Soest is located along theHellweg road, approximately 23 kilometres (14 miles) south-west ofLippstadt, roughly 50 km (31 mi) east ofDortmund and roughly 50 km (31 mi) west ofPaderborn.
The NorwegianÞiðrekssaga from the 13th century, a series of tales about theGothic KingTheoderic the Great, identifies Soest (called Susat) as the capital ofAttila's (?–453)Hunnic Empire. The actual location of Attila's capital has not been determined.[3]
Owing to its fertile soil (predominantly brown silty clay loam[4]), the area around Soest is believed to have been settled well before the village is first mentioned in theDagobertsche Schenkung in 836. Excavations in recent decades have uncovered signs of habitation stretching back more than 4000 years. During the 11th and 12th centuries, Soest grew considerably, making it one of the largest towns inWestphalia with some 10,000 citizens. It was also, until 1609, an important member of theHanseatic League.
In the geographical work Atar Al-Belad composed by Iranian scholar Mohammad Qazvini (1203-1283), Soest is described for its salt production and referred to as a "Slavic country": "There is a salty spring, while there is no salt to be found in the surroundings. When people make salt they take water from the spring, filling a kettle and placing it in an oven made from stone, lighting a large fire underneath, turning it into a thick and murky fluid. Then it is left to cool, leaving solid white salt. In this manner, all white salt is produced in the Slavic countries."The etymology of Soest, first mentioned in 836 as "villa Sosat" ultimately "Schûschît" is derived from Slavic "sushiti", meaning "to dry" or "drying place", which relates to salt production.
17th-century view of Soest
An increasingly confident and powerful Soest liberated itself, between 1444 and 1449, from theBishop of Cologne, who controlledWestphalia (the so-calledSoest Feud). No longer a capital of Westphalia, Soest aligned itself instead with theDuke of Cleves. This proved to be mostly aPyrrhic victory, however. Though it had shown itself strong enough to defy the powerful Archbishop of Cologne, the town lost much of its trade as a consequence, with a "liberated" Soest surrounded by territories with other allegiances. When the last Duke of Cleves died in 1609, his dukedom was inherited by Brandenburg and, after a short siege, Soest was incorporated into it.
The painterPeter Lely, later to win fame in England, was born in 1618 in Soest to Dutch parents,[5] where his father was an officer serving in the armed forces of ElectorJohann Sigismund ofBrandenburg.
During and after theThirty Years' War, Soest suffered a tremendous loss of both population and influence; at its lowest point, in 1756, having merely 3,600 citizens. In the 1690s, a small commune ofFrenchHuguenots was founded in the town.[6]
With the creation of theSoest district in 1817, its influence again began to rise. However, the industrialization of theRuhr area throughout the 19th century did not reach Soest, which remained a small town.
Under the re-drawing of political borders within the Reich by theNazi Party Soest was placed inGau Westphalia-South.[7] DuringWorld War II, the Stalag VI-Eprisoner-of-war camp for Polish,French, Belgian and British POWs was operated in the town.[8] In 1945, anSS construction brigade was dispatched to the town, and its prisoners were mostly Poles and Soviets, but also Danes, French, Belgians and Dutch.[9] Soest was the target of several allied bomber raids targeting themarshalling yard, one of the biggest in the Reich, and the important battery factory Akku Hagen. In early April 1945, Soest suffered from major fighting as Allied forces captured the town. Though retaken by a German counterattack shortly thereafter, destructive front-line combat continued to rage in Soest and its environs at the eastern edge of theRuhr Pocket until the Allies, spearheaded by theU.S. Ninth Army, gained permanent control on April 7.[10]
From 1953 to 1971, a sizable garrison of Canadian soldiers and their families was stationed at Soest (with the Canadian camps located just east of the town in Bad Sassendorf), as well as at Werl and Hemer-Iserlohn and Deilinghofen to the southwest. In addition, an American Nike Battery (66th Battalion) was situated just south of the town, and was subsequently turned over to the German military.
From 1971 to 1993, the former Canadian properties, including the Married Quarters along Hiddingser Weg, south of the B-1, were used and occupied by British military personnel and their families. With the eventual closure of the Belgian and British army facilities, many of these properties were re-purposed for civilian use, abandoned, or demolished. The former Married Quarters area was converted to civilian housing. The former CANEX (the Canadian Army's food and clothing store for NATO families) was converted to a NAAFI under the British and finally demolished in 2006.
The city is home to a major branch of theSouth Westphalia University of Applied Sciences (also: Fachhochschule Südwestfalen (FH SWF)) which offers various engineering, and Business Administration programmes.
The cathedral is an example of early medieval Romanesque architecture fashioned from the local greenish sandstone. Its massive squared bell tower or steeple can be seen for many kilometres,[citation needed] rising up out of the city centre of the old town and a landmark of the Soester Boerde.
TheAllerheiligenkirmes is named forAll Saints' Day as it starts every year at the first Wednesday after All Saints' and lasts for five days. It is Europe's biggest old town fair[11] and was held for the 685th time in 2023.[12]
Among the traditional specialities of Soest are Möppken bread andpumpernickel. The Haverland bakery in the city centre, which formerly supplied dark bread to the royal court of Bavaria, has existed since 1570. A more recent speciality isBullenauge (Bull's Eye), a mocha liqueur, sold mostly at the Allerheiligenkirmes. Another speciality is the Soester beer, also known asZwiebel-Bier (Onion Beer) as it has been brewed, since 1993, in the Zwiebel (Onion) Inn.
The town's coat of arms shows a key, which is the symbol forSaint Peter, the patron saint of Cologne. The key symbol remained unchanged, even after Soest no longer fell within the jurisdiction of Cologne.
^Lebedynsky, Iaroslav; Escher, Katalin (2007).Le dossier Attila [The Attila Report] (in French). Arles: Editions Errance. pp. 33–37.ISBN978-2-87772-364-0.
^Muret, Eduard (1885).Geschichte der Französischen Kolonie in Brandenburg-Preußen, unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Berliner Gemeinde. Aus Veranlassung der Zweihundertjährigen Jubelfeier am 29. Oktober 1885 (in German). Berlin. p. 265.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Megargee, Geoffrey P.; Overmans, Rüdiger; Vogt, Wolfgang (2022).The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV. Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. p. 434.ISBN978-0-253-06089-1.
^Megargee, Geoffrey P. (2009).The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume I. Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. pp. 1413–1414.ISBN978-0-253-35328-3.
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