Dorsten (; Westphalian: ''Dössen'') is a town in the district of

Recklinghausen Recklinghausen (; ) is the northernmost city in the Ruhr-Area and the capital of the Recklinghausen district. It borders the rural Münsterland and is characterized by large fields and farms in the north and industry in the south. Recklinghaus ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and has a population of about 75,000. Dorsten is situated on the western rim of

Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...

bordering the

Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...

. Its historical old town lies on the south bank of the river Lippe and the Wesel–Datteln Canal and was granted city rights in 1251. During the twentieth century, the town was enlarged in its north by the villages of the former '' Herrlichkeit Lembeck''. While Dorsten's northern districts are thus shaped by the rural Münsterland with its many historical

castles A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This i ...

, just south of the town the

Ruhr region The Ruhr ( ; , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr Area, sometimes Ruhr District, Ruhr Region, or Ruhr Valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 1,160/km2 and a populatio ...

begins, Germany's largest

urban agglomeration An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

with more than seven million inhabitants. The exact linguistic derivation of the word "Dorsten" is unknown, leaving the meaning of the town's name unclear.

History

Archaeological findings show that the area was already populated during the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

and

Bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

Ages, from about 4000 BC onwards. The Romans established a

military camp A military camp or bivouac is a semi-permanent military base, for the lodging of an army. Camps are erected when a military force travels away from a major installation or fort during training or operations, and often have the form of large cam ...

in Dorsten-Holsterhausen in 11 BC and Varus passed through it in 9 BC on his way to the

Battle of the Teutoburg Forest The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, also called the Varus Disaster or Varian Disaster () by Ancient Rome, Roman historians, was a major battle fought between an alliance of Germanic peoples and the Roman Empire between September 8 and 11, 9&nbs ...

. From around 700 AD onwards, the Archbishopric of Cologne began to evangelise the area around Dorsten.

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Konrad von Hochstaden, together with the Count of Cleves, granted Dorsten the

city rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

in 1251. Due to its economically favourable position on the river Lippe, the town became a member of the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...

of international trading cities and turned into the richest town in the Vest Recklinghausen. In 1488,

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

friars established a friary which continues to exist today as the world's oldest permanently existing cloister of this order. The monks founded Gymnasium Petrinum in 1642 and in 1699 the

Ursulines The Ursulines, also known as the Order of Saint Ursula (post-nominals: OSU), is an enclosed religious order of women that in 1572 branched off from the Angelines, also known as the Company of Saint Ursula. The Ursulines trace their origins to th ...

set up a cloister including a

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

for girls. However, the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

(1618–48), the

Hessian War The Hessian War (), in its wider sense sometimes also called the Hessian Wars (''Hessenkriege''), was a drawn out conflict that took place between 1567 and 1648, sometimes pursued through diplomatic means, sometimes by military force, between bra ...

and the continuous occupation by various forces badly derogated Dorsten's

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

wealth. On 9 February 1633,

Hesse-Cassel The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (), spelled Hesse-Cassel during its entire existence, also known as the Hessian Palatinate (), was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. The state was created in 1567 when the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided upon ...

captured the town of Dorsten without resistance from the

Electorate of Cologne The Electorate of Cologne (), sometimes referred to as Electoral Cologne (), was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from the 10th to the early 19th century. It consisted of the Hochstift—the temporal posses ...

and the Vest of Recklinghausen and, in the years that followed, it was turned into the strongest fortress in the region. As a result, attempts were made to recapture it. The first siege in 1636 was unsuccessful, but in 1641, a second Siege of Dorsten resulted in considerable destruction of the town and the eventual surrender of the garrison. It was only during the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

of the nineteenth century that Dorsten returned to its former prosperity.

