1.
Kirchhundem
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Kirchhundem is a community in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It belongs to the Olpe district, the community of Kirchhundem lies in the Olpe district’s southeast in the south Sauerland and belongs to the so-called Bilsteiner Bergland. The crest of the Rothaar forms a watershed between the Rhine and the Sieg, the community’s highest elevation can be found here, the Hohe Hessel at 743 m. The Kirchhundem area is drained by the Hundem, which rises near Oberhundem, the Silberger Bach empties into the Olpe near Heidschott. The Rüspe area east of the Rothaar crest is drained by streams flowing to the Eder, Kirchhundem is roughly 20 km east of Olpe and 25 km north of Siegen. Kirchhundem, with an area of 147.9 km², is the Olpe district’s biggest municipality by land area and it stretches for 12 km from north to south and 22 km from east to west. The community of Kirchhundem lies in the east of the district area and it borders in the west and north on the towns of Olpe and Lennestadt and in the far northeast on the town of Schmallenberg in the Hochsauerlandkreis. In the east and south, the towns of Bad Berleburg, Erndtebrück, Hilchenbach and Kreuztal, all lying in Siegen-Wittgenstein district and this time is still witnessed by many historic border stones and old fortification walls known to people in the victorious lands as the Kölsches Heck. The community of Kirchhundem consists of the centres, Yearly precipitation averages between 900 and 1300 mm while the average temperature for the year as a whole ranges between 6 and 8 °C. Up until roughly the 8th century, thick broadleaf forests blanketed what is now Kirchhundem’s municipal area, beeches dominated the hills and slopes while oaks, elms, maples and other kinds of trees held sway in the dales. The first people are believed to have settled in the area of the Altes Feld near Kirchhundem, about the 9th century they began clearing and settling activities, which lasted until the 13th century. The Hundem area’s – “curia nomine homede” – first documentary mention might be the one found in one of Emperor Frederick I’s documents from the year 1153 and this attribution, however, is as much disputed as the other documents. As a second centre, Würdinghausen was mentioned in 1270, only nine years later, so were Bettinghusen, Böminghausen, Emlinghausen and Flape. In the two centuries that followed, almost all the centres that now make up today’s community were mentioned in documents, furthermore, many other centres are named that have since been forsaken. At its beginnings, the area was held by the Noble Lords of Gevore-Bilstein, Johann II von Bilstein relinquished his lordly claim to Count Gottfried IV of Arnsberg in 1350. After Johann’s death in 1363, however, Gottfried could not assert his claim to the land of Bilstein and it fell to Count Engelbert III von der Mark. As a result of the Soest Feud, the land of Bilstein, the area was held by the Electorate of Cologne right up until 1802-1803, its overlordship ending only with Secularization. The former Duchy of Westphalia passed to the Landgrave at Hesse-Darmstadt and he introduced, through many reforms after 350 years of church control, the end of the Middle Ages in the southern Sauerland
2.
Siegen
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Siegen is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the Arnsberg region, the university town is the district seat, and is ranked as a higher centre in the South Westphalian urban agglomeration. In 1975, in the process of reforms and amalgamations, Siegens population exceeded the 100,000 mark. The city of Siegen lies in the basin of the reaches of the river Sieg. From there, lateral valleys branch off in many directions, the heights of the surrounding mountains, wherever they are not actually settled, are covered in coppice. To the north lies the Sauerland, to the northwest the Rothaargebirge, the nearest cities to Siegen, taking into account average travelling distances, are Hagen to the north, Frankfurt am Main to the southeast, Koblenz to the southwest and Cologne to the west. As the crow flies the distances to places are, however,65 km,95 km,65 km and 75 km. The city lies on the German-Dutch holiday road called the Orange Route, joining towns, cities, the citys total land area is roughly 115 km2. Its greatest east-west span is about 12 km, and its greatest north-south span is about 12 km, city limits are 48 km long. Siegen lies at an elevation of 290 m above sea level. The citys greatest elevation is the peak of the Pfannenberg at 499 m above sea level at southern city limits, Siegens lowest point is 215 m above sea level at Niederschelden at southwestern city limits, which there also forms the state boundary with Rhineland-Palatinate. Roughly 60% of the land is wooded, making Siegen one of Germanys greenest cities. The city area is divided into six zones, called Bezirke in German and comparable to boroughs in some cities, the borough boards decide on matters particular to their respective boroughs. These matters are laid down in Siegens city charter and they are called Quartiere, which can be rendered as quarters or neighbourhoods. Examples of these include the Unterstadt, the Oberstadt, Hammerhütte, Lindenberg, Charlottental, Haardter Berg, some neighbourhoods even straddle community boundaries, like Sieghütte, parts of which can be found in both Siegen-Mitte and Weidenau. Moreover, some even overlap each other. Unlike the boroughs or communities, the Quartiere have no statistical or administrative importance, many of the Hüttentalstraße city Autobahns exits are also named after the Quartiere that they serve. The communities of Eiserfeld, Eisern, Gosenbach, Niederschelden and Oberschelden formed the town of Eiserfeld between those two dates
3.
