THE RUHR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80T00246A016300270001-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 66
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 3, 2011
• Sequence Number: 1
• Content Type: REPORT

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uun I -nuivi
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 With 30 colour plates
THE RUHR
The Ruhr presents many aspects,
for it is a region pulsating with
life and hence is subject to con-
stant changes. Coal, steel, the
chemical industry and, last but
not least, man have endowed
this industrial region with its
own peculiar character and ap-
pearance. But this is only one
aspect of the Ruhr Valley. There
are also others, - the natural
beauty-spots which this region
possesses and preserves.
Arno Wrubel has captured the
diversity of the Ruhr in his
thirty colour plates, which,
together with the Introduction
by Jurgen Eyssen, give us a true
picture of Germany's greatest
industrial area.
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w
THE RUHR
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With thirty colour plates
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Panorama-Books: THE RUHR
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ARNO WRUBEL
THE RUHR
Introduction by
JURGEN EYSSEN
Translated by Gladys Wheelhouse
MUNICH
WILHELM ANDERMANN VERLAG
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Wrapper and cover designed by Gerhard M. Hotop
U. S. Distributors
FRENCH & EUROPEAN PUBLICATIONS Inc.
Rockefeller Center, New York, N. Y.
? 1960 by Wilhelm Andermann Verlag, Munich
All rights reserved by the publisher
Printed in Germany. 160
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Smoothly and steadily the plane flies its course on the route from Berlin to
Dusseldorf. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have just passed over Bielefeld and the
Teutoburg Forest." Shortly afterwards, a mass of buildings, one next to the
other, appears on the horizon to the west; railway tracks branch out to form
the many-stranded tangle of a large siding; and we catch a glimpse of the first
collieries and factories, which, seen from this height, look like boxes of toys. We
have reached the Ruhr Valley.
Beneath us, bathed in a grey and murky red light, a vast sea of houses extends
as far as the distant horizon, - industrial plants as large as medium-sized towns,
and, as far as the eye can see, the intricate network of the railway lines,
the arterial roads like grey ribbons, interspersed by blast-furnaces, shafts and
smoking chimney-stacks, canals, harbour basins with numerous cranes and
quays stretching for miles. Here and there, a few lighter patches stand out
among this vast sea of grimy houses like green islands, - the last remains of
the large tracts of woodlands which, together with the many farms, as recently
as 150 years ago gave this region the appearance of a purely agricultural area.
It was coal which completely changed the aspect of the landscape and turned
the industrial district or "coal pot", as it is humorously and fondly called by
the natives, into the most densely populated area in the whole of Europe. And
it is still coal which today directly or indirectly provides most of the inhabi-
tants of this region with a livelihood.
More than 40 per cent of the working population are employed in the min-
ing industry. It provides more than one million persons, including their depen-
dents, with their daily bread. In mining towns such as Bottrop or Gladbeck, for
instance, 90 per cent of the population derive their means of living from this
industry, and the people of the industrial district know only too well that the
pulse of economic life depends in no small measure on the international market
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value of the "black diamond". In spite of the advance of oil, that new inter-
national major power, coal still remains and will, in the future, too, continue to
remain the leading raw material and source of energy.
Here, coal is omnipresent: whether hidden from sight in the darkness of the
shafts underground, or visible on the tips, where, day and night, it is loaded
onto trucks and barges. Indeed, coal is in the air, in the truest sense, as any
housewife in the Ruhr Valley will tell you, for even on fine days the soot
manages to penetrate through closed windows. And when the weather is damp,
it mingles with the fumes of the chemical industry and forms a dense grey pall
which envelops the entire district.
The industrial district which is the subject of this book is practically iden-
tical with the boundaries of the Ruhr Settlement Union, founded in 1920, and
covers an area of approximately 1,770 square miles. It is bounded in the south
by the river from which it has derived its name, and in the west borders on the
banks of the Rhine. Following the underground coal reserves it has expanded
in the north across the River Emscher as far as the Lippe, whilst in the east it
already extends as far as Hamm.
Since time immemorial there have been settlements in the Ruhr Valley. Even
in the Ice Age men lived and hunted here. And the fact that there were settle-
ments here in the Stone and Bronze Ages has been proved by countless finds, -
implements, weapons and jewellery. The Romans then built a military road
along the Lippe into free Germania. And the legions of Varus marched along
this road to their defeat in the Teutoburg Forest. After the collapse of the
Roman Empire, the Franks invaded the country, bringing with them Christian-
ity. They extended the "Hellweg", a mule-track which had already been used in
earliest times, and transformed it into a trade route between the Rhine and the
Weser. By way of protection they set up a number of fortified villages along
6
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this route and these later grew into towns, such as, for example, Duisburg, Miil-
heim, Essen and Dortmund. In the year 799, St. Liudger, Bishop of Munster,
founded the Benedictine Abbey of Werden, which rapidly became a centre of
intellectual life in the Middle Ages. The "Heliand", a religious poem in Old
High German, based on the gospel, is said to have been written here in the
9th century. For hundreds of years the monks here treasured as the most
valuable possession in their library the famous "Codex argenteus", the Bible
translation by the Gothic Bishop Ulfila, which now adorns the University
library in Uppsala. In the neighbouring town of Essen a convent for the
daughters of the aristocracy was founded about 850, which during the reign
of the Emperor Otto was conducted by the Abbesses Mathilde and Theophanu,
themselves members of the imperial family. Costly relics of its minster - the
processional crosses, set with precious stones and ornamented in enamel, and
the "golden" Madonna - still bear witness to its fame and importance in those
days.
Further eastwards, Dortmund in the 12th and 13th centuries enjoyed its
first era of economic prosperity. The only free imperial town between Cologne
and Bremen, Dortmund was a member of the Hanseatic League. It traded with
towns as far away as Bruges, London and Visby, where a merchant from Dort-
mund was even entrusted with the task of looking after the key to the "strong-
box", the coffer containing the riches of this commercial centre of Gotland,
which were stored in St. Mary's Church. Dortmund had its own right of
mintage and was a chartered city, and its high court of justice enjoyed con-
siderable prestige throughout Westphalia. The highest of the "secret" vehmic
courts likewise convened within the walls of the town. Its debtors even included
the Kings of England, and the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire regarded
the wealth of this industrious trading centre with envious eyes. And this was
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no doubt the reason why he promised the Archbishop of Cologne that he would
obtain the "town of Dortmund with its freedom, shire, with the court, with
the Jews and with all the privileges and rights that the rich in Dortmund have".
But it was the Thirty Years' War that was to put an end to the wealth of the
town and of its inhabitants.
