Hermannplatz is a station in the Neukölln district of Berlin which serves as an interchange between the lines U7 and U8 . Operated by the BVG , it is one of the busiest stations on the Berlin U-Bahn system.
103-502: Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH was a German department store chain whose headquarters were in Essen . Until 30 September 2010 the company was a subsidiary of Arcandor AG (which was known until 30 June 2007 as KarstadtQuelle AG) and was responsible within the group for the business segment of over-the-counter retail. On 9 June 2009 Essen District Court ordered provisional asset administration and protective measures in response to an application for
206-612: A World Heritage Site since 2001. Notable accomplishments of the city in recent years include the title of European Capital of Culture on behalf of the whole Ruhr area in 2010 and the selection as the European Green Capital for 2017. Essen is located in the centre of the Ruhr area, one of the largest urban areas in Europe comprising eleven independent cities and four districts with some 5.3 million inhabitants into
309-402: A megalopolis . The city limits of Essen itself are 87 kilometres (54 mi) long, and border ten cities – five belonging to a district ( kreisangehörig ) and five independent – with a total population of approximately 1.4 million. The city extends over 21 kilometres (13 mi) from north to south and 17 kilometres (11 mi) from west to east, mainly north of
412-792: A factory for the production of men's clothing was opened in Stettin in 1919. In 1920 Karstadt took over the company Althoff from Theodor Althoff of Dülmen and transformed the entire group into a limited company. This meant that the Karstadt Group was now also represented by the Althoff stores in Dülmen (opened 1885), Rheine (1889), Borghorst (1889), Bottrop (1893), Bocholt (1893), Recklinghausen (1893), Essen (1894), Münster (1896), Duisburg (1899), Gladbeck (1901), Lippstadt (1901), Coesfeld (1902), Remscheid (1901), Dortmund (1904) and Leipzig (1914). It
515-427: A fully owned subsidiary of KarstadtQuelle and Arcandor AG. In October 2004 it emerged that Karstadt Warenhaus AG and the entire KarstadtQuelle group were in a dramatic financial situation. Karstadt was facing both the difficulties being faced by the entire retail sector and its own home-made problems. The company was continuing to ignore market trends by offering a wide assortment of goods while critics complained that
618-618: A major role in the shaping of the city and the Ruhr area in the late 19th and early 20th century. Riots broke out in February 1917 following a breakdown in the supply of flour. There were then strikes in the Krupp factory. On 11 January 1923 the Occupation of the Ruhr was carried out by the invasion of French and Belgian troops into the Ruhr. The French Prime Minister, Raymond Poincaré ,
721-592: A modified product range under the new brand Perfetto. The ongoing crisis situation led in August 2005 to the sale of 74 Karstadt branches with sales areas below 8,000 square metres (86,000 sq ft) (Karstadt Kompakt – which was later known as Hertie GmbH and then closed following insolvency), 51 SinnLeffers clothing stores and the specialist retail chain Runners Point. The Karstadt department store properties still owned by KarstadtQuelle were sold in 2006 to
824-573: A new building on the then Königstraße, near Alexanderplatz. In 1936, the headquarters moved again, to a new "tailor-made" headquarters on Fehrbelliner Platz, designed by Philipp Schaefer. The structure was seized first by the SS in 1943 and then by the British occupation forces after World War II, when it was renamed Cumberland House. The building was handed over to the Senate of Berlin in 1951. Today, it houses
927-448: A reduction in the share capital and the closure of numerous branches and production facilities; Epa AG was sold. In the 1930s the company suffered under the ideological reservations about department stores held by National Socialism. Such stores were generally perceived as a "Jewish invention" and were subject to widespread repression. Karstadt AG had to dismiss 830 Jewish employees, including four board members and 47 branch managers. After
1030-598: A region where many ash trees were found or to a region in the east (of the Frankish Empire ). The oldest archaeological find, the Vogelheimer Klinge , dates back to 280,000 – 250,000 BCE . It is a blade found in the borough of Vogelheim [ de ] in the northern part of the city during the construction of the Rhine–Herne Canal in 1926. Other artifacts from
1133-479: A sales area of 60,000 square metres, is both the largest German and second largest European department store. They now belong to The KaDeWe Group , in which Karstadt's owner Signa Holding has a 49% minority shareholding. On 25 March 2019 Karstadt & Galeria Kaufhof launched their merged company, Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof , based in Essen, with a new logo and a new website galeria.de . HBC CEO Helena Foulkes said
SECTION 10
#17327717393991236-565: A small town within the sphere of influence of an important ecclesiastical principality , Essen Abbey , until the onset of industrialization. The city then—especially through the Krupp family's iron works—became one of Germany's most important coal and steel centres. Essen, until the 1970s, attracted workers from all over the country; it was the fifth-largest city in Germany between 1929 and 1988, peaking at over 730,000 inhabitants in 1962. Following
1339-730: A strong identification of the population with "their" boroughs or districts and to a rare peculiarity: the borough of Kettwig , located south of the Ruhr River, and which was not annexed until 1975, has its own area code and remains part of the Archdiocese of Cologne , whereas all other boroughs of Essen and some neighbouring cities constitute the Diocese of Essen . Essen has a typical oceanic climate ( Köppen : Cfb ; Trewartha : Dobk ) with cool winters and warm summers (different from Berlin or Stuttgart ). Without large mountains and
