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Bocholt () is a city in the north-west of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, part of the district Borken. It is situated 4 km (2½ miles) south of the border with the Netherlands.
Suderwick Suderwick is a village in the city of Bocholt, Kreis Borken in the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Suderwick is situated at the Germany-Netherlands border and forms one urban area with Dinxperlo, a town in Aalten municipality of Gelderla ...
is part of Bocholt and is situated at the border annex to Dinxperlo.


Geography

The northern border of the city of Bocholt is the German border with the Netherlands. Bocholt borders the district of Wesel, in the administrative region of Düsseldorf, in the southwest. Bocholt is bordered in the north by the Dutch municipalities of Aalten and Winterswijk, in the east by the city of
Rhede Rhede () is a municipality in the district of Borken in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located near the border with the Netherlands, approximately east of Bocholt. Notable residents * Thomas Giessing, athlete and Olympic ...
, in the south by the city of
Hamminkeln Hamminkeln () is a town in the district of Wesel, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated on the river Issel, approximately 10 kilometers north of Wesel and 15 km south of Bocholt. It is twinned with Sedgefield, United Kingdom ...
, and in the west by the city of Isselburg. The climate in the region of Bocholt and West Münsterland is temperate with distinct maritime influences, with very mild winters in comparison to other German regions because of the proximity to the ocean and the low elevation. Summers are moderately warm. The average temperature in January is 2.7 °C (37 °F) and in July 18.4 °C (65 °F). In the average year there are 12 days of snow cover, about 31 sunny days (high temperature of 25 °C; 77 °F or higher) and 6 hot days (30 °C; 86 °F or higher) on average. In the average year there is about 750 mm (30") of precipitation, with June (78 mm; 3") and April (41 mm; 1½") being the driest months.


History

Bocholt was first written about in 779, when
Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Em ...
won a battle against the Saxons nearby. However the settlement was probably much older. Bishop Dietrich III von Isenburg from Münster gave Bocholt
city rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...
in 1222. In the 15th century the city flourished. The engraver Israhel van Meckenem lived and worked in the city. Between 1803 and 1810 Bocholt was the capital of the Principality of Salm. The Principality of Salm was governed by the prince of
Salm-Salm The Principality of Salm-Salm (german: Fürstentum Salm-Salm; french: Principauté de Salm-Salm) was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. It was located in the present-day French departments of Bas-Rhin and Vosges; it was one of a number of partitions ...
and the prince of
Salm-Kyrburg Salm-Kyrburg was a state of the Holy Roman Empire located in present-day Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, one of the various partitions of Salm. It was twice created: the first time as a Wild- and Rhinegraviate (partitioned from Upper Salm), and s ...
. During the Second World War the city survived generally unscathed until an Allied bombing raid on 22 March 1945 which destroyed most of the city. The city was then captured by the British a week later on 28 March. The city was the site of the Stalag VI-F POW camp. In 1975 the former municipalities Barlo, Biemenhorst, Hemden, Holtwick, Liedern, Lowick, Mussum,
Spork A spork is a hybrid form of cutlery taking the form of a spoon-like shallow scoop with two to four fork-like tines. Its name is a portmanteau of spoon and fork. Spork-like utensils, such as the terrapin fork or ice cream fork, have been manufac ...
, Stenern and
Suderwick Suderwick is a village in the city of Bocholt, Kreis Borken in the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Suderwick is situated at the Germany-Netherlands border and forms one urban area with Dinxperlo, a town in Aalten municipality of Gelderla ...
were merged into Bocholt.


Population development

* 1871: 6,125 * 1880: 8,534 * 1890: 13,034 * 1900: 21,278 * 1910: 26,404 * 1925: 30,182 * 1933: 33,441 * 1939: 35,099 * 1945: 29,443 * 1950: 37,674 * 1961: 45,675 * 1970: 48,852 * 1980: 65,352 * 1987: 67,028 * 2000: 72,138 * 2007: 73,560 * 2010: 73,170 * 2015: 71,443


Economy

Bocholt is a manufacturing town. It was centered on the textile industry for most of the 19th and 20th centuries. Today there are still several successful textile manufacturers in town, but the importance of the textile industry has greatly declined. The major employers today in Bocholt are
Gigaset Gigaset AG, formerly known as Siemens Home and Office Communication Devices, is a German multinational corporation based in Bocholt, Germany. The company is most active in the area of communications technology. Gigaset manufactures DECT telep ...
(Communications) and Mechanical Drives (formerly Flender) (Siemens) - a leading manufacturer of transmissions, especially for wind energy plants. Most of Bocholt's industries are smaller and manufacture highly specialized products. Some of them are international leaders in their particular fields - A Good example is the bicycle company ROSE Bikes. Local industries profit from cooperation with the University of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschule) also located in Bocholt as well as with similar institutions in the region. Bocholt is also a regional centre for shopping in the West-Münsterland area and draws consumers from the neighbouring rural and small town areas of the Netherlands. The town features an attractive old town shopping area as well as a popular new shopping mall.


