Neunkirchen Neinkeije (Palatine German) | |
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 St. Marien | |
 Flag _COA.svg) Coat of arms | |
Location of Neunkirchen withinNeunkirchen district  | |
  Neunkirchen  Neunkirchen | |
| Coordinates:49°21′N7°10′E / 49.350°N 7.167°E /49.350; 7.167 | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | Saarland |
| District | Neunkirchen |
| Subdivisions | 10Stadtteile |
| Government | |
| • Lord mayor(2019–29) | Jörg Aumann[1] (SPD) |
| Area | |
• Total | 75.26 km2 (29.06 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 252 m (827 ft) |
| Population (2022-12-31)[2] | |
• Total | 46,882 |
| • Density | 620/km2 (1,600/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| Postal codes | 66538–66540 |
| Dialling codes | 06821 |
| Vehicle registration | NK |
| Website | www |
Neunkirchen (German pronunciation:[ˈnɔʏnˌkɪʁçn̩]ⓘ;Palatine German:Neinkeije) is a town and a municipality inSaarland,Germany. It is the largest town in, and the seat of thedistrict of Neunkirchen. It is situated on the riverBlies, approx. 20 km northeast ofSaarbrücken. With about 50,000 inhabitants, Neunkirchen is Saarland's second largest city.
The name of the town derives from "An der neuen Kirche" meaning "by the new church" not from "nine churches" as one might be tempted to assume. In the past, Neunkirchen's economy has been shaped almost exclusively by coal and steel. With the decline of this industry sector, Neunkirchen's economy had to face drastic changes and underwent a significant shift towards the service and retail sector, although smaller industries still remain.
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The earliest settlements in the area can be dated back to 700 BC. The oldest part of the town is the village of Wiebelskirchen north of the town centre; its name has been recorded as early as 765 AD and is thus the oldest Christian name in town ("Kirche" means church). The name "Neunkirchen" is recorded for the first time in 1281.
Neunkirchen belonged to the principality of Nassau-Saarbrücken, who erected two castles: a renaissance castle andSchloss Jägersberg. Both castles do not exist anymore today, but the ruins of the Renaissance castle are now the base of a little park-like area.
The famous German poet, geologist and author Johann Wolfgang vonGoethe visited Neunkirchen and described the Castle and the Ironworks.[citation needed]
Neunkirchen was awarded township as late as 1922 after having been the largest village in Prussia for some time.
On 10 February 1933, an explosion of a giant gas tank at the ironwork caused 68 casualties, 190 injured. The damage spread over a part of the factory and also hit a nearby residential area and a school building. The duration of repair work and temporary closing of the damaged parts of the iron works was about nine months. This event caused worldwide media attention.
Having a big ironworks complex right in the town centre made the town a target for Allied bomb raids in theSecond World War. In 1945, an air raid destroyed about three quarters of the town centre. As a result, there is a large number ofunexploded ordnance from WW2 still present in the area today and around 1/3 of the city consists of buildings from before 1945.[3]
On September 10, 1987,General Secretary of the Socialist Unity PartyErich Honecker visited his birthplace Neunkirchen.
Neunkirchen's climate is classified asoceanic (Köppen:Cfb;Trewartha:Dobk). The average annual temperature in Neunkirchen is 10.1 °C (50.2 °F). The average annual rainfall is 871.1 mm (34.30 in) with December as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around 18.9 °C (66.0 °F), and lowest in January, at around 2.1 °C (35.8 °F).
