Grefrath
| coat of arms | Germany map | |
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Coordinates: 51 ° 20 ′ N , 6 ° 20 ′ E |
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| Basic data | ||
| State : | North Rhine-Westphalia | |
| Administrative region : | Dusseldorf | |
| Circle : | Viersen | |
| Height : | 32 m above sea level NHN | |
| Area : | 30.98 km 2 | |
| Residents: | 14,753 (Dec. 31, 2019) | |
| Population density : | 476 inhabitants per km 2 | |
| Postal code : | 47929 | |
| Area code : | 02158 | |
| License plate : | VIE, KK | |
| Community key : | 05 1 66 008 | |
| LOCODE : | DE GRH | |
| Community structure: | 4 districts | |
| Address of the municipal administration: |
Rathausplatz 3 47929 Grefrath |
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| Website : | ||
| Mayor : | Manfred Lommetz (independent) | |
| Location of the municipality of Grefrath in the district of Viersen | ||
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Grefrath [ ˈgreːfraːt ] is a municipality belonging to the district of Viersen in the administrative district of Düsseldorf in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia . Since November 27, 2012, Grefrath officially bears the title Sports and Leisure Community .
geography
Grefrath is located in the Linker Niederrhein region within the Maas-Schwalm-Nette nature park between the Rhine and the Maas . This region is located in western Germany near the border with the Netherlands . The Niers flows through Grefrath from south to north. The districts of Grefrath and Vinkrath are on the west, Oedt and Mülhausen on the east of the small river. The following cities and municipalities border the municipality (they are named starting in the north in a clockwise direction):
history
The place Grefrath was first mentioned in 1177 under the name Greverode . Greverode means something like "clearing of the counts".
On March 3, 1243, Adolf I. Graf von der Mark sold his possessions from the maternal inheritance of the Lords or Counts of Krickenbeck, which also included possessions in Grefrath, to Otto II. Count von Geldern . In that year he acquired control of the Krickenbecker Land with Grefrath. From then on, Grefrath shared the fate of the county (from 1339 duchy) of Geldern . In 1543 the Duchy of Geldern fell to the Burgundian Netherlands , which were also called the Spanish Netherlands after the division of the House of Habsburg , after a short reign of the Dukes of Jülich-Kleve-Berg (1538–1543) from the house of von der Mark .
During the Eighty Years' War , in which the States General (forerunners of today's Netherlands ) fought for independence from Spain , Grefrath remained Spanish along with the southern part of the Duchy of Geldern. In 1713 the Spanish Geldern fell to Prussia in the Peace of Utrecht .
In the course of the First Coalition War , Grefrath was occupied by France from 1794 and was officially French national territory from 1801 as part of the Roer department . After the final defeat of Napoleon , the place was again added to the Kingdom of Prussia at the Congress of Vienna , together with the rest of the left Lower Rhine.
With the dissolution of Prussia, Grefrath became part of the newly created state of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1946. On January 1, 1970, the previously independent municipality of Oedt (without its district Hagen ) was merged with Grefrath. Unlike Grefrath, the districts of Oedt and Mülhausen on the other side of the Niers belonged to the Archdiocese of Cologne for a long time .
The drinking water is today Hinsbeck-Hombergen based, so that the nitrate limit can be met again.
politics
mayor
- 1970–1994: Josef Lepers (CDU)
- 1994–1999: Dieter Dohmessen (CDU)
The elections between 1999 and 2015 each won the following applicants:
- 1999: Herbert Kättner (CDU), 57.6%
- 2004: Herbert Kättner (CDU), 55.5%
- 2009: Manfred Lommetz (independent), 52.1%
- 2015: Manfred Lommetz (independent), 73.9%
Municipal council
According to the results of the local elections on May 25, 2014, the seats in the municipal council will be distributed among the individual parties as follows:
Political party |
Seats
|
| CDU | 16 (+ 2) |
| SPD | 11 (± 0) |
| FDP | 2 (- 3) |
| GREEN | 5 (+ 3) |
Coat of arms and banner
Banner of the Grefrath community
Coat of arms of the municipality of Grefrath
Coat of arms of the former municipality of Grefrath
Coat of arms of the former municipality of Oedt
Blazon : embedding silver and gold by a continuous, narrow black cross, covered with a red heraldic lily.
