V

From 4 January 1859 until his death on 22 February 1879, Johann Georg Vahrenhorst was parish priest at St. George's Church in Bocholt. He was ordained a priest in Münster on 9 March 1847, then served as vicar at the Ägidikirche in Münster from 1847 to 1854 and subsequently worked as a prison chaplain. The new pastor developed a restless activity.

Eventful and busy years lay ahead of him. In addition to his work as a pastor, he was also occupied with mundane tasks. He tackled the long overdue restoration of the parish church. Firstly, the exterior of the building was renovated. All the damage to the masonry and roof was repaired or renewed. The fire damage from 1593 and 1745 was finally repaired. The interior restoration was then tackled. The statues, which had been painted over with a white lime colour, were restored to their original appearance, the communion bench and pulpit were removed and replaced with new, stylish ones.

This work took more than 20 years and had not yet been completed when he died in 1879. Immediately after he took office, the parish church escaped a serious disaster. During a violent thunderstorm on 17 April 1859, lightning struck the parish church twice. However, the fire was quickly extinguished. There had long been a demand for a secondary school for girls. Following official approval on 5 October 1866, this wish was fulfilled. Pastor Vahrenhorst bought a house next to the then Paterskirche, which had previously housed the grammar school built by the Minorites. After the abolition of the monastery, this building became private property.

Father Vahrenhorst donated this house to the parish church with the stipulation that it be used for the girls' school to be built. The school was run by the Sisters "Our Lady" from Coesfeld. At a meeting of Catholics held in November 1872, he suggested the foundation of a Catholic workers' association. On 8 December, the founding was decided and in January 1873, the St. Paulus Workers' Association went public with 156 members. In 1872, the house donated to St Agnes Hospital by Cardinal Diepenbrock in 1853 no longer met the requirements. Father Vahrenhorst therefore suggested the construction of a new hospital, which was opened in 1875 with the help of generous donations after three years of construction.

The Kulturkampf also had an impact in Catholic Bocholt with its laws and ordinances against the church and its clergy. In May 1873, the state issued the "Maigesetze", which aimed to bring the church under the control of the state. The Prussian government first targeted the schools. In implementation of these laws, all clergy were released from school supervision. Father Vahrenhorst, the inspector of Catholic primary schools, also had to resign. After 20 years in office, during which he created or renewed many things for his parish and for the town of Bocholt, Father Vahrenhorst died on 22 February 1879 at the age of 55.

Lit:

Heinz Terhorst, Chronik der Bocholter Kirchengeschichte 1859/1 p. 247, 1866/2 p.253,
Friedr. Reigers, Geschichte der Stadt Bocholt, vol. 2, p. 166 ff., p. 178, p.204.
Ed. Westerhoff, Time of upheaval, time of new beginnings.
Bocholter Quellen und Beiträge vol. 12, p.5.

Johann Telaar (06.08.10 11:03)

Josef van Gemmeren was born on 15 April 1921 in Kleve. He was ordained a priest in Münster in 1949 and was then chaplain in Klein-Erkenschwick. In 1950, he moved to Wesel as chaplain and religious education teacher and finally to Straelen as chaplain in 1962. From there he came to Bocholt as parish priest of Liebfrauen, where he was installed on 19 July 1964. During his 25 years in office, the St. Martin community centre in Stenern and the family education centre on Ostwall were built. From 1971-82, he was dean of the Bocholt deanery. He retired on 20 August 1989. van Gemmeren remained in Bocholt and worked as a retired priest in the parish of St. Georg until his death on 12 April 1996.

Van Gemmeren-Weg was named after him on 31 August 2000.

Queen Augusta, wife of King Wilhelm I of Prussia, founded the Vaterländische Frauenverein on 11 November 1866 in Berlin from the female auxiliaries of the "Preußischer Verein zur Pflege im Felde verwundeter und erkranter Krieger". 20 years later, in June 1886, a branch of the Vaterländische Frauenverein was formed in Bocholt. Its members were "unhonoured women and virgins" who had come together from Catholic and Protestant Christians as well as Jews to alleviate hardship together. Section 8 stated: "The association bears the red cross in a white field as its badge." The name Vaterländischer Frauenverein existed until 1938, after which the active women in the Red Cross had to refer to themselves as "DRK weibliche Bereitschaft".

