#Ruhr region

[artfromthefuture]

Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik 2013: Neele Hülckers Projekt "einwohnen" by Werner Wittersheim Via Flickr: Performances und Installationen im Wohnquartier in der Wiesenstraße. Das "Urban Knitting", das nicht Teil der Aktion war, passte gut dazu.

[t-narihara]

My interview by the Kyoto University European Center in Heidelberg about my research stay in Aachen, Germany.

[paolo-streito-1264]

René Burri. Working class housing. Ruhr region. West Germany. Krupp industry. 1961.

[germanpostwarmodern]

Shortly after the Second World War had ended the German Ruhr region became a hotbed of modern art: spearheaded by the group „junger westen“ abstract art was the universal language of artists shaking off the doctrinaire art policies of the defeated dictatorship. Among his peers of the „junger westen“ Gustav Deppe (1913-99) stood out as the one oscillating between abstraction and figuration as well as the one who most directly channelled the surrounding industrial landscape. Power lines, shaft towers as well as organic, amorphic forms take turns in Deppe’s extensive oeuvre. But although he limited himself to the depiction of certain distinctive forms present in the Ruhr region, Deppe over time changed his rendition of these objects, very prominently in the series of shaft towers that he translated into almost fully abstract forms. In his late work of the 1980s and 1990s Deppe then turned to collages and further reduced his pictorial language to basic geometric forms as a means to depict the now often defunct industrial scenery around him.

In 2002 the Kunstverein Witten organized the traveling retrospective „Gustav Deppe - Industrie Technik Landschaft“ that was accompanied by the present catalogue. It contains a large number of works from all work phases, beginning in the late 1940s and concluding with the early 1990s. In addition eight brief but informative essays by companions and experts address the gradual changes in Deppe’s art and also shed light on his long-term teaching at Werkkunstschule and Fachhochschule Dortmund.

Although Gustav Deppe to this day is the least prominent of the „junger westen“ members, his oeuvre in its rigorous adherence to the depiction of the Ruhr region’s industrial landscape is a significant contribution to the region’s art history. Well worth discovering!

[fragrantblossoms]

Else Thalemann (1901-1985) Industrial study of the Ruhr region

[semioticapocalypse]

Bernd and Hilla Becher. Cooling Tower, Zeche Mont Cenis, Herne, Ruhr Region, Germany. 1965

Follow my new AI-related project «Collective memories»

[hipstafootprint]

Ruhr Architecture I

Extraordinary ordinary architecture from the Ruhr region

Marl · 2023

[dailyanarchistposts]

Anarchist Resistance to Nazism — The FAUD Underground in the Rhineland

The anarcho-syndicalist union the Freie Arbeiter Union (FAUD) had a strong presence in Duisberg in the Rhineland, with a membership in 1921 of around 5,000 members. Then this membership fell away and by the time Hitler rose to power there were just a few little groups. For example, the number of active militants in Duisberg-South was 25, and the Regional Labour Exchange for Rhineland counted 180 to 200 members. At its last national congress in Erfurt in March 1932, the FAUD decided that if the Nazis came to power its federal bureau in Berlin would be dissolved, that an underground bureau would be put in place in Erfurt, and that there should be an immediate general strike. This last decision was never put into practice, as the FAUD was decimated by massive arrests.

In April or May 1933, doctor Gerhard Wartenburg, before being forced to leave Germany, had the locksmith Emil Zehner put in place as his replacement as FAUD secretary. He fled to Amsterdam, where he was welcomed, with other German refugees, by Albert de Jong, the Dutch anarcho-syndicalist. At the same time the secretariat of the International Workers Association (the anarcho-syndicalist international) was transferred to Holland in 1933, though the Nazis seized its archives and correspondence. In autumn 1933, Zehner was replaced by Ferdinand Goetze of Saxony, then by Richard Thiede of Leipzig. Goetze reappeared in western Germany in autumn 1934, already on the run from the Gestapo. In the meantime, a secret group of the FAUD was set up, with the support of the Dutch section of the IWA, the NSV. A secretariat of the FAUD in exile was set up in Holland. Up to the rise to power of the Nazis, the worker Franz Bungert was a leading member of the Duisberg FAUD. Without even the pretence of a trial, he was interned in the concentration camp of Boegermoor in 1933. After a year he was freed but was put under permanent surveillance. His successor was Julius Nolden, a metalworker then unemployed and treasurer of the Labour Exchange for the Rhineland. He was also arrested by the Gestapo, who suspected that his activity in a Society for the Right to Cremation(!) hid illegal relations with other members of the FAUD.

