Krefeld's residents now speakHochdeutsch, or standard German, but the native dialect is aLow Franconian variety, sometimes locally calledKrefelder Platt,Krieewelsch Platt, or sometimes simplyPlatt. TheUerdingen lineisogloss, 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.
Records first mention Krefeld in 1105 under the name ofKrinvelde.
In February 1598, Walburga, wife ofAdolf van Nieuwenaar, and last Countess of Limburg and Moers, gave theCounty of Moers, which included Krefeld, toMaurice, 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 theHouse of Orange and theDutch Republic during theDutch Golden Age (1588–1672).[8] Krefeld was one of few towns spared the horrors of theThirty Years' War (1618–1648). The town of Uerdingen, incorporated into Krefeld in the 20th century, had been destroyed at the hands of troops fromHesse during the Thirty Years' War, and almost ceased to exist.
In 1872 Krefeld became anindependent city within Rhenish Prussia. In 1918 during theFirst World War theBelgian Army used it as a base during theoccupation of the Rhineland. In 1929 Krefeld and Uerdingen merged to formKrefeld-Uerdingen; in 1940 the name was shortened to simplyKrefeld.
From 1607Mennonites arrived in Krefeld, as in nearbyGronau, from neighboring Roman Catholic territories where they were persecuted. In 1609Herman op den Graeff, originally fromAldekerk, 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” (der hiesigen Mennoniten Herrn Bischof) of Krefeld in the reformed community’s minutes book.[9] They sought refuge in the lands of the more tolerantHouse 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 (which still exists, reconstructed after World War II, with about 800 members). Also theQuaker Evangelists received a sympathetic audience among the larger of the German-Mennonite congregations around Krefeld, Gronau,Emden andAltona, Hamburg.[10] In 1683 a group of thirteen Mennonite families (twelve of them Mennonite-Quakers), the so calledOriginal 13, including three of theOp den Graeff families left Krefeld to re-settle inPennsylvania in order to enjoy religious freedom. They crossed the Atlantic on the shipConcord,[11] and founded the settlement ofGermantown (now incorporated inPhiladelphia), invited byWilliam Penn, and thus beginning thePennsylvania Dutch ethnic identity.[12] The most important Mennonite family of Krefeld were thesilk merchants and silk weaving industrialistsVon 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.
Jews were listed as citizens of Krefeld from 1617. In 1764, asynagogue was erected, and by 1812, under French rule, the town included 196 Jewish families, with three Jewish-owned banks. UnderNapoleon, the town became the capital for the surrounding Jewish communities including over 5000 Jews, and by 1897 they comprised 1.8% of the population.[13] In 1846 a Jewish representative was voted onto the town's municipal council, while rising antisemitism was noted during these elections.[13] Areform synagogue was built in 1876, arousing opposition from theOrthodox community. A Jewish school existed in the town, with more than 200 students around 1900.[13]
In November 1938, during theNovember pogroms, a synagogue on Marktstraße, as well as synagogues inLinn,Uerdingen andHüls were destroyed, in addition to attacks on Jewish shops and homes.[14] In 1941 following an order fromHitler to deport the German Jews to the east, Jews from the town were sent to the area around Riga[15][13] and murdered there.[16]
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.[17]
On 11 December 1941, duringWorld 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 nearRiga, later to becomeJungfernhof concentration camp. They were transported in freezing conditions with no drinking water for more than two days.[15] Almost immediately upon arrival, they were shot in theRumbula forest massacre.[16]
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 (apart from the central train station, which remained intact apart from minor damage). On 3 March 1945 US troops entered Krefeld.[18] 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 placedHenry Kissinger, then a private, in charge of the city administration.[19]
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.[20] The town became part of the new state ofNorth Rhine-Westphalia after World War II.
Linn, with its own history reaching to between 1090 and 1120, was situated on the banks of the Rhine. In Linn, there is a park built around aWasserburg, a castle built at the water's edge, and with a water-filled moat. TheBurg Linn, as the castle is known, has been preserved for the city's residents as a park and museum.[23]
1975: Locality of Hüls from Kempen (since 1970 integrated and belonged since 1929 to theKempen-Krefeld district; in 1936 Orbroich had been independent)
The current mayor of Krefeld is Frank Meyer of theSocial Democratic Party (SPD), 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:
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:
Krefeld is connected to theDeutsche Bahn network with several stations, including its main station,Krefeld Hauptbahnhof. They are served byIntercity,Regional-Express andRegionalbahn trains. TheDüsseldorf-basedRheinbahn operates aStadtbahn service to the centrally located Rheinstraße stop. This line was the first electricinter-city rail line in Europe, established in 1898, and commonly called theK-Bahn because of the letter "K" used to denote the trains to Krefeld. Nowadays, in theVRR 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 forU-Bahn lines. The termK-Bahn, however, prevails in common usage.
The city of Krefeld itself operatesfour tramway and severalbus lines under the umbrella ofSWK MOBIL, a city-owned company. Since 2010, 19 of the oldest trams of the typeDuewag GT8 were replaced by modern barrier-free trams of the typeBombardier 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.
Since 1964,[26] the city has hosted an "honors program in foreign language (German) studies" for high school students fromIndiana,United States. The program annually places approximately thirty carefully selected high school juniors with families in and around Krefeld for intensive German language training.[27] Since 1973, thefire services of Krefeld and twin cityLeicester have played each other in an annual 'friendly' football match.[28]
^Staff."The Western Front".The Observer. Vol. 248 No. 7, 737. London. p. 9, col. 3.Archived from the original on 24 January 2020. Retrieved24 January 2017.
^Taufgesinnte und großes Kapital: die niederrheinisch-bergischen Mennoniten und der Aufstieg des Krefelder Seidengewerbes, Mitte des 17. Jahrhunderts-1815. Page 105. Von Peter Kriedte (2007)
^C. Henry Smith,Smith's Story of the Mennonites, p. 139 (1981, 5th ed. Faith and Life Press)ISBN0-87303-060-5
^ab(German) Gottwald, Fred, and Schulle, Diana:Die „Judendeportationen“ aus dem Deutschen Reich 1941–1945. (The Jewish deportations by the German Empire from 1941 to 1945.) Wiesbaden 2005,ISBN3-86539-059-5, p.121I heard that the Jews were evacuated in rows - and as they left the train - they were shot" (Victor Klemperer, diary entry of 13 January 1942)
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