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Josef Jakob was born on 28 January 1896 as the eldest child of factory worker Wilhelm Jakob in Hagen a. T. W. and grew up in poor circumstances. Due to the early death of his father, he had to join a cement factory in Neubeckum at a young age in order to provide for his family, where he joined the Catholic Labour Movement (KAB) in 1914.

After his military service in the First World War, Jakob attended courses organised by the KAB. On 2 January 1921, he became the full-time workers' secretary of the KAB district of Westmünsterland, which was based in Bocholt. His task was to represent the workers organised in the KAB in public and to manage the association.

From its foundation in 1927, Jakob was also managing director of the building co-operative "Heimstätte", which had emerged from the KAB in Bocholt and built over 200 flats here by 1933. Josef Jakob was a member of the Centre Party and had been a member of the Bocholt city council since 1924. In the Prussian state elections on 20 May 1928, he was also elected to the state parliament, where he joined the left wing of the Centre Party. In April 1932, he was not re-elected to the Prussian House of Representatives.

Due to his prominent position and his ideological opposition to National Socialism, Jakob ran into considerable difficulties during the Third Reich. He resigned his seat as a city councillor on 30 June 1933 in protest against the local Centre Party's rapprochement with the Nazi faction. In November/December 1933, Jakob was arrested for high treason. He was arrested again in July 1935. Due to his severe diabetes, he was released again in September.

He lost his position as labour secretary of KAB Westmünsterland when it was dissolved in September 1935, and he lost the management of "Heimstätte" when he was expelled from the cooperative in December of the same year. It was not until a year later that he found employment again: as a small church employee.

He only escaped the wave of arrests after 20 July 1944 by being unable to travel due to diabetes.

Immediately after the war, Josef Jakob founded a Christian Democratic Party (CDP) in Bocholt, which later merged into the CDU. He also became a member of the city council appointed by the British in 1945. However, he soon fell out with the conservative wing of the local CDU led by Lord Mayor Benölken and switched to the re-established Centre Party on 19 August 1946. In the local elections of 1946, the Centre Party only won two seats, one of which was for Jakob, despite receiving around 20% of the vote. In the 1948 election, the Centre received the most votes, just ahead of the CDU and SPD, and a third of the city council seats.

Josef Jakob ran for mayor. Due to a tie between the three parties in the city council, the election was finally decided by lot, which fell in favour of the CDU candidate Kemper.

Josef Jakob returned to the CDU in 1949 and worked on the party's social committees. At the beginning of January 1953, he was the first Bocholter to receive the Federal Cross of Merit. He died on his 57th birthday on 28 January 1953.

On 12 February 1976, Blumenstraße was renamed Josef-Jakob-Straße, but this was revoked on 11 November 1976 following protests from various residents. Since 28 October 1976, Josef-Jakob-Platz has commemorated him.

If you had to believe the relevant dictionaries and encyclopaedias, the Jan te Baje would be a person with all negative characteristics. According to the "dictionary of the Bocholter Platt" he is a person not to be taken seriously, in the "dictionary of the Westmünsterland dialect" a person not to be taken seriously, with the addition: walks carelessly, without attitude. He would therefore be clearly labelled as stupid, untidy and a slovenly person who doesn't think much of himself.

Bernhard Diepenbrock, a brother of Prince-Bishop Melchior von Diepenbrock, gave the person a figure with positive characteristics in his ballad of the emigrant Jan te Baje. He had a regular job (Beide läwen se van et Klandern...), he had acquired property (... Jan te Baje will alles verkopen...) and it must have taken a good deal of courage to turn his back on his beloved hometown of Bocholt to try his luck in a completely new environment. When the venture failed, he resigned himself to his fate:

He worde mager als ne Schnook
in saog der nett ut as ne Spook.
He gaapen nix as schnapp ...
Sin leste Wurd was Papp.

He could also be accused of good-natured, naive slyness when he tries to pull the wool over someone's eyes. The answer to this is: "Dou aolden Jan te Baje: Dou wis mij wal vör't läppken hollen." (You probably want to make a fool of me.)

Lit:
"Dictionary of Bocholter Platt", UNSER BOCHOLT Vol. 1990, H. 2/3, Elisabeth Piirainen, Wilhelm Elling, 1992.
"Dictionary of the Westmünsterland dialect". Fritz Lindenberg: "Drömmelgaorn" Jan te Baje.

Older postcards show the statue of St John Nepomuk, which used to be located on the corner of Dinxperloerstrasse and Westend. It depicts the saint as a priest, wearing a gown and rochet, a biretta on his head and holding a cross in his arms. There was an inscription on the front of the plinth. The wording has not survived. There is also no information about the erection of the monument.

Johannes Nepomuk, named after the name of a village near Pilsen, where he was born in 1345 as Johannes Wölflin. He worked as a priest and pastor in the Bohemian capital of Prague. He took care of the poor and oppressed and defended their rights against the nobility and officials. In 1380, he became secret secretary to the Archbishop of Prague, John of Jenzenstein, and in 1389 his vicar general.

In a dispute between the archbishop and his chapter with King Wenceslas IV concerning the defence of ecclesiastical law against the encroachment of royal officials, he fell victim to an outburst of rage from the unruly and dissolute king. In a report from the archbishop to the Pope, it is said that he was "dragged in public through the streets and alleyways of the city to the Vltava and there, with his hands tied behind his back, his feet tied to his head like a wheel and his mouth spread apart with a block of wood, he was thrown down from the Prague bridge and drowned". The true background is shed light on by the centuries-old tradition that John Nepomuk, the canon, died as a victim of confessional secrecy. St John was the confessor of Queen Joan, who died in 1386. It can be assumed that the suspicious and irascible king wanted to learn about the supposed mortal sins of his former wife in order to justify his own lifestyle.