Lit.: Annemarie Rotthues, German Red Cross op. cit.

Annemarie Rotthues (15.11.06 10:57)

Bocholt may never have been the residence of the popes, but the city did have a "Vatican". Not as splendid and rich in tradition as in Rome, but full of "art treasures". And a "Pius" was the landlord: the house of August Cornelius Tangerding was located at the Westend.

Outside the house, a high wooden staircase led to the upper floor, Tangerding's flat. He was friends with the medical councillor Dr Sterneberg, who was also a painter. At the instigation of his friend Tangerding, he painted altarpieces for the altars of the Corpus Christi and Hail processions. But where were these altarpieces to be kept for the rest of the time?

August Cornelius Tangerding seems to have been so taken with them that he brought them into his house and decorated his bedroom with them as if they were precious wallpaper and tapestries. Soon the house, which was so strangely furnished, was jokingly called "Vatican" and its owner "Pius".

Werner Schneider, In drei Stunden nach England, Rom und Jericho, in: UNSER BOCHOLT, vol. 9 (1958) p. 3, pp. 8-15.

Johann Telaar (20.10.10 10:43)

The word comes from the Dutch and means to auction. The cooperative was founded on 5 March 1935 under the official name "Obst- und Gemüseverwertungsgenossenschaft GmbH zu Bocholt".

However, the common name was Veiling, which was also used on the forms. The purpose of this cooperative was "the joint utilisation of the fruit, horticultural and vegetable products supplied by its members, as well as the promotion of fruit and vegetable growing".

The first chairman was the farmer Heinrich Nienhaus - Legemann from Stenern, the managing director was Franz Mayland, a trained gardener. Initially, work was carried out in rented premises on Königstraße. Later, a plot of land was acquired on today's Meckenemstraße, on which a new building was erected. In the early days, work was carried out without an auction clock, as is still common at auctions today. Once the function and mode of operation of such a clock had been familiarised, it was purchased as a major relief for the auctioneer. Although the gardeners and farmers who supplied the auctioneers came from a relatively wide area, customers from as far away as the Ruhr region were also supplied in addition to local traders. The work became more difficult due to the constraints imposed by the Second World War. In addition to supplying the civilian population, the prisoners in the city forest camp also had to be supplied.

The unavoidable friction with those in power at the time led to the managing director Franz Mayland being arrested and interrogated for three days. However, after the district farmers' leader protested urgently "that the man was needed to ensure the continued food supply", he was released. On 20 March 1945, the Veiling buildings were so badly damaged that the business had to be relocated to the Mayland nursery.

After the British troops marched in, they also had to be supplied by the Veiling. In return, the British provided travel licences and supplies of vegetable seeds from Holland. After internal disputes and changes in management, the cooperative was dissolved by resolution of the general meeting on 29 November 1957. The Volksbank now stands on the former Veiling site.

Lit.: Antonius Mayland, Die Veiling in Bocholt, in: UNSER BOCHOLT Jg.41 (1990) H. 4, p. 32-36.

Margret Bongert (06/08/10 10:47 am)

The Velsen cotton spinning mill was entered in the commercial register on 23 January 1889. In the year it was founded, work began immediately on building the company between Westend and Aa, which was later to specialise in three-cylinder warp yarns as a spinning, twisting and sizing mill. After the death of some of the partners, new partners were admitted to the company following registration in 1903. Max von Velsen's intended successor, his son Karl, was killed in action as a fighter pilot in the First World War. One of the consequences of this was that the spinning mill never really got going again after the war. The business was closed down in 1934.

Literature: Eduard Westerhoff, Die Bocholter Textilindustrie. Unternehmer und Unternehmen, 2nd revised edition, Verlag Temming Bocholt 1984, p. 68.

Johann Telaar (22.12.08 13:41)

1) The Venn was a marshy heath wilderness north of Barlo, which was part of an extensive heath landscape on both sides of the state border from the Külve in the east to the Kreuzkapelle in the west. Its appearance was characterised by an inaccessible thicket of heather, gorse, juniper and cripple pines with treacherous holes in the ground. In the first half of the 20th century, the now largely extinct black grouse still bred and bred here. Around 1950, the fen was drained and cultivated.

2) In general, impassable, marshy heathland and moorland areas were also referred to as fens, such as the Reyerdingvenn and the Suderwicker Venn. Their use was associated with customs such as the ringing of the fen bell.