It seemed as though the golden age of this region was over for good; in
reality, however, it had not even dawned. It once more changed hands and
passed from one ruler to another. In 1614 the last Duke of Cleves died. After
a lengthy dispute as to the right of succession, the principalities of Cleves,
Mark and Ravensberg, as well as the region known today as the Ruhr Valley,
came under the rule of the Great Elector of Brandenburg. In 1655 he presented
the new territories which he had acquired with a university in Duisburg. It
was transferred to Bonn in 1818. And the fact that the only university which
has ever existed in the Ruhr Valley was transferred elsewhere, should no doubt
be regarded as something more significant than merely an act of administration.
For it was not book-learning but hard work and untiring manual skill which
was to rouse this region from its state of dormancy and make it a vital part
of the economic activity of our century.
Which brings us back to the subject of coal, - the greatest treasure of the Ruhr
Valley and the factor which has decided its fate. About three million years ago,
the seams of coal, which today traverse the entire region as huge ranges, were
formed from the bogs and swampy forests of the Stone Age. In the south the
layers of coal are close to the surface, but towards the north they dip at an
angle of about two to three degrees from the horizontal. The layers of sand,
limestone and marl which cover them gradually increase to a height of about
3,000 feet. It has been estimated that more than 50 milliard tons of coal can
still be raised from the deposits in the Ruhr Valley, a figure which indicates that
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this region is likely to have reserves for another three to four hundred years.
Coal has been raised in the Ruhr Valley since the Middle Ages. At least, this
fact is first mentioned in a chronicle of the year 1317. The earliest enterprises,
which confined themselves to raising the reserves that were close to the surface,
were small and seldom numbered more than twelve men. In their "main pro-
fession" the miners tilled a small plot of land and regarded "digging for coal"
as a profitable side line. "He works several hours in the morning", so an eyewit-
ness reports in the 18th century, "as far as his strength allows, removes every-
thing without discrimination until he finds coal and then applies himself to his
domestic work again in the afternoon." Even today, the "Kotten", a small
holding of one's own, is highly prized by the miners, and the so-called "Prum-
menkotter", or old-established small holders, occupy a special status in the
hierarchy of the mining profession.
The small pits of those days had naturally not a large output, not even when
the method of building galleries was resorted to in order to get at the coal
reserves. It was only after the invention of the steam engine that a decisive
revolution took place in the development of the mining industry. It was now
possible to cut through the layers of marl, which contained a large amount of
water and covered the high-grade bituminous coal seams. After various experi-
ments, Franz Haniel, one of the pioneers of mining in the Ruhr district, was the
first to raise coal from a depth of three hundred feet at his "Crown Prince" pit
in Essen-Borbeck in 1839. A further important step towards the industriali-
zation of this region was the first successful coking of Ruhr coal in the year
1849. Now, one "could let the ore come to the coal", - in other words, a pro-
fitable iron industry could be set up next to the pits.
The problem of transportation was solved by the invention of the railway.
The first zone of this new industrialization lay in the region of the old "Hell-
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weg". And this fertile agricultural area was soon transformed into a purely
industrial district. The small rural towns of Duisburg, Essen, Bochum and Dort-
mund, which had become practically insignificant, now became centres of a
new, tempestuous development.
By the 1850's and 1860's the industrialization was already spreading as far
as the Emscher lowlands. This fen-country, which consisted mainly of marshy
woodlands, had so far been the haunt of large numbers of wild horses. Now,
however, the heavy industry seized possession of it. The fact that there were
few towns and villages in this sparsely populated region facilitated the found-
ing of large concerns, which thanks to the completion of the Cologne to Minden
railway in 1847 immediately had all the necessary transportation facilities at
their disposal. Hence, in the course of a few decades large towns such as Ham-
born, Oberhausen and Gelsenkirchen sprang up. Settlement of these towns took
place at a speed that was almost "American". Gelsenkirchen, in 1847 a village
with seven hundred inhabitants, developed into a town with a population of
400,000. Oberhausen, which in 1847 was only a remote railway station in the
middle of a heath, became one of the most important centres of the heavy indu-
stry and today has a population of 250,000. The Emscher, once a wild, meander-
ing river, now carries the waste-water of the industrial district. The Rhine-Herne
Canal, a main artery of the Ruhr district, runs parallel to its levelled course.
Further to the north is the Lippe industrial area with its important centre,
Recklinghausen. Huge collieries are located in this area, which is also the scene
of one of the most interesting town-planning experiments of our day. The
young double town of Marl-Huls, which has developed round two collieries
and a chemical concern, known all over the world, has profited by the bitter
experience of its southerly neighbours on the Emscher. The rapid and, in fact,
over-hasty development of these towns prevented a systematic town-planning.
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In order to save the workers time and distance, the housing settlements were
built round the various factories and collieries. Of course, no one ever dreamt
that these individual settlements would some day be joined together to form
large towns. Today, the authorities responsible for town-planning are
endeavouring to transform these wild growths into an organic unity and are
trying to graft the vital traffic, administrative and cultural centres into them.
In Marl, on the other hand, planning is already looking a hundred years ahead.
Famous architects from all over the world are being commissioned in order to
establish the architectonic focal points of this city of the future from the very
outset. A huge town hall is being built on the plans designed by the famous
Finnish architect Aalto, and the modern municipal hospital and the "Island",
an adult education centre, fitted with all the latest technical innovations, have
become models for similar projects in neighbouring and more distant areas.
The rapid development and expansion of the industrial district would never
have been possible without the dynamic energy of great personalities in the
field of enterprise. True, even in its early days,when its great natural reserves had
not yet been fully exploited, this region already provided private initiative with
an extensive field of activity; but the trends which made themselves felt in
world industry and economics at the close of the 19th century made the demand
for far-sighted personalities, who would amalgamate the numerous individual
enterprises into big, crisis-proof concerns, run on uniform lines, even more
imperative. As was only natural, this storm and stress period of the Ruhr
industry brought with it many conflicts and, indeed, many fierce economic
and social clashes. In our day, when we are perhaps able to judge things in
retrospect more objectively than the contemporaries of that period, the "grand
old men" of the Ruhr industry are beyond the reach of the hatred and favour
of parties and conflicting interests. Names such as Alfred Krupp, August
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Thyssen, Emil Kirdorf, Friedrich Springorum, Hugo Stinnes and Albert Vogler
have become legendary.
We should like to mention in brief the life of one of these industrial pioneers,
Friedrich Grillo (1825-1888), which is perhaps typical of the greatness and
also of the hybrid nature of this much spurned era of company-promoting.
