Dülken
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Dülken is a town located in the
North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...
state of
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. It has a population of about 20,000. It is a borough of the municipality of
Viersen Viersen (; ) is the capital of the Viersen (district), district of Viersen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Viersen is situated approximately 8 km north-west of Mönchengladbach, 15 km south-west of Krefeld and 20 km ...
. It received its town charter in 1364 thus being the oldest part of the municipality of Viersen. It lies in the
administrative region Administrative divisions (also administrative units, administrative regions, subnational entities, or constituent states, as well as many similar generic terms) are geographical areas into which a particular independent sovereign state is divi ...
of
Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...
. The river Nette having its source underground in the middle of the town rises near the town. The town motto is, "Gloria tibi Duelken", or "Glory to you, Duelken".


History

Mackenstein, a part of Dülken, is first mentioned 1135. Dülken itself appears in historic records 1210. The town was officially chartered as a city between 1352 and 1364. First settlements are dated to the time before the
Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...
by tribes of
Menapii The Menapii were a Belgic tribe dwelling near the North Sea, around present-day Cassel, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. History The Menapii were persistent opponents of Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul, resisting until 54 BC. They ...
and
Eburones The Eburones ( Greek: ) were a Gaulish- Germanic tribe dwelling in the northeast of Gaul, who lived north of the Ardennes in the region near what is now the southern Netherlands, eastern Belgium and the German Rhineland, in the period immediately ...
. Romans occupied the lower
Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...
and dislodged tribes that were not willing to cooperate until they finally withdrew in the second half of the 5th century. The
Franks file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...
incurred the area as a
County A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
and ruled until about the 10th century. Due to different claims to power and political tensions, Dülken was heavily fortified since 1400 with a city wall, watchtowers and ditches. In the
Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...
Dülken was briefly occupied by Spanish troops. During the
First French Empire The First French Empire or French Empire (; ), also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from ...
French troops occupied the city which officially became a French municipality of the
Roer (department) Roer () was a Departments of France, department of the French First Republic and later First French Empire in present-day Germany and the Netherlands. It was named after the river Roer (Rur), which flows through the department. It was formed in 179 ...
between 1794 until 1814. With
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
`s defeat, Dülken was assigned to the Prussia`s
Rhine Province The Rhine Province (), also known as Rhenish Prussia () or synonymous with the Rhineland (), was the westernmost Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822 to 1946. ...
. Except of a brief Belgian occupation between 1919 and 1930 (
Occupation of the Rhineland The Occupation of the Rhineland placed the region of Germany west of the Rhine river and four bridgeheads to its east under the control of the victorious Allies of World War I from 1December 1918 until 30June 1930. The occupation was imposed a ...
), the town became first prussian, later a part of the German empire, finally of modern Germany. In 1945 towards the end of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Dülken was conquered by the 9th US army and became part of as well
Operation Grenade During World War II, Operation Grenade was the crossing of the Roer river between Roermond and Düren by the U.S. Ninth Army, commanded by Lieutenant General William Hood Simpson, in February 1945, which marked the beginning of the Allied inv ...
as of the
Ghost Army The Ghost Army was a United States Army tactical deception unit during World War II officially known as the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops. The 1,100-man unit was given a unique mission: to deceive Hitler's forces and mislead them as to the ...
in Operation Viersen, pretending a crossing over the
Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
close to
Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...
.


Economy

Having a long history in textiles and fabrics, Dülken's economy has shifted since the 1920s towards engineering and since the 1970s towards various branches situated in the business park and industrial area Mackenstein. Simultaneously, a multitude of small and medium enterprises arose. With the closure of some engineering companies, the former factories were transformed into a number of smaller workshops and plants, a lot specialized in metal machining. Today (2014) the industrial area Mackenstein is going to be extended from Dülken to
Mönchengladbach Mönchengladbach (, ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany, west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Netherlands, Dutch border. Geography Municipal subdivisions Since 2009, th ...
, reaching towards the
Autobahn The (; German , ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. Much of t ...
52, in total a couple of a hundred acres additional to today's approximately . Big employers or important companies are Otto Fuchs Metallwerke (brass and bronze products, automotive supply), KraussMaffei (tooling technology), Mars (sweets, chocolate bars), Schwarzkopf Henkel (cosmetics), Dietermann (metal casting), Weyermann (textiles), Maxicard (credit card manufacturing), Peri (construction), Hoeren (construction), Doka (construction systems), DHL (logistics), Sturm (logistics), Knauf AMF (ceiling, windows). In addition, there is a wide range of highly specialized companies from programming of industrial robots by Eule Robotics or valves by Dresser Europe to water purification by Kurita Europe. Several small and medium IT-companies supply programming and customizing of systems and networks. Craftsmen and workshops provide component supply for different branches like automotive and / or engineering. The surroundings of Dülken are rural. Farmers grow the usual products of the
Lower Rhine region The Lower Rhine region or Niederrhein () is a region around the Lower Rhine section of the river Rhine in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, between approximately Oberhausen and Krefeld in the East and the Dutch border around Kleve in the West ...
plus a growing number of vegetables and fruits according to
organic farming Organic farming, also known as organic agriculture or ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2024 on organic production and labelling of ...
guidelines.


