Mortsel () is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

close to the city of

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

located in the

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

province of

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

. The municipality only comprises the city of Mortsel proper. In 2021, Mortsel had a total population of 26,170 people. The total area is 7.78 km².

Geography

The city consists of the areas Mortsel-Dorp, Oude-God and Luithagen. Mortsel is bordered by

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

(districts

Wilrijk Wilrijk (; former, original spelling: ''Wilrijck'') is a district of the municipality and city of Antwerp in the Belgian province of Antwerp. Wilrijk had been a separate municipality before January 1, 1983; the enlarged municipality of Antwerp wa ...

Berchem Berchem () is a southern district of the municipality and city of Antwerp in the Flemish Region of Belgium. Berchem is located along the old ''Grote Steenweg'' (Dutch for 'Big Paved Road') that has connected Brussels to Antwerp for several centur ...

and Deurne),

Borsbeek Borsbeek () is a municipality () located in Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium, and in the Flemish province of Antwerp. The municipality only comprises the town of Borsbeek proper. On 1 January 2021 Borsbeek had a total population of 1 ...

Boechout Boechout () is a municipality of Belgium located in the Flemish province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises the towns of Boechout proper and . In 2021, Boechout had a total population of 13,526. The total area is 20.66 km². Boechout a ...

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th ...

, and Edegem.

History

Mortsel was the scene for one of the major

collateral damage Collateral damage is any death, injury, or other damage inflicted that is an incidental result of an activity. Originally coined by military operations, it is now also used in non-military contexts. Since the development of precision guided ...

tragedies of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. On 5 April 1943, the

Minerva Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the R ...

car factory, then used to repair

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German '' Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the '' Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabt ...

planes, was the target of a bombing raid by the

USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

. Most bombs missed the target and hit a residential area instead, resulting in the deaths of 936 civilians, including 209 children, exceeding the civilian death toll of the Guernica raid which modern estimates put at 400. The last V2 launched against Antwerp also fell in Mortsel, killing 27 people, on 27 March 1945.

Economy

The headquarters of

Agfa-Gevaert Agfa-Gevaert N.V. (Agfa) is a Belgian-German multinational corporation that develops, manufactures, and distributes analogue and digital imaging products, software, and systems. It has three divisions: * Agfa Graphics, which offers integrated pr ...

are situated in Mortsel. Mortsel is famous for its agricultural developments in onions.

Notable people

Alex Agnew Alex Agnew (born 22 December 1972) is a Belgian stand-up comedian and hard rock vocalist. According to the Nigel Williams autobiography "Had ik maar een vak geleerd" ("If Only I'd Learned a Proper Trade"), Alex was already an established comedian ...

, stand-up comedian *

Luc Brewaeys Luc Brewaeys (25 October 1959 in Mortsel, Belgium – 18 December 2015 in Antwerp, Belgium) was a Belgian composer, conductor, pianist and recording producer at the VRT (Flemish Radio & Television). He studied composition with André Laporte in ...

, (born in Mortsel in 1959), composer, conductor, pianist and recording producer *

Bart De Wever Bart Albert Liliane De Wever ( born 21 December 1970) is a Belgian politician. Since 2004 De Wever has been the leader of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), a political party advocating for the independence of Flanders. He is also a member of the ...

, politician *

Timo Descamps Timo Descamps (born 27 May 1986) is a Belgian actor and singer best known for his former roles on the soap operas ''Spring'' and ''Familie''. In 2007, Descamps released his first music single, "Phonecall", which rose to 36Koen Lenaerts, President of the European Court of Justice *

Clem Schouwenaars Clem Schouwenaars (28 December 1932 – 10 September 1993) was a Belgian writer. He grew up in a Roman Catholic family. Two of his brothers and one of his sisters died young, and his only remaining sister was killed during a bombardment in 1943. ...

(b. Mortsel, 1932–1993), writer *

Daniel Dardha Daniel Dardha (born 1 October 2005) is a Belgian chess grandmaster. He won the Belgian Chess Championship in 2019 at age 13, becoming the youngest player to do so. Chess career In 2017, aged 12, he won the U-14 Blitz Chess Championship. He earn ...

, chess player * Tamino, musician *

Luc Tuymans Luc Tuymans (born 14 June 1958) is a Belgian visual artist best known for his paintings which explore people's relationship with history and confront their ability to ignore it. World War II is a recurring theme in his work. He is a key figure ...

, painter *

Jos Vandeloo Josephus Albertus "Jos" Vandeloo (5 September 1925 – 5 October 2015) was a Belgian writer and poet. Biography He grew up in a mining family from Zonhoven and graduated as a chemist for the mining industry. After the war he started working in ...

, writer See also the :People from Mortsel.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Municipalities of Antwerp Province Populated places in Antwerp Province