Reichsarbeitsdienst
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It was the official state labour service, divided into separate sections for men and women. From June 1935 onwards, men aged between 18 and 25 had to six months before their military service. During World War II compulsory service also included women and the RAD developed to an auxiliary formation which provided support for the Wehrmacht armed forces. The state sponsored employment organisation provided services to civic and land improvement projects, the idea of a national compulsory service was quite popular, especially in right-wing circles, but it had little effect on the economic situation. The concept was adopted by Adolf Hitler, who upon the Nazi seizure of power in 1933 appointed Konstantin Hierl state secretary in the Reich Ministry of Labour, Hierl was already a high-ranking member of the NSDAP and head of the partys labour organization, the Nationalsozialistischer Arbeitsdienst or NSAD. Hierl developed the concept of a state labour service organisation similar to the Reichswehr army, meant as an evasion of the regulations set by the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, voluntariness initially was maintained after protests by the Geneva World Disarmament Conference. Hierls rivalry with Labour Minister Franz Seldte led to the affiliation of his office as a FAD Reichskommissar with the Interior Ministry under his party fellow Wilhelm Frick. On 11 July 1934, the NSAD was renamed Reichsarbeitsdienst or RAD with Hierl as its director until the end of World War II. With massive financial support by the German government, RAD members were to service for mainly military and to a lesser extent civic. The RAD was divided into two sections, the Reichsarbeitsdienst Männer for men and the voluntary, from 1939 compulsory. The RAD was composed of 33 districts each called an Arbeitsgau similar to the Gaue subdivisions of the Nazi Party, each of these districts was headed by an Arbeitsgauführer officer with headquarters staff and a Wachkompanie. Under each district were between six and eight Arbeitsgruppen, battalion-sized formations of 1200–1800 men and these groups were divided into six company-sized RAD-Abteilung units. Conscripted personnel had to move into labour barracks, each rank and file RAD man was supplied with a spade and a bicycle. Men and women had to work up to 76 hours a week, the RAD was classed as Wehrmachtgefolge. Auxiliary forces with this status, while not a part of the Armed Forces themselves, some, including the RAD, were militarised. Throughout the course of the war, the RAD were involved in many projects, the RAD units constructed coastal fortifications, laid minefields, manned fortifications, and even helped guard vital locations and prisoners. The role of the RAD was not limited to support functions. Hundreds of RAD units received training as anti-aircraft units and were deployed as RAD Flak Batteries, several RAD units also performed combat on the eastern front as infantry
4.
Zweiter Weltkrieg
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
5.