Education

Dülken has basic schools, three secondary schools (
Gymnasium (Germany) ''Gymnasium'' (; German plural: ''Gymnasien''), in the German education system, is the most advanced and highest of the three types of German secondary schools, the others being ''Hauptschule'' (lowest) and ''Realschule'' (middle). ''Gymnasi ...
) and a professional school for craftspeople, commercial tasks, healthcare and administration. A new type of school, the primus school was established 2014. Contrary to the split of pupils (after finishing primary school) into different levels of secondary schools in Germany, students can stay together until the 10th class.


Traffic

Two Autobahnen (motorways, interstates) touch Dülken, the A61 from
Koblenz Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...
and the
Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
area to
Venlo Venlo () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in southeastern Netherlands, close to the border with Germany. It is situated in the province of Limburg (Netherlands), ...
, Netherlands and the A52 from
Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...
to
Roermond Roermond (; or ) is a city, municipality, and diocese in the Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg province of the Netherlands. Roermond is a historically important town on the lower Roer on the east bank of the river Meuse. It received City rights i ...
, Netherlands. 4 exits connect the area. Several bus lines connect Dülken to Viersen, Mönchengladbach and Düsseldorf as well as the complete back country towards the Dutch border. A train line runs from Cologne and Düsseldorf to Venlo with one or two passenger trains per hour in every direction from station Dülken. Major airports in the vicinity are
Düsseldorf Airport Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the seventh-largest city in Germany, with a 2022 population of 629,047. The Düsse ...
DUS at about 40 kilometers,
Weeze Airport Weeze Airport , less commonly known as ''Niederrhein Airport'', is a minor international airport in the Lower Rhine region of Germany. It is used by Ryanair. The airport is situated southwest of the municipality of Weeze () and northwest of ...
NRN within 50 kilometers,
Maastricht Aachen Airport Maastricht Aachen Airport is a major cargo hub and regional passenger airport in Beek in Limburg, the Netherlands, located northeast of Maastricht and northwest of Aachen, Germany. It is the second-largest hub for cargo flights in the Neth ...
MST in 70 kilometers,
Cologne Bonn Airport Cologne Bonn Airport () is an international airport in north-western Germany. It serves the country's fourth-largest city Cologne, as well as Bonn, the former capital of West Germany. With approximately 12.4 million passengers passing through i ...
CGN at about 80 kilometers,
Eindhoven Airport Eindhoven Airport is an international airport located west of Eindhoven, Netherlands. In terms of the number of served passengers, it is the second largest airport in the Netherlands, with 6.8 million passengers in 2023. The airport is used by ...
EIN within 90 kilometers. In addition, the small Düsseldorf Mönchengladbach Airport MGL is suitable for business jets within 20 km.


Recurring events

Carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...
in February is celebrated with a big parade – one of the largest in the lower rhine area with about 80,000 to 100,000 visitors, depending on weather. Before that, various carnival societies celebrate sessions with humorous songs and satiric performances. The
Dülkener Schöppenmarkt The Dülkener Schöppenmarkt (i. e. „Shovel Fair“) in Dülken is one of the largest and oldest country-fairs or Krammärkte in Western Germany. Date, Place, numbers of visitors The ''Schöppenmarkt'' takes place on Ash Wednesday following carni ...
, a type of flea/junk market, which takes place on the day after the last Carnival parade on Ash Wednesday, is one of Germany's biggest. The Dülken Bierbörse (beer fair) in July, situated on the marketplace and within the old town, offers beers from various regions and countries. Mühlenfest (mill festival), end of August with bands and shows on the market square. Dülkener Herbstmarkt (autumn market) begin of October. Here, local producers and traders offer various fruits and vegetables which are grown in the vicinity of the city – often very rare sorts of apples or pears. In addition, small producers sell handmade mustard, jam, or oils up to mead. Various plants and flowers are available from local nurseries.