1442-626: A studio in Essen, which is responsible for the central Ruhr area. Each day, it produces a 30-minute regional evening news magazine (called Lokalzeit Ruhr ), a five-minute afternoon news programme, and several radio news programmes. A local broadcasting station went on air in the late 1990s. The WAZ Media Group is one of the most important (print) media companies in Europe and publishes the Ruhr area's two most important daily newspapers, Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ; 580,000 copies) and Neue Ruhr/Rhein Zeitung (NRZ; 180,000 copies). In Essen,
1545-409: A year. The city became increasingly important strategically. Resident in Essen since the 16th century, the Krupp family dynasty and Essen shaped each other. In 1811, Friedrich Krupp founded Germany's first cast-steel factory in Essen and laid the cornerstone for what was to be the largest enterprise in Europe for a couple of decades. The weapon factories in Essen became so important that a sign facing
1648-428: Is a so-called arms of alliance ( Allianzwappen ) and consists of two separate shields under a single crown. Most other coats of arms of cities use a mural crown instead of a heraldic crown. The crown, however, does not refer to the city of Essen itself, but instead to the secularized ecclesiastical principality of Essen under the reign of the princess-abbesses. The dexter (heraldically right) escutcheon shows
1751-474: Is referred to as "Essen's earliest preserved example of architecture". Essen was part of the settlement areas of several Germanic peoples ( Chatti , Bructeri , Marsi ), although a clear distinction among these groupings is difficult. The Alteburg [ de ] castle in the south of Essen dates back to the eighth century, the nearby Herrenburg [ de ] to the ninth century. Recent research into Ptolemy 's Geographia has identified
1854-533: The Archbishop of Cologne , marched into the city and erected a city wall together with the population. This proved a temporary emancipation of the population of the city from the princess-abbesses, but this lasted only until 1290. That year, King Rudolph I restored the princess-abbesses to full sovereignty over the city, much to the dismay of the population of the growing city, who called for self-administration and imperial immediacy . The title free imperial city
1957-517: The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who was elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2020. The most recent mayoral election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows: The Essen city council governs the city alongside the mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows: The coat of arms of the city of Essen is a heraldic peculiarity. Granted in 1886, it
2060-634: The Red Dot industrial product design award. In early 2003, the universities of Essen and the nearby city of Duisburg (both established in 1972) were merged into the University of Duisburg-Essen with campuses in both cities and a university hospital in Essen. In 1958, Essen was chosen as the seat to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Essen , often referred to as the diocese of the Ruhr ( Ruhrbistum ). Founded around 845, Essen remained
2163-648: The River Ruhr . The Ruhr forms the Lake Baldeney [ de ] reservoir in the boroughs of Fischlaken, Kupferdreh, Heisingen and Werden . The lake, a popular recreational area, dates from 1931 to 1933, when some thousands of unemployed coal miners dredged it with primitive tools. Generally, large areas south of the River Ruhr (including the suburbs of Schuir and Kettwig ) are quite green and are often quoted as examples of rural structures in
SECTION 20
#17327717393992266-965: The Second World War , the stores to the east of the Oder and the Neiße, in Königsberg (East Prussia), Cranz (East Prussia), Neustettin (Pomerania), Stettin (Pomerania) and Guben (East Brandenburg) were expropriated – as were those in the Soviet Occupation Zone (including Schwerin, Leipzig, Potsdam, Halle and Görlitz). More than 30 of the remaining 45 stores in the West – including the then "flagships" in Berlin-Kreuzberg (Hermannplatz) and Hamburg (Mönckebergstraße) – had been destroyed or severely damaged. The "economic miracle" of
2369-605: The Stone Age have also been found, although these are not overly numerous. Land utilization was very high—especially due to mining activities during the Industrial Age—and any more major finds, especially from the Mesolithic era, are not expected. Finds from 3,000 BCE and onwards are far more common, the most important one being a Megalithic tomb found in 1937. Simply called Chest of Stone ( Steinkiste ), it
2472-532: The main railway station welcomed visitors Hitler and Mussolini to the "Armory of the Reich " ( Waffenschmiede des Reiches ) in 1937. The Krupp Works also were the main reason for the large population growth beginning in the mid-19th century. Essen reached a population of 100,000 in 1896. Other industrialists, such as Friedrich Grillo , who in 1892 donated the Grillo-Theater to the city, also played
2575-419: The polis or oppidum Navalia as Essen. Around 845, Saint Altfrid (around 800–874), the later Bishop of Hildesheim , founded an abbey for women ( coenobium Astnide ) in the centre of present-day Essen. The first abbess was Altfrid's relative Gerswit (see also: Essen Abbey ). In 799, Saint Liudger had already founded Benedictine Werden Abbey on its own grounds a few kilometres south. The region
2678-477: The synagogue was sacked, but remained through the whole war in the exterior almost intact. The Steele synagogue was completely destroyed. During the Nazi era, tens of thousands of slave labourers were forced to work in 350 Essen forced labour camps. Here, they did mining work and worked for companies like Krupp and Siemens. Alfried Krupp was convicted in the Krupp trial at Nuremberg for his role in this but
