Krefeld


Krefeld, also spelled Crefeld until 1925, is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its center lying just a few kilometers to the west of the river Rhine; the borough of Uerdingen is situated directly on the Rhine. Because of its economic past, Krefeld is often referred to as the "Velvet and Silk City". It is accessed by the autobahns A57 and A44.
Krefeld's residents now speak Standard German, or standard German, but the native dialect is a Low Franconian variety, sometimes locally called Krefelder Platt, Krieewelsch Platt, or sometimes simply Platt. The Uerdingen line isogloss, separating general dialectical areas in Germany and neighboring Germanic-speaking countries, runs through and is named after Krefeld's Uerdingen district, originally an independent municipality.
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History

Early history

file:FrankFürstGrab.JPG|thumb|left|upright|Frankish grave, c. 500 AD, with golden Spangenhelm from Gelduba
Records first mention Krefeld in 1105 under the name of Krinvelde.
In February 1598, Walburga, wife of Adolf van Nieuwenaar, and last Countess of Limburg and Moers, gave the County of Moers, which included Krefeld, to Maurice, Prince of Orange. After her death in 1600, John William of Cleves took possession of these lands, but Maurice successfully defended his heritage in 1601. Krefeld and Moers would remain under the jurisdiction of the House of Orange and the Dutch Republic during the Dutch Golden Age. Krefeld was one of few towns spared the horrors of the Thirty Years' War. The town of Uerdingen, incorporated into Krefeld in the 20th century, had been destroyed at the hands of troops from Hesse during the Thirty Years' War, and almost ceased to exist.
After the death of William III of Orange in 1702, Krefeld passed to the Kingdom of Prussia. The Battle of Krefeld occurred nearby in 1758 during the Seven Years' War. Krefeld and Uerdingen were included within the Prussian Province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg in 1815.
The population of the settlement was 16,325 in 1825 but had grown to 30,000 by the 1840s.
In 1872 Krefeld became an independent city within Rhenish Prussia. In 1918 during the First World War the Belgian Army used it as a base during the occupation of the Rhineland. In 1929 Krefeld and Uerdingen merged to form Krefeld-Uerdingen; in 1940 the name was shortened to simply Krefeld.

The Mennonites of Krefeld

From 1607 Mennonites arrived in Krefeld, as in nearby Gronau, from neighboring Roman Catholic territories where they were persecuted. In 1609 Herman op den Graeff, originally from Aldekerk, moved with his family to Krefeld. There he became a lay preacher and chairman of the Mennonite religious community. In 1637, Op den Graeff was referred to as “the Mennonite lord Bishop” of Krefeld in the reformed community’s minutes book. They sought refuge in the lands of the more tolerant House of Orange-Nassau, at the time rulers of Krefeld; in 1657 their congregation was officially recognized and in 1693 they were allowed to build their own church, although hidden in a back yard. Also the Quaker Evangelists received a sympathetic audience among the larger of the German-Mennonite congregations around Krefeld, Gronau, Emden and Altona, Hamburg. In 1683 a group of thirteen Mennonite families, the so called Original 13, including three of the Op den Graeff families left Krefeld to re-settle in Pennsylvania in order to enjoy religious freedom. They crossed the Atlantic on the ship Concord, and founded the settlement of Germantown, invited by William Penn, and thus beginning the Pennsylvania Dutch ethnic identity. The most important Mennonite family of Krefeld were the silk merchants and silk weaving industrialists Von der Leyen who, by 1763, employed half of Krefeld's population of 6,082 in their factories. Their residence, built from 1791, is the current City Hall.

The Jews of Krefeld

Jews were listed as citizens of Krefeld from 1617. In 1764, a synagogue was erected, and by 1812, under French rule, the town included 196 Jewish families, with three Jewish-owned banks. Under Napoleon, the town became the capital for the surrounding Jewish communities including over 5000 Jews, and by 1897 they comprised 1.8% of the population. In 1846 a Jewish representative was voted onto the town's municipal council, while rising antisemitism was noted during these elections. A reform synagogue was built in 1876, arousing opposition from the Orthodox community. A Jewish school existed in the town, with more than 200 students around 1900.
In November 1938, during the November pogroms, a synagogue on Marktstraße, as well as synagogues in Linn, Uerdingen and Hüls were destroyed, in addition to attacks on Jewish shops and homes. In 1941 following an order from Hitler to deport the German Jews to the east, Jews from the town were sent to the area around Riga and murdered there.
In 2008, a new synagogue, library and Jewish cultural center were erected on the location of one of the demolished synagogues. Around 1100 Jews were reported to live in and around Krefeld at the time.

