Word: ruhrgebiet
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...swampy, flat, coal-coated zone of smokestacks and smelters. But there are those who love it and want to share it. In May, the Local Residents' Organization (L.R.O.) of the much-maligned Ruhrgebiet (Ruhr region) will offer its first tourist "adventure" through West Germany's industrial heartland. The idea, says the L.R.O.'s Dietrich Springorum, is to shed the region's grimy stereotype and show "that it is not only fascinating but has its beauty spots...
...Germans, the word Heimat (homeland) has a deep sentimental significance. From political exiles such as Poet Heinrich Heine in 1831 (Ich hatte einst ein schones Vaterland) to modern-day emigres in the Americas whose eyes fill with tears at the memory of some sooty mill town in the Ruhrgebiet, Heimat is that distant place you came from-and forever recall over beers and tears. Last week all of West Germany was aroused over the Heimat issue as political reality clashed head-on with sentiment...
Alfred bought coal and ore mines in Germany and Spain, built power, gas and water plants and his own fleet of ships. Above the smoke and soot of the Ruhrgebiet, overlooking his busy factories, he built Villa Hiigel, a monstrous, boxlike pile made of stone and steel because Alfred feared fire. There he entertained the royalty and dignitaries who streamed to Essen to pay tribute to his genius. When he died in 1887, the Kaiser sent a special deputy, and messages of condolence poured in from all over the world...
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