Kempen, Germany

Town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Coat of arms

Location of Kempen within Viersen district

(2020–25) Christoph Dellmann^[1]Area

• Total68.79 km² (26.56 sq mi)Highest elevation

68 m (223 ft)Lowest elevation

30 m (100 ft)Population

(2021-12-31)^[2]

• Total34,562 • Density500/km² (1,300/sq mi)Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET) • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)Postal codes

47906

Dialling codes02152 / 02845Vehicle registrationVIE / KKWebsitewww.kempen.de

Kempen (German: [ˈkɛmpm̩] ^ⓘ) is a town in the district of Viersen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) northwest of Düsseldorf, and 20 kilometres (12 mi) east of Venlo.

History

1186: First mention in official documentation of Kempen as a place – the sovereign until 1794 is the Archbishop (electoral prince) of Cologne
around 1290: Kempen is rebuilt as a fortified town
11 March 1294: First confirmation of Kempen as a town in official documentation
15th century: town blooms economically and culturally (population of approx. 4,200)
1542–1543: Kempen is the centre of the Reformation for the Lower Rhine
1579: The plague costs the town almost half of its inhabitants
1642: Kempen is conquered and destroyed by the allied French, Hessian and Weimar troops during the "Hessen War" (Thirty Years' War)
1794–1814: Kempen is under French rule. In the département of Roer established in 1797, Kempen becomes a canton seat in 1798 and a French town in 1801.
1815: After the Congress of Vienna, Kempen becomes Prussian and is the county seat
1929: Due to local reforms, Kempen becomes the administrative seat of the county of Kempen-Krefeld
1966 onward: Restoration of the old town
1970: Communal restructuring: The communities of Hüls, St. Hubert, Tönisberg and Schmalbroich join Kempen along with the localities of St. Peter and Unterweiden to form a single town
1975: In further local reforms, Hüls is assigned to the city of Krefeld. The county of Viersen is formed and Kempen becomes part of "Kreis Viersen"
1984: The county seat is transferred from Kempen to Viersen.
1987: A cultural forum is opened in the Franciscan monastery after comprehensive restoration and renovation work.
11 March 1994: Date of the 700-year jubilee of the confirmation of Kempen as a town

Twin towns – sister cities

Kempen is twinned with:^[3]

Wambrechies, France (1972)
Orsay, France (1973)
East Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom (1978)
Werdau, Germany (1990)

Notable people

Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380–1471)
John Brugman (?–1473), Franciscan friar and preacher in Flanders
Wilhelm Hünermann (1900–1975), priest and writer
Adolph Moses Radin (1848–1909), rabbi
Isabel Varell (born 1961), actress and singer
Bernhard van Treeck (born 1964), psychiatrist and author
Tobias Koch (born 1968), pianist
Daniel Altmaier (born 1998), Tennis player

Gallery

View in a street
Church
Towngate (Das Kuhtor)
Lutheran church (Thomas Church)
Hessenmühle
Kempen Castle

References

^ Wahlergebnisse in NRW Kommunalwahlen 2020, Land Nordrhein-Westfalen, accessed 30 June 2021.
^ "Bevölkerung der Gemeinden Nordrhein-Westfalens am 31. Dezember 2021" (in German). Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
^ "Partnerstädte". kempen.de (in German). Kempen. Retrieved 28 February 2021.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kempen (Niederrhein).

Official website (in German)

Towns and municipalities in Viersen (district)

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wood, James, ed. (1907). "Kempen". The Nuttall Encyclopædia. London and New York: Frederick Warne.