Objects of interest

The old town of Dülken consists of mainly houses from the period of
Gründerzeit The (; ) was a period of Economic history of Europe (1000 AD–present), European economic history in mid- and late-19th century German Empire, Germany and Austria-Hungary between Industrialization in Germany, industrialization and the great P ...
till about 1920 around the market square, towered above by the church of St. Cornelius, one of the biggest churches in the Lower Rhine region. Some older structures close to the former city wall date around 1720. The Narrenmühle "fools' wind mill" is domicile for a Carnival society: Narrenakademie "fools' academy" with the moon as coat of arms. This is one of the oldest carnival societies worldwide, dating back to 1554. The fool's academy provides diplomas as "doctor humoris causa", e.g. for
Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...
,
Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aerospace engineering, aeronautical engineer who, in 1969, became the Apollo 11#Lunar surface operations, first person to walk on the Moon. He was al ...
,
Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman and politician who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of West Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of th ...
, current politicians or artists and local persons. A small museum shows curiosities and historic exhibits. Some parts of the old city fortifications (wall, watchtower, ditch). As a curiosity, the citizens donated a life-sized bronze statue in 1980, remembering a man emptying slurry pits in the outskirts before 1890 as "an early example of outstanding service orientation". The place for this statue is more prominent than emperor Wilhelm's statue.


Notable people

*
Hilde Bruch Hilde Bruch (March 11, 1904 December 15, 1984) was a German-born American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, known foremost for her work on eating disorders and obesity. Bruch emigrated to the United States in 1934. She worked and studied at vari ...
(1904–1984), German-born American
psychoanalyst PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious processes and their influence on conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on dream interpretation, psychoanalysis is also a talk th ...
* Reinhard Kluth (1950–2020), church musician and composer * Gustav von Mevissen (1815–1899), German businessman and politician *
Erik Martin Eric, Erik, or Éric Martin may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Eric Martin (American singer) (born 1960), American singer-songwriter and member of Mr. Big * Eric Martin (Welsh singer) (born 1970), also known as MC Eric and Me One * Eric Marti ...
(born 1936), German writer, editor, songwriter and composer of songs


References


Literature and sources

* ''Geschichte der Stadt Dülken'' (chronicles of Dülken) http://digital.ub.uni-duesseldorf.de/ihd/content/titleinfo/1673945 Peter Norrenberg, Baedeker Verlag 1874, Viersen, digitized at University of Düsseldorf. * Arie Nabrings: ''Dülken einst und jetzt. Ein Bild- und Textband zur Geschichte der Stadt''. Stadtarchiv (city archive), Viersen 1993, . * Arie Nabrings: ''Die Dülkener Narrenmühle und das Museum'' Narrenakademie Dülken. The fool`s academy and her story, 2002. * Werner Mellen: ''Viersen-Dülken''. (= ''Rheinische Kunststätten'', Band ###.) Köln 1987, . * André Schmitz: ''Napoleon in Dülken''. Stories from the nightwatch by André Schmitz. Dülken. Iris Kater Verlag 2014. * Norbert Bonus, Eleonore Föhles: ''Geselliges Leben in Dülken. Schankwirtschaften, Gasthöfe und Restaurationen vom 19. Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart''. Stadtarchiv (city archive), Viersen 1991, . * Walther Föhl: ''Sechs Jahrhunderte Stadt Dülken''. Six centuries of Dülken, Stadtverwaltung (city council), Dülken 1964. * René Franken: ''St. Cornelius Dülken''. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 1994. * René Franken: ''Kirchenbau, Kulturkampf und Vatikanum. Eine Bau- und Entwicklungsgeschichte der Pfarrkirche St. Cornelius in Viersen Dülken''. Pfarrgemeinde St. Cornelius Viersen Dülken, Viersen 2008, . * Karl L. Mackes: ''Rheinischer Städteatlas: Dülken''. Habelt, Bonn 1979, . * Klaus Marcus: ''Die letzten Tage Viersen Dülken, Süchteln.''. Reports of the events in March 1945 when Dülken was conquered by the 9th US army, second edition, 1984.


External links

*
Website DülkenWebsite (in German) of industrial area, business park MackensteinGhost Army
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dulken Towns in North Rhine-Westphalia