Alsdorf () is a municipality in the district of Aachen, in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Until the 21st century Alsdorf was a mining area, but now many service companies have established themselves in Alsdorf. Alsdorf has an indoor arena, a cinema, a mining museum and a zoo. One of Alsdorf's famous sights is the old Castle.

Geography

Alsdorf is located near the border triangle

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in the west of

. Communes bordering Alsdorf are Baesweiler, Aldenhoven,

Eschweiler Eschweiler (, Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ) is a municipality in the district of Aachen (district), Aachen in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany on the river Inde, near the German-Dutch-Belgian border, and about east of Aachen and w ...

Würselen Würselen (, Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ) is a town in the borough of Aachen (district), Aachen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Würselen lies north of the city of Aachen in the immediate vicinity of the tripoint of Belgium, ...

Herzogenrath Herzogenrath (; ; ) is a municipality in the district of Aachen in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It borders the Dutch town of Kerkrade, the national border in one section running along the middle of a main road and even directly ...

and Übach-Palenberg. Alsdorf belongs to the district of Aachen.

Waters

* Begauer stream * Broicher stream * Hoengener stream * Merzstream * Schaufenberger stream * Siefengraben * Euchener stream * Alsdorf pond * Mariadorf pond

History

Today´s city of Alsdorf is a complex mixture of very different ingredients. A part of today's city was a part of the

Duchy of Limburg The Duchy of Limburg or Limbourg was an imperial estate of the Holy Roman Empire. Much of the area of the duchy is today located within Liège Province of Belgium, with a small portion in the municipality of Voeren, an Enclave and exclave, excla ...

(later united with

Duchy of Brabant The Duchy of Brabant, a Imperial State, state of the Holy Roman Empire, was established in 1183. It developed from the Landgraviate of Brabant of 1085–1183, and formed the heart of the historic Low Countries. The Duchy comprised part of the Bu ...

); and one part belonged to the territory of the

Duchy of Jülich The Duchy of Jülich (; ; ) comprised a state within the Holy Roman Empire from the 11th to the 18th centuries. The duchy lay west of the Rhine river and was bordered by the Electorate of Cologne to the east and the Duchy of Limburg to the wes ...

. In addition, Alsdorf consists of ancient settlements whose history dates back to

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

times, as well as settlements that arose because of the long

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

tradition in Alsdorf. The old settlements are: Alsdorf, Bettendorf, Hoengen, Ofden, Schaufenberg, Warden and Zopp. The name Alsdorf was mentioned for the first time in a document of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in the year 1191. But it might be much older than 800 years. During its history, Alsdorf changed its affiliation a few times. Along with the

duchy of Brabant The Duchy of Brabant, a Imperial State, state of the Holy Roman Empire, was established in 1183. It developed from the Landgraviate of Brabant of 1085–1183, and formed the heart of the historic Low Countries. The Duchy comprised part of the Bu ...

and the

duchy of Limburg The Duchy of Limburg or Limbourg was an imperial estate of the Holy Roman Empire. Much of the area of the duchy is today located within Liège Province of Belgium, with a small portion in the municipality of Voeren, an Enclave and exclave, excla ...

, it also belonged to the

duchy of Burgundy The Duchy of Burgundy (; ; ) was a medieval and early modern feudal polity in north-western regions of historical Burgundy. It was a duchy, ruled by dukes of Burgundy. The Duchy belonged to the Kingdom of France, and was initially bordering th ...

(1430) and fell to the

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

in 1482. Then in 1555, it became part of the

Spanish Netherlands The Spanish Netherlands (; ; ; ) (historically in Spanish: , the name "Flanders" was used as a '' pars pro toto'') was the Habsburg Netherlands ruled by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs from 1556 to 1714. They were a collection of States of t ...

under the

Spanish Habsburgs Habsburg Spain refers to Spain and the Hispanic Monarchy, also known as the Catholic Monarchy, in the period from 1516 to 1700 when it was ruled by kings from the House of Habsburg. In this period the Spanish Empire was at the zenith of its in ...

