Herzogenrath

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Herzogenrath
Coat of arms	Location

Administration
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Cologne
District	Aachen
Town subdivisions	3
Mayor	Christoph von den Driesch (CDU)
Basic statistics
Area	33.401 km² (12.9 sq mi)
Elevation	140 m (459 ft)
Population	47,199 (31/12/2006)
- Density	1,413 /km² (3,660 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	AC
Postal code	52134
Area codes	02406 und 02407
Website	www.herzogenrath.de Coordinates: 50°52′00″N 6°06′00″E / 50.866667, 6.1

Herzogenrath is a municipality in the district of Aachen in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It borders to the Dutch town of Kerkrade, the national border in one section running along the middle of a main road.

[edit] History

Herzogenrath began as a settlement, called Rode, near the river Wurm in the 11th century. In 1104 Augustinian monks founded an abbey, called Kloosterrade, to the west of this settlement.

It became 's-Hertogenrode or 's-Hertogenrade (Dutch: the Duke's Rode) after the duchy of Brabant took control over the region; in French it was called Rolduc (Rode-le-Duc).

As is the case for many parts of Limburg, Herzogenrath changed hands several times in the last few centuries. Together with the (other) Southern Netherlands it was under Spanish control from 1661, Austrian between 1713 and 1795 and French between 1795 and 1813. In 1815, when the kingdom of the Netherlands was formed (see Vienna Congress), the border was drawn through the town, the eastern part being Prussian Herzogenrath, the western part being Dutch Kerkrade. The former abbey is now the Rolduc Congress Center in Kerkrade.

[edit] Economy

Until the 1950s, Herzogenrath's economy was dominated by coal mines and a nearby coking plant. While some remains of the mining industry are still forming parts of the landscape (overgrown slag heaps), today's Herzogenrath has moved into other industries. Large scale employers include Saint-Gobain Vetrotex (textile glass) and Ericsson Eurolab (electronics). The city hosts a number of electronics start-ups, profiting from the neighbouring Technical University RWTH Aachen.