the Town Hall
a view from the Town Hall
in a Cafe
the Märkisches Museum
a bridge across the river Ruhr
Ruhr
a tour
We
at Friedr. Lohmann GmbH
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the Town Hall |
a view from the Town Hall |
in a Cafe |
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the Märkisches Museum |
a bridge across the river Ruhr |
Ruhr |
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a tour |
We |
at Friedr. Lohmann GmbH |
In summer of 2000 a delegation of Kursk-Witten friendship society visited Witten. The delegation stayed there a bit longer than a week. During the visit we were able to visit a lot of interesting places and met interesting people. We would like to thank our German friends for that cozy and friendly atmosphere by which we were surrounded in Germany. Personally, we are very thankful to Detlef and Christa Thierig for good organization of that event. It was my first visit a foreign country. I was deeply impressed by Germany. It was such a feeling that I would have got into another world, perhaps, the future of our children.
Witten
is not a big, cozy, full of green plants and flowers, very typical German town.
Its population is 110,000. Witten is situated on the west of Germany near the
industrial center Dortmund. The history of Witten is known not only by the old
citizens, but the schoolchildren as well. Our towns are very similar. Witten
has a long history as well as Kursk has. Even the names of the rivers on which
banks our towns were founded sound similar Kur and Ruhr. Both Kursk region and
Ruhr region are rich of mineral sources. During the last few generations Witten
has changed a lot. In 1800 Witten was an ordinary village with 60 courtyards.
In 1890 Witten became an industrial center with population of 30,000. Ruhr region
at those times was one of the most populated regions in the world. A lot of
people came there from Poland, Check, Belgium, and Holland. For newcomers
houses were built.Ê I have seen those
houses. I was under a good impression, when I saw the quality of that
accommodation. It was built for the ordinary miners in the beginning of the 20th
century. Now it is nearly a hundred years old. To be honest, most of Kursk
citizens canât afford similar accommodation in Kursk. To make me feel easier my
German friends said that it was very important not just to draw new workers in,
but to hold them too. It is very significant, because our authorities have
newer paid such good attention to us. Talking about miners in Germany we should
say that their life was not so easy. At those times they hardly ever reached
the age of 30. Moreover, children worked in mains as well. One of the first
industry founders in Witten was Fridrih Lomann, who founded a still foundry in
1790. During the next decades descendants of the family founded a number of
other factories or took their part in it. New factories appeared. However, in
1929 ö 1932 the economical crisis happened, as a result a lot of factories were
closed. Before that, the last mine had been closed in 1928. Witten suffered a
lot during World War II (to be exact 12.12.44 and 19.03.45); the US air force
destroyed 80% of the town. Among the damaged buildings were Mariininskaja
church, Rathaus, Hause Berge and many others.Ê The historical center of the town was destroyed as well. However, the
Germans were very proud of the history of their town so they restored Witten.
It was done with love and real German punctuality. That is why when we watch
any of those historical or architecture monuments we canât say for sure whether
a memorial is real or rebuilt. This time is not the best for the town, because
of the high level of unemployment. It is one of the highest in Germany. For the
last 10 years lots of people from the former USSR have settled in Germany,
mainly women married Germans. Newcomers get used to the new lifestyle and
become like ordinary Germans. In the town there is a Russian shop Kashtan
(Chestnut) that sells goods, souvenirs and even food from Russia. While I was
in Germany I have newer seen a policeman. In answer to my question whether they
existed, Germans said that, of course, they existed. The far to the east the
numerous they are.
ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ In conclusion I would like to share my personal impressions about people living in that wonderful town. It is because of them there were so many false stereotypes wiped off. In Germany there are not only high living standard, but people estimate culture and have their own opinion on many events that happen to the world. People work a lot, but not devastating themselves. It seems to me that the answer to the German prosperity is perfect organization of business and punctuality.Ê Unfortunately, in Russia, we canât pride ourselves in the same manner. Instead of solving problems we make a show. Even such tragedies as the death of submarine ãKurskä and the fire in Ostankinskaja TV tower showed the same old things. I hope that citizens of Witten will read my note about their town. I wish them success in all their projects. We are very glad to see you in our town. Welcome to Kursk! I would like to thank, personally, Bruno Sobotko for the wonderful book about Witten: Bruno J. Sobotko. Hause Berge zu Witten.
