Ypres

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Ypres
Ieper wapen.svg Flag of Ypres.svg
Ypres (West Flanders Province)
Ypres
Ypres
State : BelgiumBelgium Belgium
Region : Flanders
Province : West Flanders
District : Ypres
Coordinates : 50 ° 51 ′  N , 2 ° 53 ′  E Coordinates: 50 ° 51 ′  N , 2 ° 53 ′  E
Area : 130.61 km²
Residents: 34,845 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density: 267 inhabitants per km²
Post Code: 8900, 8902, 8904, 8906, 8908
Prefix: 057
Mayor: Emmily Talpe

Local government address : 		Stadhuis
Grote Markt 34
8900 IEPER
Website: www.ieper.be
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Ypres [ ˈyːpɐn ] ( Dutch Ieper , French Ypres , West Flemish Yper ) is a town in the West Flanders province of the Flemish Community in the Flanders region , Belgium . Ypres has 34,845 inhabitants (January 1, 2019). The places Boezinge, Brielen, Dikkebus, Elverdinge, Hollebeke, Sint-Jan, Vlamertinge , Voormezele, Zillebeke and Zuidschote belong to Ypres.

The cloth hall with the included belfry

history

Middle Ages and Early Modern Times

Baldwin II the Bald (879–918) fortified Ypres , which belongs to the county of Flanders, to defend itself against the Normans . In the late Middle Ages, Ypres, along with Ghent and Bruges, was one of the most important cities in Flanders, was a member of the Flemish Hanseatic League and became important in particular through the cloth trade . Around the year 1300 Ypres had about 20,000 inhabitants. Shortly thereafter, the doctor and author of a surgical textbook Jan Yperman was a jury surgeon of the city and worked at the Belle-Siechenhaus. From 1559 to 1801 Ypres was the seat of a bishopric .

20th century

First World War

In the First World War (1914–1918), Ypres was directly on the western front from autumn 1914 .

On November 4, 1914, the German General Berthold von Deimling had the famous medieval cloth halls of Ypres laid in ruins for no military reason and against the express instructions of his Commander-in-Chief, Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria .

Ypres was hotly contested:

German troops tried several times to take the city; in the process they were repulsed (November 1914 and April 1915). On April 22, 1915, German troops used chlorine gas for the first time .

“London, April 27th. "Daily Chronicle" reports the following details from northern France about the use of poisonous gases by the Germans: On 22nd d. M. at 5 o'clock in the afternoon saw French soldiers in the foremost trenches between Langemarck and Knocks [= Fort Knokke ] thick yellow smoke rising from the German trenches and slowly moving towards the French positions. The northeast wind caused the smoke to spread like a carpet over the earth, which it covered at a height of 16 feet. The Germans used strong cylinders of compressed gas, tapped and opened as soon as the wind hit the enemy trenches. The use of gases came as a surprise to the French. Many of them were poisoned and died. Some managed to escape, but shortly afterwards their faces turned black, coughed up blood, and fell dead. The effects of the gas were noticed at the front at a width of six kilometers and a depth of two kilometers. Fifteen minutes later, the Germans advanced out of the trenches, soldiers in safety helmets leading the way to make sure they could breathe the air. Since the gas was now spreading, large crowds of Germans moved forward. "

- Report in the Deutsches Volksblatt from April 28, 1915

On July 12, 1917, German troops - again near Ypres - tested mustard gas for the first time . It was also called yperite by many soldiers. "Yperite" is still a synonym for "poison gas" in France.

The city was held by the Allies until the end of the "Great War" ; soldiers from the British Empire fought in Ypres . To commemorate those who were buried there and the fact that Ypres was the only city in the country to withstand German occupation, The Last Post has been sounding every evening at the Menenpoort memorial at eight o'clock sharp since 1929 - with the exception of the time of German occupation during World War II .