The municipal coat of arms is a combination of various elements taken from the coat of arms of the previously independent places Grefrath and Oedt.
The red lily in the foreground originally comes from the coat of arms of the Knights of Greverode, whose descendants carry this coat of arms figure (to this day) on a golden background. The von Greverode family has been in Grefrath, which was then also called (Greverode = clearing of the counts), since the 13th century.
The old coat of arms of the district Grefrath has taken over the red lily. In addition, St. Lawrence could be seen on it; he is the namesake of the Catholic parish church in Grefrath.
The coat of arms of the formerly independent municipality of Oedt was divided into two parts with a white and a yellow area. The Archbishop of Cologne was depicted in the upper white area, with the black Electorate of Cologne cross on his chest. The white and yellow areas in the background and the black cross shape were adopted from the Oedter coat of arms in the coat of arms of the new municipality.
The banner is split by a narrow cross and divided slightly above the middle, white at the top right and bottom left, yellow at the top left and bottom right, covered with a red lily.
Town twinning
In 1966 the city of Frévent in France became a twin town. After the reunification of Germany, Gerbstedt in Saxony-Anhalt was added in 1991 . The contacts are maintained in particular by the "Association of Friends of Frévent and Gerbstedt". Mutual visits between the partner cities are organized every year at Whitsun .
Population data
Population as of December 31, 2011:
- Grefrath: 7820
- Oedt: 4552
- Vinkrath: 1853
- Mulhouse: 1167
Population as of December 31, 2013:
- Grefrath: 7790
- Oedt: 4434
- Mulhouse: 1202
- Vinkrath: 1821
Culture and sights
Grefrath has its own dialect, the Grefrather Platt , an East Limburg variety of the Rhine-Maasland .
Museums
The Lower Rhine Open-Air Museum is operated by the district of Viersen . The central building on the museum grounds is the Dorenburg, a moated castle that was restored in 1974 and whose history dates back to the 14th century. There and in the numerous other buildings the rural and artisanal culture of the central Lower Rhine is explained. In addition, a toy museum with various model railroad systems and a system for traditional ironing are part of the site.
Buildings
- the ruins of Uda Castle (built around 1300) in the district of Oedt,
- the Dorenburg (first mentioned in 1326), which is located on the grounds of the Lower Rhine Open-Air Museum , and
- the Benedictine nuns - Mariendonk Abbey (built around 1900)
Other interesting buildings include the Catholic parish churches in the four districts.
- The Laurentiuskirche in Grefrath has a variety of different architectural styles. A three-nave Gothic church made of similar material was built around the Romanesque tower made of sandstone, which was expanded in the 1960s with a neo-Romanesque extension made of red bricks.
- The comparatively small Josefskirche in Vinkrath with the large rose window above the main portal has an interesting interior design with numerous modern elements.
- The Vitus Church in Oedt is quite large and was built in the neo-Gothic style between 1901 and 1903.
- The Heinrichskirche in Mulhouse with a bronze sculpture in the forecourt depicting a miller with his donkey is also worth a visit.
See also: List of architectural monuments in Grefrath
Gardens and parks
In 1970/71 the state horticultural show took place in Grefrath and gave the city the large sports and recreation park "Im Schwingboden". There was a farm on the former marshland until 1965. The 26 hectare terrain was drained and redesigned for the state horticultural show.
The park still has a large playground, an aviary , a Kneipp water basin , a duck pond, a fountain and old trees. Of Grefrath's landmark, the listed Schwingboden tower, which used to be accessible over several levels up to a height of approx. 30 meters, only the outer scaffolding and the first platform remain today.
The park is located between the indoor pool, the outdoor pool and the ice sports center. The community elementary school, the school at the Dorenburg, the sports halls and the Dorenburg open-air museum are in the immediate vicinity. Since the community suffers from financial difficulties, the approval of parts of the green space as building land is being considered.
Economy and Transport
For decades, Grefrath was particularly influenced by the textile industry. Girmes AG, founded in 1879, was temporarily the third largest weaving mill in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1989, the listed company went bankrupt. With the insolvency of the successor company Girmes GmbH in 2003, the era of the company and the textile industry in Grefrath finally ended. For decades, Grefrath was also the location of several automotive suppliers, including a. from Johnson Controls . In 1994 Grefrath was also affected by the spectacular fraudulent bankruptcy of the sports flooring manufacturer Balsam AG , which had a location here. Today the local economy is particularly characterized by small and medium-sized companies. On the site of the former Girmes works, several z. Some of the smaller companies have settled here.