World War II

On 11 December 1941, during World War II, a detailed report on the transport of Jews from Krefeld and its surroundings listed 1007 Jews from Krefeld and Duisburg, were deported to the Šķirotava Railway Station near Riga, later to become Jungfernhof concentration camp. They were transported in freezing conditions with no drinking water for more than two days. Almost immediately upon arrival, they were shot in the Rumbula forest massacre.
Forced laborers of the 3rd SS construction brigade were dispatched in the town in 1943.
On 21 June 1943, British bombs destroyed many buildings in the east part of the city; a firestorm consumed large parts of the city center. On 3 March 1945 US troops entered Krefeld. After occupying the city and due to a lack of fluent German speakers in the intelligence unit to which he was assigned, the U.S. Army placed Henry Kissinger, then a private, in charge of the city administration.
During the Cold War, the city was host to the 16th Signal Regiment of the United Kingdom's Royal Corps of Signals stationed at Bradbury Barracks. The town became part of the new state of North Rhine-Westphalia after World War II.

Points of interest

Districts

There are a number of districts in Krefeld. Each has a municipal representative, with representatives chosen by local elections. The districts are:

Municipal absorptions

Cities and places that were incorporated into Krefeld:
  • 1901: Linn
  • 1907: Bockum, Verberg und Oppum
  • 1929:
  • * Krefeld became an independent city
  • * Uerdingen, Krefeld
  • * Fischeln, Krefeld district
  • * Traar, Krefeld district
  • * Gellep and Stratum, Krefeld district
  • * Forstwald, Krefeld district
  • * Benrad und Hülserberg, Kempen
  • 1975: Locality of Hüls from Kempen

Demographics

¹ Census data
Largest migrant communities in Krefeld by 31.12.2017 are

Politics

Mayor

The current mayor of Krefeld is Frank Meyer of the Social Democratic Party, elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2020. The most recent mayoral election was held on 13 September 2020, with a runoff held on 27 September, and the results were as follows:
! rowspan=2 colspan=2| Candidate
! rowspan=2| Party
! colspan=2| First round
! colspan=2| Second round
! Votes
! %
! Votes
! %
! colspan=3| Valid votes
! 83,056
! 98.8
! 59,491
! 99.0
! colspan=3| Invalid votes
! 990
! 1.2
! 612
! 1.0
! colspan=3| Total
! 84,046
! 100.0
! 60,103
! 100.0
! colspan=3| Electorate/voter turnout
! 180,496
! 46.6
! 180,256
! 33.3

City council

The Krefeld city council governs the city alongside the mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows:
! colspan=2| Party
! Votes
! %
! +/-
! Seats
! +/-
! colspan=2| Valid votes
! 82,582
! 98.5
!
!
!
! colspan=2| Invalid votes
! 1,216
! 1.5
!
!
!
! colspan=2| Total
! 83,798
! 100.0
!
! 58
! ±0
! colspan=2| Electorate/voter turnout
! 180,491
! 46.4
! 1.2
!
!

Transport

Krefeld is connected to the Deutsche Bahn network with several stations, including its main station, Krefeld Hauptbahnhof. They are served by Intercity, Regional-Express and Regionalbahn trains. The Düsseldorf-based Rheinbahn operates a Stadtbahn service to the centrally located Rheinstraße stop. This line was the first electric inter-city rail line in Europe, established in 1898, and commonly called the K-Bahn because of the letter "K" used to denote the trains to Krefeld. Nowadays, in the VRR notation, it is called U76, with the morning and afternoon express trains numbered as U70, the line number there coloured red instead of the usual blue used for U-Bahn lines. The term K-Bahn, however, prevails in common usage.
The city of Krefeld itself operates four tramway and several bus lines under the umbrella of SWK MOBIL, a city-owned company. Since 2010, 19 of the oldest trams of the type Duewag GT8 were replaced by modern barrier-free trams of the type Bombardier Flexity Outlook. SWK Mobil owns an option to buy another 19 trams of the same type to replace the last 19 Duewag M8 trams. The whole tram fleet will then be barrier-free. Next to that the city plans to extend the line 044 in Krefeld-Hüls to connect the northern district of Hüls with the Krefeld downtown area.

Economy

The headquarters of Fressnapf, a pet food retailer franchise company, are situated in Krefeld.
The Nirosta steelworks, once owned by ThyssenKrupp, was sold in 2012 to Outokumpu.

International relations

Since 1964, the city has hosted an "honors program in foreign language studies" for high school students from Indiana, United States. The program annually places approximately thirty carefully selected high school juniors with families in and around Krefeld for intensive German language training. Since 1973, the fire services of Krefeld and twin city Leicester have played each other in an annual 'friendly' football match.

Twin towns – sister cities

Krefeld is twinned with:

Notable people

Scientists and academics

Writers, poets and journalists

Musicians

Visual artists

Sportspeople

Businessmen

Military personnel

Politicians

Mennonites