  • Ypres 1915

  • Ypres 1917

  • Aerial view of the war-torn old town of Ypres, 1917

  • Remains of the cloth hall, November 1916

  • Remains of Saint Martin's Cathedral, 1916

  • Road to Poelkapelle , December 1918

  • Diorama with British soldiers in the Museum In Flanders Fields

  • Gun in the Museum In Flanders Fields

reconstruction

After the war, the heavily destroyed city was partly rebuilt true to the original, partly freely historicizing . Historical awareness and memories have since had a lot of place in the history and culture of the city. There are numerous military cemeteries in the vicinity of Ypres .

Ypres itself is criss-crossed by a gigantic network of caves, which were created by workers during the First World War and in parts only rediscovered in 2009.

Second World War

During the Second World War , heavy fighting took place again in the area around Ypres during the German campaign in the west . Due to the retreat of the British Expeditionary Force to Dunkirk and the capitulation of the Belgian army on May 28, 1940, it was taken without a fight by Wehrmacht troops the following day . After the capture, the city and the surrounding battlefields of the First World War were visited by Adolf Hitler on a propaganda trip in early June, still during the Battle of Dunkirk .

Community structure

Community structure
  • I - Ypres
  • II - Zillebeke
  • III - Hollebeke
  • IV - Voormezele
  • V - dikkebus
  • VI - Vlamertinge
  • VII - Brielen
  • VIII - Elverdinge
  • IX - Zuidschote
  • X - Boezinge
  • XI - Sint-Jan
  • XII - Pilkem

Attractions

economy

The city lives from trade and tourism. In addition, small and medium-sized industrial companies have settled in Ypres.

Town twinning

Personalities

Others

  • The lowest geological stage of the Eocene, the Ypresium , was named after Ypres .
  • Since mustard gas was used in Ypres for the first time, the warfare agent was given the name Yperit .
  • The Canadian metal band Woods of Ypres names Ypres in their band name because Canadian soldiers fought here in the First World War .
  • The asteroid (10120) Ypres , discovered in 1992, was named after the city.

See also

gallery

  • Cloth hall in Ypres

  • Saint Martin's Cathedral, 2007

  • Saint George's Memorial Church

literature

Web links

Commons : Ypres  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Iperen in the Topographia Circuli Burgundici (Mathäus Merian)  - sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gundolf Keil : Yperman, Jan (Jehan, Johan Y., Ieperman). In: Werner E. Gerabek et al. (Ed.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, p. 1513 f.
  2. ↑ The Fumigated French . In: Deutsches Volksblatt . April 28, 1915, p. 2 ( ANNO - AustriaN Newspapers Online [accessed May 5, 2020]).
  3. ^ R. Hanslian: The German gas attack near Ypres on April 22, 1915. A study of the history of war. Berlin: Verlag Gasschutz und Luftschutz, 1934
  4. ↑ Tobias Müller: Six horns against oblivion . In: The daily newspaper: taz . November 9, 2019, ISSN  0931-9085 , p. 32–33 ePaper, Alle, Nord 34–35 Berlin ( taz.de [accessed on November 11, 2019]).
  5. ↑ spiegel.de February 17, 2009: Discovery in Ypres: In the tunnel city of World War II soldiers
  6. ↑ The 1 June Visit to Flanders on erenow.net , accessed on July 30, 2019.
  7. ↑ Klaus Schlupp: Ypres is not just the First World War. grenzecho.net, accessed April 6, 2019 .
  8. ↑ www.stgeorgesmemorialchurchypres.com It is located near the cathedral (corner of Elverdinghse Straat). Architect: Reginald Blomfield
  9. ↑ Gundolf Keil: Yperman, Jan (Jehan, Johan Y., Ieperman). 2005
  10. ↑ Gundolf Keil: "blutken - bloedekijn". Notes on the etiology of the hyposphagma genesis in the 'Pommersfeld Silesian Eye Booklet' (1st third of the 15th century). With an overview of the ophthalmological texts of the German Middle Ages. In: Specialized prose research - Crossing borders. Volume 8/9, 2012/2013, pp. 7–175, here: pp. 23 f. and 32.
  11. ↑ Roger-A. Blondeau: Jan Yperman, vader van de Vlaamse heelkunde (approx. 1275–1331). Ypres 2005.