Porta Westfalica () is a town in the district of

Minden-Lübbecke Minden-Lübbecke is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the northeastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Diepholz, Nienburg, Schaumburg, Lippe, Herford, Osnabrück. Geography This is the northernmost district of North ...

, in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

, Germany. The name "''Porta Westfalica''" is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and means "gate to

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

". Coming from the north, the gorge is the entry to the region of Westphalia. The name was coined by scholars of the 19th century.

History

The town Porta Westfalica was established in 1973 by merging fifteen villages surrounding the gorge. The centre of the modern town is the former village of Hausberge, which was first mentioned in 1096. The Emperor William Monument was erected near the town by the then

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

Province of Westphalia The Province of Westphalia () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946. In turn, Prussia was the largest component state of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918, of the Weimar Republic and from 1918 ...

between 1892 and 1896Information board with the titl
''Emperor William Monument''
at the northern approach to the monument at commons.wikimedia.org The monument, which is around 88 metres high, is classified as one of Germany's

national monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a spec ...

s. From 18 March 1944 until 1 April 1945 a

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

was established in the Barkhausen quarter. From 1 February 1945 until 1 April 1945 a camp was used in the Hausberge quarter. In the Lerbeck quarter also was a concentration camp in use from 1 October 1944 until 1 April 1945. In the Neesen quarter was a location for the

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

for some of the inmates. All of these camps were subcamps of the

Neuengamme concentration camp Neuengamme was a network of Nazi concentration camps in Northern Germany that consisted of the main camp, Neuengamme, and more than 85 satellite camps. Established in 1938 near the village of Neuengamme in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, th ...

. On 10 January 2015, Belgian footballer Junior Malanda died in a car accident near the town, aged 20.

Geography

Porta Westfalica is situated on the right bank of the

Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports of Bre ...

(except for the Barkhausen quarter), near the Porta Westfalica gorge, where the river runs through the passage between the mountain chains of the

Wiehen Hills The Wiehen Hills (german: Wiehengebirge, , also locally, just ''Wiehen'') are a hill range in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony in Germany. The hills run from west to east like a long finger away from the main upland area of the Lower Saxon ...

in the west and the

Weser Uplands The Weser Uplands (German: ''Weserbergland'', ) is a hill region in Germany, between Hannoversch Münden and Porta Westfalica, along the river Weser. The area reaches into three states, Lower Saxony, Hesse, and North Rhine-Westphalia. Important ...

in the east. The gorge appears like a gate to the region Westphalia, which lies to the south of it. It is overlooked by the Jakobsberg and

Wittekindsberg The Wittekindsberg is a hill, , which forms the easternmost peak of the Wiehen Hills (german: Wiehengebirge) and is also the western guardian of the Weser gorge, the Porta Westfalica, in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany). The hill is well-known, e ...

hills.

Neighbouring places

Bad Oeynhausen Bad Oeynhausen () is a spa town on the southern edge of the Wiehengebirge in the district of Minden-Lübbecke in the East-Westphalia-Lippe region of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The closest larger towns are Bielefeld (39 kilometres southwest) ...

Bückeburg Bückeburg (Northern Low Saxon: ''Bückeborg'') is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, on the border with North Rhine Westphalia. It is located in the district of Schaumburg close to the northern slopes of the Weserbergland ridge. Population: 21,0 ...

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the greatest town between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detm ...

Rinteln Rinteln () is a small town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the banks of the Weser river above the Porta Westfalica. The town of Rinteln is in the broad valley between the hills of the Weserbergland and the North Lippe Bergland. In rela ...

Vlotho Vlotho () is a town in the district of Herford, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Vlotho is located along the Weser river, south of the Wiehengebirge, bordering on the Ravensberger Hügelland in the west, Lipperland in the south, an ...

Division of the town

The town of Porta Westfalica consists of 15 districts: * Hausberge (5,064 inhabitants) * Lohfeld (1,350 inhabitants) * Barkhausen (4,253 inhabitants) * Neesen (2,319 inhabitants) * Lerbeck (3,727 inhabitants) * Nammen (2,208 inhabitants) * Wülpke (606 inhabitants) * Kleinenbremen (2,245 inhabitants) * Eisbergen (3,401 inhabitants) * Veltheim (2,539 inhabitants) * Möllbergen (1,643 inhabitants) * Holtrup (1,048 inhabitants) * Vennebeck (983 inhabitants) * Costedt (508 inhabitants) * Holzhausen (4,284 inhabitants)

Buildings and structures

Jakobsberg Telecommunication Tower Jakobsberg Telecommunication Tower is a 142-metre-tall TV tower built of reinforced concrete on the 238-metre-high elevated Jakobsberg near Porta Westfalica Porta Westfalica () is a town in the district of Minden-Lübbecke, in North Rhine-We ...

, a TV tower with an observation deck * Monument to Kaiser Wilhelm I, above the gorge, near the village ''Barkhausen'' * Wittekindsburg, remains of an Iron Age "oppidum" (3rd – 1st century BC) and Saxon-Frankish fort (8th/9th century AD), in the

near ''Barkhausen''

Twin towns – sister cities

Porta Westfalica is twinned with: * Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg (Berlin), Germany * Waterloo, United States

References

External links

*
Official German list of concentration camps
{{Authority control Towns in North Rhine-Westphalia Neuengamme concentration camp Minden-Lübbecke Wiehen Hills