The Neunkirchen weather station has recorded the following extreme values:[4]
| Climate data for Neunkirchen (1991−2020 normals, extremes 1970–present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 15.2 (59.4) | 21.3 (70.3) | 25.7 (78.3) | 28.7 (83.7) | 32.2 (90.0) | 36.8 (98.2) | 40.2 (104.4) | 38.1 (100.6) | 33.2 (91.8) | 28.3 (82.9) | 21.6 (70.9) | 17.9 (64.2) | 40.2 (104.4) |
| Mean maximum °C (°F) | 11.9 (53.4) | 13.9 (57.0) | 18.9 (66.0) | 24.6 (76.3) | 28.1 (82.6) | 31.1 (88.0) | 33.1 (91.6) | 32.7 (90.9) | 27.2 (81.0) | 22.4 (72.3) | 16.3 (61.3) | 12.3 (54.1) | 35.1 (95.2) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 4.9 (40.8) | 6.6 (43.9) | 11.0 (51.8) | 15.9 (60.6) | 19.8 (67.6) | 23.1 (73.6) | 25.3 (77.5) | 24.8 (76.6) | 20.5 (68.9) | 15.0 (59.0) | 8.9 (48.0) | 5.5 (41.9) | 15.1 (59.2) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 2.1 (35.8) | 2.6 (36.7) | 5.8 (42.4) | 9.7 (49.5) | 13.8 (56.8) | 17.0 (62.6) | 18.9 (66.0) | 18.1 (64.6) | 14.1 (57.4) | 9.9 (49.8) | 5.7 (42.3) | 2.9 (37.2) | 10.1 (50.2) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −0.9 (30.4) | −1.1 (30.0) | 1.0 (33.8) | 3.3 (37.9) | 7.3 (45.1) | 10.6 (51.1) | 12.6 (54.7) | 11.9 (53.4) | 8.6 (47.5) | 5.6 (42.1) | 2.5 (36.5) | 0.2 (32.4) | 5.1 (41.2) |
| Mean minimum °C (°F) | −9.7 (14.5) | −8.7 (16.3) | −5.6 (21.9) | −2.8 (27.0) | 0.5 (32.9) | 4.6 (40.3) | 7.1 (44.8) | 6.0 (42.8) | 2.9 (37.2) | −1.3 (29.7) | −4.3 (24.3) | −8.0 (17.6) | −12.4 (9.7) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −20.0 (−4.0) | −19.4 (−2.9) | −16.5 (2.3) | −5.6 (21.9) | −2.2 (28.0) | 0.0 (32.0) | 3.9 (39.0) | 3.0 (37.4) | −1.5 (29.3) | −7.6 (18.3) | −13.8 (7.2) | −19.5 (−3.1) | −20.0 (−4.0) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 84.2 (3.31) | 68.6 (2.70) | 70.1 (2.76) | 50.6 (1.99) | 73.0 (2.87) | 64.0 (2.52) | 72.7 (2.86) | 68.7 (2.70) | 62.1 (2.44) | 64.6 (2.54) | 77.2 (3.04) | 115.1 (4.53) | 871.1 (34.30) |
| Average extreme snow depth cm (inches) | 4.6 (1.8) | 4.9 (1.9) | 2.0 (0.8) | 0.1 (0.0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 2.1 (0.8) | 5.2 (2.0) | 9.9 (3.9) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 0.1 mm) | 16.7 | 15.6 | 14.9 | 12.7 | 13.9 | 13.3 | 12.9 | 13.2 | 12.3 | 14.2 | 16.3 | 19.0 | 175.0 |
| Averagerelative humidity (%) | 84.5 | 80.8 | 75.0 | 69.7 | 71.2 | 71.2 | 70.9 | 74.0 | 79.5 | 84.2 | 86.8 | 87.3 | 77.9 |
| Source: DWD Open Data[5][4] | |||||||||||||
There are traces of surface coal mining that reach back as far as 700BC. Later on, coal was mined underground until 1968. In 1593, the first ironworks were constructed in the Blies valley. The iron ore used was from local origin.
Much of the city's fate was influenced by thevon Stumm-Halberg family, who owned the local ironworks from 1806 onwards, and thus had enormous influence on the local politics.
Due to the decline of the coal and steel industry, the local economy faced aggravating hardships. With the last coal mine closing down in 1968 and the major part of the ironworks complex closing down in 1982 (only a steel-mill is still in service today), the unemployment rate rose drastically.
Meanwhile, the city has transformed into a "shopping town", a process that had been started with the construction of a large shopping centre on the grounds of the former steelworks.
Remnants of the former steelworks that had not been destroyed meanwhile have been preserved and renovated. They now serve as an industrial monument; parts of them feature small pubs, clubs, a cinema, the first of the German branch ofHooters of America, Inc restaurants and a radio studio of theMcDonald's fast food chain.
Neunkirchen istwinned with:[6]
Lübben, Germany
Mantes-la-Ville, France
Wolsztyn, Poland
(in German)Towns and municipalities inNeunkirchen (district) | ||
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