by the French in 1789 and 1792 respectively brought about a change. The Heyden court, which for a time also had its seat in Horbach, was dissolved and replaced by a “municipality”. The area of ​​the Heydener Ländchen with the place Horbach was divided into two "Mairien", Richterich and Pannesheide. Horbach became part of the Mairie Richterich.

Heyden and Horbach house around 1840 (Ph. Van Gulpen)

After the collapse of Napoleonic France and the treaties of the Congress of Vienna in the spring of 1815, Horbach belonged to the Richterich mayor in the Aachen district. The settlement of Horbach developed in the 19th century into a place with a rural, peasant structure, with numerous residents also working in surrounding communities such as Kohlscheid or the city of Aachen. In 1847, the first school building of its own was erected on today's Horbacherstrasse (demolished in the 1970s). In the years after 1900 the power supply began. In 1908 a new school building was built on Oberdorfstrasse. In 1909 the electric tram from Horbach to Richterich was put into operation as line 30. The first water pipes were also laid after 1900, although some settlement areas (e.g. in the Bremenberg area) were not connected to the water network until after the Second World War . In the period from 1920 to 1968 there was an auxiliary station in the building of the former vicarage, which was looked after by three hospital nurses of St. Elisabeth.

Second world war and end of war

The town of Horbach experienced the first soldiers marching through on May 10, 1940. At around 5 o'clock in the morning the first tanks rolled from Kohlscheid towards the border at Locht. On July 31, several aerial bombs fell on Horbach local area. The winter of 1941/1942 was entered in the Horbach parish chronicle as the “severest winter since living memory”. From September 10, 1944, the evacuation of the place began. Numerous residents were evacuated to Westphalia, the post office and tram ceased operations. Approx. 500 citizens remained in the local area.

The war time ended for Horbach on September 17, 1944. At 3:15 pm American tanks entered the village, but withdrew for the time being before they occupied the local area the following day. The bunker line of the west wall near Forsterheide initially formed the occupation border. This border remained in place until the bunkers were taken on October 17th. That month, Horbach came under German fire from Pannesheide, which was still in German hands. Four people died and one was seriously injured. The electricity and water supplies were interrupted. Pastor Reiner Klein was appointed local mayor on September 23rd. On October 17, 1944, the remaining districts of the Richterich community were occupied by American troops.

On November 3, 1944, two Horbachers were brought before the Allied Court Martial in Verviers (Belgium) for taking in three German soldiers and giving them civilian clothes. Both defendants were acquitted as the first German ever. In January 1945 the water supply was intact again and on May 4, 1945, the parish kindergarten, which had been planned since 1935 but had not been approved before, started work under the direction of Elisabeth's sister Frederika. In July 1945, lessons could be resumed in the Horbach elementary school.

On March 22, 1949, radio reports caused a sensation announcing that Horbach could be assigned to the Netherlands. The state government of North Rhine-Westphalia was finally able to refute these reports on March 28, 1949.

Church history

Ecclesiastically, the place Horbach belonged to the parish Laurensberg, since around 1000 to the parish Richterich, which was connected with the parish Laurensberg from 1300 to 1800 by personal union. The place received the first chapel in the 15th century. The chapel was built in Vetschauer sandstone in the late Gothic style. This chapel was set on fire during the Spanish-Dutch War in 1579 and most of it was destroyed. The chapel lay in ruins for 53 years, when in 1632, in the middle of the Thirty Years War , Wilhelm the 3rd von Bongart Herr zu Heyden (1615–1633), probably on the initiative and with the support of his brother Johann Heinrich , who was canon and cantor of Trier, rebuild the chapel consisting of a nave and choir in the Gothic style. At the same time or later the entrance hall was presented to her. Since then, Horbach had his own clergyman. Johann Heinrich von Bongart named the Horbach Chapel as his universal heir in his will of November 20 - he died in Trier on November 10, 1636 - and determined that the rector (chaplain) of the chapel would be maintained from his estate. At the same time he decided that the chapel, which he called the Chapel of Our Lady, should invoke the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Anna, St. Consecrated to Emperor Heinrich the 2nd and Wilhelm of Aquitaine, and the church consecration on July 13th, the feast of St. Heinrich, should be celebrated. Over time, the chapel in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary became a chapel in honor of St. Heinrich. The first rector of the chapel was Johann Jakob Beck from Bingen, who took office on September 5, 1652. We cannot go wrong in assuming that this Johann Jakob Beck from Bingen came to Horbach through the canon and cantor of Trier Johann Heinrich von Bongart. The chapel, built in 1632, was too small after Horbach was made a parish in 1804. The first priest therefore had the large baroque main altar replaced by a smaller one, also baroque, in 1805 in order to gain space. There was no sacristy. However, as the population gradually increased and many visitors from the Netherlands came to Horbach, an expansion of the chapel became inevitable. When Pastor Gieren came to Horbach in 1844, people began to collect money. Baron Ferdinant von Bongart zu Pfaffendorf donated timber and flooring, the former from his Horbach forests. In 1846 the archbishop approved the expansion. The old choir was demolished and in 1847 the current transept and the new choir in the old churchyard were completed.

