Stockheim, Düren Kreise; Köln Regierungsbezirke,
Rheinland (LVR) Landschaftsverbände; NWR Bundesländer, Deutschland
Places near Stockheim
Binsfeld - Drove - Frangenheim - Frauwullesheim - Jakobwullesheim - Krauthausen - Niederau - Rommelsheim - Soller - Stepprath –

Cologne is one of the five governmental districts of the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located in the
south-west of that state and covers the hills of the Eifel as well as the Bergisches Land.

It was created in 1815, when Prussia reorganised its internal administration.

Düren is a Kreis (district) in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Heinsberg, Neuss, Rhein-
Erft-Kreis, Euskirchen and Aachen.

The district was created in 1972 by merging the former districts of Jülich and Düren. Both districts date back to 1816 when
the new Prussian province Rhineland was created. Before the Napoleonic Wars all of the area belonged to the duchy of Jülich.

It is located on the river Rur, approx. 5 km south of Düren.
Duchy of Jülich

The Jülich-Berg or sometimes the Duchy of
Jülich (German: Herzogtum Jülich; Dutch:
Gulik) was a state enlarged from the County
of Jülich and became a duchy when
combined with the County of Berg in the Holy
Roman Empire, so that the territories are
situated in present day Germany (part of
North Rhine-Westphalia) and the
Netherlands (part of Limburg). Its territory
was situated on both sides of the river Rur,
around its capital Jülich in the lower end of
the Rhine drainage basin. It was combined
with County of Berg in 1423.

The County of Jülich (Grafschaft Jülich) was
first mentioned in the 11th century. In the
14th century, the county became a duchy. Its
history is closely related to that of its
neighbours: the Duchies of Cleves, Berg,
and Guelders and the County of Mark. In
1423, Jülich and Berg were united. In 1521
Jülich, Berg, Cleves and Mark formed the
united Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg in a
personal union under John III, Duke of
Cleves who married to Maria von Geldern,
daughter of William VIII of Jülich-Berg, who
became heiress to her father's estates:
Jülich, Berg, and the County of Ravensburg.

When the last duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg
died issueless in 1609, a war broke out for
the succession. The duchies were divided
between Palatinate-Neuburg (Jülich and
Berg) and Margraviate of Brandenburg
(Cleves and Mark) in the Treaty of Xanten of
1614. When the last duke of
Palatinate-Neuburg (after 1685 also Palatine
Elector) died issueless in 1742, Jülich and
Berg were inherited by the Duke of
Palatinate-Sulzbach (after 1777 also Duke of
Bavaria).

In 1794, the Duchy of Jülich was occupied by
France, and it became part of the French
département of the Roer. In 1815, after
the defeat of Napoleon, the duchy became
part of the Prussian Province of
Jülich-Cleves-Berg (after 1822 the
Prussian Rhine Province), except for the
cities Sittard and Tegelen, which became
part of the United Kingdom of the
Netherlands.
Province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg

The Province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg (German:
Provinz Jülich-Kleve-Berg) was a province of the
Kingdom of Prussia from 1815-1822. The land held
by the defunct united duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg
formed the majority of the land in this new province.
Its capital was Cologne.

The province was created after the Congress of
Vienna in 1815, where Prussia was given the
Rhineland. Before the Napoleonic Wars, Prussia
had already held the Duchy of Cleves, the County
of Mark, and parts of the Duchy of Gelre and the
County of Moers. To form the Province of
Jülich-Cleves-Berg, Prussia added to these
territories the Duchies of Jülich and Berg, the
former Electorate of Cologne, and the previously
Free Imperial City of Cologne.

On 22 June 1822, by order of the Prussian cabinet,
this province was merged with the neighboring
Grand Duchy of the Lower Rhine province to form
the Rhine Province.
Grand Duchy of the Lower Rhine

The Grand Duchy of the Lower Rhine (German: Großherzogtum Niederrhein), or
simply known as the Lower Rhine Province (German: Provinz Niederrhein) was a
province of the Kingdom of Prussia and existed from 1815 to 1822.