Amnesty International
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Amnesty International is a non-governmental organisation focused on human rights that claims to have over 7 million members and supporters around the world. The stated objective of the organisation is to research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights. Amnesty International was founded in London in 1961, following the publication of the article The Forgotten Prisoners in The Observer on 28 May 1961, Amnesty draws attention to human rights abuses and campaigns for compliance with international laws and standards. It works to public opinion to put pressure on governments that let abuse take place. Amnesty considers capital punishment to be the ultimate, irreversible denial of human rights, the organisation was awarded the 1977 Nobel Peace Prize for its campaign against torture, and the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights in 1978. Amnesty International was founded in London in July 1961 by English labour lawyer Peter Benenson, researchers have never traced the alleged newspaper article in question. In 1960, Portugal was ruled by the Estado Novo government of António de Oliveira Salazar, the government was authoritarian in nature and strongly anti-communist, suppressing enemies of the state as anti-Portuguese. The newspaper reader feels a sense of impotence. Yet if these feelings of disgust could be united into common action, Benenson worked with friend Eric Baker. It marked the launch of Appeal for Amnesty,1961, the aim of which was to mobilise public opinion, quickly and widely, in defence of these individuals, the Appeal for Amnesty was reprinted by a large number of international newspapers. In the same year, Benenson had a published, Persecution 1961. In July 1961 the leadership had decided that the appeal would form the basis of a permanent organisation, Amnesty, Benenson ensured that all three major political parties were represented, enlisting members of parliament from the Labour Party, the Conservative Party, and the Liberal Party. On 30 September 1962, it was officially named Amnesty International, between the Appeal for Amnesty,1961 and September 1962 the organisation had been known simply as Amnesty. From the very beginning, research and campaigning were present in Amnesty Internationals work, a library was established for information about prisoners of conscience and a network of local groups, called THREES groups, was started. Each group worked on behalf of three prisoners, one each of the then three main ideological regions of the world, communist, capitalist and developing. The international movement was starting to agree on its principles and techniques. In 1967 Peter Benenson resigned after an independent inquiry did not support his claims that AI had been infiltrated by British agents, later he claimed that the Central Intelligence Agency had become involved in Amnesty. Leading Amnesty International in the 1970s were key figures Seán MacBride, Amnesty International believed that the reasons underlying torture of prisoners by governments, were either to acquire and obtain information or to quell opposition by the use of terror, or both
6.
Franz Kafka
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Franz Kafka was a Prague German-language novelist and short story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His best known works include Die Verwandlung, Der Process, the term Kafkaesque has entered the English language to describe situations like those in his writing. Kafka was born into a middle-class, German-speaking Jewish family in Prague and he trained as a lawyer, and after completing his legal education he was employed with an insurance company, forcing him to relegate writing to his spare time. Over the course of his life, Kafka wrote hundreds of letters to family and close friends, including his father, with whom he had a strained and he became engaged to several women but never married. He died in 1924 at the age of 40 from tuberculosis and his work went on to influence a vast range of writers, critics, artists, and philosophers during the 20th century. Kafka was born near the Old Town Square in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and his family were middle-class Ashkenazi Jews. His father, Hermann Kafka, was the child of Jakob Kafka, a shochet or ritual slaughterer in Osek. Hermann brought the Kafka family to Prague, after working as a travelling sales representative, he eventually became a fancy goods and clothing retailer who employed up to 15 people and used the image of a jackdaw as his business logo. Kafkas mother, Julie, was the daughter of Jakob Löwy, a retail merchant in Poděbrady. Hermann and Julie had six children, of whom Franz was the eldest, franzs two brothers, Georg and Heinrich, died in infancy before Franz was seven, his three sisters were Gabriele, Valerie and Ottilie. They all died during the Holocaust of World War II, Valli was deported to the Łódź Ghetto in Poland in 1942, but that is the last documentation of her. On business days, both parents were absent from the home, with Julie Kafka working as many as 12 hours each day helping to manage the family business, consequently, Kafkas childhood was somewhat lonely, and the children were reared largely by a series of governesses and servants. The dominating figure of Kafkas father had a significant influence on Kafkas writing, the Kafka family had a servant girl living with them in a cramped apartment. In November 1913 the family moved into an apartment, although Ellie. In early August 1914, just after World War I began, both Ellie and Valli also had children. Franz at age 31 moved into Vallis former apartment, quiet by contrast, from 1889 to 1893, Kafka attended the Deutsche Knabenschule German boys elementary school at the Masný trh/Fleischmarkt, now known as Masná Street. His Jewish education ended with his Bar Mitzvah celebration at the age of 13, Kafka never enjoyed attending the synagogue and went with his father only on four high holidays a year. German was the language of instruction, but Kafka also spoke and he studied the latter at the gymnasium for eight years, achieving good grades
7.
