Ruhr Area
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The Ruhr Area (German Ruhrgebiet, colloquially Ruhrpott or Kohlenpott) is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, consisting of a number of large (former) industrial cities bordered by the rivers Ruhr to the south, Rhine to the west, and Lippe to the north. Southwest it borders the Bergisches Land. The area, with some 5.3 million people, is considered part of the larger Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area of more than 12 million people.
Going from west to east, the area includes the city boroughs of Duisburg, Oberhausen, Bottrop, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Bochum, Herne, Hamm, Hagen, and Dortmund as well as parts of the more "rural" districts Wesel, Recklinghausen, Unna and Ennepe-Ruhr. These districts have grown into a large complex forming an (former) industrial landscape of unique size, inhabited by some 5.3 million people, the fourth largest urban area in Europe after Moscow, Greater London, and Paris (see also: Istanbul). The Ruhr area is often mistakenly perceived as a single city because many maps do not show the boundaries between the individual cities.
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History
Being small cities or mere villages for most of their history, the places of the area first grew during the Industrial Revolution, mainly basing their economy on coal mining and steel production. As demand for coal slowly decreased after 1960, the area went through phases of structural crisis and industrial diversification, first developing the traditionally strong manufacturing, then moving into service industries and high technology. The proverbial air and water pollution of the area are largely a thing of the past. In 2005 “Essen for the Ruhrgebiet” was chosen to become the official candidate for nomination as European Capital of Culture 2010.
In January 1923 French forces occupied the Ruhr area as a means of reprisal after Germany had in fact been incapable of fulfilling excessive reparation payments demanded from it after World War I. The German government answered in "passive resistance", which meant, that coalminers and railway workers refused any obedience to the occupation forces. Production and transportation came to a standstill, but the financial consequences completely ruined the public finances in Germany and passive resistance was called off in late 1923. In World War II, the Allies mounted a campaign specifically to encircle and capture the Ruhr Area. This effort succeeded in surrounding the entire area, trapping several hundred thousand Wehrmacht troops within what was known as the Ruhr Pocket. During the Cold War, it was anticipated that a Red Army thrust into Western Europe would begin in the Fulda Gap, and would have the Ruhr Area as a primary target.
Following the German unconditional surrender after World War II the Ruhr area led a perilous existence for a few years. The Morgenthau Plan had set the tone in 1944 by requiring the entire area to be stripped of all mining and manufacturing industry, and its industrial worker population to be dispersed as widely as possible. The Ruhr area was then to be governed as an international zone. As late as 1947 the internationalisation was still being seriously discussed. In the end the beginning of the Cold War precluded any such action. The neighbouring Saar area, containing much of Germanys remaining coal deposits, was however handed over to France by the U.S. in 1947.
Language
The local dialect of German is commonly called Ruhrdeutsch([Kohlen]Pott, Kumpel-Anton-Deutsch), although there is really no uniform dialect that justifies the designation of such one dialect. It is rather a working class sociolect with influences from the various dialects to be found in the area.
The influx of foreign workers has introduced new expressions arising from the circumstances of industrial work and led to a form of slang typical of certain groups of people in the area. So there is no unified grammar or spelling of the Ruhrdeutsch variations available, yet a substantial amount of literature has been published, including translations of the famous Asterix comic books representing a typical instance of the varieties spoken in the Ruhr Area.
Migration
In the 19th century the Ruhr area pulled over 1 million Poles from East Prussia and Silesia due to the event referred to as Ostflucht. Almost all of their descendants today speak German only and consider themselves Germans, with only their Polish family names remaining as a sign of their past.
In 1900, the main concentrations of the Polish minority were:
- Gelsenkirchen, Landkreis (Provinz Westfalen) 13.1 %
- Bochum, Landkreis (Provinz Westfalen) 9.1 %
- Dortmund, Landkreis (Provinz Westfalen) 7.3 %
- Gelsenkirchen, Stadtkreis (Provinz Westfalen) 5.1 %
Public Transport
All transport companies in the Ruhr Area are organized in one company, the VRR( German: Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr), so that there is one price system in all towns. The Ruhr Area has an excellent connection to the German railway system, in peoples transport as well as in cargo transport. Official web site of the VRR
External links
- Post-Surrender Program for Germany (Sept. 1944)
- Ruhr Delegation of the United States of America, Council of Foreign Ministers American Embassy Moscow, March 24, 1947
- Draft, The President's Economic Mission to Germany and Austria, Report 3, March, 1947; OF 950B: Economic Mission as to Food…; Truman Papers.
See also
Occupation of the Ruhr (1923-1924)de:Ruhrgebiet el:Κοιλάδα του Ρουρ als:Ruhrgebiet es:Ruhr eo:Ruhr-regiono fa:روهر fr:Ruhr (région) he:חבל הרוהר nl:Ruhrgebied ja:ルール地方 pl:Zagłębie Ruhry pt:Região do Ruhr fi:Ruhrin alue sr:Рурска област sv:Ruhrområdet