. In 1714, it was returned to the Austrian Habsburgs until the French invasion of 1794. Pursuant to a judgement of the 1815

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

, Alsdorf was awarded to

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

. With the reconstruction of Germany after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Prussia was eliminated, and its western provinces are now the state of

, where Alsdorf lies. Until the middle of the 19th century, farming was the main industry. Only Alsdorf (approximately 1,200) and Hoengen (about 1,400) had more than 1,000 inhabitants. Population in the greater area of today's Alsdorf totalled 4,000 people. Today the population is more than ten times larger as a result of mining, which came to Alsdorf in the middle of the 19th century. The mining industry needed many workers. First, it was possible to cover the demand with local workers but as the mine grew, the need for workers grew. To be an attractive employer, the mine company built new houses to offer its employees good working conditions. Between 1860 and 1960, a few bigger and smaller villages were founded. These villages are: Begau, Blumenrath, Broicher Siedlung, Busch, Kellersberg, Mariadorf, Neuweiler, Ofden, Ost and Zopp. In 1932, the villages Kellerberg, Ofden, Schaufenberg, and Neuweiler were incorporated and the population grew from 11,500 to 19,711. The great tragedy on October 21, 1930, demonstrated the danger of mine work. In the Anna II Mine, 270 men and one woman were killed. It was the second largest mining accident in Germany history. The Maria Mine closed in September 1962, and the last mine in Alsdorf shut down in 1992. Since this time, Alsdorf has successfully changed its image away from a coal city to a modern business location. A few business parks have been founded, where a lot of companies have located.

Districts

Alsdorf is divided in 17 districts:

Politics

Council

The situation in Alsdorf's council after the last election in 2020:

Culture and Sights

Alsdorf (downtown)

* Alsdorf Castle * Mine Anna * Water tower of mine Anna * Ottenfeld Castle * Alsdorf Civic Center (previously "Euro-Musical-Hall"). Musicals like Gaudí and Just One World were played there. * Alsdorf Zoo * Water tower "CineTower Alsdorf"

Blumenrath

* Blumenrather cross * Secondary modern school Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi * Blumenrath estate

Kellersberg

* Kellersberger mill

Mariadorf

* previously station Maria mine * Church St. Mariae Empfängnis * Middle school Marienschule * Memorial * Old major house * Bus station * Broicher mill

Hoengen

* Milestone

Economy and infrastructure

For over a century, coal mining was the heart of Alsdorf's economy. Coal production started in 1849, when the Maria Mine opened in Hoengen. In 1853, production started in the Anna coal mine of Alsdorf. This was the reason for an increase in production and workforce, this was particularly measurable in mine Anna but not in mine Maria, which was closed by September 1962. Unfortunately, the coal crisis has not spared Alsdorf, and the last mine was closed in 1992. Alsdorf's biggest employer was the

Cinram Cinram International was a Toronto, Canada-based manufacturer of pre-recorded Blu-ray Discs, DVDs, CD-Audio, CD-ROMs, VHS tapes and audio cassettes. It was an affiliate of the Arizona-based Najafi Companies. History Cinram was established i ...

GmbH, with about 2,000 employees in district of Schaufenberg. This company produces up to 2 million

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

s, Blu-rays and

CDs CDS, CDs, Cds, etc. may refer to: Finance * Canadian Depository for Securities, Canadian post-trade financial services company * Certificate of deposit (CDs) * Counterfeit Deterrence System, developed by the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence ...

daily, exported throughout

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. The company was founded in 1975 by

Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the gl ...

and sold in 2003 to the

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

stock corporation Cinram International. Customers are well-known record labels and media companies like

Twentieth Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

and

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

. In 2017 close down its european manufacturing plant at Alsdorf. Besides acquired companies, which either used the closeness to

RWTH Aachen University RWTH Aachen University (), in German ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen'', is a German public research university located in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With more than 47,000 students enrolled in 144 study prog ...

or which saw the favourable location near the borders to

and the

as advantage. In June 2022 it was announced that in the first quarter of 2023

Continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' (album), an album by Saint Etienne * Continen ...

the German multinational automotive parts manufacturing company would produce fuel tanks at Alsdorf. A new factory is built by ''Continental Fuel Storage Systems GmbH''.