Frankfurt am Main
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The city is at the centre of the larger Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, which has a population of 5.8 million and is Germanys second-largest metropolitan region after Rhine-Ruhr. Since the enlargement of the European Union in 2013, the centre of the EU is about 40 km to the east of Frankfurts CBD. Frankfurt is culturally and ethnically diverse, with half of the population. A quarter of the population are foreign nationals, including many expatriates, Frankfurt is an alpha world city and a global hub for commerce, culture, education, tourism and traffic. Its the site of many global and European headquarters, Frankfurt Airport is among the worlds busiest. Automotive, technology and research, services, consulting, media, Frankfurts DE-CIX is the worlds largest internet exchange point. Messe Frankfurt is one of the worlds largest trade fairs, major fairs include the Frankfurt Motor Show, the worlds largest motor show, the Music Fair, and the Frankfurt Book Fair, the worlds largest book fair. Frankfurt is home to educational institutions, including the Goethe University, the UAS, the FUMPA. Its renowned cultural venues include the concert hall Alte Oper, Europes largest English Theatre and many museums, Frankfurts skyline is shaped by some of Europes tallest skyscrapers. In sports, the city is known as the home of the top football club Eintracht Frankfurt, the basketball club Frankfurt Skyliners, the Frankfurt Marathon. Its the seat of German sport unions for Olympics, football, Frankfurt is the largest financial centre in continental Europe. It is home to the European Central Bank, Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange is one of the worlds largest stock exchanges by market capitalization and accounts for more than 90 percent of the turnover in the German market. Frankfurt is considered a city as listed by the GaWC groups 2012 inventory. Among global cities it was ranked 10th by the Global Power City Index 2011, among financial centres it was ranked 8th by the International Financial Centers Development Index 2013 and 9th by the Global Financial Centres Index 2013. Its central location within Germany and Europe makes Frankfurt a major air, rail, Frankfurt Airport is one of the worlds busiest international airports by passenger traffic and the main hub for Germanys flag carrier Lufthansa. Frankfurter Kreuz, the Autobahn interchange close to the airport, is the most heavily used interchange in the EU, in 2011 human-resource-consulting firm Mercer ranked Frankfurt as seventh in its annual Quality of Living survey of cities around the world. According to The Economist cost-of-living survey, Frankfurt is Germanys most expensive city, Frankfurt has many high-rise buildings in the city centre, forming the Frankfurt skyline. It is one of the few cities in the European Union to have such a skyline and because of it Germans sometimes refer to Frankfurt as Mainhattan, the other well known and obvious nickname is Bankfurt
8.
Baden-Baden
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Baden-Baden is a spa town, located in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany. The springs at Baden-Baden were known to the Romans as Aquae, in modern German, Baden is a gerund meaning bathing but Baden, the original name of the town, derives from an earlier plural form of Bad. As with the English placename Bath, there are various other Badens at hot springs throughout Central Europe, the current doubled name arose to distinguish it from the others, particularly Baden near Vienna in Austria and Baden near Zürich in Switzerland. It is a reference to the Margraviate of Baden-Baden, a subdivision of the Margraviate of Baden, Baden-Baden became its formal name in 1931. Baden-Baden lies in a valley of the Northern Black Forest in southwestern Germany, the western districts lie within the Upper Rhine Plain. The highest mountain of Baden-Baden is the Badener Höhe, which is part of the Black Forest National Park, the old town lies on the side of a hill on the right bank of the Oos. Since the 19th century, the resorts have been located on the other side of the river. There are 29 natural springs in the area, varying in temperature from 46 to 67 °C. The water is rich in salt and flows from artesian wells 1,800 m under Florentine Hill at a rate of 341 litre per minute and is conveyed through pipes to the towns baths. Roman settlement at Baden-Baden has been dated as far back as the emperor Hadrian, the known ruins of the Roman bath were rediscovered just below the New Castle in 1847 and date to the reign of Caracalla, who visited the area to relieve his arthritic aches. The facilities were used by the Roman garrison in Strasbourg, the town fell into ruin but its church was first constructed in the 7th century. By 1112, it was the seat of the Margraviate of Baden, the Lichtenthal Convent was founded in 1254. The margraves initially used Hohenbaden Castle, whose ruins still occupy the summit above the town, Baden suffered severely during the Thirty Years War, particularly at the hands of the French, who plundered it in 1643. They returned to occupy the city in 1688 at the onset of the Nine Years War, the margravine Sibylla rebuilt the New Castle in 1697, but the margrave Louis William removed his seat to Rastatt in 1706. The Stiftskirche was rebuilt in 1753 and houses the tombs of several of the margraves, the town began its recovery in the late 18th century, serving as a refuge for émigrés from the French Revolution. The town was frequented during the Second Congress of Rastatt in 1797–99 and she came for medicinal reasons, as the waters were recommended for gout, rheumatism, paralysis, neuralgia, skin disorders, and stones. The Ducal government subsequently subsidized the resorts development, guests included Queen Victoria, Wilhelm I, and Berlioz. The pumproom was completed in 1842, the Grand Duchys railways mainline reached Baden in 1845
9.
