Editing Krefeld (section)

==History==
===Early history===
[[file:FrankFürstGrab.JPG|thumb|left|upright|[[Franks|Frankish]] grave, c. 500 AD, with golden [[Spangenhelm]] from [[Gelduba]] ([[Gellep-Stratum]])]]
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, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg|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]] (1588&ndash;1672).<ref name=peele>Ada Peele, [https://books.google.com/books?id=VAgUAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 Een uitzonderlijke erfgenaam: De verdeling van de nalatenschap van Koning-Stadhouder Willem III], Uitgeverij Verloren, 2013, Germany, pp. 36-39.</ref> Krefeld was one of few towns spared the horrors of the [[Thirty Years' War]] (1618–1648). 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 England|William III of Orange]] in 1702, Krefeld passed to the [[Kingdom of Prussia]].<ref name=peele/> 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 (after 1822 the [[Rhine Province]]).

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, North Rhine-Westphalia|Gronau]], from neighboring Roman Catholic territories where they were persecuted. In 1609 [[Herman op den Graeff]], originally from [[Kerken|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” (der hiesigen Mennoniten Herrn Bischof) of Krefeld in the reformed community’s minutes book.<ref>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)</ref> 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 (which still exists, reconstructed after World War II, with about 800 members). Also the [[Quakers|Quaker]] Evangelists received a sympathetic audience among the larger of the German-Mennonite congregations around Krefeld, Gronau, [[Emden]] and [[Altona, Hamburg]].<ref>C. Henry Smith, ''Smith's Story of the Mennonites'', p. 139 (1981, 5th ed. Faith and Life Press) {{ISBN|0-87303-060-5}}</ref> In 1683 a group of thirteen Mennonite families (twelve of them Mennonite-Quakers), the so called [[Original 13]], including three of the [[Op den Graeff family|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'',<ref>Germantown Historical Society: Founders of Germantown; Jones, Iris Carter: Krefeld Immigrants</ref> and founded the settlement of [[Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Germantown]] (now incorporated in [[Philadelphia]]), invited by [[William Penn]], and thus beginning the [[Pennsylvania Dutch]] ethnic identity.<ref>C. Henry Smith, ''Smith's Story of the Mennonites'', p. 360</ref> The most important Mennonite family of Krefeld were the [[silk]] merchants and silk weaving industrialists [[Von der Leyen (family from Krefeld)|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.<ref name="yadvashemDB">[http://db.yadvashem.org/names/map.html?bla=1&width=750&height=550&language=en&itemId=5430334&terminal=null Jews of Krefeld] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023080045/http://db.yadvashem.org/names/map.html?bla=1&width=750&height=550&language=en&itemId=5430334&terminal=null |date=23 October 2013 }} [[Yad Vashem]] website. Town citizen Isaac Meyer Fuld, a member of the family of [[Heinrich Heine]], was a prominent bank-owner in Germany at the time.</ref> In 1846 a Jewish representative was voted onto the town's municipal council, while rising antisemitism was noted during these elections.<ref name="yadvashemDB" /> A [[Reform Judaism|reform]] synagogue was built in 1876, arousing opposition from the [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] community. A Jewish school existed in the town, with more than 200 students around 1900.<ref name="yadvashemDB" />

In November 1938, during the [[Kristallnacht|November pogroms]], a synagogue on Marktstraße, as well as synagogues in [[Krefeld-Linn|Linn]], [[Uerdingen]] and [[Hüls (Krefeld)|Hüls]] were destroyed, in addition to attacks on Jewish shops and homes.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-11-22 |title=Teil 52: 9./10. November 1938 Die Synagoge wird zerstört {{!}} Stadt Krefeld |trans-title=Part 52: 9/10 November 1938 The synagogue is destroyed |url=https://www.krefeld.de/de/inhalt/teil-52-9.-10.-november-1938-die-synagoge-wird-zerstoert/ |access-date=2024-10-12 |website=Krefeld.de |language=de}}</ref> 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<ref name="yadvashemRiga" /><ref name="yadvashemDB" /> and murdered there.<ref name="deportations" /> 

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.<ref>[http://www.dw.de/new-synagogue-opens-in-german-city-of-krefeld/a-3644442 New synagogue opens in Krefeld] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023060841/http://www.dw.de/new-synagogue-opens-in-german-city-of-krefeld/a-3644442 |date=23 October 2013 }} (English, Deutsche Welle website)</ref>

===World War II===
{{further|Battle of the Ruhr}}
[[File:SC 334983 - U.S. Tanks of the 5th Armored Division, Ninth U.S. Army, wait among the rubble in the streets of Krefeld, Germany to move out in support of the Infantry. 3 March, 1945. (52232314393).jpg|thumb|left|[[5th Armored Division (United States)|5th Armored Division]] of the US Army in Krefeld in March 1945]]
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.<ref name="yadvashemRiga">[http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%202260.pdf Report on Jewish Deportation to Riga] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023060545/http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%202260.pdf |date=23 October 2013 }} (Hebrew Translation of German document by [[Yad Vashem]]),</ref> Almost immediately upon arrival, they were shot in the [[Rumbula massacre|Rumbula forest massacre]].<ref name="deportations">(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, {{ISBN|3-86539-059-5}}, p.121  ''I 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)</ref>

[[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|Forced laborers]] of the 3rd [[SS construction brigade]] were dispatched in the town in 1943.<ref>{{cite book|last=Megargee|first=Geoffrey P.|year=2009|title=The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume I|publisher=Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum|page=1385|isbn=978-0-253-35328-3}}</ref>

{{anchor|Allied air attacks}}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.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Isaacson|first=Walter|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/25787497|title=Kissinger : a biography|date=1992|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=0-671-66323-2|location=New York|oclc=25787497}}</ref> 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.<ref>Walter Isaacson, Kissinger: A Biography, p.48.</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.baor-locations.org/bradburybks.aspx.html|title=Bradbury Barracks|access-date=21 May 2018|archive-date=8 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180908230823/http://www.baor-locations.org/bradburybks.aspx.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The town became part of the new state of [[North Rhine-Westphalia]] after World War II.

[[File:Blick_auf_den_Ostwall_Krefeld_im_Winter.jpg|thumb|The city center of Krefeld in winter]]