Venlo

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Venlo municipality
Flag of the municipality of Venlo
flag 		Coat of arms of the municipality of Venlo
coat of arms
province Limburg Limburg
mayor Antoin Scholten ( VVD )
Seat of the municipality Venlo
Area
 - land
 - water 		128.99  km 2
124.45 km 2
4.54 km 2
CBS code 0983
Residents 101,984 (Jan 1, 2021)
Population density 791 inhabitants / km 2
Coordinates 51 ° 22 ′  N , 6 ° 10 ′  E Coordinates: 51 ° 22 ′  N , 6 ° 10 ′  E
Important traffic route A67 E34 A73 A74 N271 N273 N275 N295 N556
prefix 077
Postcodes 5901-5902, 5911-5916, 5921-5928, 5931-5932, 5935, 5941, 5943-5944, 5951
Website Venlo website
LocatieVenlo.png
Template: Infobox location in the Netherlands / maintenance / map
Houses on Tegelsweg
Houses on TegelswegTemplate: Infobox location in the Netherlands / maintenance / picture 1

Venlo [ ˈfɛnlo ] is a Dutch city ​​and municipality in the province of Limburg . On January 1, 2021, the community had 101,984 inhabitants. The Meuse flows through Venlo . The urban area borders directly on the German districts of Kleve and Viersen .

Topographic map of Venlo, 2010–2011

Community and residents

Municipality and districts

The municipality of Venlo ( Dutch Gemeente Venlo ) consists of five boroughs: Venlo (40,530 inhabitants at 1 January 2018), Belfeld (5,550 inhabitants), Blerick (27,440 inhabitants), Tegelen (18,945 inhabitants) and Arcen , Lomm en Velden (8690 Residents). Blerick, located to the left of the Maas, was incorporated in 1940, the communities of Belfeld and Tegelen in the south in 2001. The northern neighboring community of Arcen en Velden was incorporated on January 1, 2010. Venlo's area increased by around half. With a population of around 100,000, Venlo has achieved the status of a large city .

The city ​​districts are divided into numerous city ​​districts and neighborhoods. The well-known monastery village of Steyl is part of the Tegelen district .

The historic town hall of Venlo

Neighboring communities

Neighboring municipalities to the municipality of Venlo are:

Population development

Population statistics of Venlo
year Residents
1880 14,398
1890 17,869
1900 23,713
1910 30,804
1920 37.114
1930 45.116
1940 53,812
1950 63,313
1960 74,707
year Residents
1970 85.163
1980 85.363
1990 88,175
2000 89,598
2005 92.263
2006 92.048
2010 100,3280
2013 100.1580
2016 100,3730

Nationalities

85,807 of the 92,048 residents have Dutch citizenship (as of January 1, 2006), 6,241 have foreign citizenship . The three largest groups of foreigners are Germans (1,813), Turks (1,190) and Moroccans (826).

politics

College of Mayors and Aldermen

The councilors will be provided to the college in the period from 2018 to 2022 by the coalition parties 50PLUS , EENLokaal, GroenLinks , PvdA and SP . EENLokaal is represented by two councilors in the college, while the other parties each contribute one councilor. They were appointed on May 16, 2018 as part of a council meeting. The following people belong to the college and are responsible in the following areas:

Antoin Scholten
function Surname Political party Department annotation
mayor Antoin Scholten VVD public order and security, enforcement, communication, (EU) region, security area, information technology in office since November 12, 2012
Alderman Frans Schatorjé EENLokaal coordinating councilor in social affairs, sheltered housing, adequate education, target group transport, functional illiteracy -
Erwin Boom PvdA coordinating alderman for the labor market, shopping centers, four-horse, student city, restaurant policy, projects for basic operations -
Alexander Vervoort SP coordinating alderman for the environmental law, poverty policy, participation, community facilities, houses of the district -
Marij Pollux-Linssen GroenLinks coordinating councilors for sustainability, Q4 and Maaswaard districts, Kazernekwartier, C2C, environment, nature, greenery and water, Museumkwartier -
Sjors Peeters 50PLUS coordinating councilor for geriatric politics, parking, genetic material, public space, traffic in the city districts -
Ad Roest EENLokaal public affairs, services, personnel, management, BsGW -
Community Secretary Twan Beurskens - - in office since April 2018