John Nepomuk is venerated as a popular saint not only in Bohemia, but also beyond its borders. The faithful see him as the martyr of the confessional. His picture can be seen on countless bridges. He is therefore also called "the bridge saint". The rafters honour him as their patron saint. In the diocese of Münster, he is the patron saint of several churches and chapels. Nepomuk statues are also frequently found in Münsterland.

In 1899, the River Aa was straightened at the Ravarditor and moved further south. As a result, the statue lost its direct connection to the Aalauf. However, it remained in its old location and the neighbourhood "Rawerspurte" erected an altar of blessing in front of the statue every year for the hail celebration procession. In 1941, the statue had to make way for the growing traffic. For traffic reasons, it was moved to the opposite side of the Westend, directly in front of the Aabrücke bridge, where it now had its place. It was destroyed here during the major air raid on Bocholt in 1945.

A statue of the saint can still be found at the exit of our town on what is now the B 67 just before Rhede on the Ketteler Bach (Koppelmanns Bäke), roughly opposite Haus Tenking.

Where did the name "Jans Bomseens" come from? The Westphalians, and especially the Bocholters, could not understand the translation of the name John of Bohemia into the Latin "Johannes Bohemiensis", and so the name "Jans Bomseens" came into being, translated into Low German - by ear - a name that was memorised by the old Bocholters and is still current today.

Lit:
Dr Elisabeth Bröker in UNSER BOCHOLT Jg. 1956, H. 4, p. 16, "Jans Bomseens am Ravarditor"

Catholic theologian, vice-principal at the Höhere Bürgerschule in Bocholt, founder of the order, born 05.11.1837 Goch/Rhineland, died 15.01.1909 Steyl. After leaving school, he studied theology in Münster and Bonn, was appointed vicar at St George's Church by the Bishop of Münster in 1861 and transferred to Bocholt as a teacher at the Höhere Bürgerschule, for whose development he worked hard with his only colleague, the headmaster Johannes Waldau. He was of small stature, barely 1.65 metres tall, slim and weak, so that he was spared military service. He was known as "the little gentleman". He taught German, French, maths and science 24 hours a week.

Although a clear thinker, he is said to have been "not a born and god-favoured educator". He was never a class teacher, nor did he receive an external appointment. There are reports of complaints about his teaching style and his punishments. Although he was appreciated as a preacher, he was reluctant to give the end-of-year speech.

Half of his salary, with which he also repaid the money deferred during his studies by the Münster Academy, the University of Bonn and the Borromäum in Münster (where the future priests are still housed today), came from the income of two vicars, the other half was paid by the city. He also used the money to support the studies of his brother, who was 16 years younger. In 1869, he promoted the Apostolate of Prayer at the Catholic Congress in Düsseldorf and distributed small religious pamphlets he had written himself. During the First Vatican Council, Janßen represented the position of the majority, in contrast to most of the Bocholt clergy. After the death of Pastor Verhey on 27 November 1872, he also had to take over the temporary help in Schüttenstein. Janßen left Bocholt in 1873 at the age of 36. The reason for this was his conflict with the school's board of trustees. Janßen had acquired a statue of the Virgin Mary, which he wanted to place in the assembly hall. The board of trustees rejected this, preferring a discreet wooden cross.

It was the time of the Kulturkampf. So he resigned at the end of the 1872/73 school year, went to Kempen and two years later to Steyl in the Netherlands. There he founded the order "Society of the Divine Word" (SVD -"Societas Verbi Divini") as early as 1875. Its members, the Steyler Missionaries, are still dedicated to internal and external missions today.

Because of his piety and his great services to the universal Church, Arnold Janssen was beatified in 1975 and canonised in 2003 by Pope John Paul II.

Lit:
H.H. Rohner, Arnold Janssen and his work. Address by H.H. Father Rohner SVD, Siegburg, at the inauguration ceremony of the Arnold Janssen School, in: UNSER BOCHOLT Jg. 10 (1959) H. 2, pp. 23-28.P.
Fritz Bornemann SVD, Arnold Janssen, the founder of the Steyler Missionswerk, 1837-1909. A biography based on contemporary sources, 2nd ed. Steyl 1970.
Wolfgang Feldhege, Aus der Geschichte des St.-Georg-Gymnasiums, Festschrift 1978, p. 17.
Franz Kötters, Zum didaktischen und methodischen Wandel einzelner Unterrichtsgegenstände und deren Entwicklung am St.-Georg-Gymnasium, in: Festschrift 1978, p. 77 and p. 81.
Heinrich Weber, Arnold Janssen and his time in Bocholt in: UNSER BOCHOLT Jg. 22 (1971) H. 1, p. 15-17.
Franz Kötters, Beatification of Arnold Janssen in Rome. An experience report, in: UNSER BOCHOLT Jg. 27 (1976) H.1, pp. 11-14.
Jürgen Kappel, Arnold Janssen II. in: Kirche und Leben, 03.08.2003, p. 6.

Bongert, Johann, called Jabo. Profession: Electrical engineer. Born: 1901 in Bocholt, died: 1993 in Bocholt. Denomination: Roman Catholic.

Bongert was married to Maria, née Wolberg. The marriage produced two daughters and a son. At the age of 28, he suffered an occupational accident (electrocution with 25,000 volts), which led to paraplegia and made him an early pensioner.

