Doetinchem

Nl-Doetinchem.ogg (Low German: Deutekem) is a city and municipality in the east of the Netherlands. It stands on the Oude IJssel (Old IJssel) river in a part of the province of Gelderland called the Achterhoek . The municipality has 56,700 inhabitants (1 January 2005) and has an area of 79.66 km² (of which 1.50 km² is water). This makes Doetinchem the largest town (by population) in the Achterhoek.

On 1 January 2005, a municipal reorganization merged the neighbouring municipality of Wehl into Doetinchem.

Population centres

The local government organization in the Netherlands is complex and fine-grained (see municipality and Govt Stats), with municipalities being divided into various entities. The municipality of Doetinchem consists of:

the city (‘stad’):

Doetinchem

the villages (‘dorpen’):

the neighbourhoods (‘buurtschappen’):

Wehl was a separate municipality (with about 6,750 inhabitants, including Nieuw-Wehl) until December 31, 2004, when it merged with the municipality of Doetinchem.

History of Doetinchem

It is known from archaeological finds of skulls, pottery shards, and flint arrowheads that the area was inhabited more than 11,000 years ago. These prehistoric hunters were followed by Celtic and Germanic tribes like the Franks and Saxons. Roman coins have been found and there is also archaeological evidence of the Normans having plundered the area.

The first reference to the name of Doetinchem comes in a document from the year 838 which mentions a ‘villa Duetinghem’, a settlement with a small church. In 887, there is another mention of ‘Deutinkem’, a fortress with a church which had been given to the then Bishop of Utrecht. The spelling has varied over the centuries, with ‘Duttichem’, ‘Duichingen’ and ‘Deutekom’ being just some examples.

For a long time Doetinchem remained a small place but around 1100 it started to grow and, after suffering several attempts by plunderers, a town wall was built. In 1236, Doetinchem was granted city rights (‘stadsrechten’) by Count Otto II of Gelre and Zutphen, and in return the town provided taxes and soldiers for the Count’s army. Also, the new city council published rules for the city, codified in the ‘Keurboek van Doetinchem’ (Rulebook of Doetinchem), which laid down severe punishments for infringements.

In 1226, Doetinchem faced increasing danger from plunderers, and so the city wall was raised by a metre. There were four barriers in the wall which, being weak points, were replaced over time by four large city-gates known as: the Hamburgerpoort (built 1302), the Waterpoort, the Gruitpoort, and the Hezenpoort. Later a moat was dug around the wall and a rampart was built in front; the city’s central windmill, the ‘walmolen’ (Dutch ‘wal’=rampart, ‘molen’=mill), stands on the remains of this rampart. Despite these defences, Doetinchem was besieged many times and during the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) was besieged and conquered twice. However, eventually the walls became seen as redundant (or perhaps ineffective) and in 1672, they were torn down. However, it was not until the second half of the 19th century that the city-gates and most of the rampart were removed.

From its early years, Doetinchem had been an important marketplace for farmers to sell their wares; the market was held in the central square called the Simonsplein right up until the Second World War.

Doetinchem has had its fair share of disasters. Apart from the sieges mentioned above, in 1527 a large fire destroyed most of the city including the city archives (which means that many earlier dates in the history of Doetinchem are somewhat unreliable), and in 1580 most of the city was killed by plague. There was also occasional flooding. However, despite the fact that Doetinchem is only 6 miles (10 km) from the German border, because the Netherlands was not involved in the First World War, Doetinchem saw nothing more than the posting of a few border guards during that time. Even during the Second World War, Doetinchem came off fairly lightly at first; there was only a small German occupying force and the city even escaped the worst effects of the Hunger Winter. However, some prisoners were executed after being implicated in the shooting dead in Putten of an important German officer by the Dutch Resistance and disastrously, in March and April of 1945, the centre of Doetinchem was largely destroyed by Allied bombing which was intended for nearby German towns. The city itself was liberated by The Calgary Highlanders in 1945 after a brief battle there.

In the decades after the war, Doetinchem grew and in a few years had outgrown its "competitors" in the Achterhoek, namely Doesburg, Winterswijk and Zutphen. The Dutch company, Philips, had a factory for some years in the city. Today (2005), Doetinchem is still growing as new districts such as Dichteren are built, and as Doetinchem incorporates outlying villages such as Wehl into its municipality.

Interesting Buildings in Doetinchem

The main church in the central square, St Catherine’s Church (‘Catharinakerk’) was virtually destroyed in the WWII bombing and restoration took from 1948 to 1963. Although originally a Roman Catholic church, it became Dutch Reformed in 1591. There are two castles, ‘De Kelder’ (‘The Cellar’) and Slangenburg.

The city has three windmills. In the city centre, there is the already mentioned Walmolenthe bottom of which now houses the city’s tourist office. In Dichteren, there is a mill called Aurora ^*. All these mills are open to visitors, usually open to all one weekday morning and at other times by appointment.

Sport

Doetinchem has its own Dutch First Division football team, De Graafschap (‘The County’). The home of De Graafschap was completely revamped recently to transform it into an all-seater arena. The stands are fully covered, with the roofs painted in the blue and white of the club. The renovation reduced the capacity to 11,000, but thanks to the English-style design it generates a much more vibrant atmosphere: no running track and no fences meaning the crowd are as close as possible to the action.

The city has an indoor swimming pool, Rozengaarde. In April or May, a local evening four-day marathon is organized.

Since 2005 a four-day marathon is organised which starts and ends in Doetinchem and runs through the Achterhoek. The marathon was held from August the 23rd to the 26th. Almost 15.000 people took part.

Notable people born in Doetinchem

Maria Martens (born 1955), politician
John Hondorp (born 1964), jazz organist
Desi Reijers (born 1964), freestyle swimmer
Paul Bosvelt (born 1970), football (soccer) player
Chris Bruil (born 1970), badminton player

Local media

Doetinchem has its own television station called ‘Stadstv’ which is received by cable in the municipalities of Doetinchem itself and the neighbouring Hummelo & Keppel. Doetinchem also has a city radio station called ‘Stadsradio’(broadcast on 106.2 FM and on cable 93.6 FM).

Transport

Car: Doetinchem is served by the A18 to Zevenaar, where it merges with the A1 to Arnhem.
Public Transport: Doetinchem is served by rail from Arnhem by the regional train Arnhem - Winterswijk with two stations, one in the city centre and ‘Doetinchem De Huet’ lying to the west between the suburbs of De Huet and Dichteren. The rail company is Syntus, which also runs buses throughout the area.

External links

Municipalities of Gelderland | Towns in Gelderland | Cities in the Netherlands

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