2781-516: The verb for "eating" (written as lowercase essen ), and/or the German noun for food (which is always capitalized as Essen , adding to the confusion). Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of the name, there remain a few noteworthy interpretations. The oldest known form of the city's name is Astnide , which changed to Essen by way of forms such as Astnidum, Assinde, Essendia and Esnede. The name Astnide may have referred either to
2884-553: The "Deutsche Warenhaus AG". On 7 June 2010 nine out of eleven votes were cast by Karstadt's board of creditors in favour of the Berggruen Holding – although the vote was subject to the closing conditions that the Highstreet consortium waived its demand for rental payments. Berggruen signed the purchase contract – primarily conditional upon an agreement with the principal landlord Highstreet – on 8 June 2010. €70 million
2987-637: The 1970s to establish an in-house self-service division were unsuccessful. At the beginning of 2009 there were 90 Karstadt stores in Germany and the company also owned two branches of Schaulandt. The most important stores included KaDeWe (around 60,000 m) in Berlin, Oberpollinger (around 33,000 m) in Munich and Alsterhaus (around 24,000 m) in Hamburg. The original store in Wismar is, with around 3,100 square metres,
3090-695: The Dutch stormed the city in 1629. She returned in the summer of 1631 following the Bavarians under Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim , only to leave again in September. She died 1644 in Cologne. The war proved a severe blow to the city, with frequent arrests, kidnapping and rape. Even after the Peace of Westphalia from 1648, troops remained in the city until 9 September 1650. The first historic evidence of
3193-458: The Essen show is smaller and is focused on car tuning and racing interests. Other important fairs open to consumers include SPIEL , the world's biggest consumer fair for tabletop gaming, and one of the leading fairs for equestrian sports , Equitana , held every two years. Important fairs restricted to professionals include "Security" (security and fire protection), IPM (gardening) and E-World (energy and water). The Westdeutscher Rundfunk has
Karstadt - Misplaced Pages Continue
3296-534: The German Economic Film Prize 2010. It demonstrates "that the relationships between private investors and managers were closer and more extensive than known - and then showed the effect that this had on the end of the company." Essen Essen ( German pronunciation: [ˈɛsn̩] ) is the central and, after Dortmund , second-largest city of the Ruhr , the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of 586,608 makes it
3399-539: The Highstreet consortium of which the group itself owned 49% and Whitehall Funds 51%. In 2008 KarstadtQuelle AG sold its 49% share to a consortium including the Borletti Group, the Generali Group , Pirelli RE and RREEF Alternative Investments. In 2006, in order to mark its 125th anniversary, Karstadt published a celebratory book entitled Schaufenster Karstadt – Einblicke in 125 Jahre , which presented
3502-569: The Karstadt multimedia store in Berlin-Biesdorf also closed. On 1 October 2011 KaDeWe Berlin, Alsterhaus Hamburg and Oberpollinger Munich and all branches of Karstadt Sports were absorbed into Karstadt Premium GmbH and Karstadt Sports GmbH respectively. This meant that the three premium stores and the sports shops were no longer part of Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH. As part of Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH's "Karstadt 2015" restructuring programme it
3605-544: The Landesverwaltungsamt Berlin (State Administration Office of Berlin). After the end of the war parts of the administration were transferred to Hamburg, Recklinghausen and Limbecker Platz in Essen. In 1969, after three-years of construction, the headquarters was transferred to Essen-Bredeney (alongside the A 52). That location continues to serve as the headquarters of the successor company, Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof. Karstadt's most significant competitor
3708-611: The Protestant city and the Catholic abbey opposed each other. In 1623, princess-abbess Maria Clara von Spaur, Pflaum und Valör, managed to direct Catholic Spaniards against the city in order to initiate a Counter-Reformation . In 1624, a "re-Catholicization" law was enacted, and churchgoing was strictly controlled. In 1628, the city council filed against this at the Reichskammergericht. Maria had to flee to Cologne when
3811-556: The WAZ Group also publishes the local Borbecker Nachrichten [ de ] and Werdener Nachrichten [ de ] , both of which had been independent weekly newspapers for parts of Essen. Additionally, Axel Springer run a printing facility for their boulevard-style daily paper Bild in Essen. Hermannplatz (Berlin U-Bahn) Hermannplatz station first opened on 11 April 1926 together with
3914-606: The allies, Essen was assigned to the British Zone of Occupation . On 8 March 1946, a German army officer and a civilian were hanged for the lynching of three British airmen in December 1944. Although weaponry is no longer produced in Essen, old industrial enterprises such as ThyssenKrupp and RWE remain large employers in the city. Foundations such as the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach - Stiftung still promote
4017-541: The borough of Heidhausen at 202.5 metres (664 ft). The average elevation is 116 metres (381 ft). Essen comprises fifty boroughs which in turn are grouped into nine suburban districts (called Stadtbezirke ) often named after the most important boroughs. Each Stadtbezirk is assigned a Roman numeral and has a local body of nineteen members with limited authority. Most of the boroughs were originally independent municipalities but were gradually annexed from 1901 to 1975. This long-lasting process of annexation has led to
