Aplerbeck

The first document mentioning Aplerbeck, then Afaldrabechi, is a founding document (Stiftungsurkunde) of 899, a term containing "apple" and "creek". According to the Golden Legend, two missionaries, the Two Ewalds, were killed near Aplerbeck in the 7th century.[2]

With industrialisation, mining was done in Zeche Vereinigte Schürbank & Charlottenburg. In 1855, Aplerbeck was connected by rail of the Cologne-Minden Railway Company. The Aplerbecker Hütte was founded in 1862.

In 1890, the Prussian state government chose Aplerbeck as the home of a new psychiatric clinic to serve the Ruhr area.[2][3] A former farm was acquired, to employ the patients in agriculture. Named Westfälische Provinzial-Heilanstalt Aplerbeck (later short: Westfälische Klinik and Heilanstalt) in 1904,[3] it was meant to house 660 patients.

The town hall of Aplerbeck, Amtshaus Aplerbeck, was built in 1906/07 by Wilhelm Stricker. The Aplerbecker Hütte was closed in 1925. Aplerbeck became part of Dortmund on 1 August 1929.[2]

During the reign of the Nazis, Jewish citizens were deported, only 30 of 120 in 1933 could emigrate. Around 340 patients of the psychiatric clinic were sterilised.[4] In 1941, 95 patients were moved to Hadamar and killed.[5]

• 
  City hall
• 
  The Altes Amtshaus (old communal town hall and historical jail), April 2019.
• 
  Aplerbecker Hütte on a postcard, c. 1910
• 
  Große Kirche
• 
  Westfälische Klinik, main building in 2007

The Georgskirche is a Romanesque church which is first mentioned in a document in 1147, but probably is based on an older building from the 9th century. The Reformation reached Aplerbeck in 1570.[2] With the industrialisation, a larger church was needed.[6] The Große Kirche Aplerbeck was built in Gothic Revival style after a design by Christian Heyden from 1867 to 1869.[6] The Georgskirche was no longer used and deteriorated. It was restored in 1963, and is now the main location for Protestant services,[7] while the larger church is often used for concerts.[6]

As many people of Polish origin settled in Aplerbeck, they needed a Catholic church, which was built after a design by August Carl Lange and consecrated on 21 December 1880, named St. Ewaldi after the martyrs.[8] After World War II, this church became too small for a growing congregation. It was replaced in 1971 by a new church.

• 
  Georgskirche
• 
  Der Zeigefinger Gottes (God's index finger)

• Wilhelm Canaris (1887–1945), Admiral[2]
• Paul Graebner (1871–1933), botanist
• Heinz Eberhard Strüning (1896–1986), painter, artist
• Fedja Röchling (1962) Transplant Hepatologist USA
• Dr. Marianne Röchling (1933-1995), gynecologist
• Wilhelm Stricker (1874-1927) Amtsbaumeister

• Siegfried Niehaus: Aplerbeck. Heinrich Borgmann, Dortmund 1977.
• Siegfried Niehaus: Kleine Geschichte des Amtes Aplerbeck. Stadtsparkasse Dortmund, 1980.
• Uwe Bitzel: Lebensunwert. Die Heilanstalt Aplerbeck und ihre Kranken während des Nationalsozialismus. Montania, Dortmund 1995, ISBN 3-929236-04-4.
• Hans Georg Kirchhoff, Siegfried Liesenberg (ed.): 1100 Jahre Aplerbeck: Festschrift im Auftrag des Vereins für Heimatpflege. Essen 1998, ISBN 3-88474-735-5.
• Georg Eggenstein (ed.): Aplerbeck. Sechs Profile – Ein Gesicht. Limosa, Clenze 2010, ISBN 978-3-86037-402-3.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dortmund#Aplerbeck.

• Stadtbezirksportal Dortmund
• Berichte über Aplerbeck
• Aplerbecker Geschichte Aplerbeck history