Literature: Otto Steiner, Im Fenn, in: UNSER BOCHOLT Jg. 2 (1951) H. 6, p. 127-130.

The "Väänelüden" was intended to show those who were in the nearby fens when it was time to return from the impassable and confusing terrain before darkness and rising fog made orientation impossible. Before dusk, the sexton rang a bell from St George's on behalf of the town of Bocholt. As early as 1584, 4 Thlr. a year were paid to the sexton from the city coffers for this evening ringing, which was probably originally connected with the closing of the city gates. On 6 March 1894, the town councillors decided to abolish the evening peal.

Literature: Anna Lindenberg, Vom Fennläuten und was damit zusammenhing, in: UNSER BOCHOLT Jg. 2 (1951) H. 12, pp. 235-237.

Bocholt local group The Verein für Deutsche Schäferhunde e. V. Bocholt local group was founded on 23 February 1921 in the presence of 15 members and registered with the umbrella organisation in Munich as the Bocholt and surrounding area local group. At that time, regular training sessions were held on the Hünting in Bocholt on Sundays to train the German Shepherds. In 1967, the massive clubhouse with training ground was completed on Wiener Allee, which is still in use today.

Today, the local group has 33 members with around 35 dogs. The dogs can be trained on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays under the guidance of a trainer. Performance tests for assistance and protection dogs level 1, 2 and 3 and for tracking dogs level 1 and 2 are held regularly. The club also takes part in breeding shows with licences. The greatest success was achieved in 1968 at the Siegerhauptzuchtschau in Mannheim with the shepherd dog Rommy vom Driland as the breed winner against strong competition from all over the world.

Lit.: Festschrift 80 Jahre Ortsgruppe Bocholt, Bocholt 2001.

Burghard Fehre (15.08.06 15:47)

August Vetter was born in Wuppertal-Elberfeld on 19 February 1887, the eldest of 9 children. His mother's early death and the family's financial situation prevented him from attending school or university. After completing his training at the School of Arts and Crafts in Elberfeld, Vetter earned his living as a graphic artist and draughtsman until the end of the First World War. Due to his private studies, he was admitted to the University of Munich in 1912.

He studied philosophy and psychology. In his publications, he dealt with the views of the philosophers Kant, Bergson, Nietzsche and Kierkegaard and summarised the findings of the biological anthropology of Jacob von Uexküll and Adolf Portmann with the philosophical-anthropological thinking of antiquity and Christianity. On the recommendation of Gustav Kafka, philosopher and educationalist, August Vetter was awarded an honorary doctorate from the TH Dresden in 1930. Two years later, he accepted Kafka's offer to work at his institute at the TH Dresden. Due to "non-Aryan ancestry", Vetter had to resign from the university in 1933. In 1934, the psychologist Felix Krüger offered him an assistant position at the University of Leipzig, which Vetter had to leave in 1939 under pressure from the Nazis.

Through the psychiatrist Hans von Hattingberg, Vetter was offered a lectureship in characterological assessment at the Berlin Institute for Psychological Research and Psychotherapy. From 1940 to 1944, he worked as a scientific advisor to IG Farbenindustrie in Frankfurt / M. At the suggestion of Philipp Lersch, Vetter was appointed honorary professor of psychology at the University of Munich in 1946. In the course of the reparation proceedings and by decision of the Ministry of the Interior, he was appointed full professor in 1962. On 15 October 1976, the philosopher and psychologist Prof. Dr August Vetter, one of the great anthropological thinkers of the 20th century, died in Ammerland on Lake Starnberg.

The vocational school for social and health care, a specialised school for social pedagogy, established in 1970 in Bocholt, Dinxperloer Str. 56, bears his name: August - Vetter - Berufskolleg.

House no. 36

Single-storey residential building in the style of the Wilhelminian era with an extended pitched roof. Built according to an approved plan from 1898 for Hermann Rehms. Building contractor August Hülskamp (1863 -1947). Brick building with three to two window axes and rich stucco moulding. The façades are divided by pilaster strips and window frames. Central entrance with original entrance door emphasised by fluted pilasters with fittings. Amphora and oak leaf ornamentation on the door lintel. Above the entrance in the attic, dwarf house with arched window and moulded stucco framing. Labelled 1907 in the gable.