As a young man, Grillo, who came of a good middle-class family of merchants
in Essen, was one of the first to endeavour to amalgamate the loosely organized
private interests of individual entrepreneurs into large industrial groups linked
together. Within the short space of eight years, he established a colliery com-
pany, added a rolling mill, a wire drawing mill and a rod mill to it, and set
up an iron foundry and a boiler works. These were followed by a chemical
works, a glass and mirror factory, as well as a gas and water works. The neces-
sary capital was provided by his own private bank. Thus, his achievements
between the years 1865 and 1873 provided an example - long before its time -
of the most modern form of industrial amalgamation. But his efforts did not
end here. Assisted by his co-workers and a building company which he had
founded himself, Grillo proceeded to erect a whole town, the district of Gel-
senkirchen now known as Schalke, complete with streets, dwellings, schools,
a church and a hospital. But his life of creative achievement ended under tragic
and macabre circumstances. Grillo, whose last project had been concerned
with the financing of a mental home, himself became mentally deranged and
died in the asylum at Grafenberg.
But to return to the present! Today, the industry and economy of the Ruhr
Valley rest solidly on the two pillars of the coal mining industry and the iron
and steel industry. To these may be added a number of other important branches
of industry, of which the chemical industry in particular plays a leading part.
The modern system of associated companies has led to a combination and
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interlacing of the various industrial branches, in order, on the one hand, to
secure the necessary raw materials and sources of energy for the large concerns
of the heavy industry and, on the other hand, to keep prime costs as low as
possible. Since the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community,
a supranational union of the coal and steel industry which includes the six
states of Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Italy, Luxem-
bourg and the Netherlands, the Ruhr Valley has become the heart of Europe's
industry, too.
Technical progress during the past decades has led to a rationalization of
mining and processing methods such as one would never have dreamt of in the
19th century. The days when the colliers used to cut and break down the coal
with a pick and shovel are long past and over. Where local conditions permit,
the modern pits are completely mechanized. Hewing and cutting machines eat
their way into the coal seams, and conveyor belts ensure rapid transport.
Whereas formerly whole tracts of woodland were felled to provide pit-props,
serial production of hydraulic stemples, which ensure greater safety and a
further mechanization of the mining process, has now been introduced. But in
spite of all these technical improvements in mining methods and working con-
ditions, the miners underground are still exposed to the deadly danger of the
incalculable forces of Nature. And even in the 20th century, the traditional
miner's greeting, "luck to you!", has lost none of its profound significance.
What mechanization is to mining, automation is to the iron industry. One
only needs think of the modern, completely automatic rolling mills. The hall
itself in which the long-range controlled rolling machines are lined up one
behind the other, has an area of hundreds of square yards. Exactly synchronized
in speed, they operate as if worked by an invisible hand. On one side red-hot
bars of steel are fed into the huge plant, to emerge on the other side as sheets
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 l L l 1.
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ready for processing. The hall is deserted except for a couple of men up in the
glass control-tower, which resembles the bridge on an ocean liner, who watch
the continuous movement of this steel tapeworm. They regulate its progress
by merely pressing a switch on their control-board. All these technical ratio-
nalization measures have led and will continue to lead to an increase in capa-
city and output.
But let statistics speak for themselves! With an output of over 120 million
tons the Ruhr Valley provides the major part of the hard coal and coke pro-
duction of the Federal Republic of Germany. It supplies 80 per cent of the gas
used throughout the country. More than 20 million tons of crude steel, that is
to say 81 per cent of the total production of West Germany, are obtained from
its blast-furnaces. And similar figures apply in the case of other branches of
industry. Who, for instance, is aware of the fact that every other window-pane
is made in the Ruhr Valley; what housewife knows that the jars which she buys
for bottling fruit have come from this region; and what wine-lover realizes
that the bottle from which he has just filled his glass was manufactured in the
Ruhr Valley?
The steel making industry of the Ruhr Valley is equally important. This
industrial region produces engines, slewing cranes, excavators, steel bridges
and so forth, and it specializes above all in the erection of complete industrial
plants. Thus, the erection of the steel works in Rourkela (India) within a couple
of years has once more given proof of the capacity of the Ruhr industry.
Nowadays, it is more or less part of the unwritten etiquette of every state visit
for a long column of cars to drive over from Bonn in order to inspect one of
the modern factories in the Ruhr Valley. And there is no doubt a certain amount
of truth in the statement that to many of the crowned and uncrowned poten-
tates of the young countries the journey to Bonn is merely a route which they
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cannot avoid in order to reach their real destination, the Ruhr Valley, from
whose economic strength they hope to obtain an invigorating stimulus for
their own country, either in the form of a sizable loan or a consignment of
high-grade industrial products.
But neither enterprise, initiative nor technical rationalization alone would
have sufficed to make the Ruhr Valley the manysided and ramified economic
organism that it is today. The factors which determined the industrial character
of this region were, above all, man, his manual skill, his industriousness and
his inventiveness. Thus, the huge and voracious appetite of industry for human
beings - during the past hundred years the population has increased fifteen-
fold - turned the Ruhr Valley into the biggest melting-pot of peoples in Europe.
Up to the middle of the last century, labour was recruited mainly from the
neighbouring regions of Westphalia, the Rhineland and Hessen. But by 1860
these reserves were exhausted, and agents were now sent to East Germany in
order to recruit workers there. Year by year, trains bearing workers from East
and West Prussia, from Upper and Lower Silesia arrived in the Ruhr district,
and by 1907, 500,000 persons from East Prussia alone had made their home
here. They swarmed, above all, into the rapidly growing industrial towns in
the Emscher district. Gelsenkirchen, for instance, at the beginning of the 20th
century was jokingly called "Little Ortelsburg" by the new arrivals. It was
round about this time, too, that workers began to be recruited from foreign
peoples, from the Poles, the Czechs and the Slovenes. They were settled mainly
in the industrial district around Recklinghausen. After the last war, volunteers
were even transplanted from sunny Italy, Spain and Greece to the grimy,
smoky air of the industrial region of the Ruhr Valley. The various national
and social tensions which naturally resulted from this transfer process are now
practically non-existent. A uniform type of population is developing more and
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more. The grandchildren of Hans Kaluscheit of Gumbinnen and of Jan Sobt-
schak of Katowice today speak the same dialect, - "Ruhr German", which is
a mixture of Westphalian, East German, Yiddish and other foreign elements.
This language has a robust, graphic quality and often reveals a grim determi-
nation, prompted by a certain laziness of speech, to slur several words together
and form new ones, which to a stranger seem interminable: as, for instance,
"Kannzewatt" instead of "kannst du das" ("can you do that"), or "kunse-
madennda" for "gucken Sie mal den da!" ("just look at him!"). Wilhelm Her-
bert Koch, a journalist and native of this district, has made an amusing study
of the dialect spoken by his fellow-countrymen, of their everyday conver-
sations either at the pit-head or whilst playing cards at the "local". With his
inseparable pair, "Anton" and "Cervinski", both of them miners, he has
created two types of the Ruhr Valley who enjoy as great a popularity as
"Tiinnes" and "Schaal", the two Cologne types. And the anecdote in which
Anton gets annoyed with his colleague from Saxony, who, returning from
work, in a poetic mood talks about the "fiery vapour that belches forth from
the chimneys", is typical of the unadorned realism of this dialect which shuns
all "fine" words. It is a language that has something solid, firm and practical
about it, - like the practical common sense which is so characteristic of the
people of this region. They know what their work is worth, - whether they
are miners or skilled workers in some big factory or other. During the past
forty years the structure of the industrial working class has most certainly
undergone a change. The standard of living has improved considerably and
the difference between the classes is less marked. The television masts on the
houses and the crowded parking lots in front of the collieries and factories are
eloquent proof of this fact.
