Werewolf (Solingen)
O bus stop werewolf
Werwolf is the name of a street in the Mitte district of the city of Solingen . The 700 meter long road between the Solingen Mitte railway station on the Wuppertal-Oberbarmen – Solingen railway line and Entenpfuhl square is a section of the federal road 229 .
The street was mentioned in a document as early as the end of the 18th century and was renamed several times over the years: from 1913 to 1933 it was called Kaiserstraße , from 1933 to 1945 Auf dem Kamp and from 1945 to 1957 Hauptstraße . After that it got its original name again.
With regard to the origin of the name of the street, there are the following versions:
- According to a newspaper article from 1925, the name werewolf has to do with the superstition that was still widespread in the 18th century : allegedly, the werewolf always appears to people at a crossroads. This popular belief could have given its current name to the street that actually runs near the intersection of the two roads leading to Remscheid and Wuppertal . According to another legend, Solingen knife grinders were attacked by werewolves on their way to the nearby Schleifkotten on the Wupper in foggy weather. There is even a plausible explanation for this superstition: many of the grinders at the time suffered from diseases such as pulmonary consumption or blackness. In the foggy valley near today's Werwolf road, the humid air pressed against her lungs and made work arduous. Then people started talking about the werewolf jumping on the grinder.
- Another, somewhat more realistic, thesis says that the street was originally called Wehrwolf , which in turn could mean defensive facilities (also called wolf pits ) that were built at this point to protect the city southwards from attacks.
- The Solinger Tageblatt has explained the name. Accordingly, the place name Werewolf has been documented since 1770. There is a report from a knife maker, who of many wolves in the Bergisches Land and especially at the crossroads of the paths between Solingen and Remscheid or between Höhscheid and the paper mill, which grinders would have found there at night and in fog. The legend that the werewolf was half human and half wolf persisted into the 19th century.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Solinger Tageblatt of March 30, 1967
- ↑ Solinger Tageblatt of December 20, 2016, page 14 Solingen - vacancies, but also new shops - the name
Coordinates: 51 ° 10 ′ 4.5 " N , 7 ° 5 ′ 13.6" E