Traffic

Alsdorf is located in the heart of Europe, within approximately 200 km of the most important economic centers of the European Union. The town lies in the center of the tri-border region of

. The nearest airports are Maastricht Aachen Airport,

Cologne Bonn Airport Cologne Bonn Airport () is an international airport in north-western Germany. It serves the country's fourth-largest city Cologne, as well as Bonn, the former capital of West Germany. With approximately 12.4 million passengers passing through i ...

and

Düsseldorf Airport Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the seventh-largest city in Germany, with a 2022 population of 629,047. The Düsse ...

. Alsdorf has a direct connection to

Bundesautobahn 4 is an autobahn in two discontinuous segments that crosses Germany in a west–east direction. The western segment has a length of , while the part in the east is long. Route The western A 4 starts north-west of Aachen, where the A ...

and

Bundesautobahn 44 is a German Autobahn. It consists of three main sections and a few smaller sections. It begins in Aachen at the German–Belgian border (A3 motorway (Belgium), Belgian motorway A3) and ends near Kassel (Bundesautobahn 7). Before German unificat ...

; both are German freeways. Furthermore, Alsdorf provides a very good bus system. Every part of Alsdorf or

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

is served by the buses of ASEAG, the local bus company. Since 2005, Alsdorf is connected to the

Euregiobahn Euregiobahn is a system of regional trains (RB 20) in the combined area of the ''AVV (Aachener Verkehrverbund)'' at the Aachen (district), Düren (district) operated by DB Regio NRW. History The historical predecessors of ''Euregiobahn'' wer ...

a regional train system. The railway network has extended steadily; hence you can reach Mariadorf since 2011 by regional train.

Twin towns – sister cities

Alsdorf is twinned with: *

Brunssum Brunssum (; ) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a town in the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg in the Netherlands. The municipality of Brunssum has residents as of . Brunssum was a center of coal mining until 197 ...

, Netherlands (1981) *

Hennigsdorf Hennigsdorf () is a town in the district of Oberhavel, in Brandenburg, in eastern Germany. It is situated north-west of Berlin, just across the city border, which is formed mainly by the Havel river. History The town was first mentioned in 1375, ...

, Germany (1991) *

Saint-Brieuc Saint-Brieuc (, Breton language, Breton: ''Sant-Brieg'' , Gallo language, Gallo: ''Saent-Berioec'') is a city in the Côtes-d'Armor Departments of France, department in Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in northwestern France. History ...

, France (1970)

Notable people

* Peter Heinrich Keulers (1896–1963), journalist and writer * Herbert Zimmermann (1917–1966), reporter of the legendary radio report of the final match of

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the 5th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June ...

in Bern) * Ludwig Schaffrath (1924–2011), sculptor and painter, honorary citizen of Alsdorf * Hans Berger (born 1938), honorary professor at the University of Applied Sciences Georg Agricola, Chairman of the Mining and Energy from 1991 to 1997, SPD member of the Bundestag from 1990 to 1998 * Helmut Brandt (born 1950), politician (CDU), Member of Bundestag * Hans-Peter Lehnhoff (born 1963), former football player, including 1. FC Köln, Bayer 04 Leverkusen * Ralf Souquet (born 1968), billiard champion and gold medalist World Games *

Torsten Frings Torsten Klaus Frings (born 22 November 1976) is a German former Association football, footballer and Manager (association football), manager, who last managed SV Meppen. A former midfielder, throughout his career he played for several German clu ...

(born 1976), football player and coach * Kai Havertz (born 1999), football player

Personalities who are associated with the city Alsdorf

* Kurt Koblitz (1916–1979), SPD member of the Bundestag * Hans Ferner (1928–1982), SPD member of parliament

References

{{Authority control Towns in North Rhine-Westphalia Aachen (district)