With the gradual reduction of working-hours and the introduction of a
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CIA-RDP80T00246AO16300270001-1 t5trcle veer aen Amin our tiutten- and Industriewerke
View of Foundries and Factories from the Rhine Bridge
Vue du Rhin avec des f onderies et des industries
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Duisburger Ha f en
Duisburg Port
Le port de Duisbourg
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Peiro:er:>. ~eiir:erv
R-'i%:e-Herne Ca>:al
,~.......< R.,..-Herne
Kraft work and moderne
Zeche
Poz er Station
and Modern Colliery
Usine motrice et mine
moderne
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Im Erzhafen
The Ore Harbour
Port de minerai
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A Cooling-Tower
Tour de refroidissement
Erz- and Koh/everladung
Loading Ore and Coal
Chargement de rninerai et de charbon
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Bauernhausim Revier
A Farm-House in the midst of Industry
Ferrne de la region
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Zec,'benanlagc
A Colliery Plant
Installation miniere
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Junser over 17ursvui pure
Coacher de soleil sur le port de Duisbourg
Tap-Hole in a Blast-Furnace
Vie partielle Sun haut-fourneau
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Essai de materiau d la fonderie electrique d'acier
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CIA-RDP80TOO246AO16300270001-1 `_
Im Edelstahlwerk
The Production of
High-Grade Steels
Fonderie des aciers de
qualite
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\Valzenst raf3e
A Rolling Mill
Larninoir
Hiit tenu?erk bei Nacht
A Foundry by Night
Une f ornderie, la nuit
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.1 Che>
O:!tdo ir? ,-1 t't,ar.~ttries
Her te'ir g o>t
.~ J)iiirJ E'IiC tli: iJJer
Factory
Fabrication de
caoutchouc synthetique
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StraJ?e in Revier
A Street
in the Industrial Area
Paysage rainier
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Parkanlage
n Dortmund
A Park in Dortmund
Parc d Dortmund
ctv
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 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/11/03 : p.
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Am Halterner See
Lake Haltern
Lac Halterner
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CIA-RDP80T00246A016300270001-1 51an,~enstetn, ein altes St,zdtchen in Ruhrtal
The Old Town of Blankenstein in the Ruhr Valley
Blankenstein, petite bourgade de la Ruhr
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Alter Stollen, der berate nosh in Betrieb ist
An Old Shafl still in use today
Entree d'une ancienne mine, encore en activite
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 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/11,/,03,: hrtal bet Hattingen
CIA-RDP80TOO246AO16300270001-1 Hattingen in the Ruhr Valley
Dans la vallee de la Ruhr, pies de Hattingen
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Piste de courses hippigites Horst-Emscher
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Im Revier
In the Heart of the Industrial Area
Dans le pays des mines
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Die Ruhr bei Essen-Werden
The River Ruhr at Essen-Werden
La Ruhr pies de Essen-Werden
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CIA-RDP80TOO246AO16300270001-1 Wasserschlo~ Lembeck
Lembeck Castle
Le chdteau de Lemheck
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Wasserschlo/3 Raesfeld
Raes f eld Castle
Le chateau de Raes f eld
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 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/11/03m Baldeneysee
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Lake Baldeney
Au bord du lac Baldeney
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forty-hour working-week, the problem of so-called "creative leisure time"
obtrudes itself in discussions on social science. What does the average indi-
vidual do with this spare time, with his long week-end? Efforts are now being
made in this connection to let the working man share in the culture of the
world to a greater extent than has formerly been the case. Adult education is
fostered and promoted particularly intensively in the Ruhr Valley. New
methods have been adopted and they have already proved extremely success-
ful. In Dortmund, for example, one of the pavilions on the site of the West
German Horticultural Show of 1959 has been converted into a library; those
who would like to read a book on one of the seats out in the open in these
pleasant surroundings are thus encouraged to do so. The syllabus under the
university extension system ranges from special vocational courses to an intro-
duction to abstract art.
But the best example of these attempts to encourage the working man to
increase his knowledge and, at the same time, "to elevate him spiritually"
(Theodor Heuss) is no doubt provided by the history of the Ruhr Festival. The
miners of the "Ewald/Konig Ludwig" mine in Recklinghausen little dreamt in
that famine winter of 1946 that their decision to send the State Opera House in
Hamburg an extra supply of coal to enable rehearsals and performances to
continue would lead to the idea of a festival of the highest artistic standard.
On the part of the miners it was merely a spontaneous measure to help the
actors, and it was not until the Hamburg ensemble, in order to express their
gratitude, gave a number of evening performances in the following summer
Abend an der Lippe
Evening on the River Lippe
La riviere, Lippe, le soir
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for the miners that the latter expressed their desire for more. Today, the Ruhr
Festivals are part of the culture of Europe. As Theodor Heuss once said, "They
are not only a gift to the individual who can attend them, but also a barometer
of what can be expected of the German people as well as of what is expected
by this people - if it is presented in a worthy form. For the fact that people
attend the Festivals is, after all, a sign of their susceptibility to great and
eternal values."
Such barometers of the cultural interests of the population have been in
evidence in the Ruhr district on other occasions. In this connection one need
only recall the famous Folkwang Museum in Essen. Thanks to the initiative
of the Chief Mayor of Essen at that time, Hans Luther, who later became
Reichs Chancellor, the collection of the well-known Hagen patron of art,
Wilhelm Osthaus, was in 1922 secured for the Ruhr metropolis and in the
years that followed was augmented until it became a gallery of international
renown. The art purge of the Nazi era resulted in the loss of many irreplaceable
works, and during the air raids of World War II this museum was completely
destroyed. Today it stands on its former site as a fine, modern edifice, cons-
tructed in the form of a pavilion which encloses two courtyards. The collections
housed here and the museum itself today provide an almost complete picture
of the development of modern art in our century, - an art which, like a sensitive
seismograph, reveals the hidden trends of the technical age in which we are
now living and which has determined the character and appearance of this
industrial district.
Or, to quote another example, - the Bochum Theatre, which was created by
and represented the life-work of that talented theatrical director, Saladin
Schmitt. His Shakespeare and Grabbe productions established a tradition
where hitherto there had been none, and he instilled a permanent love of the
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theatre into those who had previously shown practically no interest whatever
in this genre. This theatre, too, was rebuilt after the war, and is famed for
its performances far beyond the borders of the Ruhr district.