In June 1933, a little after he was released, he met Karolus Heber, who was part of the secret FAUD organisation in Erfurt. He had been part of the General Secretariat in Berlin, but after many arrests there had to move to Erfurt. They arranged a plan for the flight of endangered comrades to Holland and the setting up of a resistance organisation in the Rhineland and the Ruhr.

Nolden and his comrades set up a secret escape route to Amsterdam and distributed propaganda against the Nazi regime. Albert de Jong visited Germany and via the FAUD member Fritz Schroeder, met Nolden. De Jong arranged for the sending of propaganda over the border via the anarchist Hillebrandt. One pamphlet was disguised with the title Eat German Fruit And You Will Be In Good Health. It became so popular among the miners that they used to greet each other with: ”Have you eaten German fruit as well?” As for the escape route, the German-Dutch anarchist Derksen, who had a very good knowledge of the border zone, was able to get many refugees to safety. Many of those joined the anarchist columns in Spain.

After 1935, with the improvement of the economic situation in Germany, it was more and more difficult to maintain a secret organisation. Many members of the FAUD found jobs again after a long period of unemployment and were reluctant to engage in active resistance. The terror of the Gestapo did the rest. On top of this, no more propaganda was sent from Amsterdam.

The outbreak of the Spanish Revolution in 1936 breathed new life into German anarchism. Nolden multiplied his contacts in Duisberg, Düsseldorf and Cologne, organising meetings and launching appeals for financial aid to the Spanish anarchists. As a result of Nolden’s tireless activities, several large groups were set up. Nolden went everywhere by bike! At the same time Simon Wehren of Aachen used the network of FAUD labour exchanges to find volunteer technicians to go to Spain.

In December 1936, the Gestapo, thanks to an informer they had infiltrated, uncovered groups in Moenchengladbach, Duelken and Viersen. At the start of 1937, 50 anarcho- syndicalists of Duisberg, Düsseldorf and Cologne were arrested, including Nolden. A little later other arrests followed, bringing to 89 the number of FAUD members in Gestapo hands. The trial lasted a year on charges of “preparation of acts of high treason”[1]. There were 6 acquittals for lack of evidence, the others being condemned to prison sentences from several months to 6 years in January-February 1938. Nolden was sent to the Luettringhausen Penitentiary from which the Allies freed him on 19th April 1945. In Whitsun 1947 he was at Darmstadt with other survivors of the Duisberg group to found the Federation of Libertarian Socialists. In prison, several anarchists were murdered. Emil Mahnert, a turner of Duisberg, was thrown from a second floor window by a police torturer. The mason Wilhelm Schmitz died in prison on 29 January 1944 in obscure circumstances. Ernst Holtznagel was sent to Disciplinary Battalion 999, of sinister reputation, and murdered there. Michael Delissen of Moenchengladbach was beaten to death by the Gestapo in December 1936. Anton Rosinke of Düsseldorf was murdered in February 1937.

The anarcho-syndicalist Ernst Binder of Düsseldorf wrote in August 1946: “A massive resistance not having been possible in 1933, the best of those at the heart of the workers movement had to disperse their forces in a guerrilla war without hope. But if, from this painful experience, the workers movement, the workers will draw from this the lesson that only united defence at the right moment is effective in the struggle against fascism, those sacrifices will not have been in vain”.

[vintage-every-day]

Photo by August Sander, Germany. Workmen in the Ruhr Region ca. 1928.

[dashalbrundezimmer]

administration building of the regionalverband ruhr // essen südviertel

architect: alfred fischer

completion: 1929

the administration building, which was renovated a few years ago, is a successful example of new construction in the ruhr region. the mixture of new objectivity and expressionism creates a complex that is still modern in its design today.

[airsllides]

airsLLide No. 18748: D-AICD, Airbus A320-212, Condor Berlin, Corfu, June 17, 2000.

You may need to look closely in order to notice the small «Berlin» lettering added in light grey just above the Condor titles, and you might just take it for the airplane's name. However, Condor Berlin actually was an inhouse subsidiary German leisure carrier Condor, then a Lufthansa subsidiary based in Düsseldorf, right in the densly populated Ruhr region of Western Germany, formed in 1998 in order to expand East. Its main purpose was to compete with low-cost-carrier Air Berlin, and for this purpose, parent Condor - at that time a power-user of the Boeing 757 and Boeing 767 - acquired 13 Airbus A320s for the new subsidiary.