With admirable energy, he gave his life new meaning. As an autodidact, he learnt several foreign languages and supplemented his pension with private lessons in English, French and maths. In a hand-operated wheelchair, he kept in touch with people and events.
He moulded the latter into uplifting poems, ballads and short stories in his unmistakable writing style, which were published in numerous magazines, including UNSER BOCHOLT and the "Flenderaner".

He soon became one of the most respected writers in western Münsterland. He wrote in both High German and his beloved Low German. With subtle, never hurtful irony, he even knew how to criticise the Nazis between the lines of his clever works, without his silent resistance being noticed. At the time, he wrote under the pseudonym "Jabo Candattan" (yes, how could that be) and kept the name for his later publications.

His disability was exacerbated in 1945 by the fact that he lost his right eye in a bombing raid. He often dealt with all of this in poems with a heavy content. However, most of his works are characterised by a quiet, enigmatic humour.

After his death, two books were compiled from the rich treasure trove of his work "Jabo, die erste Wende" 1994 and "Erinnerungen eines Schutzengels" 2006.

The Jeanette-Wolff-Weg was named after the prominent former Bocholt city councillor, Jeanette Wolff (1888-1976).

Lit:
Wilhelm Seggewiß, Bocholter Straßen erzählen Geschichte, in: UNSER BOCHOLT Jg. 39 (1988), H. 1, p. 38.
Gerhard Schmalstieg, Straßennamen in Bocholt nach nur hier bekannten Personen, in: UNSER BOCHOLT Jg. 55 (2004), H. 4, p. 53-72.

This street commemorates the pastor of the Protestant Reformed parish in Suderwick, Johannes Meis (1889-1946).

Lit:
Gerhard Schmalstieg, Straßennamen in Bocholt nach nur hier bekannten Personen, in: UNSER BOCHOLT Jg. 55 (2004), H. 4, pp. 53-72.

During the term of office of Mayor Degener (1860-1896), the number of inhabitants in Bocholt increased so much that another school was needed in addition to the old town school (System I). The new school was built as System II on Habsburger Straße, today's Kirchplatz St. Josef - the first school outside the old city wall. The building initially housed 6 classrooms, rising to 10 in 1896 and 14 in 1901.

The first head teacher was Johannes Ostendorf, the author of "Wäwedamp", who moved to the Fildekenschule as headmaster in 1912.

In 1930, Bocholt's schools were renamed by the school deputation of the city council. System II, "Habsburger Straße" became the Josefschule.

The old school building was completely destroyed in 1945. After the end of the war, lessons were initially held in various locations, including the monastery "Zum Guten Hirten" , the pub "Zur Glocke" and the Ludgerusschule. The headmaster during this time was headmaster Alois Proppert. In 1954/55, the school was rebuilt at a different location on Hohenzollernstraße. The new building was inaugurated on 19 April 1955.

Headmaster Proppert retired in 1962 and was succeeded as headmaster by Johannes Bigalke. Under his leadership, the primary school (years 1-9) became a Catholic denominational primary school (years 1-4) during the school reform in NRW. Paul Brügge succeeded him as headmaster in 1970, Herbert Vögele from 1983 and headmaster Norbert Bertling has been in charge of Josefschule since 1996.

At the beginning of this school year, the school expanded its previous offerings as a "reliable half-day school" (7.30 am - 2 pm) and is now an open all-day school with a childcare programme from 7.30 am to 4 pm.

Lit:

Friedrich Reigers, Die Geschichte der Stadt Bocholt im 19. Jh., in: UNSER BOCHOLT, 1907.
Barbara Kreilkamp, "A walk through Bocholt's school history" in: UNSER BOCHOLT, 30.Jg,1979, H.3, p. 48 - 54
Chronicle of the Josefschule, Bocholt, 1955 -2007-12-03.

Already in a document from 1396, "Jews" and "Bocholt" are mentioned together. However, it is only from 1654 that there is documentary evidence of Jews living in Bocholt. They still live here today - with the exception of the period from September 1944 to June 1945.

In 1798, the Jews built a synagogue in what is now Nobelstraße. With a floor area of around 18 x 10 metres, it was a stately building for the time.

In 1843 there were 141 Jews living in Bocholt. On 30 April 1853, the royal government of Münster separated the Jews in Bocholt and Borken into two independent synagogue communities.

In 1859, the Jewish men's association Chewra Kadischa was re-established in the community, which had already been founded in 1801 but had then come to a standstill. The members cared for the sick in the community, assisted them when they died and organised the ritual washing of the corpse and the funeral. In 1871, there were 127 Jews among 5,769 Catholics and 231 Protestants in Bocholt.

In 1876, a public Jewish school was established in a building that stood directly in front of the synagogue until 1904. Classes had been held here since around 1830. The first state-sworn teacher was Isaac Spier.

In 1890, the aid organisation Esrass kefufim e. V. (Help for the Weak) was founded. It had the task of making and maintaining "employable fellow believers who were destitute or whose financial circumstances had declined." (§ 1 of the statutes)." In 1910, the association had 265 members, including some from abroad, and was still in existence in 1935.

In 1896, a Jewish school with a teacher's flat was built at Nordwall 26. This was also the venue for the meetings of the representatives' assembly and the community board, as well as the school board and community festivals.

One year later, Leo (Levy) Nußbaum took up his post as a teacher. He was a very open and cosmopolitan member of the St Georgius shooting club and founded a synagogue choir in the community in 1901.