Something like a competition of the muses has ensued between the individual
communities in the Ruhr Valley. Gelsenkirchen, for instance, has erected a mo-
dern theatre with bold lines, a lofty, square edifice of steel and glass; a further
building project is contemplated, which is to house the people's university and
a library, and which, together with the theatre, is to constitute the cultural
centre of this town. In Essen the plans designed by the Finnish architect Aalto
for a huge opera house are at present being elaborated prior to carrying out
this project. A similar project has been passed by Dortmund's municipal coun-
cil. The recently erected libraries in Essen and Dortmund are amongst the most
modern edifices in the world. The orchestras and theatrical ensembles have long
since overcome the odium of a "provincial" level. In order to enjoy a big con-
cert or a theatre performance it is no longer necessary to undertake a journey
to Dusseldorf or Cologne. What is still missing in this rising cultural life is,
of course, the intellectual centre of a university or college of technology, but
these will undoubtedly soon be forthcoming. Incidentally, the Vatican has
acknowledged the special significance of this industrial district by founding
a Ruhr bishopric in Essen.
To confine oneself solely to an account of the industrial areas and towns of
the Ruhr Valley would be equivalent to painting a onesided picture of this
region. Those who pass through the Ruhr Valley by train only know half of it,
for there is not only a "black" but also a "green" side to it. On the outskirts
of the industrial centres, with their lofty chimney-stacks, blast-furnaces and
shafts, there are beautiful, unspoilt woods, meadows and heaths. In the towns,
parks and green spaces are laid out, and here they seem to be cared for even
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more lovingly than elsewhere. These green spaces are the "lungs" of the indus-
trial district. At the week-ends, the roads leading out of the towns are crowded
with columns of cars, miles long. Families, large and small, betake themselves
to the banks of the Ruhr, to the hills of the Sauerland and to the Munsterland
in the north. White sails gleam on the vast expanse of Lake Baldeney on the
Ruhr, on the Wedau at Duisburg, or on Lake Haltern in the north; the com-
mands of the coxswains resound across the water, and the open-air swimming
pools are packed to overflowing.
Sport in general is written with a capital letter in the Ruhr Valley. "King Foot-
ball" wields his sceptre supreme, and the matches played by the blue and white
"Pitmen" of Schalke, the yellow and black "Borussians" of the Dortmund
horse-market, or the "Red-Whites" of Essen-Bergeborbeck are discussed by
fans in the train or during their lunch-hour for the whole of the next week.
Horse-racing, too, has thousands of supporters. True, the racecourses at Horst-
Emscher or Mulheim-Raffelberg are not a meeting-place of smart society as,
say, Longchamps or Epsom. Not the grey top-hat or the latest creation by Dior
predominate here, but the "little man", who, after careful consideration and
having weighed all the odds, decides to try his luck and risk a bet.
After the match or the races, the next port of call is the "local" round the
corner. Here, victory or defeat are swilled down with one, or, better still, with
several "layers", which in this part of the world consist of a sharp "clear"
schnaps to "warm up" and a cool Pilsen beer. Malicious tongues even go so far
as to affirm that in the Ruhr Valley from one "pub" you can always see the next!
The Ruhr Valley has many faces. It is a landscape that is alive in the truest
sense and subjected to constant changes. After the tragedy of World War II
it seemed to be a stony desert doomed to death. But the will to live and the
untiring industriousness of every class of its population, from the entrepreneur
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to the coal-heaver, from the engineer to the labourer, helped it to rise up again
like a phoenix out of the ashes. And its face has become more modern, one might
say more "American". Side by side with the steel structures of industry, the
skyscrapers of the big concerns, administrative authorities and banks are today
shooting up in the heart of the towns. Huge roads are being constructed in order
to cope with the ever-increasing traffic, and new industrial and housing centres
are being erected. But in spite of its modern face, tradition is still fostered,
even by the relatively young industrial communities. Side by side with the new,
one finds the old, - carefully cherished traces of the historic past. In the very
heart of the noisy city of Essen stands its venerable Minster. The red, gold and
blue of the altar-pieces by Conrad of Soest gleam in the dim light of the interior
of St. Mary's Church in Dortmund. In Mulheim, Broich Castle still guards the
Ruhr ford of the "Hellweg" as it did 900 years ago, and the servants' wing
of Horst Castle which still stands reflects some of the former splendour of this
"Westphalian Heidelberg".
But the Ruhr Valley presents its most impressive and spectacular appearance
when seen from a plane by night. Beneath us, lights and neon signs glitter and
sparkle, red flames leap up out of the blast-furnaces, the Bessemer lamps shed
a cascade of fireworks, the fiery lava of the red-hot coke glows in the chambers
of the coking furnaces, and, studded with thousands of lamps like bright stars,
the structures of the "cracking" and distillation plants stand out like illu-
minated towers, - no wonder the inhabitants call it "Little Manhattan"! This
nightly panorama of the industrial landscape, which is never still but throbs
with the hammering rhythm of work day and night, has a fascinating and
majestic beauty. Slowly, this vulcanic spectacle of fire and light dips below
the horizon behind us, as we glide on into the darkness which shrouds the
slumbering countryside.
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THE PLATES
View of Foundries and Factories from
the Rhine Bridge
The Rhine, the most important water-
way in Europe, is practically indispens-
able to the industrial district as a trans-
port route for its raw materials and pro-
ducts. Between Basle and Rotterdam there
is a steady stream of barges and tugs in
both directions on this internationalized
river. The figure of 60 million tons, which
was what the goods traffic at the Ger-
man-Dutch frontier station Emmerich
alone amounted to in 1957, gives one an
idea of the economic importance of
shipping on the Rhine.
Duisburg Port
Next to Essen and Dortmund, Duis-
burg is the third largest town in the Ruhr
Valley and the most important junction
of inland shipping in Germany. It is here
that the canal network of West and Cen-
tral Germany is linked up with the inter-
national waterway of the Rhine by means
of the Rhine-Herne Canal, one of the
main arteries of the Ruhr district. The
twenty harbour basins of Duisburg-Ruhr-
ort, with their quayside frontage of al-
most 30 miles, together with the plants of
Homberg and Rheinhausen on the left
bank of the Rhine, constitute the lar-
gest inland port in Europe with a
trans-shipment of goods which even ex-
ceeds that of some seaports. In 1957, for
instance, 19.2 million tons of goods were
shipped to Duisburg and 10.6 million tons
were forwarded from Duisburg Port.
The German ore reserves are by no
means large enough to meet the needs of
the foundries on the Rhine and the Ruhr.
