In addition to the inner city, the territory of Kleve comprises fourteen villages and populated places:Bimmen,Brienen,Donsbrüggen, Düffelward,Griethausen, Keeken, Kellen, Materborn, Reichswalde,Rindern, Salmorth,Schenkenschanz, Warbeyen and Wardhausen.
The nameKleff probably derives fromMiddle Dutchclef,clif 'cliff, bluff', referring to the promontory on which the Schwanenburg castle was constructed. Since the city's coat of arms displays threeclover leaves (GermanKlee,Low GermanKliev), the city's name is sometimes linked byfolk etymology to the clover, but the correspondingDutch word isklaver.[3]
TheSchwanenburg Castle, which was the residence of theDukes of Cleves, stands on a steep hill. It is located at the northern terminus of the Kermisdahl[further explanation needed] where it joins with the Spoykanal, which was previously an important transportation link to theRhine. The old castle has a massive tower, theSchwanenturm 180 feet (55 m) high, that is associated in legend with theKnight of the Swan, immortalized inRichard Wagner'sLohengrin.
Medieval Kleve grew together from four parts – the Schwanenburg Castle, the village below the castle, the first city of Kleve on Heideberg Hill, and theNeustadt ("New City"), dating from the 14th century. In 1242 Kleve received city rights. TheDuchy of Cleves, which roughly covered today's districts of Kleve,Wesel andDuisburg, was united with the Duchy ofMark in 1368, was made a duchy itself in 1417, then united with the neighboring duchies ofJülich and Berg in 1521, whenJohn III, Duke of Cleves, marriedMary, heiress of Jülich-Berg-Ravenburg.
Kleve's most famous native wasAnne of Cleves (1515–1557), daughter ofJohn III, Duke of Cleves and (briefly) the fourth wife ofHenry VIII of England. Several local businesses are named after her, including the Anne von Kleve Galerie.
During the Thirty Years' War the city had been under the control of theDutch Republic, which in 1647 had givenJohann Moritz von Nassau-Siegen administrative control over the city. He approved a renovation of Schwanenburg Castle in the baroque style, constructed a baroque palace, thePrinzenhof, and commissioned the construction of extensive gardens that greatly influenced European landscape design. Significant amounts of his original plan for Kleve were put into effect and have been maintained to the present, a particularly well-loved example of which is theForstgarten (Forest Garden). In 1685, a commune ofFrenchHuguenots was established in the town, and French church services were held in the castle.[4] In 1701, Cleves became part of theKingdom of Prussia.
The mineral waters of Kleve and the wooded parkland surrounding it made it a fashionablespa in the 19th century. At this time, Kleve was named "Bad Cleve" (English: Spa of Cleves). It was not until 1935 when the German spelling of its name was officially changed fromCleve toKleve.[5]
DuringWorld War II Kleve was the site of one of the two radio wave stations that served theKnickebein aircraft navigation system.Luftwaffe bombers used radio beams from Kleve and a second station at Stolberg to navigate to British targets.[6] The Knickebein system was eventually jammed by the British. It was replaced by the higher frequencyX-Gerät system, which used transmitter stations located on the channel coast of France.
British infantry advance through bombed-out Kleve, February 1945
Kleve was heavily bombed during theSecond World War, and over 90% of buildings in the city were severely damaged. During a raid on 7 October 1944 aHalifax bomber crashed into the Schwanenburg Castle.[7] Most of the destruction was the result of a raid late in the war in 1945, conducted at the request of Lieutenant-GeneralBrian Horrocks in preparation forOperation Veritable. Horrocks recounted his decision in the 1973 television documentaryThe World at War:
"Then they came to me and they said, 'Do you want the town of Cleve taken out?' By 'taken out' they meant the whole of the heavy bombers putting on to Cleve. Now, I knew that Cleve was a very fine old historical German town. Anne of Cleve, one of Henry VIII's wives, came from there. I knew that there were a lot of civilians in Cleve, men, women and children. If I said no, they would live. If I said yes, they would die. A terrible decision you’ve got to take. But... everything depended on getting a high piece of ground atNütterden. The German reserves would have to come through Cleve, and we would have to breach theSiegfried Line and get there. And your own lives, your own troops, must come first, so I said yes, I did want it taken out. But when all those bombers went over, the night just beforezero hour, to take out Cleve, I felt a murderer. And after the war I had an awful lot of nightmares, but always Cleve."[8]
Horrocks later said that this had been "the most terrible decision I had ever taken in my life" and that he felt "physically sick" when he saw the bombers overhead.[9][10]
As a result of the bombing, and subsequent fighting in the town (notably by the 129th Brigade of the43rd Wessex Division, which entered the town in error on 10 February[11]), relatively little of the pre-1945 city remains. Those structures spared include a number of historic villas built during the heyday of the spa Bad Kleve, located along the B9 near the Tiergarten. Of those buildings destroyed, many were reconstructed, including most of the Schwanenburg and theStiftskirche, theCatholicparish church. Constructed on high ground, many of these landmarks can be seen from the surrounding communities.