Coat of arms

The coat of arms shows a
beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...
tree, which has been the symbol for the city since the 13th century. Bocholt translated into English roughly means "beechwood"


Cyclists Bocholt

Bocholt is a designated bicycle city, and almost every citizen has one or more bikes, the bicycle network is vast and convenient. In the summer, foreign motorists need to take care because of the popularity of cycling in the city, and even in winter, many people travel only by bike. Group cycling tours, called "Pättkestouren", are particularly popular in the spring. Between 2005 and 2006 the city of Bocholt won the ADFC and BUND title of "most bicycle-friendly city in Germany" in the category of cities under 100,000 inhabitants. Bocholt is the first city in Germany to have a guarded bike station at a Bustreff and not at a railway station. A second bike station in Bocholt went into operation in 2008.


Transport

Bocholt is the last stop on a 25-minute 2-way-1-track train route starting in Wesel traveling north to Bocholt. From Wesel one can transfer to trains that travel south to
Düsseldorf Airport Düsseldorf Airport (german: link=no, Flughafen Düsseldorf, ; until March 2013 ''Düsseldorf International Airport''; ) is the international airport of Düsseldorf, the capital of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is about north ...
, Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof or northwest to Emmerich am Rhein or Arnhem in the Netherlands. In 2021 a new railway line between Bocholt and Düsseldorf main station started.


Notable people

* Melchior von Diepenbrock (1798–1853), 1845 Prince-Bishop of Breslau, 1848 Member of the Frankfurt Parliament, 1850 cardinal * Jeanette Wolf (1888–1976), city council (SPD) 1919–32, persecution as a Jew and a Social Democrat from 1933 to 1945, city council of Berlin 1946 -1951, MP from 1952 to 1961, member of the Central Council of Jews in Germany * Hermann von Bönninghausen (1888–1919), athlete and Olympian in 1908 and 1912 * Josef "Jupp" Elting (born 1944), football keeper from 1962 to 1980 at 1. FC Bocholt, then in the Bundesliga from 1964 to 1974 with Schalke 04 and 1. FC Kaiserslautern * Karl-Heinz Petzinka (born 1956), architect and Rector of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf * Jutta Niehaus (born 1964), cyclist *
Peter Hyballa Peter Hyballa (born 5 December 1975) is a German professional football manager, who last managed AS Trenčín. He also served as manager at clubs in Germany, Namibia, Austria, the Netherlands, Poland and Denmark. Before his career as a manager, ...
(born 1975), football coach, currently at
Dunajská Streda Dunajská Streda (; hu, Dunaszerdahely; german: Niedermarkt; he, דונהסרדהיי) is a town located in southern Slovakia ( Trnavský kraj). Dunajská Streda is the most culturally significant town in the Žitný ostrov area. The town has a p ...
* Carlo Ljubek (born 1976), actor, currently engagement at Cologne Theatre * Benjamin Weigelt (born 1982), footballer, currently at
Rot-Weiß Oberhausen Rot-Weiß Oberhausen is a German association football club in Oberhausen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club was formed as ''Oberhausener SV'' in December 1904 out of the merger of ''Emschertaler SV'' (1902) and the football enthusiasts of ''Oberh ...
* Simon Terodde (born 1988), professional football player, currently at
Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhin ...
*
Phil Bauhaus Phil Bauhaus (born 8 July 1994 in Bocholt) is a German cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He was named in the start list for the 2017 Giro d'Italia. In August 2018 it was confirmed that Bauhaus would join for the 2019 season on an ...
(born 1994), professional road race cyclist, currently with Team Sunweb * Benjamin Henrichs (born 1997), professional football player, currently at RB Leipzig


International relations

Since 1978 students from Bocholt have participated in an exchange program with students from
Canton, Massachusetts Canton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,370 at the 2020 census. Canton is part of Greater Boston, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of downtown Boston. History The area that would becom ...
.


Twin towns – sister cities

Bocholt is twinned with: *
Aurillac Aurillac (; oc, Orlhac ) is the prefecture of the Cantal department, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Aurillacois'' or ''Aurillacoises''. Geography Aurillac is at above sea leve ...
, France * Bocholt, Belgium * Rossendale, England, United Kingdom


Friendly cities

Bocholt has friendly relations with: * Akmenė, Lithuania * Wuxi, China


See also

* Bocholt Cross


References


External links

*
Map of Bocholt
{{Authority control Borken (district) Members of the Hanseatic League