In addition to valuable ores, other rare
metals used in alloys, such as nickel, chro-
mium and wolfram, etc., are required
for the production of high-grade special
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steels. A constant supply of these ores and
metals from the Kirunavaara mines in
Sweden, from Russia and from the over-
seas mines in North Africa, Asia, South
and North America thus passes along the
Lower Rhine and the Dortmund-Ems
Canal. The big foundries have their own
ore harbours, complete with installations
for rapid unloading and sorting of the
various types of ores.
Here we see the Schwelgern ore har-
bour, which with an annual trans-ship-
ment of 11 million tons is the largest
privately owned harbour in Europe and
the second largest inland port in Europe.
In the foreground, a modern crane and
transport unit.
Power Station and Modern Colliery
Coal and electricity have formed a
partnership in the Ruhr district. Without
the supply of electricity which feeds them,
the electric machines in the pits would
be useless, the cages would stand still and
the shafts would be flooded. In addition
to what they require for their own needs,
the power stations of the collieries also
generate electricity which is needed for
other purposes elsewhere and is conveyed
by an extensive network of overhead con-
ductors. In this way the profitableness of
the entire concern is increased. And an im-
portant factor in this respect is the use
of coal of poor quality which could not
be used for coking or fuelling purposes.
Petroleum Refinery on the Rhine-Herne
Canal
Increasing mechanization and the fact
that many brandies of industry have in
recent years begun to use oil instead of
coal for fuelling, have led to an increase
in the production of oil all over the
world. Even the industrial concerns in
the Ruhr Valley which originally con-
fined themselves to the hydrogenation
process (the liquefaction of coal to obtain
crude oils) have since the end of the war
switched over to oil refining. Thanks to
the recently constructed pipelines which
link them up with the oil harbours of
Rotterdam and Wilhelmshaven, these
concerns now already supply one-third
of West Germany's oil needs. The cooling-
towers in the background indicate the
proximity of a power station and a large
colliery.
A Cooling-Tower
Cooling-towers of wood, steel or con-
crete, whose typical structures are a com-
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mon feature of the sites of collieries and
foundries, are used to re-cool the water
heated by steam engines and turbines.
As a rule they indicate the proximity of
a power station. Their interior consists
of an intricate structure of wooden laths
through which the water drips and is
gradually cooled by the constant current
of air that is supplied. When in operation,
the cooling-towers emit a hazy cloud of
steam.
Loading Ore and Coal
A typical scene in the industrial har-
bour of Alsum, where the ships are light-
ered by means of huge conveyor cranes
and loading-bridges.
A distinction is made between "dry"
and "wet" loading. The loading plat-
forms of a "dry" colliery are linked up
with the railway network, whereas in the
case of a "wet" colliery, transport of the
coal is effected mainly by waterways. At
the moment, the railways have the lead!
More than 60 per cent of the entire goods
forwarded by the Federal Railway from
the Ruhr district consist of the products
of the coal mining industry. Day and
night, huge goods trains convey the "black
diamonds" to all parts of the globe.
A Farm-House in the Midst of Industry
Between Duisburg and Hamm, be-
tween the Ruhr and the Lippe, in fact
anywhere in the Ruhr Valley, one may
suddenly come across a farm-house with
a slate roof and built in the half-timbered
style of this region, in the midst of huge
industrial plants. Very often old-establish-
ed farming families still live here and
till their acres as their ancestors did a
hundred or more years ago. Many of
these "Kotten" or small holdings have
been bought by the big industrial con-
cerns nearby, and sooner or later they
will have to make way for the exten-
sion of an industrial site or the construc-
tion of a road.
A Colliery Plant
The outward appearance of a modern
colliery plant is determined entirely by
economic expediency. The power station
and the plants for sorting, grading and
washing the coal, as well as the loading
platforms, which are linked up with the
railways and canals, are all grouped
round the hoisting shafts. Large collieries,
such as the one shown in this picture,
have their own coking plant, as well as
distilling plants where tar, ammonia and
benzene are obtained, or factories which
make briquets.
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Sunset over Duisburg Port
The modern industrial landscape is an
artificial one, created by the hand of man;
forests and fields have had to make way
for the steel structures of foundries and
shafts, for smoking chimney-stacks and an
intricate web of railway lines. Instead of
the green and blue hues of Nature, the
colours which now predominate are grey,
black and red, and they are particularly
intense when the sun begins to set and the
sky radiates a pale yellow light behind a
curtain of smoke and mist. It is then that
this otherwise uninspiring industrial land-
scape assumes a strange, fierce beauty of
its own.
Tap-Hole in a Blast-Furnace
Man seems like a tiny dwarf by the
side of the huge blast-furnace, in whose
mighty bowels pig-iron is obtained from
iron ore by chemical process. At intervals
of about four to six hours, "tapping", the
process of drawing the pig-iron and the
slag alternatively, is carried out. The
whitish avalanche of molten pig-iron
gushes out of the tap-hole with a fierce
gurgle and a volley of sparks, and the
heat is so terrific that it almost burns
one's breath. With lightning speed and
within a couple of seconds, the pig-iron
has to be directed along the roughly dug
channels of sand into the buckets, in
which it is then conveyed to the steel
works for further processing.
More than 2,000 tons of pig-iron are
obtained from a blast-furnace per day.
One of the most modern blast-furnaces
in the world is located in a foundry in
Duisburg-Hamborn. It has a diameter of
27 feet.
Scooping Test for Molten Electric Steel
"Scooping tests" are taken of the mol-
ten steel throughout the entire process of
making this metal. These tests are poured
into small receptacles and sent to the
works laboratory, where they are im-
mediately tested for quality. The results
are then equally promptly reported to
the men in the blast-furnace. Thus, the
output of a foundry depends to a very
considerable extent on the precise co-
operation and co-ordination of the va-
rious groups of workers. Not only does
this type of work bring a great deal of
responsibility with it, but it also makes
great physical demands on the workers.
The men working at the blast-furnaces,
for instance, drink anything up to 14
pints of liquid during one shift in order
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to make up for the huge amount of
moisture which their body loses as a re-
sult of the terrific heat.
The Production of High-Grade Steels
All the impurities in the pig-iron, in
particular carbon and phosphorus, are
removed in the steel works, and here it
is transformed into malleable steel. Out
of a huge converter, suspended from a
travelling crane, the hot, white, molten
steel, which has a temperature of about
1,800 degrees centigrade, flows into the
so-called "chilling forms" or moulds for
casting slabs, blooms and ingots. The
cleaning and transformation of the pig-
iron, during which the carbon flares up
with a huge flame and burns away with
a terrific din, is, visually and acoustically,
one of the most impressive processes in a
foundry.
According to its cast, the solid steel is
designated either as an ingot or a bloom.
These ingots and blooms are then rolled,
hammered or pressed into various shapes
by further heat processes.
