Death of a town #5

Death of a town #5

Windows and doors are shut and locked, lonesome streets and somewhere a flag signalising where one of the last few inhabitants still live....This town is on it's way to be demolished and so in the meantime most people have left. They have settled down somewhere else e.g. in a part of my home town where they have bulit beautiful houses....


Additional remark to my series:

many thanks for all your comments to the series "Death of a town". I haven't outlined the background too much because it may be misunderstood. The town's name is Pier, north and between Eschweiler and Düren about 25 km east of Aachen. The reason for the demolishment is that in this area big mining pits for browncoal are extending and so towns - in some cases - have to be demolished and reconstructured somewhere else. Many inhabitants obtain good prices for their old houses and can rebuild new comfortable houses elsewhere e.g. as part of my town - 5km away - perhaps I should also show photos of the new beautiful houses. Even big highways (A4 between Aachen and Cologn) have to be partly shifted kilometers further. This is not the first town with this fate. Almost 30 years ago I have already documented the vanishing of such a town. This topic has many sides to consider...one is the vanishing of older towns and the social structure :-( ... on the other side tousands of people work in the mining pits and power plants which ensure a realiable supply of electricity for Germany :-)) ... so my feeling is split in this question!
As you see photography often kicks off a (difficult) political discussion, probably with no common answer.

My series can only show the one side of this situation and my intention is to document the last years of this town nearby.