4120-624: The centres of resistance to Social Democracy and the Freikorps alike. During the Nazi era (1933–1945), mayors were installed by the Nazi Party . After World War II , the military government of the British occupation zone installed a new mayor and a municipal constitution modelled on that of British cities. Later, the city council was again elected by the population. The mayor was elected by
4223-413: The city. Over 270 air raids were launched against the city, destroying 90% of the centre and 60% of the suburbs. On 5 March 1943 Essen was subjected to one of the heaviest air-raids of the war. 461 people were killed, 1,593 injured and a further 50,000 residents of Essen were made homeless. On 13 December 1944 three British airmen were lynched. The Krupp decoy site ( Kruppsche Nachtscheinanlage )
Karstadt - Misplaced Pages Continue
4326-674: The city: the Emscher in the north, and in the south the Ruhr River , which is dammed in Essen to form the Lake Baldeney [ de ] and Lake Kettwig [ de ] reservoirs . The central and northern boroughs of Essen historically belong to the Low German Westphalian dialects area, and the south of the city to the Low Franconian Bergish area. Essen is seat to several of
4429-506: The coat of arms can be found on the roof of the Handelshof [ de ] hotel near the main station . Essen has a population of 586,608 and is the 2nd largest city in Ruhr area after Dortmund and the 10th largest city in Germany. Essen has also the largest urban density with cities such as Bochum , Gelsenkirchen and Oberhausen borders this city. In 1960, the population reached its historical peak of over 720,000 (Essen
4532-414: The company and Rewe the same amount of new capital. Initially, Karstadt Feinkost had around 3,700 employees, most of whom had come from KarstadtQuelle, and generated an annual turnover of around 500 million euros. Until 2007 the joint venture reported annual pre-tax losses in the tens of millions. Ever since the founding of Karstadt Feinkost the departments have been gradually refurbished and repositioned with
4635-663: The company's former Labour Relations Director and Head of Personnel Kai-Uwe Weitz who, together with the Finance Director Miguel Müllenbach, had been provisionally managing Karstadt since the departure of Eva-Lotta Sjöstedt in July, was also immediately leaving the company "by mutual agreement". The company headquarters was initially located in Wismar. It moved to Kiel in 1893 and then in 1912 to Steinstraße in Hamburg . In 1932, it moved to Berlin, first in
4738-423: The corporate headquarters of Schenker AG , the logistics division of Deutsche Bahn. Other major companies include Germany's largest construction company Hochtief , as well as Aldi Nord , Evonik Industries , Karstadt , Medion AG and Deichmann , Europe's largest shoe retailer. The Coca-Cola Company had originally established their German headquarters in Essen (around 1930), where it remained until 2003, when it
4841-476: The council as its head and as the city's main representative . The administration was led by a full-time Oberstadtdirektor . In 1999, the position of Oberstadtdirektor was abolished in North Rhine-Westphalia and the mayor became both main representative and administrative head. In addition, the population now elects the mayor directly. The current mayor of Essen is Thomas Kufen of
4944-551: The court in 1670 was that the city had to be "duly obedient in dos and don'ts" to the abbesses but could maintain its old rights—a decision that did not really solve any of the problems. In 1563, the city council, with its self-conception as the only legitimate ruler of Essen, introduced the Protestant Reformation . The Catholic abbey had no troops to counter this development. During the Thirty Years' War ,
5047-543: The daughters and widows of the higher nobility; led by an abbess, the members other than the abbess herself were not obliged to take vows of chastity . Around 852, construction of the collegiate church of the abbey began, to be completed in 870. A major fire in 946 heavily damaged both the church and the settlement. The church was rebuilt, expanded considerably, and is the foundation of the present Essen Cathedral. The first documented mention of Essen dates back to 898, when Zwentibold , King of Lotharingia , willed territory on
5150-417: The department store buildings. Arcandor filed for bankruptcy on 9 June 2009. On 12 April 2010 the board of creditors agreed to the insolvency plan proposed by the insolvency administrator Klaus Hubertus Görg which envisaged a sale of the Karstadt department stores as a single entity to an investor and the waiver by the creditors of a large part of their demands. Some municipalities initially refused to agree to
5253-542: The double-headed Imperial Eagle of the Holy Roman Empire , granted to the city in 1623. The sinister (heraldically left) escutcheon is one of the oldest emblems of Essen and shows a sword that people believed was used to behead the city's patron Saints Cosmas and Damian . People tend to connect the sword in the left shield with one found in the cathedral treasury. This sword, however, is much more recent. A slightly modified and more heraldically correct version of
SECTION 50
#17327717393995356-642: The drugstore brand Müller . In October 2007 the Handelsblatt reported that Karstadt was considering taking over the Kaufhof department stores from Metro AG, a deal which would have made the company Europe's second-largest department store group after Spain's El Corte Inglés. In 2008 Gravis announced the abandonment of its unprofitable cooperation with Karstadt in two pilot stores in Düsseldorf and Lübeck which had originally been envisaged for all 90 stores. In
