Gronau (German pronunciation:[ˈɡʁoːnaʊ]ⓘ; officially Gronau (Westf.), is a town in the district of Borken in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located near the border with the Netherlands, approx. 10 km east of Enschede. The city is divided into the districts of Gronau and Epe.
Local history
Documentary evidence of Gronau dates to 1365 and of district Epe to 1188.
Industrialisation took hold in Gronau with the founding of the first textile factory in 1854.[3] Dutch investors, in particular, were driving the growing textile industry. In 1875, railway lines were opened from Gronau to Münster, Dortmund and Enschede.
With the growth of the textile industry and the founding of the Gronauer Bauverein (homebuilding) in the east of the city (1893), an expansion of the settlement area began. By the time of World War I, a new town hall, the district court, the parish church of St. Antonius [de], schools, hospitals, an indoor swimming pool, waterworks, an electricity plant and the city park had been built in Gronau.
On 27 December 1897, Gronau was granted town rights.[4]
On the night of 9 to 10 November 1938, also known as “Reichsprogromnacht”, the synagogue in Wallstraße was desecrated, in connection with the persecution of the Jewish population.[5] Eventually, most Jews from Gronau and Epe were deported to the extermination camps. There is still a Jewish cemetery in Gronau today. In the Epe district, the former Jewish synagogue currently is being rebuilt as a cultural centre.[6]
In 1975 Gronau and the municipality of Epe were merged into the new municipality of Gronau.[7]
The bankruptcy of the van Delden Group [de], founded in 1854, in 1980/1981 marked the end of the era of the textile industry in Gronau.[8]
The Jazzfest is currently funded to a large extent by local and regional sponsors and enjoys a constantly growing audience. The annual number of visitors swings between 12,000 and 18,000 visitors (incl. open-air events). The share of foreign visitors is around 65%.[10]
The Dutch singer Rania Zeriri lives in Gronau. The Polish tennis player Agnieszka Radwańska grew up here; her father was a tennis coach at the local club. Blaise Nkufo, a Swiss footballer with African roots, former player of the Dutch football club FC Twente, lived in Gronau. Klaus Vogelgesang [de], a German artist, grew up in Gronau.
^Reekers, Stephanie (1977). Die Gebietsentwicklung der Kreise und Gemeinden Westfalens 1817–1967. Münster (Westfalen): Aschendorff. p. 238. ISBN3-402-05875-8.
^Pracht-Jörns, Elfi (2002). "Gronau – Stadtteile Gronau und Epe". Jüdisches Kulturerbe in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Regierungsbezirk Münster: Beiträge zu den Bau- und Kunstdenkmälern von Westfalen, Band 1.2. Vol. 4. Cologne: J. P. Bachem. pp. 91–95, 153–155. ISBN3-7616-1397-0.
^Bünermann, Martin; Köstering, Heinz (1975). Die Gemeinden und Kreise nach der kommunalen Gebietsreform in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Cologne: Deutscher Gemeindeverlag. ISBN3-555-30092-X.
^Hassink, Robert (2010). "Locked in decline? On the role of regional lock-ins in old industrial areas". In Boschma, R.; Martin, R (eds.). The Handbook of Evolutionary Economic Geography. Edward Elgar. pp. 461–463. ISBN978-1-84720-491-2.
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