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Gronau (; officially Gronau (Westf.), is a town in the district of Borken in
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 ...
, Germany, near the border with the Netherlands, 10 km east of
Enschede Enschede (; local ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the province of Overijssel and the Twente region of the eastern Netherlands. The east of the urban area reaches ...
. The city is divided into the districts of Gronau and Epe.


Local history

Documentary evidence of Gronau dates to 1365, and of district Epe to 1188. Industrialisation took hold in Gronau with the founding of the first textile factory in 1854. Dutch investors, in particular, drove the growing textile industry. In 1875, railway lines were opened from Gronau to
Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...
, Dortmund, and
Enschede Enschede (; local ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the province of Overijssel and the Twente region of the eastern Netherlands. The east of the urban area reaches ...
. With the growth of the textile industry and the founding of the (homebuilding) in the eastern part of the city (1893), an expansion of the settlement area began. By the time of World War I, a new town hall, the district court, the parish church of , schools, hospitals, an indoor swimming pool, waterworks, an electricity plant, and the city park had been built in Gronau. On 27 December 1897, Gronau was granted town rights. On the night of 9 to 10 November 1938, also known as “Reichsprogromnacht”, the synagogue in Wallstraße was desecrated in connection with the persecution of the Jewish population. Eventually, most Jews from Gronau and Epe were deported to the extermination camps. There is still a Jewish cemetery in Gronau today. In the Epe district, the former Jewish synagogue is currently being rebuilt as a cultural centre. In 1975, Gronau and the municipality of Epe were merged into the new municipality of Gronau. The bankruptcy of the , founded in 1854, in 1980-1981 marked the end of the era of the textile industry in Gronau.


Culture

Since 1989 an annual music festival, the , takes place in Gronau. A broad range of national and international musicians have performed at the festival, including
Jan Garbarek Jan Garbarek () (born 4 March 1947) is a Norwegian jazz saxophonist, who is also active in classical music and world music. Garbarek was born in Mysen, Østfold, southeastern Norway, the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war, Czesław Gar ...
, McCoy Tyner, Klaus Doldinger’s Passport, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Al Di Meola, Avishai Cohen, Al Jarreau,
Ian Anderson Ian Scott Anderson (born 10 August 1947) is a British musician best known for being the chief vocalist, Flute, flautist, and acoustic guitarist of the British rock band Jethro Tull (band), Jethro Tull. He is a multi-instrumentalist who also p ...
, Richard Galliano, Ron Carter, Mother's Finest, Gregory Porter, Maceo Parker, Stefanie Heinzmann. The Jazzfest is currently funded to a large extent by local and regional sponsors and enjoys a constantly growing audience. The annual number of visitors swings between 12,000 and 18,000 visitors (incl. open-air events). The share of foreign visitors is around 65%.


Transport

Gronau can be reached by road via the Autobahn A 30 and A 31, the Dutch Rijksweg 35, the Bundesstraße B 54n. Gronau (Westf) railway station connects Gronau with Enschede in the Netherlands via the Dortmund–Gronau railway and the Münster–Enschede railway. The nearest airports are Münster Osnabrück Airport and Enschede Airport Twente, although the latter has no scheduled flights.


Notable people

The Dutch singer Rania Zeriri lives in Gronau. The Polish tennis player Agnieszka Radwańska grew up here; her father was a tennis coach at the local club. Blaise Nkufo, a Swiss footballer with African roots, former player of the Dutch football club
FC Twente Football Club Twente (), sometimes known internationally as FC Twente Enschede, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from the city of Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub E ...
, lived in Gronau. , a German artist, grew up in Gronau.


Born in Gronau

* Winfried Berkemeier (born 1953), footballer * Bernd Düker (born 1992), footballer * Rolf Eckrodt (born 1942), CEO of Mitsubishi Motors 2001–2005 * Tim Hölscher (born 1995), footballer * Cengiz Koç (born 1977), former German heavyweight boxer of Turkish descent * (1938–2006), painter, elder brother of Udo Lindenberg * Udo Lindenberg (born 1946), singer and musician * Gregor Luthe (born 1970 in Epe), chemist, toxicologist, nanotechnologist, inventor and entrepreneur * Jens Wissing (born 1988), football player (in German)


Twin towns – sister cities

Gronau is twinned with: * Bromsgrove, England, United Kingdom * Epe, Netherlands * Mezőberény, Hungary


References


External links

* * {{Authority control Towns in North Rhine-Westphalia Populated places established in the 1360s Borken (district)