5459-533: The end of 2017. The city's exhibition centre, Messe Essen , hosts some 50 trade fairs each year. With around 530.000 visitors each year, Essen Motor Show is by far the largest event held there. It has been described as "the showcase event of the year for the tuning community" and as the German version of the annual SEMA auto show in Las Vegas . As contrasted with the Frankfurt Auto Show ,
5562-460: The fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne , Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as the tenth-largest city of Germany. Essen lies in the larger Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region, second largest by GDP in the EU , and is part of the cultural area of Rhineland . Because of its central location in the Ruhr, Essen is often regarded as the Ruhr's "secret capital". Two rivers flow through
5665-451: The group generated losses of €249.6 million, €121 million of which resulted from restructuring measures and, in particular, severance payments to 2,000 employees. In the first seven months of the subsequent trading year sales fell by 7.9%. All general, sports and premium stores were below projections. In May 2013 the company announced a "wage freeze" and, hence, a temporary suspension of the labour agreement until 2015. In September 2013 it
5768-555: The history of the company. Karstadt's book departments have been operated since April 2008 as "shops-in-shops" by DBH Warenhaus (Verlagsgruppe Weltbild/Hugendubel). In Karstadt's premium stores (such as KaDeWe and Karstadt's Hermannplatz store in Berlin) these book departments operate under the "Hugendubel" name and in all others as Weltbild. Further companies who are Karstadt tenants and operate independently while renting Karstadt's checkout/payment system include WMF, Rosenthal Porcelain and
5871-525: The immediate resignation of Sjöstedt. In justifying her move she explained that "detailed checks, the experiences of the past few months and a closer knowledge of the economic situation have led me to conclude that the pre-conditions for the path chosen by me no longer exist". On 15 August 2014 it was announced that the Vienna-based Signa Holding was taking over the troubled department store chain for one Euro. Signa Holding also acquired
5974-498: The important mining tradition of Essen date back to the 14th century, when the princess-abbess was granted mining rights. The first silver mine opened in 1354, but the indisputably more important coal was not mentioned until 1371, and coal mining only began in 1450. At the end of the 16th century, many coal mines had opened in Essen, and the city earned a name as a centre of the weapons industry. Around 1570, gunsmiths made high profits and in 1620, they produced 14,000 rifles and pistols
6077-525: The interiors were outdated and the goods on offer not customer-orientated. Since 1 January 2005, the food departments in currently 67 (and initially 72) of the 90 Karstadt branches have been run by a Cologne -based joint venture known as Karstadt Feinkost GmbH & Co. KG, of which Karstadt owns 74.9% and the Rewe Group 25.1% and of which each company appoints one managing director. Karstadt contributed goods and properties worth around 50 million euros to
6180-432: The legal division of Karstadt into a parent company and three subsidiary companies in the sectors of sports, premium and other stores. Smaller business divisions were seen as easier to manage and could react more quickly. In addition to this, each division would find it easier to find strategic partners and cooperative ventures. Following an adjustment of the labour agreement covering the restructuring process, Berggruen's Plan
6283-727: The low-price chain Kepa. In 1984 Neckermann was taken over completely and integrated into the structure of the group. Following German reunification , former Centrum department stores were taken over in Brandenburg an der Havel, Dresden, Halle, Magdeburg, Wismar and Görlitz. In 1994 Karstadt took over the Hertie department stores (which also included KaDeWe). These Hertie department stores initially continued to operate in parallel but they were then progressively transformed into Karstadt stores or closed. The takeover of Hertie also left Karstadt as
SECTION 60
#17327717393996386-442: The minority shares which had been retained by Nicolas Berggruen in Karstadt Sports GmbH and the Karstadt Premium GmbH, which owns stores including KaDeWe in Berlin, Alsterhaus in Hamburg and Oberpollinger in Munich. Four years ago the Chairman René Benko successfully opened an Austrian chain of department stores which could serve as an example for Karstadt. On 19 August 2014 an ad-hoc statement from Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH announced that
6489-420: The oldest preserved seven branched candelabrum, and the Golden Madonna of Essen , the oldest known sculpture of the Virgin Mary in the western world. Mathilde was succeeded by other women related to the Ottonian emperors: Sophia, daughter of Otto II and sister of Otto III , and Teophanu, granddaughter of Otto II. It was under the reign of Teophanu that Essen, which had been called a city since 1003, received
6592-429: The opening of insolvency proceedings . It also appointed a provisional insolvency administrator. The insolvency proceedings were opened on 1 September 2009. On 7 June 2010 the board of creditors resolved to sell Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH to the investor Nicolas Berggruen . Berggruen had taken over all Karstadt stores by 1 October 2010. This had been determined by Essen District Court on 3 September 2010. On 14 August 2014 it
6695-410: The otherwise relatively densely populated central Ruhr area. According to the Federal Statistical Office of Germany , Essen with 9.2% of its area covered by recreational green is the greenest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the third-greenest city in Germany. The city has been shortlisted for the title of European Green Capital two consecutive times, for 2016 and 2017, winning for 2017. The city