The major cities closest to the municipality of Grefrath are Krefeld (16 km east), Mönchengladbach (17 km south), and the Dutch city of Venlo (12 km west).
On the motorways A40 and A61 Grefrath is to the Rhineland and the Ruhr connected. The proximity to the German-Dutch border is particularly important for the local economy. Since April 2012, the A61 has been routed via the newly constructed A74 (new Nettetal-West driveway) onto the A73 (Netherlands), the A40 continues as the A67 beyond the border near Venlo in the Netherlands .
Grefrath belongs to the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR) and is served by buses on lines 019, 062, 066, 093 and SB87. The next train stations are in Kempen , Viersen or Krefeld , because the Kempen – Kaldenkirchen route , at which Grefrath had a station, was closed in December 1999 and has been converted into a cycle path.
In addition, located airfield Grefrath-Niershorst ( ICAO code : EDLF) with a grass runway of 575 meters in length, between the districts and Grefrath Oedt.
The Fietsallee cycle path on the North Canal runs through the village.
Educational institutions
There are nine kindergartens in Grefrath with a total of around 500 places, which are run by church and independent organizations. In the district of Oedt there is a kindergarten with day care places for the mentally handicapped .
The Catholic primary school was merged with the Grefrath Community Primary School in 2013. The Grefrath Community Primary School maintains the two school locations Grefrath and Oedt.
In the area of secondary schools there are on-site
- the secondary school Grefrath "Schule an der Dorenburg", converted from the community secondary school since 2013, which now also offers secondary school and grammar school content, as well
- the grammar school Liebfrauenschule Mulhouse in private sponsorship.
Leisure and sports facilities
Grefrath has an extensive range of sports and leisure activities. The foundation stone for this was laid at the beginning of the 1950s when the community in the north of Grefrath acquired over 30 hectares of land. From 1954, two elementary schools were built there, including sports halls, playgrounds and sports fields, as well as an indoor and an outdoor pool.
EisSport & EventPark (ice stadium)
At this time the construction of the ice rink was started, in which at that time the largest artificial ice area in Europe (8000 m²) can be found. The ice rink was completed in 1972 and expanded in 1974 to include a 400-meter outer raceway and an outer field. For some time now, the ice rink has been used as a venue for concerts, ice hockey games, a regular “ice disco” and the “Holiday on Ice” ice revue.
In 1994 Grefrath hosted the Olympic flame of the XVII with the ice rink . Olympic Winter Games ( Lillehammer ). At the XVIII. At the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano ( Japan ), the Grefrath community was represented by the speed skater Christian Breuer .
Albert Mooren Hall
The Albert-Mooren-Halle in Oedt was completed in 1975 as a further location for events.
Sports fields
The community has a total of five sports fields, two tennis facilities with a total of twelve courts, one tennis hall and three sports halls to offer as additional leisure options. A lane for the ironing game , which is quite unknown outside of the Lower Rhine region (on the grounds of the Lower Rhine Open-Air Museum), is also available, as is a dog sports field, a bowling alley and a sports airport . In addition to many sports clubs (cycling, soccer, handball, athletics, tennis, swimming, equestrian sports, canoeing, bowling, ironing, etc.) there are several modern soccer and athletics facilities ( Oedt and Grefrath).
water sports
The Niers offers opportunities for boating and canoeing.
To go biking
Cycling and hiking trails over a total length of 70 kilometers invite you to go on tours; they criss-cross the community, two thirds of which consists of agricultural, forest, water and recreational areas. As part of the Euroga 2002+ was along the Napoleon started, but never completed the North Channel , an identically-regional cycle route created, which leads through Grefrath.