Jews were also members of the town council from at least 1896. The first Jewish city councillor was the factory owner Abraham Weyl from 1896 to 1911. From 1912 to 1919, Max Liebreich, who had a mechanical weaving mill in Westend, was a city councillor. Emil Cohen (co-owner of the company Cosman Cohen & Co.) was a member of the city council for the longest period, from 1908 until he moved to Cologne in 1927". He was elected to the city parliament in 1919 on the proposal of a list of understanding, and in 1924 by the Centre Party. The later Berlin SPD member of parliament Jeanette Wolff, who was a city councillor in Bocholt from 1919 until she moved to Dinslaken at the beginning of 1932, is far better known than these men.

Max Liebreich, Dr Artur Hochheimer (he was its secretary for many years) and Leo Nußbaum and later his son Herbert played in the instrumental club, a classical orchestra. Sexton Salomon Seif was a member of the board of the local branch of the Bund der Kinderreichen. Several Jewish factory owners and businessmen also belonged to the St Georgius shooting club and held board positions. Alfred Nußbaum was goalkeeper of the Bocholt Football Club 1900 and an active member of the Bocholt Water Sports Club

The following companies with Jewish owners are listed on the 1897 city map: The mechanical weaving mills Cosman Cohen & Co, David Friede, Geisel & Elsberg, Albert Heymann & Co, Alex Hochheimer & Co, Phillip Liebreich, Aron Löwenstein, Hermann Rosenberg, Stern & Löwenstein and Gebrüder Weyl, the cotton spinning and weaving mill S. A. Weyl & Sohn, the tannery Moritz Cohen jr, the mechanical weaving and dyeing mill Gebrüder Braunschweig and the plaster wool factory Meier Ostberg. There were also several retail businesses in Bocholt, especially butchers' shops, which were owned by Jews.

In 1908, a local branch of the Central Association of German Citizens of the Jewish Faith was founded in Bocholt. The work of the Centralverein aimed to counteract anti-Semitism by educating people about the unfoundedness of anti-Semitic prejudices and emphasising the German identity of the Jews. Sigismund Weyl led the Bocholt local group for many years.

In 1909, women from the community founded the Israelite Women's Association in Bocholt, whose purpose, in addition to "performing charitable works for the poor and sick", was to provide mutual aid "in cases of illness and death". The women's association still existed in 1938.

In 1911, Aron Berla, the former chairman of the community, established the Aron Berla Foundation with an endowment capital of 50,000 M in favour of his community.

In 1913, 293 Jews lived in the town of Bocholt out of a population of 27,397. At 1.1 %, this was the largest number in the city.

Nine Bocholt Jews fell in the First World War. A memorial plaque was unveiled for them in the synagogue on 21 September 1919.

Many Jewish companies contributed to the fight against famine by feeding the poor, especially during the last winter of the war in 1917/18. After the First World War, returning soldiers in Bocholt founded a local group in the Reichsbund jüdischer Frontsoldaten (RjF). This group carried out educational work, including about the relatively high number of Jewish soldiers in the First World War, and organised the annual Heroes' Memorial Day celebrations with the district warriors' association. The RjF was later joined by a table tennis team, which was supplemented by a women's and girls' group in 1934. In the 1920s, Gustav Gompertz, who also wrote columns for the Bocholter Volksblatt in addition to his shoe shop in Neustraße, founded the literary association in the Israelite community. In 1924, young people from the community founded the German-Jewish travelling association "Kameraden".

In 1932 there were still 204 Jews living in Bocholt. The strength of the position of the Jewish factory owners in Bocholt is demonstrated by a formulation of the city administration in a letter to the district president dated 17 January 1931. In this letter, it is pointed out that the city's tax revenues were so high in particular because of the flourishing companies owned by Jews. The high level of unemployment, coupled with the inflammatory and often anti-Semitic political slogans, also radicalised parts of the population in Bocholt in the winter of 1932/33. Window panes were smashed, for example at the Meier Mühlfelder shop on Ostermarkt in early January 1933. At the beginning of February 1933, people read in the newspaper that the windows of Norbert Lorch's game and poultry shop had been smashed.

The initially still raw-headed approach against Jews increased after Hitler's appointment as Reich Chancellor on 30 January 1933, and the SA soon spread fear in Bocholt too. In connection with the boycott of Jews on 1 April 1933, there were already riots against Jews in Bocholt the day before. The police report stated: " [...] In the night from 31 March to 1 April 1933, around the third hour, 2 shop windows were smashed in the Spier shop in Königstraße [...] and shop windows were smashed at Herzfeld's in Nordstraße." The religious official Salomon Seif, who lived next to the synagogue, was a victim of the Nazis that night. SA guards stood in front of the Jewish shops the next day and refused entry to those wishing to buy. The district president of Münster abolished the Jewish primary schools as a public school on 1 October 1933. In the Jewish community of Bocholt, there was still new club life at this time. The state police situation report for March 1934 shows that a girls' and women's group was affiliated to the RjF in Bocholt. In 1936 there was also a Maccabi sports group in Bocholt.

At a cultural evening in March 1934, George Götz from Berlin, a member of the board of the Prussian Association of Jewish Communities in Berlin, spoke in the synagogue. This brief lessening of the harassment turned into the opposite as early as June 1935. Austrian SA men moved into the "Hilfswerklager Nord-West" in the city forest. They harassed the population, especially the Jews.

On 1 October 1935, 154 Jews were still living in Bocholt. From this year onwards, the children of the Jewish school were excluded from the St Martin's procession. This was ordered by the Westphalian Home Association. On the evening of 9 November 1938, the NSDAP district leadership of Bocholt-Borken called for participation in the memorial service for the "victims of the movement". After 10 p.m., the death of Ernst vom Rath, secretary of the German embassy in Paris, became known. This news was followed by agitation against the Jews. At around 10.30 pm, the fanatics marched into the city centre. The interior of the synagogue was completely destroyed that night, as were many Jewish homes and businesses.