6798-486: The owner of a number of properties which the National Socialists had expropriated from the Jewish department store founder Wertheim. In 2005 the Berlin Administrative Court ordered KarstadtQuelle AG to compensate the heirs. In 1999 Karstadt AG and the mail-order company Quelle merged to form KarstadtQuelle AG. Following the merger with Quelle, the department stores of the former Karstadt AG were operated by Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH (known until 2006 as Karstadt Warenhaus AG),
6901-412: The post-war years enabled the company to recover and in the early 1950s it began to expand. A number of takeovers followed, including that of the Grimme department stores in Schleswig-Holstein in 1970. In 1977 Karstadt acquired a majority share in Neckermann Versand AG and, with an annual turnover of 10.62 billion DM, became the Federal Republic's largest retailer. In the same year, it was decided to close
7004-421: The presence of inland seas, it ends up extending a predominantly marine climate is found in Essen, usually a little more extreme and drier in other continents in such geographical location . Its average annual temperature is 10 °C (50 °F): 13.3 °C (56 °F) during the day and 6.7 °C (44 °F) at night. The average annual precipitation is 934 millimetres (37 in). The coldest month of
7107-459: The region's authorities, as well as to eight of the 100 largest publicly held German corporations by revenue, including three DAX -listed corporations. Essen is often considered the energy capital of Germany with E.ON and RWE , Germany's largest energy providers, both headquartered in the city. Essen is also known for its impact on the arts through the respected Folkwang University of the Arts , its Zollverein School of Management and Design, and
7210-440: The region-wide decline of heavy industries in the last decades of the 20th century, the city has seen the development of a strong tertiary sector of the economy . The most notable witness of this structural change ( Strukturwandel ) is the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex , which had once been the largest of its kind in Europe. Ultimately closed in 1993, both the coking plant and the mine have been listed by UNESCO as
7313-446: The required waiver of business tax payments . Four parties expressed interest in purchasing the Karstadt stores: the German-Swedish investor group Triton, Whitehall together with the Borletti Group and the German financial investor Nicolas Berggruen. Metro AG also expressed interest, but only in the acquisition of certain lucrative and strategically interesting Karstadt stores, which it intended to combine with its own Kaufhof stores into
7416-533: The rest of the newly built line between the stations Hasenheide and Bergstraße, which are today the U7 stations Südstern and Karl-Marx-Straße respectively. The second platform , built above the original, was opened on 17 July 1927 to serve what is now the U8 line. The station's architects were Alfred Grenander and Alfred Fehse. The station was the first on the Berlin network to be fitted with escalators , which connected
7519-582: The right to hold markets in 1041. Ten years later, Teophanu had the eastern part of Essen Abbey constructed. Its crypt contains the tombs of St. Altfrid, Mathilde II, and Teophanu herself. In 1216, the abbey, which had only been an important landowner until then, gained the status of a princely residence when Emperor Frederick II called abbess Elisabeth I "Princess of the Empire" ( Reichsfürstin ) in an official letter. In 1244, 28 years later, Essen received its town charter and seal when Konrad von Hochstaden ,
7622-569: The river and Essen. Essen is twinned with: Essen cooperates with: Essen is home to several large companies, among them the ThyssenKrupp industrial conglomerate which is also registered in Duisburg and originates from a 1999 merger between Duisburg-based Thyssen AG and Essen-based Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp . The largest company registered only in Essen is Germany's second-largest electric utility RWE AG . Essen hosts parts of
7725-401: The sale were earmarked for the premium stores and 50 million euros for the sports stores. The 300 million was only to be paid in full within 18 months but half should be paid before the end of the year. In February 2014 Eva-Lotta Sjöstedt became the new managing director and successor to Andrew Jennings, who had been with Karstadt since the beginning of 2011. On 7 July 2014 the company announced
7828-469: The same year Karstadt started cooperating with the fashion designers Kaviar & Gauche and Kostas Murkudis. In May 2009 it was announced that the Metro Group's Kaufhof AG wanted to take over 60 of Karstadt's 90 department stores. In addition to this, liquidity problems meant that the Karstadt parent company Arcandor was no longer able to make rental payments to the Highstreet consortium, the owners of
7931-589: The smallest. The 180 Fox markets, in which remaindered goods from Karstadt and Quelle were sold, were closed at the end of 2007. These goods were then sold in ""Karstadt-Schnäppchencenters"". The closure of Karstadt's branches in Dortmund (Kampstraße), Munich (am Dom) and in Hamburg's Elbe Shopping Centre was announced on 10 November 2009. A Schaulandt store in Braunschweig, a branch of WOM in Stuttgart and
8034-512: The then-largest department stores in the world was opened on Hermannplatz in Berlin-Kreuzberg. The nine-storey building with around 72,000 square metres (780,000 sq ft) of usable space (at that time KaDeWe had less than 30,000 square metres (320,000 sq ft) initially offered work to 4,000 employees. The monumental building also had two 56-metre-high (184 ft) towers, a 4,000 square metres (43,000 sq ft) roof terrace and several truck lifts as well as its own entrance from