Personalities
Honorary citizen
- Wilhelm Berger, councilor and linen manufacturer (named after him: Bergerplatz)
- Roger Pruvost (* 1928), mayor of the twin town of Frévent
- Josef Lepers (1920–2007), mayor from 1970 to 1994
Born in Grefrath
- Hermann Horrix (1859–1930), auxiliary school teacher, curative educator, methodologist in pedagogy for the mentally ill
- Fritz Domina (1902–1975), pianist, arranger and film composer
- Josef Laurenz Küsters (* 1915), politician
- Josef Heinen (1929–1988), sprinter
- Herbert Sleegers (1932–2018), poet and writer
- Herbert Douteil (* 1935), Catholic theologian
- Clemens Weiss (* 1955), artist
- Leonhard Helten (* 1958), art historian
- Leonore Capell (* 1970), actress
- Paul Veltrup (* 2001), fencer
Associated with Grefrath
- Rolf Tophoven (* 1937, lives in Grefrath), journalist and terrorism expert
- Christian Breuer (* 1976, lives in Grefrath), speed skater (three times qualified Olympic participant)
- Jens Ernesti (* 1977, lives in Grefrath), former rapper
Individual evidence
- ↑ Population of the municipalities of North Rhine-Westphalia on December 31, 2019 - update of the population based on the census of May 9, 2011. State Office for Information and Technology North Rhine-Westphalia (IT.NRW), accessed on June 17, 2020 . ( Help on this )
- ^ Federal Statistical Office - Territorial changes from January 1 to December 31, 2013
- ^ Grefrath: The Inzell vom Niederrhein | RP ONLINE
- ↑ Martin Bünermann: The communities of the first reorganization program in North Rhine-Westphalia . Deutscher Gemeindeverlag, Cologne 1970, p. 114 .
- ↑ Ulrike Gerards: Visit to the Grefrath waterworks. In: rp-online.de . September 20, 2019, accessed September 21, 2019 .
- ↑ http://www.wahlresults.nrw.de/kommunalwahlen/2014/aktuell/c166008kw1400.html State Returning Officer NRW: Municipal elections 2014 - final result for: Grefrath
- ↑ http://alt.wahlresults.nrw.de/kommunalwahlen/2009/Gem_bm/d166008kw0900.html
- ↑ http://www.wahlrechner.nrw.de/kommunalwahlen/2015/aktuell/166008_KREISANGEHOERIGE_GEMEINDE_XML_DATA.html
- ^ Wilhelm Janssen: Grefrath - history of a Geldrischen community until 1650 . Kempen 1968
- ↑ Main statutes of the Grefrath community (PDF; 101 kB)
- ↑ a b according to our own update (Homepage Tourism, Grefrath in portrait)
- ^ Herbert Ackermann: Grefrather dialect dictionary . A publication of the Rhineland Regional Association , Office for Rhenish Regional Studies Bonn . Verlag van Acken, Krefeld 2003, ISBN 3-923140-89-4 (3 volumes: 1.) Introduction , a - Jüütertsoch 2.) Kaaf - Schtärekt 3.) Schtäreve - wüvüel, register ).
- ↑ COMPANY / GIRMES AG: Velvet without worry . In: Der Spiegel . tape February 7 , 1968 ( spiegel.de [accessed March 9, 2019]).
- ^ Girmes-Werke AG. Retrieved June 30, 2019 .
- ^ RP ONLINE: Grefrath parish: Johnson Controls: End of the year. Retrieved March 9, 2019 .
- ↑ FOCUS Online: “Bankruptcy” for communities. Retrieved March 9, 2019 .
- ↑ Affair: Hot Air . In: Der Spiegel . tape June 24 , 1994 ( spiegel.de [accessed March 9, 2019]).
- ^ RP ONLINE: Grefrath: Girmes: New life in old halls. Retrieved March 9, 2019 .
literature
- Peter Norrenberg : History of Glory Grefrath. Contributions to the history of the Lower Rhine . Vol. 4. Viersen 1875
- Erwin Gatz: The history of the parish Grefrath and Grefrath parish . Mönchengladbach 1964
- Wilhelm Janssen: Grefrath. History of a Geldrian community until 1650 . Kempen 1968
- Peter Hoederath: The textile industry in Grefrath . (State examination thesis.) Cologne 1984
- Ulrich Stevens: Municipality of Grefrath an der Niers . (Rheinische Kunststätten. No. 395) Cologne 1993
Web links
- Website of the Grefrath community
- Monuments in the municipality of Grefrath
- Website of the Dorenburg and the open-air museum
- Grefrath-Niershorst airfield website
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