Spinning Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...

and

metal casting In metalworking and jewelry making, casting is a process in which a liquid metal is delivered into a mold (usually by a crucible) that contains a negative impression (i.e., a three-dimensional negative image) of the intended shape. The metal is ...

industries found their way into town and in 1912, the first

coal mine Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

opened. Between 1929 and 1975, surrounding villages became districts of the gradually enlarging town of Dorsten. Only a few days before the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the historical old town was almost completely destroyed in an Allied air raid. 319 people died in the air raids on Dorsten and 700 families were made homeless. However, after 1945, the town's centre was rebuilt on its historical foundations and thus still resembles its medieval shape today. Dorsten is widely known today for its Jewish Museum of Westphalia which was established in 1987. In 2001, the last coal mine closed and the town celebrated its 750th jubilee with a festival in the old town.

Gallery

File:Dorsten, Sankt Agatha Kirche en Altes Rathaus foto10 2011-04-09 17.05.JPG, Dorsten, church: Sankt Agatha Kirche and das Alte Rathaus File:Dorsten, kerk2 foto2 2011-04-09 17.11.JPG, Dorsten, church File:Dorsten, kerk4 in straatzicht foto2 2013-03-28 13.14.JPG, Dorsten, other church in the street File:Wulffen, kerk foto4 2011-04-10 09.33.JPG, Wulfen, church: Pfarrkirche Sankt Matthäus und Marienbrunnen File:Wulfen, kapel foto7 2012-03-28 13.55.JPG, Wulfen, chapel File:Deuten, Herz Jesu Kirche foto3 2011-04-11 09.32.JPG, Deuten, chapel: Herz Jesu Kirche File:Dorsten, brug over Wesel-Datteln kanaal foto6 2011-04-09 16.55.JPG, Dorsten, bridge across Wesel-Datteln Kanal

Main sights

* Lembeck castle *Historical Town Hall * Jewish Museum of Westphalia *Historical Tüshaus Mill

Transport

Dorsten has its own airfield. The airfield has a grass strip with a runway of and one government-sponsored hangar being used by the local gliding club. Dorsten station is on the Duisburg–Quakenbrück and the Gelsenkirchen-Bismarck–Winterswijk railways and is served by regional services to

Gladbeck Gladbeck () is a town in the district of Recklinghausen (district), Recklinghausen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Gladbeck is quite a young town, first recognised 21 July 1919 when it was given town rights. The town established itself aroun ...

, Bottrop,

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

, Dortmund, Borken (Westf) and Coesfeld (Westf).

Ammunition depot

German

Bundeswehr The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...

maintains an ammunition depot close to the suburb of Wulfen. The depot also provides storage space for the British Army Germany.

Notable people

* Dirk Balster (born 1966), rowing world champion 1989–1991 * Franz Bronstert (1895–1967), engineer and painter *

Cornelia Funke Cornelia Maria Funke (; born 10 December 1958) is a German author of children's fiction. Born in Dorsten, North Rhine-Westphalia, she began her career as a social worker before becoming a Book illustration, book illustrator. She began writing no ...

(born 1958), children's and young people's book author * Agnes Hürland-Büning (1926–2009), controversial politician ( CDU) * Julia Lohmann (born 1951), painter and sculptor * Winfried Nachtwei (born 1946), politician (The Greens) and Member of Bundestag 1994–2009 * Manfred Nielson (born 1955), admiral * Günter Pröpper (born 1941), footballer * Thorsten Streppelhoff (born 1969), rowing world champion in 1991 and 1993 * Winfried Toll (born 1955), conductor, singer and composer of classical music * Kevin Vennemann (born 1977), writer

Twin towns – sister cities

Dorsten is twinned with: *

Crawley Crawley () is a town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a populat ...

, England, United Kingdom * Dormans, France * Ernée, France * Hainichen in Germany * Hod HaSharon, Israel *

Newtownabbey Newtownabbey ( ) is a large settlement north of Belfast city centre in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is separated from the rest of the city by Cavehill and Fortwilliam golf course, but it still forms part of the Belfast metropolitan area ...

, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom *

Rybnik Rybnik (Polish pronunciation: ; ) is a city in southern Poland, in the Silesian Voivodeship, around 38 km (24 mi) southwest of Katowice, the region's capital, and around 19 km (11 mi) from the Czech Republic, Czech border. It i ...

, Poland * Waslala, Nicaragua

References

{{Authority control Towns in North Rhine-Westphalia Recklinghausen (district) Members of the Hanseatic League