Condor Berlin mainly focused on the leisure market, though, and thus it comes as no surprise that in 2013, after Thomas Cook acquired Condor, the Berlin subsidiary was quickly integrated into the parent and the combined fleet was used to serve any route with whatever aircraft model was size-wise suited best.

[vdgmilitaria]

“What Others Think of the Fourth Armored Division” Souvenir Booklet (July 25, 1945)

Era: World War II

This rare booklet, titled “What Others Think of the Fourth Armored Division,” was published as a souvenir on July 25, 1945. It serves as a testament to the storied combat history of the 4th Armored Division during World War II. This division, often hailed as one of the most effective armored units in the U.S. Army, fought across Europe from the beaches of Normandy to the heart of Germany, leaving an indelible mark on the outcome of the war.

Formation and Early Action:

The 4th Armored Division was activated in April 1941 at Pine Camp, New York. Its first combat deployment came after the D-Day landings, where it quickly established itself as a rapid and effective strike force under the command of Major General John S. Wood. Part of General George S. Patton’s Third Army, the 4th Armored Division played a critical role in the breakout from the Normandy beachhead during Operation Cobra in July 1944, contributing to the collapse of German defenses in France.

Race Across France:

After breaking through German lines in Normandy, the division spearheaded the Third Army’s advance across France, earning its nickname as “Patton’s Best.” It became renowned for its ability to cover large distances quickly, engaging enemy forces with its well-coordinated combination of tanks, infantry, and artillery. The division liberated towns and cut off retreating German forces, a significant achievement in a fast-moving war of maneuver.

Heroic Stand at Bastogne - Battle of the Bulge:

Perhaps the most famous chapter in the 4th Armored Division’s history came during the Battle of the Bulge. In December 1944, as the German Ardennes Offensive pushed into Allied lines, the 101st Airborne Division found itself surrounded at Bastogne, Belgium. The 4th Armored Division, under the command of General Patton’s Third Army, was tasked with breaking through to relieve the besieged paratroopers. On December 26, 1944, the division achieved this, fighting through fierce resistance and enduring harsh winter conditions to break the siege, cementing its place in history as a decisive force in the battle.

The Final Push into Germany:

Following the success at Bastogne, the division continued its relentless advance into Germany. It crossed the Rhine River in March 1945, playing a key role in encircling the Ruhr industrial region and cutting off German forces. The division’s rapid movements contributed to the collapse of German resistance, culminating in the division’s arrival at the Elbe River, where it made contact with Soviet forces in late April 1945.

Legacy and Leadership:

Under the leadership of commanders like Major General John S. Wood and later Major General Hugh Gaffey, the division’s reputation was lauded by both Allied and enemy commanders. This booklet includes letters and comments from notable military leaders, praising the division’s achievements. General Patton himself remarked that no armored division in the world had achieved more than the 4th, famously stating, “There has never been such a superb fighting organization as the 4th Armored Division.”

For collectors and military historians, this booklet offers a remarkable glimpse into the pride and recognition bestowed upon one of World War II’s most formidable fighting units. The Fourth Armored Division’s contributions to the Allied victory were invaluable, and this document serves as both a tribute to their service and a reflection of their enduring legacy in U.S. military history.

[beardedmrbean]

ESSEN, Germany (AP) — For most of this century, Germany racked up one economic success after another, dominating global markets for high-end products like luxury cars and industrial machinery, selling so much to the rest of the world that half the economy ran on exports.

Jobs were plentiful, the government's financial coffers grew as other European countries drowned in debt, and books were written about what other countries could learn from Germany.

No longer. Now, Germany is the world’s worst-performing major developed economy, with both the International Monetary Fund and European Union expecting it to shrink this year.

It follows Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the loss of Moscow's cheap natural gas — an unprecedented shock to Germany’s energy-intensive industries, long the manufacturing powerhouse of Europe.

The sudden underperformance by Europe's largest economy has set off a wave of criticism, handwringing and debate about the way forward.

Germany risks “deindustrialization” as high energy costs and government inaction on other chronic problems threaten to send new factories and high-paying jobs elsewhere, said Christian Kullmann, CEO of major German chemical company Evonik Industries AG.

