History of Cologne
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The History of Cologne, Germany's oldest major city, can be broken into several periods:
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The Romans
In 39 BC, the tribe of the Ubii entered into an agreement with the Roman forces and settled on the left bank of the Rhine. Their headquarters was Oppidum Ubiorum - the settlement of the Ubii, and at the same time an important Roman military base. In 50 AD, Agrippina the younger, wife of the Emperor Claudius, who was born in Cologne, asked for her home village to be elevated to the status of a colonia - a city under Roman law. It was called Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensis (a "colony of Claudius and the altar of Agrippina"), or Colonia Agrippina, "the Colony of Agrippina." In 80 AD water supply was built, the Eifel Aqueduct, one of the longest aqueducts of the Roman Empire, which delivered 20,000 cubic metres of water to the city every day. Ten years later, the colonia became the capital of the Roman province of Lower Germany Germania Inferior.
In 260 Postumus made Cologne the Capital of the Gallic Empire which included the German and Gallic provinces, Britannia and the provinces of Hispania. The Gallic Empire lasted only twenty years.
By the 3rd century, 20,000 people lived in and around the town.. In 310 AD, the Emperor Constantine had a bridge over the Rhine constructed; this was guarded by the castellum Divitia (nowadays "Deutz").
Franks, Merovingians and Carolingians
In 355 AD, the Salian Franks besieged the town for 10 months. In 455, they finally captured Cologne and made it their capital city.
The Prince-Bishops of Cologne
Cologne Cathedral
Cologne's first Christian bishop was Maternus. He was responsible for the construction of the first cathedral, a square building erected early in the 4th century. In 794, Hildebald (or Hildebold) was the first Bishop of Cologne to be elevated to Archbishop. Bruno I (925-965), younger brother of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, founded several monasteries here. Subsequent Archbishops of Cologne became very influential as advisers to the Saxon, Salian and Hohenstaufen dynasties. From 1031, they also held the office of Arch-Chancellor of Italy. Between 1159 and 1167, Rainald von Dassel was Archbishop of Cologne, as well as being Imperial Chancellor and adviser to Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
By the 13th century, the relationship between the city of Cologne and its archbishop had become difficult, and after the battle of Worringen in 1288, Cologne effectively became a free city (though this status would not be formally confirmed until 1475) and the Archbishops removed their residence to Bonn. They would not live in Cologne again until 1821.
The Hanseatic League
Cologne was a leading member of the "Hanse", especially through trading with England.
The French
In 1794, the French occupied Cologne.
The Prussians
In 1814, Cologne was occupied by Prussian and Russian troops. In 1815, Cologne and the Rhineland were allocated to Prussia.
The Nazis
At the beginning of the Third Reich, Cologne was seen as difficult territory by the Nazis, because of deep-rooted communist and catholic influences on the city. The Nazis were always struggling for control of the city.
It was planned to rebuild a large part of the inner city, with a main road connecting the Deutz station and the main station, which was to be moved from next to the cathedral to an area adjacent to today's university campus, with a huge field for rallies, the Maifeld, next to the main station. The Maifeld, between the campus and the Aachener Weiher artificial lake, was the only part of this over-ambitious plan to be realized before the start of the war. After the war, the remains of the Maifeld were buried with rubble from bombed buildings and turned into a park with rolling hills, which was christened Hiroshima-Nagasaki-Park in August, 2004, as a memorial to the victims of the nuclear bombs of 1945. An inconspicuous memorial to the victims of the Nazi regime is situated on one of the hills.
During the war, an anti-Nazi youth gang was active, the Edelweisspiraten.
On the 10th of November 1944, six boys, 16 years of age, were hanged in public, amongst them Bartholomäus Schink, called Barthel. Fritz Theilen survived.
Bookseller Gerhard Ludwig, who worked for the influential publishers Neven du Mont in 1941, when he got into trouble with the Gestapo for political reason, was dismissed immediately. Upon his release from concentration camp Sachsenhausen, and his return to Cologne in 1946, editor Neven du Mont spotted him and complained about the release of prisoners from the camps - he still saw them as "criminals".
Jews in Cologne
As early as 321 AD, an edict by the Emperor Constantine allowed Jews to be elected to the City Council. The first pogrom against the Jews was in 1349, and in 1424 they were evicted from the city, but were allowed back again in 1798.
When the Nazis came to power in 1933, the Jewish population of Cologne was about 20,000. By 1939, 40% of the city's Jews had emigrated. The vast majority of those who remained had been deported to concentration camps by 1941. The trade fair grounds next to the Deutz train station were used to herd together the Jewish population for deportation to the death camps and for disposal of their household goods by public sale.
On Kristallnacht in 1938, Cologne's synagogues were set on fire.
See also: University of Colognede:Geschichte Kölns