Keupstraße
Site of the 2004 NSU nail bomb attack in Cologne-Mülheim, today a lively street of shops and restaurants run largely by entrepreneurs of Turkish and Kurdish descent
Born of late 19th-century industrialization, the Keupstraße grew in the 20th century into a street where living and business are closely intertwined.
Source: Wikipedia
At a Glance
- Location
- on the right bank of the Rhine, in the district and borough of Mülheim
- Length
- 890 meters
- Route
- curving from the junction of Dünnwalder Straße and Mülheimer Freiheit to Bergisch Gladbacher Straße near Wiener Platz
- Crossing
- cut through by the Clevischer Ring (part of Bundesstraße 8)
- Former name
- Wolfsstraße, renamed on April 9, 1913
- Named after
- Maria Sibylle Petronella Keup
Keupstraße was originally called Wolfsstraße and was renamed in 1913 after Maria Sibylle Petronella Keup, a childless widow who in 1870 donated her house, garden and money to build the Dreikönigshospital, Mülheim's oldest hospital.
The Attack of June 9, 2004
A nail bomb attack on the Keupstraße on June 9, 2004 injured 22 people and made the street known across Germany. The crime was later attributed to the right-wing terrorist group National Socialist Underground (NSU). It is regarded as a key event in Germany's reckoning with right-wing extremist terrorism and institutional racism.
From Working-Class Quarter to Shopping Street
Metalworking firms, such as the wire rope maker "Felten & Guilleaume" from 1874, drew many mostly unskilled workers to Mülheim. Their homes went up along a country road from Mülheim to Buchheim. Where the street now meets Bergisch Gladbacher Straße, the Protestant cemetery once lay outside the city limits. Between 1874 and 1900, the Carlswerk built basic tenement blocks, which still stand at nos. 97 to 117. Many buildings were designed from the start to house small shops and workshops as well. The street soon gained a reputation as "disreputable", yet thrived as a shopping street for everyday needs.
Early Street Life
Around 1902, Jakob Saal ran the restaurant "Zur Erholung" at nos. 53 and 55, while his brother Thomas operated a butcher's shop next door. The Central Lichtspielhaus cinema opened at no. 69 in 1908 and probably closed in 1937. From 1911 until the end of the 1920s, an electric tram ran through the street as a circular line.
Namesake and Hospital
Maria Sibylle Petronella Keup (1811–1890) ran a grain business with her husband Kaspar at the start of what was then Wolfsstraße. Selling farmland to railway companies and to Guilleaume brought the couple considerable wealth. In 1870, the childless widow donated a house, garden and money for the Catholic Dreikönigshospital, which remained Mülheim's oldest hospital until 1975. Since 1984, the site (no. 2a/4) has housed the Norbert-Burger senior citizens' center run by the Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund.
Today and Surroundings
Today the Keupstraße is best known for its retail shops and restaurants, run mainly by entrepreneurs of Turkish and Kurdish descent. Nearby lies the Schanzenviertel, a former 19th-century industrial district with cultural venues such as the Kölner Schauspiel and the E-Werk, as well as young companies, including some from the media sector.
Timeline
- 1870Widow Keup endows house and money for the Dreikönigshospital
- 1874–1900Carlswerk builds tenements at Keupstraße 97–117 for workers
- 1899Cologne city map still lists the street as Wolfsstraße
- 1908Central Lichtspielhaus cinema opens at Keupstraße 69
- 1911Tram begins running through Keupstraße (until the late 1920s)
- 1913Wolfsstraße renamed Keupstraße (9 April)
- 1914Mülheim incorporated into Cologne (1 April)
- 2004Nail bomb attack on 9 June, 22 injured; later attributed to the NSU
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Auto-generated, last verified: 2026-11-08
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