Swiss settlement
The Swiss settlement was in Düren , a district town in North Rhine-Westphalia .
The settlement extended to the area between Burgauer Allee, Piusstraße, Nideggener Straße and Mühlenweg, today Dechant-Bohnekamp-Straße, to today's Burgau-Gymnasium .
The settlement was built after the Second World War and consisted of 25 barracks , namely 20 sleeping, 2 canteen and 3 kitchen barracks. These buildings were intended to alleviate the housing shortage in the city that was destroyed on November 16, 1944 .
The Swiss donation was a public collection of the Swiss people that existed from 1944 to 1948 as an expression of solidarity with the victims of the Second World War. At first the donation consisted of food for the needy population in the war-torn countries. One of the selected cities in Germany was Düren, where more than 1000 children received additional food rations for several months. Material donations were added later. So clothing and shoes could be made. On December 19, 1946, the Swiss Red Cross held a Christmas party for 1,400 children from the city in the theater of what was then the sanatorium and nursing home, now the LVR Clinic in Düren .
In addition to these donations, the Swiss donation also provided former military barracks. The donated barracks became living space for 71 families. According to a memo from the military government dated March 22, 1946, they were to be looked after by Switzerland . Furnishings had to be requested from the city administration. A garden of 600 to 1000 m² belonged to the barracks. The Swiss donation provided the necessary seeds so that the families could support themselves.
According to an agreement between the city and Caritas, the Swiss Caritas took over the work of the Swiss donation on July 1, 1948. In 1949, the greatest need was alleviated and the Swiss ceased their activities. Later one- family houses were built on the site . In 1964 the Josefschule was built in the southern part.
One of the barracks from the Swiss settlement still stands next to the Düren rubble mountain and serves as a clubhouse for the western shooting club.
swell
- Traces No. 9 September 2009, magazine of the Dürener Geschichtswerkstatt e. V.
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 50 ° 47 ′ 28.6 ″ N , 6 ° 29 ′ 33.6 ″ E