2023-07-14 17:48:02
It has long been clear that Kerpen-Manheim will have to give way to Europe’s largest opencast lignite mine. For the few remaining residents, however, this is a cherished home.
14.07.2023 | 03:59 min
It is a bizarre picture in the south of the Hambach lignite opencast mine in the so-called Rhenish Revier. In Kerpen-Manheim, between Aachen and Cologne, the old parish church of St. Albanus and Leonhard rises into the sky like a stronghold. The windows are boarded up with wooden boards.
All around, nature has reclaimed the land. Thistles and poppies are now blooming where 1,600 people once lived. Swallows have nested under the roofs. Almost all houses have been demolished, only a few are still standing. It’s a bit reminiscent of a movie set in a western town.
Not much is left of Kerpen-Manheim. Almost all houses have already been demolished. Source: ZDF
Resettlement started in 2012
Since the end of the 1970s it was clear that Manheim would have to give way to Europe’s largest opencast lignite mine. The phase-out of coal, which was brought forward to 2030, did not change that. The place was the home of Formula 1 racing driver Michael Schumacher, who married his current wife Corinna in the community center in 1995. The resettlement began in 2012. A few years later, the city accommodated refugees in the empty houses. Most of the residents have now been compensated by the opencast mine operator RWE Power and have moved a few kilometers further to the new Manheim-neu development area. Only a few are left.
The end of lignite is sealed. New jobs then have to be found for the people who still work in the power plants and opencast mines:
The Rhenish lignite mining area is to be shut down in 2030. The state government has pledged 15 billion euros for structural change and the promotion of new jobs.
12.06.2023 | 03:52 min
Heinrich Portz wants to stay
One of them is Heinrich Portz. His family has lived in Kerpen-Manheim for generations. Many here “earned good money” at RWE, says the 70-year-old. His brother also worked there all his life. “The place emptied very quickly,” recalls the farmer, who lives in a red and brown brick house across from the church.
Farmer Heinrich Portz does not want to leave his homeland. Source: ZDF
He doesn’t want to leave here: “I’m attached to this house.” He and his son met a few times with people from RWE to talk about resettlement and possible compensation. A common denominator was not found.
We told them we don’t want to leave. RWE says that’s not possible, they have to go. We said to them that we see things differently.
Heinrich Portz
The fact that many accuse him of only playing poker to get more compensation is “nonsense,” he says. But he could live with that.
It’s not about lignite
The energy company is not even concerned with the lignite that lies under Manheim and Heinrich Portz’s properties. It’s about the sand and gravel in the top layer of earth that RWE wants to use to stabilize the embankments at the edge of the opencast mine.
Heinrich Portz told the people at RWE that they should get their gravel somewhere else, but they blocked it: “RWE says it’s not technically possible. It’s over. It’s over. The discussion is over.”
After the end of lignite mining, RWE wants to fill the opencast mines in the Rhenish mining area with water from the Rhine – to the annoyance of local residents:
The Rhenish lignite mining area is facing changes. One plan is to turn the open pits into lake landscapes – but the project isn’t popular everywhere.
25.04.2023 | 03:49 min
When asked by ZDF, the company actually said that “the required material was available in sufficient quantity and quality” only under Manheim. Alternatives have been examined, “but demonstrably not feasible”. The long disputed Hambach Forest a few hundred meters away will be preserved, but the village has to go.
Only the church should remain standing
If necessary, Heinrich Portz wants to risk a legal dispute.
I will try to stay here. I’m optimistic about that. RWE is even more optimistic from their point of view. You have to see that then.
Heinrich Portz
RWE announced that three farms still had to be relocated in Manheim. However, one is confident that the resettlement “can be completed in good time and by mutual agreement”.
Where Kerpen-Manheim is now, Manheim Bay is supposed to be in 50 years. Source: ZDF
The energy company has erected a site fence around the parish church. “Property of RWE Power AG. Do not enter the property,” reads a sign. As it currently stands, the church will be the only building to remain. In the distant future, it is intended to commemorate the history of the place and stand directly on the shore of a huge recreational lake. Because Kerpen-Manheim is supposed to become Manheimer Bucht in half a century.
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