From his 21st-floor office in the west German town of Essen, Kullmann points out the symbols of earlier success across the historic Ruhr Valley industrial region: smokestacks from metal plants, giant heaps of waste from now-shuttered coal mines, a massive BP oil refinery and Evonik's sprawling chemical production facility.

These days, the former mining region, where coal dust once blackened hanging laundry, is a symbol of the energy transition, dotted with wind turbines and green space.

The loss of cheap Russian natural gas needed to power factories “painfully damaged the business model of the German economy,” Kullmann told The Associated Press. “We’re in a situation where we’re being strongly affected — damaged — by external factors.”

After Russia cut off most of its gas to the European Union, spurring an energy crisis in the 27-nation bloc that had sourced 40% of the fuel from Moscow, the German government asked Evonik to keep its 1960s coal-fired power plant running a few months longer.

The company is shifting away from the plant — whose 40-story smokestack fuels production of plastics and other goods — to two gas-fired generators that can later run on hydrogen amid plans to become carbon neutral by 2030.

One hotly debated solution: a government-funded cap on industrial electricity prices to get the economy through the renewable energy transition.

The proposal from Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck of the Greens Party has faced resistance from Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a Social Democrat, and pro-business coalition partner the Free Democrats. Environmentalists say it would only prolong reliance on fossil fuels.

Kullmann is for it: “It was mistaken political decisions that primarily developed and influenced these high energy costs. And it can’t now be that German industry, German workers should be stuck with the bill.”

The price of gas is roughly double what it was in 2021, hurting companies that need it to keep glass or metal red-hot and molten 24 hours a day to make glass, paper and metal coatings used in buildings and cars.

A second blow came as key trade partner China experiences a slowdown after several decades of strong economic growth.

These outside shocks have exposed cracks in Germany's foundation that were ignored during years of success, including lagging use of digital technology in government and business and a lengthy process to get badly needed renewable energy projects approved.

Other dawning realizations: The money that the government readily had on hand came in part because of delays in investing in roads, the rail network and high-speed internet in rural areas. A 2011 decision to shut down Germany's remaining nuclear power plants has been questioned amid worries about electricity prices and shortages. Companies face a severe shortage of skilled labor, with job openings hitting a record of just under 2 million.

And relying on Russia to reliably supply gas through the Nord Stream pipelines under the Baltic Sea — built under former Chancellor Angela Merkel and since shut off and damaged amid the war — was belatedly conceded by the government to have been a mistake.

Now, clean energy projects are slowed by extensive bureaucracy and not-in-my-backyard resistance. Spacing limits from homes keep annual construction of wind turbines in single digits in the southern Bavarian region.

A 10 billion-euro ($10.68 billion) electrical line bringing wind power from the breezier north to industry in the south has faced costly delays from political resistance to unsightly above-ground towers. Burying the line means completion in 2028 instead of 2022.

Massive clean energy subsidies that the Biden administration is offering to companies investing in the U.S. have evoked envy and alarm that Germany is being left behind.

“We’re seeing a worldwide competition by national governments for the most attractive future technologies — attractive meaning the most profitable, the ones that strengthen growth,” Kullmann said.

He cited Evonik’s decision to build a $220 million production facility for lipids — key ingredients in COVID-19 vaccines — in Lafayette, Indiana. Rapid approvals and up to $150 million in U.S. subsidies made a difference after German officials evinced little interest, he said.

“I'd like to see a little more of that pragmatism ... in Brussels and Berlin,” Kullmann said.

In the meantime, energy-intensive companies are looking to cope with the price shock.

Drewsen Spezialpapiere, which makes passport and stamp paper as well as paper straws that don't de-fizz soft drinks, bought three wind turbines near its mill in northern Germany to cover about a quarter of its external electricity demand as it moves away from natural gas.

Specialty glass company Schott AG, which makes products ranging from stovetops to vaccine bottles to the 39-meter (128-foot) mirror for the Extremely Large Telescope astronomical observatory in Chile, has experimented with substituting emissions-free hydrogen for gas at the plant where it produces glass in tanks as hot as 1,700 degrees Celsius.

It worked — but only on a small scale, with hydrogen supplied by truck. Mass quantities of hydrogen produced with renewable electricity and delivered by pipeline would be needed and don't exist yet.