The province was created after the Congress of Vienna in 1815 where Frederick
William II was given the Rhineland and with it the title of Grand Duke of the Lower
Rhine. This allowed Prussia to consolidate its Rhineland territories held since 1803,
such as the Electorate of Trier, Manderscheid, Malmedy, the previously Free
Imperial City of Aachen, most of the Palatinate region, parts of Luxembourg and
Limburg, as well as a few other small territories. On 22 April 1816, these territories
were combined to form the Grand Duchy of the Lower Rhine, with the provincial
capital situated in Koblenz.

On 22 June 1822, by order of the Prussian cabinet, this province was fused with the
neighbouring Province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg to form the Rhine Province.
Rheinprovinz

The Rhine Province (Rheinprovinz in German) was a province of the
Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1822 to 1946. It
was created from the provinces of the Lower Rhine and
Jülich-Cleves-Berg. Its capital was Koblenz and in 1939 it had 8.0 million
inhabitants.
In 1920, the Saar was separated from the Rhine Province and
administered by the League of Nations until a plebiscite in 1935, when the
region was returned to Germany. At the same time, in 1920, the districts of
Eupen and Malmedy were transferred to Belgium (see German-Speaking
Community of Belgium). In 1946, the Rhine Province was divided up
between the newly-founded states of North Rhine-Westphalia and
Rhineland-Palatinate.
The coat of arms show the leopard from
the city of Jülich in the upper part. In the
bottom it has a paper roll with the capital
letter D for Düren, because the paper
industry has long history.
The Rur -German, in Dutch and French:
Roer, — not to be confused with the
Ruhr — is a river in Belgium, Germany
and the Netherlands. It is a right tributary
to the river Meuse. About 90% of the river
is in Germany.
Duren Kreise (District)
The Battle of Huertgen Forest (German: Schlacht im
Hürtgenwald) is the name given to the series of
fierce battles fought between U.S. and German
forces during World War II in the Hürtgen Forest. The
battles took place between September 19, 1944, and
February 10, 1945, in a corridor of barely 50 square
miles (129 km²) east of the Belgian–German border.

U.S. commanders’ initial goal was to pin down
German forces in the area so as to keep them from
reinforcing the front lines further north, between
Aachen and the Rur (Roer) River, where the Allies
were basically fighting a trench war between a
network of fortified towns and villages connected with
field fortifications, tank traps, and minefields. A
secondary objective may have been to outflank the
front line. The Americans' initial objectives were to
take Schmidt, clear Monschau, and advance to the
Rur. The Germans viciously defended the area for
two reasons: It served as staging area for the
Ardennes Offensive (what became the Battle of the
Bulge) that was already in preparation, and the
mountains commanded access to the
Schwammenauel Dam[verification needed]
(Rurtalsperre Schwammenauel) at the head of the
Rur Lake (Rurstausee) which, if opened, would flood
low-laying areas downstream and deny any crossing
of the river. The Allies only recognized this after
several heavy setbacks, and the Germans were able
to hold the region until they launched their final
major, last-ditch offensive on the Western Front, into
the Ardennes.
A memorial in Vossenack dedicated to all who fell, regardless of
allegiance, victims of the battle for the Hürtgen Forest
SC 248456 - Infantrymen of Company F, 18th Infantry  Regiment, 1st Infantry
Division, U.S. First Army, move through the town of Stockheim, Germany, as
artillery lays barrage on next objectives. 2/27/45. Photographer: T/5 Ernest Braun.
Berg
Jülich
8 Stockheim in Duren Kreise
4 Duren Kreis in North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine with Cologne Administrative
Region (Regierungsbezirke)
Köln is in the Rheinland (LVR)
Landschaftsverbände
North Rhine-Westphalia
Federal State (Bundesländer)
Germany (Deutschland)
Johann Franz Maurer (b.1- 23-1863 in Stockheim, Rheinprovinz of the Kingdom of Prussia;
Germany; d. 7-12-1934 in St. Louis, Mo.) in 1891 he came alone to the U.S.A.  This would be during the
time of the Rheinprovinz under the Kingdom of Prussia.
Königreich Preußen

The Kingdom of Prussia (German: Königreich Preußen) was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918 and, from 1871, was the leading state of the German Empire,
comprising almost two-thirds of the area of the empire. It took its name from the territory of Prussia, although its power base was Brandenburg.