Achim Wiedemann (11.02.10 13:19)

When Caritas as we know it today did not yet exist, the French priest and Blessed Frédéric Ozanam founded the Vincentian Conferences (VK) in 1833, modelled on Vincent de Paul (1581-1660). Ozanam believed that it was the duty of every Christian to help those in need. Help should be planned and provided collectively. His influence took root. Today, VCs are organised all over the world. In Germany, there are 300 conferences in 15 dioceses with around 5,000 members.

The UK has also existed in the diocese of Münster since 1849, where 19 conferences are currently registered. In Bocholt, the first UK was founded in 1873 in the parish of St George, followed by others in 1899 in Liebfrauen and St Joseph. Over time, however, these three Vincentian Conferences gave up their charitable work. The St Vincent de Paul Conference has been active in Bocholt for more than 75 years. It was founded on 17 December 1934 by Johann Klein-Übbing, who chaired it for 40 years. The first parish priest of St Cross, Father Heinrich Becking, belonged to the founding generation. Since this time, the subsequent priests of St Cross have also been active in the UK as members of the advisory board. After the merger with the parish of Liebfrauen in 2008, the latter also provided the spiritual advisory board. At the time of the foundation in 1934, the less fortunate in Bocholt were not doing well. So the Vincentian Conference decided to give food vouchers to those in need. In the mid-1980s, passives, i.e. sponsors, also joined the VK.

It was decided to provide help to the needy in Mexico, Colombia and Ethiopia as well as to leprosy sufferers in Asia and Africa. Over time, the work became increasingly recognised and the number of supporting members grew. When the communist systems of rule in Eastern Europe were dissolved in the 1990s, Vincentian Conferences were also founded there. In 2000, the Vincentian Conferences of the Holy Cross in Bocholt and Misentea in Romania signed a partnership agreement. There were major communication difficulties, but the German Franciscan Sister Dolore from the neighbouring town of Frumoasa in Romania was able to remedy the situation. She runs the "Holy Family" children's home there, where street children and orphans find a new home. Sister Dolore now supports the contact between Bocholt and Misentea and vice versa, the Bocholt Vincentian Conference supports her like-minded colleagues there and the children's home in Frumoasa. Through the voluntary active and passive members and other donations, e.g. at the door collection in St Cross and at benefit concerts, necessary help can be donated for those in need in Bocholt and in Romania.

Lit.: Bocholter Borkener Volksblatt from 19/08/2009, 22/08/2009, December 2009 and 18/01/2010.
www.vk-hl-kreuz-bocholt.de ;
www.heiligenlexikon.de

Source: Verbal information from Mr Wilfried Notten, member of the board of the Vinzenz-Konferenz Hl.Kreuz.

Annemarie Rotthues (28.09.10 10:49)

For more than thirty years, the VISION choir from Dinxperlo / Bocholt-Suderwick has felt "borderless" in the truest sense of the word. Young musicians from Suderwick and Bocholt have been part of the choir since its beginnings as a youth choir of the Catholic parishes of Dinxperlo and Breedenbroek.

The then still rigid national border between Germany and Holland played no role here. Modern, mainly sacred music with refreshing melodies and rhythms united the young people of the "Jongerenkoor" beyond national reservations. Performances in church services, concerts, successful choir competitions and travelling, as well as three LP recordings, have resulted in a very special sound that has met with great admiration and enthusiasm from all sides.

Among other things, this was due to the exceptional soloists in both the singers and the accompanying combo. The group's performances were constantly boosted by several changes of conductor. When, after a few years, the name VISION was found for the choir, which had an average of 50 members, this was also the programme: they had outgrown their initial youthfulness. The music remained timelessly young, characterised not only by its consistent quality but also by the depth of its lyrics.

The music continues to be both very sophisticated and inspiringly fresh and cheerful. Beyond all borders, an ever-growing fan base is always carried away by VISION. Three CDs have been released in recent years. Great successes were celebrated in concerts e.g. in the Städt. Bühnenhaus Bocholt, in the auditorium of the St. Joseph-Gymnasium, in Dinxperlo, Borken, Groenlo ...

The project "VISION's Joseph" based on the famous musical "Joseph" was praised in the press as extremely professional. VISION can be proud, but VISION is happy to be making music together. VISION has no borders: rehearsals take place in Suderwick, Germany. The "official language" is Dutch.