The renaissance portal of the parish church of St. Heinrich

About the splendid Renaissance portal at the entrance hall, the magazine “Kunstdenkmäler” from 1912 says: “The richly decorated portal on the south side, allegedly from the Heyden House, shows lateral hermen (pillars / columns) with decorated shafts and harpies (heraldic animal) ; a cornice with putti heads above the lintel. The top is formed by two lions with the double coat of arms of von Bongarts above a frieze decorated with cartouche and masks. On the broken gable with Medusa head a knight with the coat of arms, also that of von Bongarts. Pretty, if rough sandstone work with Dutch character from the beginning of the 17th century. ”It has been proven that the portal was built between 1590 and 1610, and that the client Wilhelm, Herr zu Heyden (1596 to 1615), who became known as a statesman and diplomat comes into question. That the portal was intended for the stronghold of Heyden and presumably adorned the entrance to the mighty residential tower, where the large opening in the southwest corner of the first floor now suggests the old entrance, cannot be said precisely. This stronghold was destroyed during the predatory wars in France and it was decided to leave it to its fate, apparently because the family preferred to live on their other splendid estates and only the farm buildings necessary for farming, the two bailey, as a makeshift restore. The remnants of stone carvings of artistic value were walled in at the two outer castles. These works fall during the reign of Baron Carl Lothar Melchior Adolf von Bongart (1674–1694), a great grandson of the presumed builder of the Renaissance portal and the last bongart of the Heyden line. It was most likely this Carl Lothar who transferred the splendid portal of the church in Horbach to the beautification and at the same time to the pious memory of his ancestors. That is why I would also like to assume that the entrance hall was only added on this occasion (around 1691), as the masonry also reveals a later date of construction than the gable wall and corners have been specially developed to accommodate two pillars from the destroyed castle. Through this action, the Horbach village church was given one of the rare Renaissance monuments in the Aachen region.

After 1950

In 1953 the St. Heinrich Catholic Kindergarten was given its own building next to the church. In 1961, the elementary school on Oberdorfstrasse was expanded.

With the local reorganization on January 1, 1972, the Richterich community lost its independence. Thus the place Horbach comes to the city of Aachen.

In 1981 the gym was opened and in 1983 the new sports field was built.

In 1992, a partially open door (TOT) was set up on the ground floor of the parish youth home.

In 1994 the green space in front of the youth home was redesigned according to plans by Franz Spiertz.

In 1996 a new building for the kindergarten was built on Wiesenweg.

In 2011 the town of Horbach achieved second place in the north of the Aachen city region in the competition “Our village has a future” of the Aachen city region.

Club life

The majority of the Horbach local associations are organized in the interest group of the Horbach associations (IG Horbach associations), to which, however, other institutions such as the parish also belong. This IG organizes a village festival every 2 years on the Horbach schoolyard and organizes the annual senior night in which all Horbach residents from the age of 65 can participate.

In 2016, the following clubs and groups belonged to the IG:

  • Catholic women's community
  • Friends of the Catholic Primary School Horbach
  • Friends of Kindergarten
  • Friends of the parish
  • Parish council
  • Church choir St. Cäcilia (founded 1902)
  • KAB Horbach
  • KG Horbacher Freunde 1998 eV
  • St. Marien Choral Society (founded 1864)
  • Local farming community Horbach
  • DPSG Stamm Westwind
  • SV 1919 Horbach
  • ToT unicorn

Attractions

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Francis Spiertz: Our Horbach . Ed .: Franz Spiertz.
  2. ^ Will Hermanns: Home chronicle of the district of Aachen . Ed .: Archive for Deutsche Heimatpflege GmbH.
  3. ^ Parish St. Heinrich Aachen-Horbach: Parish chronicle of the parish St. Heinrich Aachen-Horbach . Ed .: Parish St. Heinrich Aachen-Horbach.
  4. ^ Herbert Lepper: 175 years of the parish of St. Heinrich Aachen-Horbach . Ed .: Parish St. Heinrich Aachen-Horbach.
  5. ↑ a b c January Pontzen / Josef Frings: The community Richterich 1933-1945 . Ed .: Heimatfreunde des Heydener Ländchen 1989 eV
  6. ↑ a b January Pontzen: 200 years parish of St. Henry Aachen-Horbach . Ed .: Parish St. Heinrich Aachen-Horbach.
  7. ^ Heribert Reiners: Art monuments of the district of Aachen . tape 1912 .
  8. ^ 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. 305 .
  9. ↑ Theo brewer / Jan Pontzen: 150 years Sr. Mary's glee club Aachen-Horbach . Ed .: St. Marien-Gesangverein Aachen-Horbach.
  10. ↑ members IGHV. In: ig-horbach.de. Retrieved October 30, 2016 .