In 1862, Otto von Bismarck was appointed by King William I as Prime Minister of Prussia. He was determined to unite the German states under Prussian
domination, and guided Prussia through three wars which ultimately achieved this goal.

The first of these wars was the Second War of Schleswig (1864), which Prussia initiated and succeeded in gaining the assistance of Austria. Denmark was
soundly defeated and surrendered both Schleswig and Holstein, to Prussia and Austria respectively.

The divided administration of Schleswig and Holstein then became the trigger for the Austro-Prussian War (1866 – also known as the Seven Weeks’ War), where
Prussia, allied with the Kingdom of Italy and various northern German states, declared war on the Austrian Empire. The Austrian-led coalition was crushed and
some German states (the Kingdom of Hanover, the Grand Duchy of Hesse, the Duchy of Nassau and the Free City of Frankfurt) were annexed by Prussia. The
disputed territories of Schleswig and Holstein were now under total Prussian rule. With these gains in territory it became possible to connect the Prussian
possessions in the Rhineland and Westphalia with the remainder of the Kingdom. It was at this point that Prussia reached its fullest extent (in terms of area), and it
remained at this size until the Kingdom's end in 1918.

The German Confederation was replaced by the Prussian-dominated North German Confederation in 1867, with military alliances with the southern German
states (except Austria) put in place. Bismarck’s planned Kleindeutschland unification of Germany had come considerably closer to realisation. While King William
was determined to make territorial gains from Austria itself, Bismarck persuaded him to abandon the idea. While Bismarck wanted Austria to play no future role in
German affairs, he still saw that Austria could be a valuable future ally.

The final act was the Franco-Prussian War (1870), where Bismarck maneuvered Emperor Napoleon III of France into declaring war on Prussia. Activating the
German alliances put in place after the Austro-Prussian War, the German states came together and swiftly defeated France. This Prussian led victory made
possible the creation of the German Empire with William declared to be Kaiser William I on 18 January 1871 (the 170th anniversary of the coronation of the first
Prussian King, Frederick I) in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles outside of Paris, while the French capital was still under siege.

With the Prussian-led German Empire now the most powerful entity in continental Europe, Bismarck wished to preserve peace in Europe, with such acts as the
Congress of Berlin. The new German Empire improved the already-strong relations with Britain, (Kaiser Frederick III was married to the eldest daughter of Queen
Victoria of the United Kingdom). But all of this changed with the death of Frederick III in 1888 (after only 99 days on the throne) and the ascension of his 29-year old
son, William II. The new Kaiser rapidly soured relations with the British and Russian royal families (despite being closely related to them), becoming their rival and
ultimately their enemy.

William II ousted Bismarck from office in 1890 and began a campaign of militarisation and adventurism in foreign policy that eventually led Germany into isolation.
Frederick III
German Emperor,
King of Prussia
9 March – 15 June 1888
William II
German Emperor, King of Prussia
15 June 1888 – 9 November 1918
Frederick William IV
King of Prussia
4 June 1840 – 2 January 1861
Johann Franz Maurer was born 1- 23-1863 in Stockheim, Rheinprovinz of the Kingdom of Prussia
William I
Regent: 1858 - 1861
King: 1861 - 1888
Emperor: 1871 - 1888
  • Stockheim
After the Second World War Johann's daughter Mary J. (Maurer) Eichorn
corresponded with one of his brothers still in Germany to whom she sent
CARE packages.  Suddenly the letters stopped coming and it was
presumed he had died.
The Catholic Church in the Rheinprovinz of the Kingdom of Prussia
Ecclesiastical province; includes the Archdiocese of Freiburg and the suffragan Dioceses of Fulda,
Mainz, Limburg, and Rottenburg. The German Church was secularized by the Imperial Delegates
Enactment of 25 Feb., 1803, confirmed by the German Empire on 24 March, and by the emperor on
27 April. All bishoprics and religious foundations, abbeys, and monasteries, immediate or mediate,
were used to compensate those rulers who had been obliged to yield their possessions on the left
bank of the Rhine to France. A part of the Archdiocese of Mainz was preserved for the primate Karl
Theodore von Dalberg and was transferred to the cathedral church of Ratisbon. Hanover, Brunswick,
and Oldenburg also received ecclesiastical lands. None of these thought of providing for the needs of
their Catholic subjects by establishing new dioceses. The organization of the Confederation of the
Rhine, the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, and the supremacy in southern Germany of
Napoleon, who had no desire for the settlement of the ecclesiastical confusion in Germany, made it
impossible to conclude a concordat.