A Foundry by Night
Foundries are the witches' cauldrons of
our technical age; by day, and still more
so by night, they are a highly impressive
experience for the visitor. Some of the
modern blast-furnaces are over 90 feet
high. By means of an inclined hoist they
are fed from the top with ore, coke and
the "additions". Cylindrical Cowper's
stoves keep the current of air heated at a
sufficiently high temperature. These blast-
furnace giants have a terrific appetite;
they have to be fed with 2,000 tons of
ore and 1,400 tons of coke, i. e. the quan-
tity contained in five long goods trains,
in order to yield a daily output of 1,400
tons of crude steel.
A Rolling Mill
In the rolling mills the steel is trans-
formed into sheets, strips, girders, slabs or
rails. This picture shows the process of
rolling steel ingots into sheet panels. A
red-hot sheet of steel has just left the
rolling stands and now moves along the
roller gear bed to the next stage in the
process. The slight haze of steam is due to
the fact that water is constantly sprinkled
on the rollers to cool them.
One of the largest and most modern
plate rolling mills in Europe, which has
been in operation for a couple of years,
is located in the Ruhr Valley. Here, steel
ingots, weighing up to 40 tons, are rolled
into plates by rollers with a pressure of
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up to 4,000 tons. The processes in this
quarto rolling mill are for the most part
directed automatically and by electricity.
The huge hall is practically deserted.
High up above the roller gear bed and
away from the heat, the two men who
operate the rollers sit in the air-condi-
tioned glass control-tower, watch the
rolling-process on a television screen,
and regulate its progress by merely mov-
ing a lever. It is no longer physical
strength but mental concentration that is
the most important factor.
A Chemical Works with Outdoor
Apparatuses
Like the iron and steel industry, the
chemical industry, too, plays a leading
part in the economic life of the Ruhr
Valley. Raw materials for plastics are,
for instance, obtained here from by-pro-
ducts of the petroleum industry. Syn-
thetic products from gas is the motto of
the chemical industry in the Ruhr Valley.
A network of pipes stretching for miles
and columns of tanks and boilers are the
characteristic features of a modern che-
mical works. Most of the chemical trans-
formation processes, unlike those in the
mining and iron industry, are invisible
to the eye of the beholder and are super-
vised and controlled by precision instru-
ments. A bird's-eye view of these plants,
which have been designed and construct-
ed in such a way as to ensure the greatest
utility possible, reveals a picture of pecu-
liar and severely practical beauty, which
is probably just as characteristic of our age
as the ornate buildings of former days
were for the sense of beauty of our
ancestors.
Synthetic Rubber Factory
The cokeries provide the chemical in-
dustry of the Ruhr Valley with most of
the basic materials which it needs. The use
of exhaust gases, for instance, is an
example of the system of industrial co-
ordination, which even turns waste pro-
ducts to economic advantage. From cok-
ing gas and natural gas, for example,
acetylene, one of the basic materials need-
ed for the production of buna synthetic
rubber, is obtained. The chemical process
of making synthetic rubber no doubt
seems as mysterious to the layman as did
the alchemy of the Middle Ages to the
uninitiated, though the plants in which
this process is carried out by no means
resemble the laboratories of the alche-
mists. These plants, too, are typical of
modern industrial architecture inasmuch
as their characteristic feature is a certain,
almost "abstract" beauty.
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Incidentally, 120,000 tons of buna syn-
thetic rubber are manufactured by 400
persons. Half of this output is used in the
production of motor tires, for this types of
synthetic rubber is as hard as steel. Auto-
matically controlled plants in the syn-
thetic rubber factories replace the labour
of several thousand plantation hands.
Somewhere between Hamm and Duis-
burg, a road which has numerous bends
crosses the tracks of a pit-railway. In the
background we can see the typical struc-
tures of a colliery, - the gasometer, cool-
ing-tower, hoisting shaft and chimney-
stacks. The gates at the level crossing are
open, - for a change - at least, from the
point of view of the pedestrian and mo-
torist. In the Ruhr Valley, coal and iron
normally have priority on the roads and
in traffic; hence the miner on his way to
work is more likely to see the gates at the
level crossings closed, rather than open.
For decades, those responsible for
town-planning in the large Ruhr com-
munities have been endeavouring to re-
lieve the monotony of the densely popu-
lated industrial and housing centres by
"green spaces", in order to provide the
inhabitants in these areas with a spot
where they can seek recreation close to
their dwellings and place of work. Two
such ideal "green spaces" are the Gruga
Park in Essen and the site of the 1959
West German Horticultural Show in
Dortmund. Laid out on the most modern
lines, this park is dominated by a tele-
vision tower, 650 feet high; from the
slowly revolving cafe on its roof there
is a fine view of the town and the
imposing premises of one of the large
foundries.
Lake Haltern, a vast sheet of water,
was formed by damming up the River
Stever close to its confluence with the
Lippe. In the spring and the autumn, rare
water-fowls from the far north, includ-
ing herons and whistling-swans, rest here
during their migrations. To the north of
the lake there are the woods and heaths
of the Borken Hills, a favourite haunt
of gliding fans. Westrupp Heath in the
south, which in its austere beauty reminds
one of the Luneburg Heath, attracts
thousands of Nature-lovers at the week-
ends. And when the weather is fine the
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bathing-beaches and the cafes along the
shores of Lake Haltern are packed to
overflowing.
The Old Town of Blankenstein
in the Ruhr Valley
The picturesque town of Blankenstein,
with its fine, old half-timbered houses,
has to a large extent retained the character
of a small rural town, which so many of
its larger neighbours lost during the rapid
industrialization. In the course of cen-
turies this little town sprang up round the
castle, which today dominates Blanken-
stein as a romantic ruin. In the Middle
Ages Blankenstein Castle was erected as
a military base high up above the Ruhr
Valley and played an important part in
the feuds between the Counts of the
Mark and the belligerent Archbishops
of Cologne.
An Old Shaft still in use today
Along the Ruhr and in its side-valleys,
there are still a few small collieries which
are worked in exactly the same way as
they were two hundred years ago. Anthra-
cite, much sought after on account of its
high heat value, is chiefly mined here. In
these miniature collieries, which in many
cases have been in the possession of the
same family for generations, the pro-
blems of mechanization and rationali-
zation by no means play as important
a part as they do in the modern collieries.
The coal is usually close to the surface;
hence, even primitive methods of raising
it still prove fairly profitable.
Hattingen in the Ruhr Valley
Seventy per cent of the water supply
of this industrial region is obtained from
the River Ruhr, 142 miles in length, or,
to be more precise, from the reservoirs
in the upper Sauerland and on the upper
course of the Ruhr. Here and there, on
the slopes overlooking the river, there are
still to be seen the romantic ruins of old
castles, as, for instance, Hohensy Castle
or Vomarstein Castle, which bear witness
to the grim feuds between the lords of
the Middle Ages. Up to the 19th century,
shipping on the Ruhr flourished, for it
was an indispensable means of transport
for the mining industry in those days;
but with the construction of the railway
it fell into decay. The idyllic landscape
along the Ruhr has to a large extent been
preserved, even in those places where
factory sites have extended as far as its
banks.
