Molenbeek-Saint-Jean / Sint-Jans-Molenbeek

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Molenbeek-Saint-Jean
Sint-Jans-Molenbeek
Sint-Jans-Molenbeek wapen.svg Molenbeek-Saint-Jean Belgium.svg
Molenbeek-Saint-Jean Sint-Jans-Molenbeek (Belgium)
Molenbeek-Saint-Jean Sint-Jans-Molenbeek
Molenbeek-Saint-Jean
Sint-Jans-Molenbeek
State : BelgiumBelgium Belgium
Region : Brussels capital
Province : ("de-provincialized" since January 1st, 1995)
District : Brussels capitalwub
Coordinates : 50 ° 51 ′  N , 4 ° 20 ′  E Coordinates: 50 ° 51 ′  N , 4 ° 20 ′  E
Area : 5.89 km²
Residents: 97,462 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density: 16,547 inhabitants per km²
Post Code: 1080
Prefix: 02
Mayor: Françoise Schepmans ( MR )

Local government address : 		Rue Comte de Flandre 20
1080 Molenbeek-Saint-Jean

Graaf van Vlaanderenstraat 20
1080 Sint-Jans-Molenbeek
Website: www.molenbeek.irisnet.be
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Molenbeek-Saint-Jean ( French ) or Sint-Jans-Molenbeek ( Dutch ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the bilingual Brussels-Capital Region in Belgium . It has 97,462 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019) on an area of ​​5.89 square kilometers.

geography

Molenbeek is located immediately to the west of Brussels' old town (Porte de Flandre / Vlaamsepoort), separated from it by the Charlero Canal. In addition to the city of Brussels, the municipality borders on Anderlecht , Berchem-Sainte-Agathe / Sint-Agatha-Berchem , Koekelberg and Jette and, in the far west, on the Flemish municipality of Dilbeek .

The first village center was in the area of ​​today's town hall and the Johannes-der Täufer-Kirche ( List of Johanneskirchen ) on a small hill north of the confluence of the Molenbeek in the Petit Senne , a western arm of the Senne .

The north-south railway line to the Westbahnhof divides the community into two distinctly different parts, with the densely populated older, poor quarters east to the canal, which are also called Unter-Molenbeek, and the even less populated, bourgeois quarters to the west from that.

The Molenbeek rises in the westernmost part of the municipality in the area of ​​the hamlet Moortebeek and is currently largely canalized and only open in the westernmost part in the area of ​​the Scheutbos . Numerous ponds were further east formerly dammed to the Chaussee de Gand / Gentsesteenweg equal to the metro station Etangs Noirs / Zwarte Vijvers still makes a bow. There was the Quatre-Vents / Vier-Winden square , where from the north-west there was also another stream, the Karreveldbeek, and the Zehnthof ( thiendscure ), which was the tithe for the Michael and Gudula Cathedral in Brussels as the largest property owner in the Ancien Régime collected.

history

The beginnings of the village of Molenbeek can probably be dated to the beginning of the twelfth century, at the earliest to the end of the eleventh century. The first documentary mention took place on April 9, 1174 in a papal bull , which listed the property of the chapter of the Michael and Gudula cathedral in Brussels in the area of ​​the parish. This included the Church of St. John the Baptist, the tithe ( dîmes ) and other property. Molenbeek is mentioned in a legend about the life of Saint Gudula , which originated in the twelfth century, but there is no evidence of its existence as early as the tenth century.

politics

After Molenbeek had continuously liberal mayors since 1879 , Louis Mettewie was replaced on February 1, 1939 by Edmond Machtens , the first socialist mayor of Molenbeek. He was re-elected for almost forty years, sometimes with absolute majorities, until he died in office on December 5, 1978 at the age of 76. Numerous innovations and buildings in the post-war period can be traced back to him, and he had a lasting impact on the community. Among other things, he built the stadium in Molenbeek, which was named after him and in which the successor to the Royal Racing Club Bruxelles , RWD Molenbeek, plays.

Since then, Molenbeek has been the stronghold of the Socialist Party (PS) , whose last mayor was Philippe Moureaux for almost twenty years , who in the meantime was also Vice-President of the Socialists and Belgian minister. In the local elections in 2013, however, he was voted out and a coalition government was formed to the exclusion of the socialists. Since then, Françoise Schepmans of the Liberals ( MR ) has been mayor .

population

John the Baptist Church
Molenbeek town hall seen from the Place communale / Gemeenteplaats from the south, on the right behind the Art Deco church tower of the Church of St. John the Baptist

Molenbeek's population has a high percentage of immigrants , most of whom are from Morocco today . It has been the target of immigration movements since the 19th century. A large part of Molenbeek's population are Muslim , especially in the eastern neighborhoods near the canal. The western part is much less densely populated and has partly retained a rural character, for example in the Scheutbos Regional Park .

In Molenbeek there is also the Serbian Orthodox church building St. Sava , a repurposed formerly Roman Catholic church .

Tour L'Ecluse, Boulevard Mettewie / Mettewielaan, Molenbeek
"Scheutbos" regional park

Awareness in connection with Islamist extremism

In recent years the city has become known as the place of origin or temporary residence of Islamist extremists . From here, built Fouad Belkacem until their ban in 2012 his Salafist - terrorist movement Sharia4Belgium and recruited IS fighters.