The condition of the Church grew desolate. New bishops were not elected when the old bishops
died, and the cathedral chapters were combined. Besides Dalberg, those who laboured in the
districts which now belong to the ecclesiastical Province of the Upper Rhine were: the former Bishop
of Speyer, Walderdorf, at Bruchsal (up to 1810), and Joseph Ludwig Colmar, at Mainz (1802-18); in
the Duchy of Nassau J. von Hommer, cathedral vicar of Trier; Hubert Corden, at Limburg. There were
also vicars of the primate Dalberg at Worms, Ellwangen (from 1817 at Rottenburg), and Constance.
From 1800 the vicar-general at Constance was Ignaz Heinrich von Wessenberg, a Josephinist, who
advocated a national German Church independent of the pope and introduced many anti-clerical
innovations.

The Catholics of Germany looked to the Congress of Vienna for the removal of their difficulties. This
they hoped all the more, as those territories had been won again from France in compensation for
which all landed possessions had been taken from the Church. Cardinal Consalvi, the papal
representative at the congress, Wessenberg, the represenative of the primate Dalberg, von
Wambold, dean of the cathedral of Worms, formally syndic of the collegiate church of St. Andreas at
Worms, presented to the congress a number of memorials and statements on restoration of the
earlier rights of the Church, the re-endowment ofdioceses, and the founding of seminaries and
parishes. The congress maintained an unbroken silence; moreover, it disposed of the church lands
on the recovered left bank of the Rhine. As the congress also divided the territories of the primate
Dalberg, after its session closed the Church was poorer than before. In vain Dalberg sought through
his representative Wessenberg at the congress, and afterwards at the Diet of the Confederation at
Frankfort, to bring it about that the church affairs of the Catholics should be made one of the matters
to be settled by the Confederation. The reorganization of the Church and its equipment was left to the
good will of the individual rulers. This was most disadvantageous, as Catholic principles were
regarded with strong disfavour by Protestants and Freemasons, and by adherents of Febronianism
and Josephinism.

After Bavaria and Prussia had begun the negotiations with Rome that led to the concordats of 1818
and 1821, the envoys of several Protestant rulers met at Frankfort in March, 1818, at the instance of
Würtemberg, to confer concerning the condition of the Catholic Church in their respective countries,
and to discuss the general principles which should be followed by the German states in concluding a
concordat. This conference was attended by representatives of Würtemberg, of the Grand Duchies of
Baden, Mecklenburg, and Hesse, of the Electoral Principality of Hesse, the Duchy of Nassau,
Frankfort, and of several North German states which later withdrew. In the opening address on 24
March, 1818, the envoy of the Roman See the responsibility for the fact that ecclesiastical affairs were
not yet in an organized condition in Germany; then he urged a close union of the Protestant
governments in their position towards Rome, and announced that the governments would take up the
national Church schemes of Febronius in case Rome was not willing to agree to the "favourable
conditions" offered by the various countries. He called the church law devised by Febronius and
Joseph II, with its episcopal system, the "only salvation" of the Catholic Church. The ends to be
attained in negotiations with Rome were: first, the reorganization of religious conditions "without
endangering the jura principum circa sacra or granting rights to the Roman Court whereby it could
have a disadvantageous effect upon the peace, civil order, and civilization of the states"; secondly,
"the introduction of achurch system which would bring church affairs more into harmony with the
constitution of the State and the present position of enlightenment, in order to set boundaries to the
papal system which has lately threatened the states with obscurantism and all its consequences". In
the seventeenth session it was decided that a concordat with the Holy See was not to be sought, but
that the governments were to communicate to the pope in a "Declaration" what they were ready to
concede to the Church; the claims of the state circa sacra were embodied in an "Organic Statute", that
was kept secret at first and was to be given to the new bishops of the respective countries at the
close of the negotiations.