On 17 May 1939, 54 Jews were still living in Bocholt; 162 had emigrated. On 17 October 1939, Bertold Löwenstein was appointed by the Reich Association of Jews in Germany as the sole chairman of the Jewish Cultural Association "Synagogue Community Bocholt/Westphalia". At the turn of the year 1939/40, 39 Jews were still living in the community.

At the request of the Münster State Police Headquarters on 26 July 1941 at the Bocholt District Court, the Jewish Community Association "Jüdische Gemeinde Bocholt" e. V. was deleted from the register of associations. On 18 November 1941, the Münster Stapoleitstelle ordered the "evacuation" of 27 Bocholt Jews, among others, to Riga. On 9 December 1941, one day before the deportation, Amalia Marcus attempted suicide and drank vinegar essence. She died from this on 16 December 1941 in St. Vinzenz Hospital in Rhede, while her husband was already in the ghetto in Riga. On 10 December 1941, the Jews were taken to Münster, from where they were deported on 13 December 1941. Regina and Salomon Seif were also deported to Riga on 24 January 1942; they were murdered immediately after their arrival. When the survivors of the Jews who had been deported to the Kaiserwald concentration camp were deported to the Stutthof concentration camp in the summer of 1944, seven of the 27 deported Bocholters were still alive. Three of these women were murdered in Stutthof: Rachel Blumenthal, Anne-Marie Löwenstein and Julie Käthe Speyer. The male prisoners were deported to Buchenwald concentration camp immediately after their arrival in Stutthof. Max and Paul Hochheimer from Bocholt died here. On 27 July 1942, seven Jews were deported to Theresienstadt. They were murdered there or in the Treblinka extermination camp.

Albert Löwenstein, who lived in a "privileged mixed marriage", was deported from Bocholt in September 1944. He was sent to a forced labour camp in Berlin via the Gestapo prisons in Münster and Kassel.

At least 169 Jews who were born in Bocholt or later lived here were killed in the Shoah.

In the summer of 1945, Henny Hochheimer and Meta Metzger returned from the Stutthof concentration camp. Albert Löwenstein was able to return from Berlin at almost the same time. Norbert Lorch, who survived the Westerbork transit camp in the Netherlands, also returned to Bocholt. He was the last Jew from Bocholt to die here on 23 January 1980. Since 1946, attempts have been made in Bocholt to make the effects of the unacceptable crime of the Shoah more bearable. For example, Ludwig Kayser, head of the town council, had a list compiled of the Jews who had lived in Bocholt in 1932 and thus promoted material compensation for the Jews who had fled Bocholt. Ellen Bernkopf from Jerusalem created the municipal memorial "The Mourner", which was erected in 1970 for the victims of war and tyranny at the southern entrance to the city centre. Following a suggestion by Lord Mayor Günther Hochgartz, the city of Bocholt has been inviting its former Jewish citizens to visit their hometown since 1979. So far there have been 45 encounters in Bocholt. In 1980, a memorial was unveiled at the site of the former synagogue. In 2006, a new memorial to the synagogue was erected on the same site, and from 8 to 18 November 1983, the exhibition "Jews in Bocholt - History as a Reminder" took place in the historic town hall in Bocholt. Since 1986, a memorial in the former prisoner of war camp and later DP camp in today's Stadtwald ("Stalag") has commemorated, among other things, the fact that many survivors of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp were taken from here to the then British Mandate of Palestine in 1948.

In the later 1990s, Jews from the former CIS states moved back to Bocholt. In 2005, around 20 Jews were living in Bocholt.

The remembrance work, initiated by a circle of friends who came together in 1997 to form the VHS working group Synagogue Landscapes, is carried out together with the German-Israeli Society - Westmünsterland Working Group - (founded in February 1998) and the Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation Westmünsterland, founded in 2001, and with the support of the city of Bocholt. For schools, reference can be made to the committed remembrance work of the Lernwerkstatt Sekundarstufe I. Since February 2007, Stumbling Stones have been laid in Bocholt in front of the former homes of murdered Jews and opponents of the regime (see also:...)

Lit:

Aschoff, Diethard, Zur Geschichte der Juden in Bocholt bis zum Ende des Dreißigjährigen Krieges, in: Unser Bocholt 34. Jg. (1983) H. 4, pp. 3-6, ill.
Böhringer, Dieter, Zur Geschichte der Juden im Kreis Borken vor 1933, in: "Es ist nicht leicht, darüber zu sprechen".
The November 1938 progrom in the Borken district. Borken 1988, pp. 7-26
Davidovic, Emil, Presentation of a memorial plaque in memory of the former synagogue in Bocholt. Address by Emil Davidovic, rabbi of the Jewish religious communities of Westphalia, in: Unser Bocholt 32nd vol. (1981) p. 1, pp. 44-45, ill.
"It is not easy to talk about it" The November 19 38 progrom in the Borken district. Edited by August Bierhaus, (Series of publications of the Borken district 9) Borken 1988.
Freitag, Reinhild; Kraatz, Heinz D., "Es hat immer ein Oben und ein Unten gegeben...". Interview by Dr Hans D.Oppel and Mrs Maria Oppel with Edith Marx, edited by Reinhild Freitag and Heinz D. Kraatz, in: Unser Bocholt 39th Vol. (1988) H. 3, pp. 62-67, ill.
Hochgartz, Günther, Contact with former Jewish Bocholt citizens. Exemplary love of home - despite "everything" that happened -In: Unser Bocholt 34. vol. (1983) H. 1, p. 72-73, ill.
Hochgartz, Günther, Presentation of a commemorative plaque in memory of the former synagogue in Bocholt. Speech by the mayor of the city of Bocholt Günther Hochgartz, in: Unser Bocholt 32nd vol. (1981) H. 1, pp. 38-40.
Kooger, Hans, Border incidents in the thirties. A survivor returns to Gendringen, in: Unser Bocholt 44th Vol. (1993) H. 2, pp. 22-23,
Kruse, Joseph A., On the trail of Fritz Heymann (1897 - 1943), a writer, journalist and Heine connoisseur from Bocholt, in: Unser Bocholt 41st vol. (1990) H. 4, pp. 27-32, ill.
Niebur, Josef, Bocholt. "Wenn Dou de Synagoge anstöckst, dann schla ik Dij dod" in: "Es ist nicht leicht, darüber zu sprechen". Der Novemberprogrom 1938 im Kreis Borken. Borken 1988, pp. 185-218.
Niebur, Josef; Sundermann, Werner, "Je älter ich werde, desto öfter ich daran denken!" - Zeitzeugen berichten über das Leben der jüdischen Mitbürger in Bocholt, in: Unser Bocholt 45./46. Jg. (1994/1995) H. 4/1, pp. 39-47.
Niebur, Josef; Sundermann, Werner, Martha and Berthold Löwenstein. A Bocholt merchant family, in: Unser Bocholt 45th/46th vol. (1994/1995) H. 4/1, pp. 47-58.
Niebur, Josef, "Schalom, wir erwarten Euch in Israel..." Notes from the visit of a group of teachers from Israel to the Borken district and further developments in Bocholt, in: Unser Bocholt 42nd vol. (1991) H. 1, pp. 39-40, ill.
Oppel, Hans D., Bocholt, Wednesday 20th September 1871, in: Unser Bocholt 28th Vol. (1977) H. 1, pp. 10-15, ill.
Oppel, Hans D., Handover of a commemorative plaque in memory of the synagogue that once existed in Bocholt, in: Unser Bocholt 32nd vol. (1981) H. 1, p. 37.
Foreword by Schneppen, Heinz, 15 years ago..., in: Unser Bocholt 4th vol. (1953) p. 9, pp. 224-227, ill.
Stappenbeck, Kurt, Presentation of a commemorative plaque in memory of the synagogue that once existed in Bocholt. Commemorative words by Pastor Kurt Stappenbeck, Protestant parishes of Bocholt,. in: Unser Bocholt 32nd vol. (1981) H. 1, pp. 42-43, ill.
Terhalle, Hermann, Ein bisher unbekanntes Judengeleit aus dem Jahre 1673, in: Unsere Heimat (Kreis Borken) 1988, pp. 249-252.
Westhoff, Heinrich, Presentation of a commemorative plaque in memory of the synagogue that once existed in Bocholt. Commemorative words by Pastor Heinrich Westhoff, Catholic parishes of Bocholt, in: Unser Bocholt 32nd vol. (1981) p. 1, p. 41, ill.
Wörffel, Änne, An unusual class reunion: The visit of an old Bocholt woman to her home town after more than 50 years on 9/10 June 1989, in: Unser Bocholt 41st vol. (1990) H. 1, pp. 28-29, ill.

b e s o n d e r s :Josef Niebur, Juden in Bocholt, Eine Dokumentation mit einer Einführung in die jüdische Religion von Kurt Nußbaum und einem Anhangappendix "Archaeological contributions to the history of the Jews in Bocholt" by Werner Sundermann. Bocholter Quellen und Beiträge, vol.3 (Bocholt 1988), 197 pages with 42 illustrations.

The first Jewish cemetery in Bocholt (~1700-1810)

There is evidence of the existence of a Jewish cemetery in Bocholt on the east wall in the form of letters of complaint from 1744, 1749, 1750 and 1771 about the disturbance of the peace of the dead of the Jews buried there. Three Jewish families are mentioned in Bocholt in 1667. In 1739, Elector and Archbishop Clemens August granted the Jews living in the diocese of Münster further residential rights, including five Jewish families in Bocholt.

Around 1700, they had been allocated a burial ground on the east wall between the city wall and the moat, on the so-called Rahm. In 1807, the government of the Principality of Salm decreed that the Bocholt churchyards around St George and Our Lady should be relocated in front of the town wall (today's Langenbergpark) for reasons of hygiene. In October 1810, the Jewish "Todtenacker" was also relocated, as can be seen from a "Resolutum" by Judge Herding on the "conception of the Jewish community in Bocholt regarding the relocation of the Jewish churchyard".

He decrees measures that the neighbours of the cemetery "shall preserve the necessary rest of the dead on the field of the dead"in accordance with the Jewish "religious laws". This meant that "all digging, herding, ploughing and further planting" was prohibited. As security against thefts and excesses that had already "frequently occurred", the doors and windows in the town wall in the direction of the cemetery were to be walled up or fitted with iron bars by the residents. Enquiries with the residents of the east wall revealed that the first Jewish cemetery can also be proven by bone finds.

Human bones were found under houses no. 56, 62, 70, 86 and 88 when excavating cellar pits during reconstruction. The archaeological group found a complete skeleton with soil discolouration of the coffin during the demolition of the house Ostmauer No. 74. The total length of the first Jewish cemetery between Weberstraße and Schonenberg was approx. 155m.