Scholz has called for the energy transition to take on the “Germany tempo,” the same urgency used to set up four floating natural gas terminals in months to replace lost Russian gas. The liquefied natural gas that comes to the terminals by ship from the U.S., Qatar and elsewhere is much more expensive than Russian pipeline supplies, but the effort showed what Germany can do when it has to.

However, squabbling among the coalition government over the energy price cap and a law barring new gas furnaces has exasperated business leaders.

Evonik's Kullmann dismissed a recent package of government proposals, including tax breaks for investment and a law aimed at reducing bureaucracy, as “a Band-Aid.”

Germany grew complacent during a “golden decade” of economic growth in 2010-2020 based on reforms under Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in 2003-2005 that lowered labor costs and increased competitiveness, says Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg bank.

“The perception of Germany's underlying strength may also have contributed to the misguided decisions to exit nuclear energy, ban fracking for natural gas and bet on ample natural gas supplies from Russia,” he said. “Germany is paying the price for its energy policies.”

Schmieding, who once dubbed Germany “the sick man of Europe” in an influential 1998 analysis, thinks that label would be overdone today, considering its low unemployment and strong government finances. That gives Germany room to act — but also lowers the pressure to make changes.

The most important immediate step, Schmieding said, would be to end uncertainty over energy prices, through a price cap to help not just large companies, but smaller ones as well.

Whatever policies are chosen, “it would already be a great help if the government could agree on them fast so that companies know what they are up to and can plan accordingly instead of delaying investment decisions," he said.

[olderthannetfic]

As another person from Germany, I wouldn't even use my state to describe where I am from to a person where I can assume they know something about Germany (otherwise i'd just use Germany). I would use the name of the region. Recently, I moved a bit more than 100km south from the Ruhr area to a small city in the Rhineland, both in NRW. That was far enough that people start to talk differently and there are cultural differences (carnival...)

--

[germanpostwarmodern]

During the 1950s and 1960s the German Ruhr region was a hotbed of abstract art: artists like Emil Schumacher, Heinrich Siepmann and Gustav Deppe rekindled with the avant-garde and sought to make up for the anti-modern times of National Socialism and war. A lesser-known exponent of abstract art was Hans Kaiser (1914-1982), born in Bochum, autodidact and since 1950 residing in Soest, a middle-sized town on the outskirts of the Ruhr region. Up until his death Soest remained the center of his life and it is also here that he inscribed himself in many ways into the town’s face, most prominently in the form of different stained glass windows for the St. Patrokli church.

Stylistically Kaiser went through a number of changes but one aspect of his style remained persistent, namely a calligraphic, writing-like fastidiousness that is present in both his abstract works and in his portrait drawings.

In 2014 the Kunstmuseum Bochum under the title „Hans Kaiser - Imaginäre Räume“ dedicated an exhibition to Kaiser’s so-named „Losschreibung“, i.e. the development of his specific artistic language: as a result of the disentanglement from the image and the simultaneous discovery of writing as the form of conveying the meaning of words Kaiser created imaginary spaces that point beyond language and meaning. The accompanying catalogue in an impressive selection of works from the 1960s up until the 1980s documents Kaiser’s development of imaginary spaces on canvas and paper and demonstrates how the writing-like elements gradually give way to ever deeper spaces made up of colors alone.

In his portrait drawings, as shown in Erich Franz’s catalogue from 2003, Kaiser in turn dissolves the seeming contradiction of abstraction and object by letting the pen „write“ itself into the drawing, a modus operandi that creates obvious parallels between the portraits and abstract works: in both cases writing-like structures provide a self-determined dynamic that is unique to Kaiser’s post 1957 works. At the same time the drawings, unlike the paintings, incorporate the white of the sheet paper and activate them as integrative to the overall dynamic of the portrait and show that Kaiser was in no way afraid of the blank space.

Against the background of the previously discussed qualities and characteristics discussed of Hans Kaiser’s art it is irritating that he is still relatively unknown beyond Soest and the Ruhr region…

[birdofmay]

I mean, I'm an exchange student in Sachsen, Germany (from the USA), and one of the things I was told was that Germans are super punctual. At least in Sachsen they are not really. Maybe that's different up north?

Sachsen is more chill, that's a stereotype too, but generally those parts of Germany that used to be GDR are more chill when it comes to punctuality. Them, and sometimes the Ruhr region, but that varies greatly.