The "Declaration", in which Baden, Würtemberg, the two Hesses, Nassau, and Frankfort had agreed,
were presented to Pius VII, 23 March, 1819, by the ambassadors of the combined governments. On
10 Aug. this declaration was answered by Cardinal Consalvi in a celebrated report, and rejected by
the Holy See. As, however, the pope had requested the governments to take in hand, at least
provisionally, the circumscription and filling of new dioceses. The representatives of the governments
assembled once more at Frankfort, where new negotiations lasted from 22 April, 1820, to 24 Jan.,
1821. The proposal for the circumscription of new dioceses was accepted by the governments, and
they further agreed among themselves to urge the founding of special dioceses for each country, and
to demand that these dioceses should not be exempt, but should be under a metropolitan. The hope
was that a church province with an archbishop would be more independent of Rome than exempt,
isolated bishops. The church Province of the Upper Rhine, that was to be erected, was to include the
Dioceses of Freiburg, Fulda, Limburg, Mainz, and Rottenburg, with the metropolitan see at Freiburg.
The desire of the pope to have the archiepiscopal See of St. Boniface re-established at Mainz failed of
accomplishment, on account of the opposition of Würtemberg and Nassau. In March, 1821, the draft
of an organization and the documents which designated the amounts necessary for the endowment
of the sees were sent to the pope. On the basis of these documents Pius VII issued, 16 Aug., 1821
the Bull of circumscription "Provida sollersque" suppressing the Bishopric of Constance and the
provostship of Ellwangen, and canonically erecting the church Province of the Upper Rhine with the
dioceses already mentioned.

Written by Joseph Lins. Transcribed by Jeffrey L. Anderson.

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XV. Published 1912. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Nihil
Obstat, October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop
of New York
Frederick William IV (reigned 1840–61), a romantic, aspired to revive in Prussia his imaginary conception of the Middle Ages. He ended the conflict with the
Roman Catholic church, and in 1844 he actually attended the celebrations that marked the completion, after many centuries, of the Cologne Cathedral—the first
king of Prussia to enter a Roman Catholic building. Although opposed to modern constitutionalism, he aspired to create Estates of the Realm on a medieval
pattern. He sponsored a national Diet and then abandoned it.

In March 1848 revolution broke out in Germany, inspired by the February revolution in France. Although the Prussian army might have been able to repress the
insurrection, the king withdrew the army from Berlin on March 19 and put himself at the head of the revolution. A liberal government was established, and a
Constituent Assembly was summoned, but the liberal moves were abortive. The army reoccupied Berlin, and in December the Assembly was dissolved. The king
finally imposed a constitution by decree in February 1850, a constitution which was to survive unchanged until 1918. Prussia received a parliament with two
chambers. The First, or Upper, Chamber, officially named the Herrenhaus (House of Lords) in 1854, was composed of representatives of the great landed
proprietors and of the large towns, and of members nominated by the king, some for life and some with hereditary right. The Second, or Lower, Chamber was
elected by all taxpayers, divided into three classes according to the taxes paid. The king appointed the ministers, but it was difficult for them to govern against the
express wish of the chambers. The constitution appeared inadequate by contemporary liberal standards, but its retention in the years of reaction after 1850 gave
Prussia a higher standing than Austria in liberal eyes.

