Rüthen: Tour of the town walls

Rüthen's historic town wall

The fortifications of the 14th century connected four city gates and eleven towers with a city wall. The entire town wall was around 3000 meters long. The fortifications were used to protect the inhabitants, for example in the Soest Feud, in the Thirty Years' War or in battles between the lords of the land and to ward off robber barons. The walls were between 1.20 meters and 1.80 meters wide and between 3.00 meters and 3.50 meters high. The thickness of the wall tapered towards the top, where the battlements were protected by a wall crown interrupted by observation and firing gaps. In places where the town was not protected by steep slopes due to its location on a hilltop, but instead extended into the open countryside, double moats were also constructed.

The Hachtor and the semi-circular Hexenturm as well as extensive remains of the town wall have been preserved from the town fortifications. Today, the former town wall is a circular route around the historic town center that invites you to visit it. You will always find new insights and views of Rüthen's history and the Ansberg Forest Nature Park with its many idyllic places.

Craftsmen's village and ropery

In the historic craftsmen's village, you can learn about the history of old, local trades (stonemasons, blacksmiths). The neighboring building of a former rope-making workshop (1914) documents the importance of a trade that was once indispensable.

As a building material, the green sandstone quarried near Rüthen had a decisive influence on local architectural and art history. The stone with its characteristic greenish color has also made a name for itself beyond the Soest area. In recognition of the importance of quarrying and processing in the region, the Förderverein Heimatpflege und traditionelles Brauchtum Rüthen e.V. opened a historical craftsmen's village last November. In 14 months, with the support of the NRW Foundation, a project was created that provides an overview of the history of regional craftsmanship. The permanent exhibition provides information on geological structures, mining regulations, the development of mining techniques and forms of stone processing throughout history.

The Hexenturm is the only completely preserved defensive tower of the town fortifications. In the 17th century, alleged sorcerers and witches were imprisoned in the building. Today, the tower houses a small documentary with exhibits about the time of these witch trials. The bronze relief on the outside commemorates all those who were persecuted, but also points out people who stood up against such injustice. It shows, among others, the clergymen Friedrich Spee and Michael Stapirius (Rüthen), who, as contemporaries, courageously raised their voices against the persecution of witches at the time. Those interested can visit the Hexenturm as part of a guided tour of the town.

The Jewish cemetery in the former fortification trench at the Hachtor

The Jewish burial site in Rüthen is the oldest original cemetery in Westfalen. In 1625, the town of Rüthen gave the local Jews the fortification ditch on the edge of the northern town wall, east of the Hachtor, as a permanent burial area for their deceased, after Jewish graves had already been laid out there in earlier times (probably since the late Middle Ages). There are indications of older Jewish life in Rüthen from written sources dating from 1447 and 1279. Jewish settlement in the town of Rüthen was continuous from 1587. The Jewish community was destroyed by the Nazis in 1942.

The right of burial granted by the Rüthen town council in 1625 in the local "Judenhagen" - the oldest name for the Jewish cemetery at the Hachtor - also applied from 1700 to the Jews who have since been documented in the town village of Altenrüthen. The last grave was laid in 1958, since when this cemetery has been considered deserted or closed according to Jewish ritual.

The extremely rare original topography of a Jewish cemetery from the urban Middle Ages that is still visible here makes this burial ground a Westphalian cultural monument of supra-regional importance.

In 2009, the town of Rüthen was the first municipality in North Rhine-Westphalia to collaborate with the Steinheim Institute for German-Jewish History in Duisburg to have the 80 gravestones remaining from more than 200 gravesites on a total area of 1821 square meters scientifically catalogued and indexed with the aim of digitally editing them. Institute staff member Nathanja Hüttenmeister M.A. translated and interpreted the inscriptions with their ornamental symbolism and explained the sepulchral cultural development of the burial ground. The biographical and genealogical research results, which she also compiled, can be easily supplemented, expanded and possibly corrected in the future due to the transparency and flexibility of the chosen digital editing technique. The Rüthen Town Archives (stadtarchiv@ruethen.de) will be happy to receive any information in this regard.