Allocation of seats in the municipal council

Local elections 2018
 %
20th
10
0
17.9
17.6
14.6
10.9
9.8
9.7
8.2
7.0
4.4
no
EEN
Otherwise. j
Gains and losses
compared to 2014
 % p
 20th
 15th
 10
   5
   0
  -5
-10
-15
-20
-25
-30
+17.9
± 0.0
−4.1
−5.2
+9.8
−2.0
+3.9
+7.0
−1.3
−25.8
EEN
Otherwise. j
Template: election chart / maintenance / notes
Remarks:
j Local Democrats 0.0% (−12.3%), VenLokaal 0.0% (−11.9%), Partij Groot Venlo 0.0% (−1.6%)

The municipal council has been formed as follows since 1982:

Political party Seats
1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2000 a 2006 2009 b 2014 2018
EENLokaal - - - - - - - - - 7th
CDA 18th 15th 16 10 10 12th 7th 8th 7th 7th
VVD 8th 6th 5 5 7th 7th 7th 12th 8th 6th
PvdA 5 10 8th 4th 5 3 8th 5 6th 4th
PVV - - - - - - - - - 4th
SP 0 0 - 1 2 - - 2 4th 4th
GroenLinks - - 2 4th 5 5 6th 3 2 3
50PLUS - - - - - - - - - 3
D66 1 - 2 3 1 1 0 2 2 1
Local Democrats c d - - - - - - - - 5 -
VenLokaal d - - - - - - - - 5 -
Blerickse Democrats - - - - - - 2 2 - -
Tegelse Democrats - - - - - 3 2 2 - -
Belfeldse Democrats e - - - - - 2 2 2 - -
Realists '82 - - - - - 1 1 1 - -
SEED f - - - 6th 3 3 2 - - -
Open MB 1 - - - - - - - -
Progressive accord g 1 - - - - - - - -
PPR g 1 0 - - - - - - - -
PSP - - - - - - - - -
total 33 33 33 33 33 37 37 39 39 39
Remarks
  1. ↑ Parties that took part in the election but were unable to obtain a seat on the council will not be taken into account.
aDue to the incorporation of Belfeld and Tegelen into Venlo on January 1, 2001, the municipal council elections took place in 2000.
bDue to the incorporation of Arcen en Velden into Venlo on January 1, 2010, the municipal council elections took place on November 22, 2009.
c Local Democrats emerged from the amalgamation of the parties Blerickse Democrats, Tegelse Democrats and Venlose Democrats.
d The parties Local Democrats and VenLokaal merged into the newly founded EENLokaal party in the 2018 municipal council elections.
e The Belfeldse Democrats dissolved into the VenLokaal party in the 2014 municipal council elections.
f Up to and including 1998, the SAMEN party ran as "Nieuwe Lijst '93".
GMembers of the Progressief Akkoord and PPR parties joined the local GroenLinks parliamentary group in the 1990 local elections .

flag and emblem

The Venlo flag consists of two horizontal stripes, the upper one is red, the lower one blue.

The Venlo coat of arms shows the Gelders lion in the Geldern colors blue and gold as well as an anchor for the city on the Maas. The emblem is: "Festina lente, cauta fac omnia mente" ("Hurry with time, do everything with understanding").

The origin of the place name is uncertain. One theory says that the syllable "Ven-" indicates damp areas (Venn / Fenn , "morass"). Together with the syllable “lo”, which stands for forest (cf. also, for example, Gütersloh or Hohenlohe ), Venlo means “forest in the morass”.

history

Roman settlement

In 2010, extensive excavations were completed as part of the route investigation of the Maasboulevard . The excavation work had taken two and a half years. Since then it has been assumed that the place was a 2000 year old logistics location of the Romans , which was established around 19 BC. BC and thus about as old as Nijmegen is said to be. The Roman origin of the community was already known; However, the evaluation of the finds brought new knowledge and theories on the history of the settlement since Roman times, in particular on size, street and house plans and function as a military, logistical and economic location and base of several hundred legionnaires. According to some regional historians and archaeologists, it is said to be the ancient Sablones . However, Kaldenkirchen, which is adjacent on the German side, also claims this origin .

The investigations brought to light remains of walls and bricks as well as Roman fountains and latrines, as well as ceramics, fragments of a coolus (bronze helmet from the time of Augustus ), glass beads and 170 Roman coins, including Celtic Avaucia coins, which allow the age of Venlo to be precisely determined. The transport ceramics (a total of 37,176 ceramic fragments from Roman times with a weight of 7372 kilograms) made up the largest share. Significant objects from the Middle Ages were also found .