During the Revolution of 1848 Frederick William IV aspired to lead the movement for German unification and had even been tempted to accept the German
imperial crown, which was offered to him by a delegation from the Frankfurt Assembly on April 3, 1849. He was dissuaded with difficulty by his conservative
advisers, but he did thereafter try to establish the so-called Erfurt Union, a union of the German states without Austria. In 1850 Austria challenged this union, and
Prussia was obliged to abandon its ambitions by the Punctation of Olmütz (Nov. 29, 1850).

After Frederick William IV was incapacitated by a stroke in 1857, his brother took over as regent in 1858 and became king as William I on Frederick William IV's
death in 1861. William I appointed a liberal ministry under Karl Anton, prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, a Roman Catholic, and for nearly four years Prussia
experienced the so-called New Era, during which it was hoped that Prussia would win the leadership of Germany by the force of moral example. But dispute soon
arose between the king and the chambers over budgets and taxes for the army. Otto von Bismarck, who was appointed minister-president in September 1862,
devised an ingenious theory. The constitution provided that the budget should be agreed between the two chambers and the king. Bismarck argued that, since
the Lower Chamber had failed to agree with the Upper and with the king, there was “a gap in the constitution”; and he claimed that it was the king's duty to spend
money without a budget until agreement was reached. The government got its money. During the crisis of 1863–64 over the Schleswig-Holstein question, the
Lower Chamber persisted in rejecting the military budget, but this did not prevent Prussia's going to war against Denmark. It was Prussia's Seven Weeks' War
against Austria in 1866 that ended the constitutional crisis. Bismarck apologized for the illegal expenditure of money, and in September the two chambers passed
an Act of Indemnity.

The Danish War of 1864 led to an Austro-Prussian condominium over Schleswig-Holstein. The Seven Weeks' War was followed by the annexation not only of
Schleswig-Holstein but also of Hanover, Electoral Hesse, Nassau, and Frankfurt am Main to Prussia, which now extended across the northern two-thirds of
Germany and contained two-thirds of Germany's population.

The Franco-German War of 1870–71 established Prussia as the leading state in the imperial German Reich. William I of Prussia became German emperor on
Jan. 18, 1871. Subsequently, the Prussian army absorbed the other German armed forces, except the Bavarian army, which remained autonomous in peacetime.
Bismarck combined the offices of imperial chancellor and Prussian minister-president, and Prussia's history merged largely into that of the German empire.

Germany's defeat at the end of World War I and the overthrow of the empire and the Prussian monarchy also ended Prussia's supremacy. Prussia—which lost
part of Silesia, Posen, West Prussia, Danzig, Memel, northern Schleswig, some small areas on the Belgian frontier, and the Saar district as a result of the Treaty
of Versailles or the ensuing plebiscites—became a Land under the Weimar Republic, with more-restricted powers than before and with little influence on the
government of the Reich. After the rise to power of Adolf Hitler in 1933, the Prussian constitution was set aside and the legislature abolished, though Prussia
remained a unit for administrative purposes.
The Rhineland is an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic
region. In Germany it is often pictured as a region with an
easygoing lifestyle, characterized by a vivid tradition of
carnival, the cultivation (and consumption) of wine and a
regional tradition of songs and singing ("rhenish songs") -
markedly contrasted against the supposedly "stiff" Prussians
and Westphalians. This is an image by which the locals also
identify themselves. The valley of the Rhine - a section of
which is nowadays a UNESCO world heritage site - with its
lovely landscape, its towns and castles has been an object of
German romanticism since the 19th century with numerous
folktales, legends, songs and poems having been written or
gathered about. Among the best-known are "Loreley" by
Heinrich Heine and the legend of the Nibelungs. The
Rhineland is also known for its cathedrals, monasteries and
an outstanding tradition of literacy like e.g. the historic library
of Cologne's cathedral, which dates back to the early
medieval era.
Kölner Dom, officially Hohe Domkirche St. Peter und Maria
The Cathedral in 1856 showing the unfinished South Tower with its
ancient crane, the Gothic eastern end and south transept.
Archbishop Philipp III. Krementz
1885-1899