Kreis Olpe
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Olpe is a Kreis in the south-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Märkischer Kreis, Hochsauerland, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Altenkirchen, the district was created in 1817 as Bilsteiner Kreis, in 1819 the capital was set to be Olpe. Geographically it covers the part of the Sauerland mountains, which make the district rich in forests. The main river through the district is the Lenne, the Kreisschützenbund Olpe performs the Kreisschützenfest. Media related to Kreis Olpe at Wikimedia Commons Official Webpage Der Vokalismus der Mundarten im Kreise Olpe
10.
Mannheim
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Mannheim is a city in the southwestern part of Germany, the third-largest in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart and Karlsruhe. Mannheim is among the twenty largest cities in Germany, with a 2015 population of approximately 305,000 inhabitants, the city is at the centre of the larger densely populated Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region which has a population of 2,400,000 and is Germanys eighth-largest metropolitan region. Mannheim is located at the confluence of the Rhine and the Neckar in the corner of Baden-Württemberg. The Rhine separates Mannheim from the city of Ludwigshafen, just to the west of it in Rhineland-Palatinate, Mannheim is downstream along the Neckar from the city of Heidelberg. Mannheim is unusual among German cities in that its streets and avenues are laid out in a grid pattern, the eighteenth century Mannheim Palace, former home of the Prince-elector of the Palatinate, now houses the University of Mannheim. In addition, Mannheims SAP Arena is not only the home of the German ice hockey record champions the Adler Mannheim, but also the well-known handball team, the Rhein-Neckar Löwen. According to the Forbes magazine, Mannheim is known for its exceptional power and was ranked 11th among the Top 15 of the most inventive cities worldwide. The New Economy Magazine elected Mannheim under the 20 cities that best represent the world of tomorrow emphasizing Mannheims positive economic, since 2014, Mannheim has been a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and holds the title of UNESCO City of Music. Mannheim is a Smart City the citys electrical grid is installed with a Power-line communication network, the citys tourism slogan is Leben. The civic symbol of Mannheim is der Wasserturm, a Romanesque water tower completed in 1886 that rises to 60 metres above the highest point of the art nouveau area Friedrichsplatz, Mannheim is the starting and finishing point of the Bertha Benz Memorial Route. The name of the city was first recorded as Mannenheim in a transaction in 766. The name is interpreted as the home of Manno, a form of a Germanic name such as Hartmann or Hermann. Mannheim remained a mere village throughout the Middle Ages, in 1606, Frederick IV, Elector Palatine started building the fortress of Friedrichsburg and the adjacent city centre with its grid of streets and avenues. On January 24,1607, Frederick IV gave Mannheim the status of a city, Mannheim was mostly levelled during the Thirty Years War around 1622 by the forces of Johan Tillys troops. After being rebuilt, it was severely damaged by the French Army in 1689 during the Nine Years War. During the eighteenth century, Mannheim was the home of the Mannheim School of classical music composers, Mannheim was said to have one of the best court orchestras in Europe under the leadership of the conductor Carlo Grua. The royal court of the Palatinate left Mannheim in 1778, two decades later, in 1802, Mannheim was removed from the Palatinate and given to the Grand Duchy of Baden. In 1819, Norwich Duff wrote of Mannheim, In 1819, the climate crisis of 1816-17 caused famine and the death of many horses in Mannheim