Middle Ages to the 19th century

Venlo was first mentioned in a document at the beginning of the 11th century and was a Hanseatic city . In 1343 Venlo was granted city rights. In the war between Karl von Egmond , Duke of Geldern , and Emperor Maximilian , Venlo was besieged for three months in vain by the troops of Margaret of Austria , governor of the Habsburg Netherlands .

Venlo belonged to the Duchy of Geldern for a long time , while Tegelen was the northwesternmost part of the Duchy of Jülich . Venlo and Tegelen were therefore - often hostile - foreign countries for one another for centuries. To this day, the dialect in Tegelen is clearly different from that in Venlo; Linguistics classifies the Tegels as one of the Limburg dialects, and the Venloos among the Kleverland dialects . In 1997, the Dutch policy of reducing local rivalries had declared all dialects spoken in the Limburg province to be Limburgs in general . Even today, due to the language differences, there are rival feelings between part of the Venloer and Tegeler and Belfelder regions, so that the incorporation in 2001 in Tegelen and Belfeld was not very popular.

After the end of the Duchy of Geldern, Venlo became part of the Spanish Netherlands , but joined the Union of Utrecht in 1579 . The history of Venlo in the late 16th and 17th centuries was dominated by the conflict between Habsburg Spain and the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , in particular the Eighty Years War and the War of the Spanish Succession . Control of Venlo changed several times during this period before the city was given to the Netherlands in the Peace of Utrecht in 1713. The Bontamps envelope factory , founded in 1734, existed until 1935.

Venlo at the time of the Belgian Revolution and the German Confederation

Map of Venlo around 1850

In 1830 the predominantly Catholic southern provinces of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands rose up against the "Protestant North" and Dutch supremacy. The city of Venlo also joined the Belgian Revolution . This was mainly borne by the Walloon bourgeoisie and Catholic-minded Flemings . Thus the southern provinces laid claim to the entire Dutch- speaking Limburg including the dialectal Ripuarian-speaking town of Kerkrade , which at that time was officially bilingual and used Dutch and German on an equal footing , but also French as the “ civil language ”. But only nine years later (1839) did the Dutch royal family recognize the independence of the now Belgian provinces and Limburg was divided along the Meuse. The areas to the right of the river became Dutch and the areas to the left of the river became Belgian. The former southern parts of Limburg, to which the city of Venlo belonged, remained unaffected by this demarcation. However, the fortress city of Maastricht was added to the Netherlands, although its population at the time wanted to belong to Belgium. Administratively, the Dutch "Duchy of Limburg" was assigned to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , and between 1839 and 1867 the three fortresses Venlo, Roermond and Maastricht were "federal fortresses" of the German Confederation .

First World War and the interwar period

The Netherlands was neutral and unoccupied during World War I (details here ).

In World War II

At the beginning of the Second World War , on November 9, 1939, two British secret service officers were lured into a trap by a German secret service command and kidnapped in front of a border café right on the German-Dutch border near Venlo. The British were in the company of a Dutch intelligence officer who was shot dead during the kidnapping. The " Venlo incident " provided what was then Germany under Adolf Hitler with an excuse to invade the neutral Netherlands ; this began on the morning of May 10th. On May 10, the Wehrmacht invaded the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg on a broad front; it was the beginning of the western campaign . On the same day, Dutch soldiers blew up the Meuse bridge near Venlo. The Dutch government surrendered on 14./15. May (with the exception of the province of Zeeland); Leopold III, King of the Belgians , surrendered with his troops on May 28th.

During the war, the Venlo-Herongen Air Base played a significant role in German air defense .

The 2 brothers from Venlo (by Arno Coenen)

Venlo suffered major war damage between October 1944 and March 1945. Many citizens of the city were forcibly evacuated by the German Wehrmacht this winter (see also Hunger Winter in the Netherlands ) . The first Allied air raid hit Venlo on October 13, 1944; twelve more followed. They had the goal of destroying the Maas bridge in order to interrupt the supply of the Germans. All attacks failed, the bridge remained. It was not until November 25, 1944, when the Allies were advancing west of the Meuse, that the Germans blew up the bridge themselves. 506 people died in the air raids and the houses of around 800 families were destroyed.