“Molenbeek hit the headlines for the first time in 2001: Abdessatar Dahmane , the murderer of the Afghan war hero and terror of the Taliban , Ahmad Shah Massoud , was also a regular at the Islamic Center on Rue du Manchester / Manchesterstraat, which is known for its radical positions No. 18 like Hassan El Haski , the alleged mastermind of the attacks in Casablanca (2003, 41 dead) and Madrid (2004, 200 victims). The weapons used in the attack on the French satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo" in January 2015 came from Molenbeek . The French jihadist Mehdi Nemouche lived here, who wreaked a bloodbath in the Jewish Museum in Brussels the previous year . In August from here broke in 2015 Ayoub El Khazzani on to the Express Amsterdam-Paris with a Kalashnikov to shoot travelers. "

- Michael Laczynski : The press

Even after the Paris attacks of November 13, 2015 , a trail led to Molenbeek, where, on March 18, 2016, the last key figure of the attacks, Salah Abdeslam , who was still on the run, was arrested alive. After the bomb attacks in March 2016 at Brussels-Zaventem Airport and in the Maelbeek / Maalbeek metro station , Molenbeek is a symbol of the rampant radicalism in Belgium worldwide, which, in the opinion of many citizens and visitors, only partially depicts the reality of life in Molenbeek.

The perpetrator of the failed bomb attack at the Bruxelles-Central / Brussel-Centraal train station in June 2017 also lived in Molenbeek.

Economy and Infrastructure

Charleroi-Brussels Canal with the western bank, which represents the eastern border of Molenbeek, seen from the south, with the Porte de Flandre / Vlaamsepoort
Charleroi-Brussels Canal with the western bank, with the former Bellevue brewery

economy

In recent years, many industrial companies have closed and the difficult transition to the service economy has been initiated, so the community suffers from an extremely high unemployment rate of 31 percent. The unemployment rate in Molenbeek is three times higher than the national average; for young people it was just under 42 percent in 2015. Molenbeek is the second poorest municipality in Belgium.

traffic

The main street of the municipality is the Chaussée de Gand / Gentsesteenweg, which begins at the Flemish Gate ( Porte de Flandre / Vlaamsepoort ) . Rathausplatz is a pedestrian zone and the center of the community, which looks more like an inner city district than an independent municipality. The Leopold II. -Boulevard in the north of the municipality is part of the monumental east-west axis, at the end of which the National Basilica of the Sacred Heart is located on the Koekelberg.

The metro lines 1, 2, 5 and 6 run through the municipality with the stations Comte de Flandre / Graaf van Vlaanderen , Étangs Noirs / Zwarte Vijvers , Osseghem / Ossegem , Belgica , Beekkant , Gare de l'Ouest / Weststation ( the Brussels West Railway Station) and Ribaucourt as well as trams 51 and 82.

Sports

In the Edmond-Machtensstadion the football club FC Molenbeek Brussels Strombeek played its home games in Division 1B , it was dissolved at the end of the 2014/15 season. The association emerged from the merger of the clubs KFC Strombeek and RWD Molenbeek.

Culture

The Vaartkapoen , Place Sainctelette / Saincteletteplaats in Molenbeek.

The community center of the Flemish language community De Vaartkapoen in the Rue de l'Ecole / Schoolstraat 76 is based on the eponymous sculpture by the Belgian artist Frantzen Tom named, which he set up in 1985 on the Place Sainctelette / Saincteletteplaats and a "channel villain" ( vaart for the channel or the canal district, kapoen for brat , snot spoon in the Brussels dialect) that brings down a police officer as a symbol of state authority.

In October 2019 the Migratie Museum was opened in Molenbeek , which tells the story of the first guest workers, the homeless, the war refugees and also the European internal migrants.

Personalities

Born in the municipality:

Associated with the community:

Web links

Commons : Molenbeek-Saint-Jean / Sint-Jans-Molenbeek  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Danny Vileyn: Een groot socialist, autoritair een man . Bruzz of July 18, 2018, pages 24-26
  2. ↑ a b Michael Laczynski: Molenbeek: In the supply warehouse of Jihad . In: The press . Vienna November 17, 2015 ( diepresse.com [accessed March 22, 2016]).
  3. ↑ Malte Pieper: Another trail leads to Molenbeek. Fear of terrorism in Belgium. In: tagesschau.de . November 15, 2015, accessed March 22, 2016 .
  4. ^ Fabian Fellmann: Attacks in Paris: Molenbeek, a cloudy water - NZZ, November 21, 2015
  5. ↑ "We have him". Suspected Paris bomber Abdeslam caught. In: tagesschau.de . March 19, 2016, accessed March 22, 2016 .
  6. ↑ Niklaus Nuspliger, in: NZZ, March 26, 2016, p. 3 Belgium's lost generation
  7. ↑ See the 3sat report "Robert Menasse - My Brussels" ( http://www.3sat.de/mediathek/?mode=play&obj=76221 ) and R. Menasse, Die Hauptstadt, Frankfurt 2017.
  8. ↑ zeit.de June 21, 2017: Assassin from Brussels sympathized with IS
  9. ↑ Little changes one year after the terrorist attacks. In: swr.de. Südwestrundfunk , March 22, 2017, accessed on August 4, 2017 .
  10. ^ Homepage of the artist Tom Frantzen