Since 1953 there has been a broadcasting facility forFM radio and television from regional broadcasterWDR near Kleve. The current aerial mast was brought into service in 1993. The steel tube mast rises 126.4 metres high and has a diameter of 1.6 metres. It is stabilized by guy wires attached at 57 and 101.6 metres height.
After the Second World War important employers in the area were associated with the West German "Economic Miracle" (Wirtschaftswunder), and included the XOX Bisquitfabrik (XOX Biscuit Factory) GmbH and the Van den Berg'schen Margerinewerke (Van den Berg's Margarine Factory). Another important employer was the Elefanten-Kinderschuhfabrik (Elephant Children's Shoe Factory).
Retail became an increasingly important industry, particularly after the institution of theeuro in 2002. Dutch citizens often crossed the open border to patronize Kleves retailers, and much of the euros spent on shopping in Kleve came from theNetherlands. Lower costs of real estate have attracted a wave of Dutch citizens, who purchased houses in the area.
According to the Statistical Yearbook of Cleves[12] as of 2013, 50,650 people resided in the city. The population density was 517.9 people per square kilometer. 86.7% of the residents had the German citizenship (including residents with dual citizenship) and 10.1% another EU citizenship (5.6% Dutch and 2.9% Polish).
In the city, in 2013, the population was distributed with 19.7% under the age of 21, 25.6% from 21 to 40, 29.7% from 41 to 60, 20.1% from 61 to 80, and 4.9% who were 81 years of age or older. For every 100 females, there were 96.7 males. For every 100 females age 21 and over, there were 93.9 males.
81.3% of the citizens lived in households without children under the age of 18, 9.2% with one child, 6.1% with two children, 1.7% with three children, and 0.1% with four children or more.
Like the rest of theLower Rhine region, Kleve is a predominantlyRoman Catholic city.[12] The city is part of theDiocese of Münster. 61.1% of the residents are Roman Catholics, 14.4% Protestant, and 24.6% "Other". The largest section of this group are residents without any religious affiliation, but there are also sizeableRussian Orthodox andMuslim communities in Kleve.
The synagogue of Kleve was destroyed duringKristallnacht and is today commemorated on theSynagogenplatz (Synagogue square) on which the building's outline can be seen. The fifty killed Jewish citizens of Cleves are remembered with signs that tell their names, and dates and places of death.[13]
In 1767 the town was at the center of a controversy between prominent European rabbis, known as "The Kleve Divorce", over the legality of a divorce granted by a groom whose sanity was in doubt.
Prior to the Nazi Era, Kleve's local politics were dominated by the CatholicCentre Party. This situation continued with the Christian Democratic successor partyCDU after the Second World War, in spite of resettled displaced people from eastern Germany, most of them Protestants. Until 2004 the CDU controlled an absolute majority of the city council.
Since the last local elections on 14 September 2025 the following parties are represented in Cleves' city council.[17] In addition to nationwide parties,Offene Klever (Open Cleves) has a number of seats.
In 2015, Sonja Northing (no party affiliation) became mayor of Kleve, with 64.5% of the vote. Her candidacy was supported by theSPD andFDP, and opposed byCDU and Green Party candidates. Northing was the first mayor of Cleves since World War II who was not a CDU member.[18] In 2020 Wolfgang Gebing (CDU) was elected mayor.[1] In 2025 Markus Dahmen was elected mayor.[19]
The native language of Kleve and much of the Lower Rhine region is aLow Franconian dialect known asKleverlandish (Dutch:Kleverlands, German:Kleverländisch), but the official language isStandard High German, which is dominant among the younger generation.
Because of its geographical location at the Dutch-German border, there is a strong overlap in culture and language. One example of this isGovert Flinck (1615–1660), who though born in Kleve established himself as aDutch artist. On the other hand, the Dutch artistBarend Cornelis Koekkoek (1803–1862) settled in Kleve and became a successful landscape painter. His works are collected by and exhibited in the local museum Haus Koekkoek for his and others' romantic paintings.
^L. Grootaers & G. G. Kloeke, eds.,Taalatlas van Noord- en Zuid-Nederland (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1939):[1].
^Muret, Eduard (1885).Geschichte der Französischen Kolonie in Brandenburg-Preußen, unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Berliner Gemeinde. Aus Veranlassung der Zweihundertjährigen Jubelfeier am 29. Oktober 1885 (in German). Berlin. pp. 207–208.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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