Rhine Prussia settlement

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The Rheinpreußen settlement is a former miners' colony of the Rheinpreußen colliery in the Hochheide district of Duisburg .

Rheinpreußen settlement in the Hochheide district of Duisburg.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the expansion of the Rheinpreußen colliery required the influx of workers from the Prussian eastern provinces, Silesia, Austria-Hungary and the Netherlands. In order to provide these workers with adequate living space, a workers' settlement was built around the pits from 1903. The streets, laid out at right angles, have names related to mining (Eisen, Steiger) and are only cut through by the sloping southern and Schlegel streets. The uniform settlement grid is repeated in the open row of single gable and double houses with eaves, which are either one or two-story. The street scene is further characterized by differentiated roof shapes, avenues (maple, chestnut, linden and plane tree), open front gardens and many rural style elements. Decorative half-timbering was carried out in the gables, the facade was designed with plaster and brick, and the multi-leaf windows have folding shutters.

After the decline of mining, the colliery colony was to give way to a new building, around 1200 apartments were demolished by 1968 and high-rise buildings were built in their place. However, the building owner Josef Kun, who worked on credit, went bankrupt and the Frankfurt BHF Bank , one of the main creditors, applied for the demolition of the remaining 550 houses. The plans became known in May 1975 and the residents defended themselves with a variety of actions, including hunger strikes in front of Duisburg's town hall. It was not until February 1979, and after another hunger strike by the residents, that the city of Duisburg bought the settlement and saved it from demolition.

The Rheinpreußen settlement is part of the Route of Industrial Culture . It is now a listed building and is owned by a residents' cooperative.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Die Zeit, print archive of April 7, 1978: Rheinpreußen settlement - fear of demolition - 2000 people in worry
  2. ^ Die Zeit, print archive of March 2, 1979: Settlers won the battle for their colliery houses Hungry to success

literature

  • Contemporary witness exchange Duisburg ev: Duisburg-Homberg and -Hochheide , Sutton Verlag Erfurt 2015, ISBN 978-3-95400-544-4 .

Web links

Commons : Siedlung Rheinpreußen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 26 '51.9 "  N , 6 ° 41' 44.1"  E