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The racecourse at Horst-Emscher,
which was laid out sixty years ago, occu-
pies a leading position amongst the many
steeplechase courses and racecourses in
West Germany. Since the war the famous
Henckel Races, the first of the three stan-
dard trials for three-year olds, have been
held here. Other notable events of the
turf which take place at Horst-Emscher
are the "Horst Criterion" for two-year
olds and the "Big Prize of Gelsenkirchen".
On such days, the racecourse, with the
velvety green turf, with thousands of
happy spectators, and with the collieries
and factories as a background, presents
an imposing spectacle.
In the Heart of the Industrial Area
The problem of the adolescents in large
towns is as acute in the Ruhr district as it
is elsewhere in the world. Attempts are
made to meet their needs by educational
and welfare measures. These include the
erection of modern schools, an adequate
number of day-nurseries and kinder-
gartens for small children, swimming
baths, recreation and sports grounds in the
"green belts" of the large towns, as well
as public health and welfare measures
and the institution of holiday camps
which are actively supported by the muni-
cipal authorities, the churches, the trade
unions and the industrial concerns alike.
At the western extremity of Lake
Baldeney, the small old town of Werden
slopes down to the Ruhr. The late baro-
que buildings of the former Benedictine
Abbey today house the Folkwang school
of dramatic art, music and dancing, which
was founded in 1927 and since then has
become famous far beyond the borders
of the Ruhr district. The town and the
Abbey are dominated by the spires of
St. Liudger's, one of the most beautiful
late romanesque churches between the
Rhine and the Weser. A shrine in the crypt
contains the sacred relics of St. Liudger.
The Mi nsterland, which borders on
the Ruhr industrial district in the north,
abounds in castles which have been erected
in lakes. One of the most beautiful of
them is Lembedt Castle, which was built
by the Count of Westerholt at the end of
the 17th century and is surrounded by a
picturesque park. This spacious edifice
consists of two tracts, the outer bailey
and the residential hall, both of which
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are divided symetrically by a middle
axis. The "Great Hall", with its fine
wainscotting, ornate stucco ceiling and
marble fireplaces, is the scene of chamber
music concerts, which are always well
attended, on summer evenings.
Raes f eld Castle
The unusual three-tiered baroque spire
of its corner-tower has made this castle a
landmark which dominates the country-
side around Borken. Originally a strong-
hold, it was converted into a residential
castle by the "Westphalian Wallenstein",
Field Marshal to the Emperor and Reichs
Count Alexander von Velen, and after
the Thirty Years' War he lived here in
princely style. True, those glorious days
are long since past and the castle has lost
much of its ancient splendour, but since
1950 the Artisans' Council has very taste-
fully restored the rooms that survived the
ravages of time.
Lake Baldeney
Lake Baldeney near Essen was comp-
leted in 1938 as a dam site of the Ruhr.
Five and a half miles long and measuring
a distance of a quarter of a mile at its
widest point, it is a favourite haunt of
aquatics enthusiasts from the Ruhr metro-
polis nearby. The pedestrian, too, will
find many pleasant walks along its be-
autifully laid out banks, which are for
the most part closed to motor traffic.
From the numerous cafes on its banks and
on the surrounding wooded slopes there
is a fine view of the lake, which fits into
the landscape so harmoniously that one
could almost imagine that it is a natural
lake, were it not for a few small collieries
on its banks to remind one of the prox-
imity of the industrial district.
Evening on the River Lippe
From its source in the Lippe Forest, the
river flows 153 miles before it joins the
Rhine at the small old town of Wesel,
which was once a fortress. Its lower
course now forms the northern boundary
of the Ruhr district. Here it has lost much
of the natural character which it has to
some extent managed to retain over wide
stretches of its upper course through the
woods and fields of the Lippeland. Unlike
the Ruhr, the Lippe cannot be used to
supply the district with drinking-water
on account of its high salt content, but,
to make up for this, it provides countless
industrial plants and a major part of the
extensive network of canals with water.
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PANORAMA-BOOKS
Germany: BAVARIA ? BERLIN ? HAMBURG ? THE RHINE
MUNICH ? LAKE CONSTANCE ? ROMANTIC GERMANY
THE RUHR
Austria: CARINTHIA ? SALZBURG AND SURROUNDINGS
STYRIA* ? VIENNA
France: ALSACE* ? CHATEAUX OF THE LOIRE ? COTE D'AZUR
PARIS ? FRENCH CATHEDRALS ? PROVENCE
Italy: CAPRI ? FLORENCE ? ROME ? SICILY* ? VENICE
Scandinavia: COPENHAGEN ? FINLAND ? SWEDEN* ? LAND
OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN
Capitals of the world: LONDON ? ROME ? MOSCOW ? PEKING
Other countries: BALEARIC ISLANDS ? GREECE ? NEW YORK
THE HOLY LAND ? ISRAEL ? ISTANBUL* ? THE NETHERLANDS
SPAIN ? PORTUGAL ? SWITZERLAND
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"While the quality of the photography
is readily apparent, the text offers much,
too. Each book can be read quickly, but
each beckons to be scanned again and
again. The pictures speak eloquently,
triggering the desire to go and see."
The Houston Chronicle
"...offer gorgeous color plates."
The Washington Post
"The Panorama-Books are among the
neatest and most attractive guides for
travellers in Europe. Their special
attraction is 30 colour photographs of
a very high standard. The texts are
written with polish and snap."
The Manchester Guardian
"Contains 30 unique color plates show-
ing the city in all its beauty. These
colored photographs are among the
finest reproduced, as they capture the
sunlight and shadows of the lagoons
and bridges."
Cleveland Plain Dealer (about Venice)
"The subjects are eminently color-
photogenic, and the pictures do them
full justice." New York Herald Tribune
Panorama-Books:
BALEARIC ISLANDS BAVARIA ? BERLIN
CARINTHIA ? CAPRI COPENHAGEN
CHATEAUX OF THE LOIRE
COTE D'AZUR ? FINLAND ? FLORENCE
FRENCH CATHEDRALS ? GREECE
HAMBURG ? THE HOLY LAND ? ISRAEL
LAKE CONSTANCE ? LAND OF THE
MIDNIGHT SUN ? LONDON ? MOSCOW
MUNICH ? NEW YORK ? PARIS ? PEKING
PORTUGAL-PROVENCE-RHINE
ROMANTIC GERMANY ? ROME
SALZBURG and Surroundings ? SPAIN
SWITZERLAND ? THE NETHERLANDS
THE RUHR ? VENICE ? VIENNA
In preparation:
ALSACE ? ISTANBUL ? SICILY ? STYRIA
With 30 colour plates
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