Ref: Angelika Hoven, Vision 2005, in: UNSER BOCHOLT Jg.56 (2005), H.4 (Kultur in Bocholt,1.Teil), p.67.

Angelika Hoven (31.03.08 16:48)

On 14 February 1970, 15 bird enthusiasts founded the association Vogelliebhaber Bocholt und Umgebung e. V. in the restaurant "Zur Klause" in Bocholt. It was decided to organise a bird show once a year. Since then, the club's breeders have achieved numerous titles and good placings with their birds at national and international shows and championships, including German champion, world champion and runner-up. From its foundation until 1992, the club organised 22 major international bird shows, each with more than 1000 birds. This tradition was continued from the year 2000. In the more than 2500 square metre Aa See Halle in Bocholt, large international exhibitions are once again held with the participation of the beekeeping associations from Bocholt and Rhede, the German Orchid Society Oberhausen Group, the Bonsai Working Group, the Bocholt Fishing Club, the Nature Learning Centre, as well as the Pedigree Poultry Breeding Association and the Birds of Prey Breeders.

The 1st Bocholt and 26th World Ornithological Exhibition took place from 27 January to 5 February 1978. 40,000 paying visitors saw around 14,000 birds in 5,000 cages from 22 nations affiliated to the Confederation Ornithologique Mondiale (COM). The event was held in the gymnasium of the Euregio Gymnasium.

The 2nd Bocholt and 42nd World Ornithological Exhibition of the COM took place from 28 January to 6 February 1994 under the patronage of the President of the Bundestag, Prof. Dr. Rita Süssmuth, in the gymnasium of the Euregio-Gymnasium and in tents erected especially for this exhibition. Radio (WMW) and television (ARD, ZDF, SAT 1 and ORF) reported on the event with around 18,000 birds from 18 nations.

Lit:

Werner
• Derksen, 42nd World Bird Show 1994 in Bocholt, in: UNSER BOCHOLT, vol. 45 (1994) p. 2, pp. 48-51.
Rudolf
• Neise, Die 26. Vogelweltausstellung 1978 in Bocholt, in: UNSER BOCHOLT, vol. 29 (1978) p. 2, pp. 38-40.

Burghard Fehre (20.07.10 10:34)

Lucy Büschlepp was born in Bocholt on 20 December 1917, the only child of a municipal surveyor. She attended the Marienlyzeum, passed her Abitur in 1937 and then attended the Folkwang School of Design in Essen from 1939 to 1941. In 1942, she married Heinz Vollbrecht and since then went by the double name Vollbrecht-Büschlepp.

The marriage produced a daughter. However, the marriage soon ended when Vollbrecht died in the war. The reconstruction of Bocholt and the subsequent expansion of the town are linked to Vollbrecht-Büschlepp's artistic work in many ways: Visible in and on public buildings are, for example, mosaics in the break hall of the Euregiogymnasium and the vocational college at the water tower, the tabernacle stele, altar table, choir stalls and cloister grille as well as windows in the monastery church of St Clare, a floor mosaic in the Hl.Cross Church, the medallion windows in the Great Hall of the Historic Town Hall, the stained glass windows in the entrance halls of St Mary's Grammar School and St George's Grammar School, all the windows in the Mussum Church of Our Lady of Consolation.

Vollbrecht-Büschlepp also created public art outside Bocholt, for example the windows and the vine mosaic on the wall of St. Martini Church in Wesel and the bronze sculpture at the family education centre, a mosaic frieze in the Salvatorian chapel in Münster and the Hartmann family tomb in the Marienthal cemetery in Hamminkeln. Wall hangings, watercolours, drawings and collages by her are privately owned and are only accessible to the general public in exhibitions.

Many commercial prints and drawings can be found in the issues of the magazine UNSER BOCHOLT, for which she worked for over four decades until her death. In 1983, Lucy Vollbrecht-Büschlepp was honoured with the bronze town plaque of the town of Bocholt and in 1992 with the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon for her artistic work and for her decades of commitment to the Verein für Heimatpflege and the Euregio-Kunstkreis. She died in her home town on 3 October 1995 at the age of 77. On 27 April 2006, the Mitte district committee renamed the Osterstraße/Langenbergstraße/Südmauer street triangle Lucy-Vollbrecht-Büschlepp-Platz.

Gerhard Schmalstieg (14.02.07 09:21)