The Blerick district on the west bank of the Maas was liberated at the beginning of December 1944. Before that, 30,000 shells fell on Blerick. The Martinus Church was also destroyed.

Venlo was liberated on March 1st by troops of the 9th US Army as part of Operation Grenade . On March 2, captured Germans were led through the streets; the flag of the Netherlands was hoisted; On the same day tanks of the 784th Panzer Battalion ( 35th US Division ) advanced from Venlo to Straelen .

Economy and tourism

Trading location

Parade shopping street in Venlo

The proximity to the border makes Venlo a popular shopping destination for Germans, but also for visitors from nearby Belgium. Before the tariff and currency barriers were dismantled in the European Union, there were considerable price advantages for goods with special tax rates such as diesel fuel and coffee. Especially on German public holidays there were regular long queues at the borders. Following on from this, a large and diverse retail trade has established itself in Venlo. Since the borders were dismantled, there have hardly been any special price advantages, but for millions of Germans, especially from the Rhineland and the Ruhr area , Venlo is still a popular destination for day trips, as it is often the closest foreign city.

Coffee shops

In 2009, 5,900 cannabis users visited so-called coffee shops in Venlo every day , 66 percent of whom were foreigners, mostly from Germany. Previously, in 2001, as part of the Hektor project, the city had closed around 200 illegal shops and relocated two licensed shops with motorway links directly to the German border, so that only three coffee shops have been tolerated in the city center since then. Since May 1, 2012, cannabis products have temporarily been sold in these coffee shops only to holders of a proof of entitlement (so-called Wietpass ), which requires a residence in the Netherlands and official registration. As a result, the two coffee shops located directly on the German border closed. Since 2013, by resolution of the municipal council, the sale of hashish and marijuana up to a maximum of five grams per day and person has been tolerated in the remaining three coffee shops without a Wietpass .

The planting of grapevines is planned in Venlo from 2014 - the wine-growing area, with an area of ​​50 hectares, is to become the largest wine-growing area in the Netherlands when it is fully developed.

Well-known companies

  • Océ , printer and copier manufacturer (corporate headquarters)
  • DSV A / S (took over the Koninklijke Frans Maas Groep NV , whose headquarters were in Venlo , in 2006 ), forwarding and logistics company
  • Office Depot , office supplier (European headquarters)
  • Scheuten Glasgroep , glass products, solar modules and photovoltaics (corporate headquarters)
  • Cimpress , print shop (headquarters)
  • Amway (central warehouse Europe)
  • vidaXL , online shop with shops all over Europe (headquarters)

traffic

Rail transport

Venlo was an important city for European rail transport from an early age . The Hamburg-Venloer Bahn was built around 1874, which is why a station in Hamburg was named after the city, the Venloer Bahnhof . Later the route was even continued as the Hamburg-Pariser-Bahn to Paris , which means that Venlo was conveniently connected to the European rail network in terms of transport. The western part of the Hamburg-Venloer Bahn (the Haltern – Venlo line ) always remained in deficit and only served long-distance traffic to a limited extent until the First World War . Then it sank down to a regional route and was finally largely shut down. Today you drive from Haltern via Krefeld and Viersen to Venlo .

Venlo train station

Today, Venlo station is not only an important station for European passenger traffic, but also for goods traffic in general, not least because of its central location between the Dutch Randstad and the German Ruhr area , but above all as a substation for goods locomotives between the various power networks in the Netherlands and Germany.

In terms of passenger transport, there are intercity connections on the Nederlandse Spoorwegen in the direction of Eindhoven Centraal , Rotterdam and The Hague . In addition, the private railway company Veolia Transport offers express and regional train connections to Nijmegen and Roermond . In addition, the Eurobahn operates the Maas-Wupper-Express (RE 13) for border traffic between Venlo and Germany ( Viersen - Mönchengladbach - Neuss - Düsseldorf - Wuppertal - Hagen - Hamm ).

Bike paths

The Dutch province of Limburg, including the city of Venlo, has a clear network of cycle paths that can be used to reach the cities of Roermond , Weert , Helmond , Eindhoven , Horst and Venray . The German border region can also be reached via Fietsallee on the North Canal . The LF 13 connects Venlo with the city of Duisburg .