8137-1332: The two companies were excited to bring together two "iconic banners to create Germany's leading retail business." On 14 May 1881 Rudolph Karstadt opened his first store in Wismar under the name "Tuch-, Manufactur- und Confectionsgeschäft Karstadt" . Karstadt's strategy of offering fixed low prices in place of the still normal haggling was successful from the start as a result of which he had soon opened branches in 24 towns across Northern Germany. The second Karstadt store opened in Lübeck in 1884. The first customers included Thomas Mann and his brother Heinrich. Further branches opened in Neumünster (1888), Braunschweig (1890), Kiel (1893), Mölln (1895), Eutin (1896) and Preetz (1897). In 1900 Rudolph Karstadt took over 13 stores from his highly indebted brother Ernst Karstadt in Anklam, Dömitz, Friedland, Greifswald, Güstrow, Hamburg (Röhrendamm), Ludwigslust, Neubrandenburg, Schwerin, Stavenhagen, Wandsbek (Lübecker Straße) and Waren (Müritz). Further branches opened in Bremen (1902), Hamburg-Eimsbüttel (1903), Altona (1903), Hanover (1906) and Wilhelmshaven (1908). An early highpoint
8240-419: The two platforms. Unique that time was Karstadt department store got a tunnel for customers directly to its facility. Refer to U8 and Wertheim, rumors to have paid for change route around Moritzplatz to same station building connection. Until 1930, tram lines were present on all the streets converging on Hermannplatz, and it was served by no fewer than 15 separate routes. In the following years however, there
8343-460: The underground railway. It soon became clear, however, that the building was over-dimensioned and, in 1932, a number of floors were empty due to the economic crisis. In 1945 the building was blown up by members of the SS . In 1932 Rudolph Karstadt stepped down from the management of the company following the dramatic decline in sales which accompanied the global economic crisis. A restructuring plan included
8446-606: The well-being of the city, for example by supporting a hospital and donating €55 million for a new building for the Museum Folkwang , one of the Ruhr area's major art museums. The administration of Essen had for a long time been in the hands of the princess-abbesses as heads of the Imperial Abbey of Essen . However, from the 14th century onwards, the city council increasingly grew in importance. In 1335, it started choosing two burgomasters , one of whom
8549-504: The western bank of the River Rhine to the abbey. Another document, describing the foundation of the abbey and allegedly dating back to 870, is now considered an 11th-century forgery. In 971, Mathilde II , granddaughter of Emperor Otto I , took charge of the abbey. She was to become the most important of all abbesses in the history of Essen. She reigned for over 40 years, and endowed the abbey's treasury with invaluable objects such as
8652-407: The year is January, when the average temperature is 2.4 °C (36 °F). The warmest months are July and August, with an average temperature of 18 °C (64 °F). The Essen weather station has recorded the following extreme values: In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it has the same form as the German infinitive of
8755-556: Was Kaufhof , which it merged with in 2019. Earlier competitors were Hertie (which later merged with Karstadt) and Horten (which later merged with Kaufhof). Bricks-and-mortar competitors included C&A , Peek & Cloppenburg and Saturn . From the 1960s and 70s on, competition increased on "green-field" sites – sites on the edge of cities or in the suburbs. Self-service department stores like Real , Famila, Plaza and other specialty stores (Adler, Vögele, Vobis , Media Markt ) experienced particularly strong growth. Attempts by Karstadt in
8858-403: Was a gradual reduction in tram provisioning in the former West Berlin , and the last tram ran to Hermannplatz on 1 October 1964. Today, the square is a hub of activity in one of the most densely populated areas of Berlin. It has therefore retained its status as a transport hub , and is served by five bus lines during the day (two of which operate continuously) and four lines at night . On U7
8961-651: Was announced that Karstadt had been completely taken over by Signa Holding of the Austrian investor René Benko , which already owned the majority of the sports shops and premium stores. Karstadt Warenhaus GmbH consisted of 83 department stores, 4 bargain centres, 2 branches of K Town and the online shop karstadt.de. The 28 sports shops belonged to Karstadt Sports GmbH. The company used to own three premium stores - Oberpollinger in Munich , Alsterhaus in Hamburg and Kaufhaus des Westens ( KaDeWe ) in Berlin which, with
9064-435: Was approved by the trade union Verdi . The logistics division of the company, KarstadtQuelle Beschaffungslogistik, continues to operate under the name Corporate Service (Germany) GmbH (CSG). The company offers international purchasing and, in particular, supply-chain solutions. The managing directors of CSG are Marc Baeuerle and Stefan Graetz and the headquarters are in Düsseldorf. Between 1 October 2011 and 30 September 2012
9167-519: Was built in Velbert to divert Allied airstrikes from the actual production site of the arms factory in Essen. The Allied ground advance into Germany reached Essen in April 1945. The US 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 17th Airborne Division , acting as regular infantry and not in a parachute role, entered the city unopposed and captured it on 10 April 1945. After the occupation of Germany by
9270-475: Was convinced that Germany failed to comply the demands of the Treaty of Versailles . On the morning of 31 March 1923, the culmination of this French-German confrontation occurred when a small French military command, occupied the Krupp car hall to seize several vehicles. This event caused 13 deaths and 28 injured. The occupation of the Ruhr ended in summer 1925. On the night of Kristallnacht on 10 November 1938,