The second Jewish cemetery in Bocholt (1810-1940)

After the cemetery on the east wall was abandoned, the Jewish community was allocated an undeveloped area of approx. 2200 m² north of the water tower built in 1912 on the later street "Auf der Recke" as a new cemetery site. The town granted 4000 marks for the relocation. Today, part of the school grounds of the Albert-Schweitzer-Realschule, Herzogstr. no. 14, and the caretaker's flat are located here. The first burial there is recorded for 2 February 1822 in the so-called " cemetery list of the Bocholt Jewish cemetery 1822-1940", the last one for 13 June 1940. The list is ordered by serial numbers, contains first names and surnames, a few dates of birth, date of death and age.

The consecutive numbers are not followed correctly. In fact, the list contains the names of 304 deceased persons. Occupations are rarely given. However, the few additional details reveal special fates, e.g. military service or death as a soldier during the First World War 1914-1918, which eleven members of the Jewish community suffered.

Gaps in the cemetery list or on the gravestones were intended for relatives who did not die in Bocholt. They were deported to concentration camps in 1941 or 1942 and perished there. Over the course of around 130 years, 304 dead were buried in Bocholt. On the initiative of the Albert Schweitzer secondary school, an information plaque was installed on the water tower in October 2002.

The third Jewish cemetery

On 21 June 1940, the Jewish Cultural Association Bocholt e.V. was forced to agree to the "transfer of ownership" of the cemetery grounds to the city of Bocholt in a contract with the city of Bocholt. As a "replacement site for use as a burial ground", an area of the same size was allocated on today's Vardingholter Straße, directly on the then town boundary with Stenern. The new cemetery was prepared as a forest cemetery, barely recognisable as such from the outside. The Bocholt Nazi war chronicle notes in October 1940 that "the solution to this question must be regarded as very satisfactory for the town of Bocholt".

In June 1940, the reburial of Polish prisoners of war was carried out. In accordance with the contract, only those bodies were reburied for which the 30-year time limit had not yet expired. There were at least 133 dead. In addition, 94 memorials and 140 numbered headstones were moved, although it is not certain that the arrangement corresponds to the previous one. 17 gravestones, for which the aforementioned deadline no longer applied, were placed in the last row of the cemetery.

The former cemetery grounds at "Recke" were "rigolt" [i.e. deep-ploughed] and provisionally made available to the garden office as a cultivation garden. "The plot will probably be used for school buildings" (war chronicle). The reburial of Jewish graves and the use of the land for other purposes violated elementary Jewish religious principles. But that didn't interest those in power at the time. An information board was erected at the entrance to the cemetery in 2002.

In November 1941, the "War Chronicle" (in the source edition, p. 155), written in the National Socialist tenor, also noted that around 800 Russian prisoners of war had been brought to the prisoner of war camp (Stalag) in the Stadtwald, "who brought with them, among other things, typhus, which raged terribly among them. The dead Bolsheviks were buried in the forest north of the " ..."Jewish cemetery". It was only after the war in 1947 that it was discovered that burials of deceased Soviets had also taken place in the Jewish cemetery.

After many years of correspondence, a contract was signed in 1963 between the regional association of Jewish communities in Westphalia and the city of Bocholt stipulating that the entire Jewish cemetery would have to be examined and the deceased Soviets would have to be reburied in the so-called Russian cemetery. In the summer of 1964, 169 Soviet dead were recovered from 148 graves and reburied in the Russian cemetery.

In total, at least 1736 prisoners of war who had died were buried there. The five Jewish graves that were found remained in the ground in the same place in the Jewish cemetery. In 1948, the city of Bocholt erected a memorial stone for the Jewish citizens who were persecuted and perished during the National Socialist era. The Jewish cemetery, which has been maintained by the city of Bocholt indefinitely since 1955, is a so-called closed cemetery where burials no longer take place.

Pictures

Lit:
Elfi Pracht-Jörns, Jüdisches Kulturerbe in NRW, Teil IV, Regierungsbezirk Münster, published by J.B.P. Bachem Verlag Köln, (2002), pp. 129 and 134.
Stadt Bocholt, Stadtarchiv, ed., Kriegschronik der Stadt Bocholt 1939-1945, edited by G. Schmalstieg, Bocholter Quellen und Beiträge 7, Bocholt 1995.
Werner Sundermann, Drei Jüdische Friedhöfe in Bocholt, Bocholter Quellen und Beiträge, Vol.10, ed. Stadt Bocholt, (2002), pp. 19 ff, pp. 21-53, in which also: Josef Niebur, Jüdisches Totenbrauchtum und die Bedeutung des Friedhofes im Judentum, pp. 11-16.

He, Alois Jüttermann, was affectionately called "Ohme Alois" by young and old. Envy, egotism and competitiveness were foreign words to him. His focus was on people. It was not the "I" but the "we" that was important to him in all situations. He was always cheerful, had a sense of humour and an optimistic attitude.

Alois Jüttermann was born in Bocholt on 24 April 1913, the fourth child of a bobbin master. He lived through the First World War and inflation and, like his father, worked in a textile company. He married in 1937 and his wife gave birth to two daughters. The Second World War separated him from his family for five years. From 1946 until he reached retirement age, he was employed as a disinfector and later as a health inspector at the Bocholt health authority.

Alois Jüttermann became an active member of the German Red Cross in Bocholt in 1931. From 1949 to 1960, he was head of the Red Cross youth organisation, which he founded in Bocholt. From 1966 to 1973, he was the district leader of the Bocholt Red Cross. Alois Jüttermann also worked for more than 25 years as an instructor in first aid, paramedic training and emergency measures at the scene of an accident. For many years, Alois Jüttermann looked after children at the holiday camp run by the Bocholt Workers' Welfare Association on the island of Ameland in the Netherlands. But he also volunteered as a carer for senior citizens' cures.