Road traffic

A total of five motorways lead to or through Venlo:

Buildings

St. Martin in Venlo
The Limburg Museum in Venlo

Culture

  • Museum van Bommel van Dam (Museum of Modern Art)
  • Het Limburgs Museum (Museum of History and Culture)
  • De Maaspoort (theater and congress center)
  • Theater De Doolhof (open air theater)
  • Amateur theater De Garage
  • Jochum-Hof Botanical Garden
  • Zomerparkfeest (multicultural festival with music, street theater, film and art)
  • Marcato Mondial (multicultural fair)
  • Blues rock festival
  • Venloos Symfonie Orkest (VSO), amateur symphony orchestra

In 2012 Venlo hosted the Floriade World Horticultural Exhibition , which takes place every ten years .

media

Sports

  • VVV-Venlo (football club in the Eredivisie , the top division in Dutch football)
  • Venlo Danst Grenzeloos ( German:  Venlo dances without borders ): Every year in October, a wheelchair dance competition takes place in Venlo with participants from Belgium , the Netherlands and Germany . In 2011 the Benelux Championships in wheelchair dance took place in Venlo at the same time .

education

Personalities

Twin cities

Former twin cities

The partnership with Gorizia began in 1965, the one with Klagenfurt since 1961. Both were dissolved in March 2010 after the exchange on a cultural, social or sporting level became less and less or no longer took place at all.

literature

  • Frans Hermans: Historical Atlas van Venlo. Twintig eeuwen wonen aan de Maas. Vantilt, Nijmegen 2018, ISBN 978-94-6004-403-8 .

Web links

Commons : Venlo  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikivoyage: Venlo  - travel guide

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bevolkingsontwikkeling; regio per maand . In: StatLine . Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek , March 10, 2021 (Dutch).
  2. ↑ Harry Lücker: Nieuw college Venlo geïnstalleerd. In: De Limburger . Media groep Limburg, May 17, 2018, accessed on September 1, 2018 (Dutch).
  3. ^ College van burgemeester en wethouders Gemeente Venlo, accessed on September 1, 2018 (Dutch)
  4. ↑ Result of the local elections: 2014 2018 , accessed on September 1, 2018 (Dutch)
  5. ↑ Allocation of seats in the municipal council: 1982–2000 2006 2009 2014 2018 , accessed on September 1, 2018 (Dutch)
  6. ↑ Elke Wiegmann: Venlo - The oldest village in the Netherlands In: waz.de from November 15, 2010.
  7. ↑ Friedrich Nettesheim: History of the city and the office of Geldern with consideration of the country's history , Vol. 1: External history from the oldest to the most recent . Kühler, Krefeld 1863, p. 215.
  8. ^ Gerhard Köbler : Historical Lexicon of the German Lands. The German territories from the Middle Ages to the present. 3rd, improved edition expanded by one register. CH Beck, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-406-34838-6 , p. 301.
  9. ^ NJG Pounds: Historical and Political Geography of Europe , Georg Westermann Verlag 1950, without ISBN, p. 245ff
  10. ↑ Willem Kurstjens: VENLO IN DE EERSTE WERELDOORLOG , 2014 ( publisher site )
  11. ↑ Peter Koblank: The Venlo incident , online edition Mythos Elser 2006
  12. ↑ p. 120 (pdf, 13 MB)
  13. ^ Website Historie Venlo (Dutch)
  14. ↑ rp.-online.de (Rheinische Post) August 22, 2012: How Venlo fell to rubble
  15. ↑ www.archive.nrw.de
  16. ^ Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster: Drug Policy in the Netherlands. VII. Venlo and drug tourism. ( Memento of December 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) December 2009, accessed on September 1, 2018 (Dutch)
  17. ↑ Manfred Meis: Nettetal: Grenz-Coffeeshops close In: rp-online.de of April 26, 2012.
  18. ↑ Wine will soon grow in Venlo's Greenport Rheinische Post from February 21, 2013, accessed on August 25, 2013
  19. ↑ Venlo Danst Grenzeloos ( Memento from August 30, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (nl) accessed on December 4, 2011
  20. ^ HAS University of Applied Sciences. Retrieved March 28, 2019 .
  21. ↑ City partnerships , krefeld.de, accessed on September 30, 2018
  22. ↑ a b Venlo verbreekt stedenbanden , omroepvenlo.nl, accessed on September 30, 2018