9373-458: Was decided to reorient the company's online sales approach. In November 2012 Karstadt announced the relaunch of its online stores in cooperation with Demandware and SinnerSchrader . The branch with the highest sales was the one located next to Munich main station which offered 300,000 products and covered 40,000 square metres. This branch closed 30 June 2023. As of 30 July 2016 the company had 114 stores in Germany. The documentary received
9476-506: Was finally granted by Emperor Charles IV in 1377. However, in 1372, Charles had paradoxically endorsed Rudolph I's 1290 decision and hence left both the abbey and the city in imperial favour. Disputes between the city and the abbey about supremacy over the region remained common until the abbey's dissolution in 1803. Many lawsuits were filed at the Reichskammergericht , one of them lasting almost 200 years. The final decision of
9579-513: Was made known that Berggruen was selling 75.1% of both the premium and the sports stores to the Austrian Signa Holding of the investor René Benko. The revenue of 300 million euros was to be used to modernise the Karstadt stores. 150 million euros were available for the general Karstadt stores, of which 15 million should be invested within five years and the further 135 million euros as required. 100 million euros of this revenue from
9682-755: Was made part of the Prussian Province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg from 1815 to 1822, after which it became part of the Prussian Rhine Province until its dissolution in 1946. During the German Revolution of 1918–19 , Essen was the home of the Essen Tendency ( Essener Richtung ) within the Communist Workers' Party of Germany . In 1922 they founded the Communist Workers' International . Essen became one of
9785-519: Was moved to the capital Berlin. In light of the Energy transition in Germany , Germany's largest electric utility E.ON announced that, after restructuring and splitting off its conventional electricity generation division (coal, gas, atomic energy), it will move its headquarters to Essen in 2016, becoming a sole provider of renewable energy . The DAX -listed chemical distribution company Brenntag announced it would move its headquarters to Essen at
9888-490: Was named as the purchase and investment price with a further €240 million to be invested in the following three years, for which Berggruen required no external capital. On 30 June 2010 the Federal Cartel Office approved the takeover of the department store chain. After tough negotiations, agreement with the Highstreet consortium regarding rental payments was reached in early September 2010. Berggruen announced
9991-778: Was only much later however (1963) that the Althoff stores were given the Karstadt name. The branch network had now expanded to 44 and this number grew further to 89 by 1931. After the First World War , Karstadt expanded rapidly and in July 1926 it established the EPA-Einheitspreis-Aktiengesellschaft with which it created a network of low price department stores. By 1932 there were 52 EPA stores. In addition to this, Karstadt acquired further production facilities in order to reduce further its dependency upon suppliers. These facilities included weaving mills, furnishers, printers and abattoirs. In 1929 one of
10094-518: Was pardoned by the US in 1951. There were several subcamps in Essen in Second World War , such as the subcamps Humboldtstraße [ de ] , Gelsenberg [ de ] , Schwarze Poth [ de ] . As a major industrial centre, Essen was a target for allied bombing, the Royal Air Force (RAF) dropping a total of 37,014 tonnes (82 million pounds ) of bombs on
10197-424: Was placed in charge of the treasury. In 1377, Essen was granted imperial immediacy but had to abandon this privilege later on. Between the early 15th and 20th centuries, the political system of Essen underwent several changes, most importantly the introduction of the Protestant Reformation in 1563, the annexation of 1802 by Prussia , and the subsequent secularization of the principality in 1803. The territory
10300-414: Was singled out for its exemplary practices in protecting and enhancing nature and biodiversity and efforts to reduce water consumption. Essen participates in a variety of networks and initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the city's resilience in the face of climate change. The lowest point can be found in the northern borough of Karnap at 26.5 metres (86.9 ft), the highest point in
10403-451: Was sparsely populated with only a few smallholdings and an old and probably abandoned castle. Whereas Werden Abbey sought to support Liudger's missionary work in the Harz region ( Helmstedt / Halberstadt ), Essen Abbey was meant to care for women of the higher Saxon nobility. This abbey was not an abbey in the ordinary sense, but rather intended as a residence and educational institution for
10506-621: Was the fifth largest German city at that time) due to its booming industrial era of the Ruhr Area and the West German Wirtschaftswunder . Since 1970s, the population of Essen declined due to loss of jobs by coal and mining. Essen has a large migrant population, most of them are from Turkey , Syria and Poland . The City of Monessen, Pennsylvania , situated along the Monongahela River , was named after
10609-403: Was the opening in 1912 of the branch in Hamburg's Mönckebergstraße which, with a sales area of around 10,000 square metres (110,000 sq ft), was the first such department store in a major German city. Karstadt also moved increasingly into the in-house production of clothing, opening a large material store in Berlin in 1911 and a clothing factory in the following year. In addition to this,
#398601