Without the support of his family, he would never have been able to fulfil the many tasks alongside his job. In 1966, Alois Jüttermann was awarded the Cross of Honour of the German Red Cross for his voluntary work and his humanity, and in 1976 he received the Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. He suffered his first heart attack during a DRK medical patrol at the Bocholt funfair. He recovered and became active again, but a second heart attack put an end to his life on 16 April 1980.

Lit:
Erpelt, Rene: Alois Jüttermann, A fulfilled life - a life of social action! The image of a man who gave joy, magazine "Unser Bocholt", 1981, issue 2, p.62 and 63
Source: Annemarie Rotthues, DRK files

On 22 September 1960, the parish of St. Ewaldi received permission to build a youth centre. This was completed on 26 September 1963 and handed over for use. In the early years, it was used for smaller events organised by the parish and in 1980 was given the name "Kleine offene Tür" (KOT), i.e. 'small open door house' with a full-time manager and 11 volunteers who looked after an average of 30 young people every day during fixed opening hours.

In 1988, the centre was thoroughly renovated. Architect Heinz Leson was responsible for planning and managing the remodelling. In conjunction with the craftsmen, 40 young people volunteered to carry out all the work they could with great dedication.

Today, the youth centre is a popular meeting place. Children from the first grade and young people have the opportunity to get to know each other, play together or take part in creative activities. During the Easter and summer holidays there are holiday games, and in the autumn holidays there are opportunities for meaningful leisure activities. The open children's and youth work is an independent part of the pastoral work of the parish of Ss. Ewaldi parish. An important area is the afternoon school work help in separate groups corresponding to the school years. Trained specialists are available to help children and young people with problems and difficult situations. The programme is free and open to everyone.

Lit:
Archive of the Ewaldi parish, Youth Centre folder, Schwertstraße. Ewaldi im Blick, issue 35 from 2008.

On 8 March 1950, the mayor of Biemenhorst at the time, Heinrich Vennekamp, submitted a request to the Biemenhorst municipal council to build a home for young people. A plot of land had to be exchanged so that the youth centre could be built on church land. Once the finances had been clarified, the parish council of the Ewaldi parish gave permission to begin construction, which was approved by the diocese of Münster on 15 June 1957.

The completed youth centre was opened on 10 August 1958. In 1964 and 1974, the facility had to be renovated. Every month, around 230 young people attended the centre in various groups. Today, the youth centre is used by mother and child groups in the mornings and children's meetings take place in the afternoons. Supervision is provided by specialists from the Ewaldi youth centre on Schwertstraße.

Lit:
Archive of the Ewaldi parish, Biemenhorst parish centre folder. Ewaldi im Blick, issue 35 from 2008.

Under the name "Youth Red Cross", young people group together in the German Red Cross with the intention of helping others. In 1949, Alois Jüttermann founded the Red Cross Youth organisation in Bocholt, which he headed until 1960. In addition to first aid courses and the formation of a mime team for realistic accident scenes, activities centred around hikes, trips, camps, etc. The aim of the JRK is to assist with first aid services, blood donation missions and other events with experienced first aiders. The number of members has fluctuated over time between 20-200. The JRK has its own premises at Lake Aa.

Lit:
Annemarie Rotthues, On the history of the Red Cross in Bocholt. A contribution to the 100th anniversary of active Red Cross communities, in: UNSER BOCHOLT Jg. 37 (1986) H. 2, p. 8-35.

This path commemorates Julius Vehorn (1866-1948), the first teacher at Biemenhorst School.

Lit:
Gerhard Schmalstieg, Straßennamen in Bocholt nach nur hier bekannten Personen, in: UNSER BOCHOLT Jg. 55 (2004), H. 4, pp. 53-72.

This company emerged from the original company Joh. Ruenhorst & Cie. founded in 1906. It was a contract weaving mill at Kurfürstenstr. 43.

In 1919, the commercial register notes that Johann Ruenhorst has died and Wilhelm Klaas has joined the company. In 1920, it is noted that the heirs of Wilhelm Klaas have left the company and Bernhard Jungkamp has joined instead. Since then, the company has been called Nienhaus & Jungkamp. During the Second World War, the company was shut down in 1942 and the business was completely destroyed in 1945.

As a resumption of textile production was not yet on the cards, concrete windows were initially manufactured after the war. In Bocholt, Nienhaus & Jungkamp was then called "Beton-Weberei". These windows as compensation goods then also made it possible to rebuild the weaving mill. In 1949, Wilhelm Jungkamp, born in 1921, became a personally liable partner as the son of Bernhard Jungkamp.

In the 1950s, the equipment of a clothing factory had to be taken over as a result of a transfer of ownership by way of security, and so a ready-to-wear clothing factory was also started, but the company did not have the right clientele for this. By 1965, the weaving mill was slowly phased out and trousers etc. were only produced from bought-in fabrics by the metre. The company was then completely dissolved in the 1990s.

Lit:
Eduard Westerhoff, Die Bocholter Textilindustrie. Unternehmer und Unternehmen, Bocholt1983, pp. 132-134.

Since the turn of the year 2006/07, the Bocholt Justice Centre has brought together the city's judicial authorities in the historic building of the district court and in an extension built behind the district court: all departments of the district court, the labour court and the public prosecutor's office. This makes Bocholt, alongside the administrative centres of Coesfeld and Borken, the largest judicial location in the Münsterland region outside the city of Münster.

The new building, which was constructed within a year from mid-November 2005 according to plans drawn up by the Recklinghausen State Building Authority, comprises 4 or 5 storeys on a total area of 3,400 square metres and includes offices and ancillary rooms, a library, 3 juvenile detention cells, a caretaker's flat and an underground car park. The cost of the new building is around 6.5 million euros.