Krefeld
City Hall
Krefeld
Coordinates	51°20′0″N 6°34′0″E / 51.333333°N 6.566667°E / 51.333333; 6.566667Coordinates: 51°20′0″N 6°34′0″E / 51.333333°N 6.566667°E / 51.333333; 6.566667
Administration
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Düsseldorf
District	Urban district
Lord Mayor	Gregor Kathstede (CDU)
Basic statistics
Area	137.68 km2 (53.16 sq mi)
Elevation	39 m  (128 ft)
Population	235,076 (31 December 2010)[1]
- Density	1,707 /km2 (4,422 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	KR
Postal codes	47701-47839
Area code	02151
Website	www.krefeld.de

Castle Linn at Night

Krefeld (German pronunciation: [ˈkʁeːfɛlt]), also known as Crefeld until 1929, is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its centre lying just a few kilometres to the west of the River Rhine; the borough of Uerdingen is situated directly on the Rhine. Krefeld is accessed by the autobahns A57 (Cologne–Nijmegen) and the A44 (Aachen–Düsseldorf–Dortmund–Kassel).

Krefeld is also called the "Velvet and Silk City".

Since 1962, the city has hosted an "honors program in foreign language (German) studies" for high school students from Indiana, United States. The program annually places approximately thirty carefully selected high school juniors with families in and around Krefeld for intensive German language training.^[2]

Krefeld's residents speak Hochdeutsch, the standard German taught to all people in Germany. However, the native dialect is a Low German variety, sometimes locally called Krefelder Plattdeutsch, Krieewelsch Platt, Plattdeutsch, or sometimes simply Platt. The Uerdingen line isogloss, separating general dialectical areas in Germany and neighbouring Germanic-speaking countries, runs through and is named after Krefeld's Uerdingen district, originally an independent municipality. The city is also home to a production line for the iconic Class 380 Rail car for export to the UK market.^[3]

History[link]

The origins of the town were in Roman times, when the legions founded the military camp of Gelduba (today the borough of Gellep). Krefeld itself was first mentioned in 1105 under the name of Krinvelde. Uerdingen was originally an independent town east of Krefeld, founded in 1255. In medieval times it was larger and more important than Krefeld.

The growth of the town began in the 17th century, when Krefeld was one of few towns spared the horrors of the Thirty Years' War. Because the town was quickly overpopulated, in 1683 a group of thirteen families (Mennonites) left Krefeld, crossed the Atlantic and founded the settlement of Germantown (now incorporated in Philadelphia), thus beginning the Pennsylvania German ethnic identity. The town of Uerdingen was less fortunate; it was completely destroyed in the Thirty Years' War by troops from Hesse and almost ceased to exist.

After the 1702 death of William III of Orange, Krefeld passed to the Kingdom of Prussia. 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 it became the base of the Belgian Army 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 town became part of the new state of North Rhine-Westphalia after World War II.

Points of interest[link]

• Castle of Linn
• Botanischer Garten Krefeld, a municipal botanical garden
• Lange and Esters Houses, neighbouring houses by early Mies van der Rohe, now serving as local contemporary art museum venues^[4]
• Zoo Krefeld

Districts[link]

There are a number of districts in Krefeld. Each has a municipal representative, with representatives chosen by local elections. The districts are:

• Benrad-Nord
• Benrad-Süd
• Bockum, pop: about 21.903, elevation: 35 m, postal code: 47800 (old: 4150 Krefeld 1)
• Cracau
• Dießem/Lehmheide
• Fischeln
  • Königshof, part of Fischeln
• Forstwald
• Gartenstadt
• Gellep-Stratum
• Hüls
• Hülser Berg
• Inrath/Kliedbruch
• Kempener Feld/Baackeshof
• Linn

Linn, with its own history reaching to between 1090 and 1120, was situated on the banks of the Rhine. In Linn, there is a park built around a Wasserburg, a castle built at the water's edge, and with a water-filled moat. The Burg Linn, as the castle is known, has been preserved for the city's residents as a park and museum.^[5]

• Oppum
• Stadtmitte
• Traar, pop: about 5,000, postal code: 47802
• Uerdingen, pop: about 18,507, elevation: 31 m, postal code: 47829
• Verberg

Annexations[link]

Cities and places that were incorporated into Krefeld:

• 1901: Linn (Stadtrecht since 1314)
• 1907: Bockum, Verberg und Oppum (all mayoralty Bockum)
• 1929:
  • Krefeld became an independent city
  • Uerdingen, Krefeld (received municipal law in 1255/1344, added Hohenbudberg in today's Duisburg district Friemersheim)
  • Fischeln, Krefeld district
  • Traar, Krefeld district
  • Gellep and Stratum (in Lank), Krefeld district
  • Forstwald (Vorst), Krefeld district
  • Benrad und Hülserberg (Hüls), Kempen
• 1975: Locality of Hüls from Kempen (since 1970 integrated and belonged since 1929 to the Kempen-Krefeld district; in 1936 Orbroich had been independent)

Historical population of Krefeld[link]

¹ Census data

Mayors of Krefeld from 1848[link]

• 1848–1872: Ludwig Heinrich Ondereyck
• 1872–1881: Friedrich Christian Roos
• 1882–1903: Ernst Küper
• 1903–1905: Wilhelm Hammerschmidt
• 1905–1911: Adalbert Oehler
• 1911–1930: Johannes Johansen
• 1945–1946: Johannes Stepkes
• 1946–1947: Wilhelm Warsch
• 1947–1949: Hermann Passen
• 1949–1951: Hanns Müller (FDP)
• 1951–1956: Johannes Hauser (CDU)
• 1956–1961: Josef Hellenbrock (SPD)
• 1961–1968: Herbert van Hüllen (CDU)
• 1968–1982: Hansheinz Hauser (CDU)
• 1982–1989: Dieter Pützhofen, first term in office (CDU)
• 1989–1994: Willi Wahl (SPD)
• 1994–2004: Dieter Pützhofen, second term in office (CDU)
• 2004–present: Gregor Kathstede (CDU)

City counsellors 1946 until 1999[link]

• 1946–1949: Johan Stepkes
• 1949–1964: Bernhard Heun
• 1964–1986: Hermann Steffens
• 1986–1988: Alfred Dahlmann
• 1988–1999: Heinz-Josef Vogt

Transport[link]

Bundesautobahn 44 towards Düsseldorf

Krefeld is connected to the Deutsche Bahn network with several stations, including its main station, Krefeld Hauptbahnhof. They are served only by Regional-Express and Regionalbahn trains. The Düsseldorf-based Rheinbahn operates a Stadtbahn service to the centrally located Rheinstraße stop. This line was the first electric inter-city rail line in Europe, established in 1898, and commonly called the K-Bahn because of the letter "K" used to denote the trains to Krefeld. Nowadays, in the VRR notation, it is called U76, with the morning express trains numbered as U70, the line number there coloured red instead of the usual blue used for U-Bahn lines. The term K-Bahn, however, prevails in common usage.

The city of Krefeld itself operates four tramway and several bus lines under the umbrella of SWK Mobil, a city-owned company. Since 2010 19 of the oldest trams of the type DUEWAG GT8 were replaced by modern barrier-free trams of the type Bombardier Flexity Outlook. SWK Mobil owns an option to buy another 19 trams of the same type to replace the last 19 DUEWAG M8 trams. The whole tram-fleet will then be barrier-free. Next to that the city plans to extend the line 044 in Krefeld-Hüls to connect the northern district of Hüls with the Krefeld downtown area in.

Economy[link]

The headquarters of Fressnapf, a pet food retailer franchise company, are situated in Krefeld.

Sister Cities[link]

	Country		City		County / District / Region / State	Date
	Netherlands		Venlo		Venlo	1964
	England	25px	Leicester		Leicestershire	1969
	France		Dunkirk		Nord	1974
	Netherlands		Leiden		South Holland	1974
	United States	25px	Charlotte		North Carolina	1986
	Germany		Beeskow		Brandenburg	1990
	Russia		Ulyanovsk		Ulyanovsk Oblast	1993
	Turkey		Kayseri		Kayseri Province	2009

Notable natives[link]

Scientists:

• Rudi Dornbusch (1 December, 8 June 1942 – 25 July 2002), economist
• Max Zorn (6 June 1906 – 9 March 1993 in Bloomington, Indiana), mathematician
• Leopold Löwenheim, logician

Writers, poets and journalists:

• Kurt Feltz (14 April 1910 – 3 August, 1982 in Majorca) – poet
• Werner Ross (1912 in Uerdingen – 2002), German writer
• Otto Brües (1 May 1897 – 18 April 1967) – journalist
• Margarethe Schreinemakers (1958), a journalist

Musicians:

• Silent Force, prog/classical "epic" rock band
• Blind Guardian, popular German heavy metal band
• Everon, German progressive metal
• Ralf Hütter (20 August 1946), Lead Singer of Electronic Music Pioneers Kraftwerk
• Aquagen, popular German trance and techno artists
• Heinrich Band (1821–1860)
• Andrea Berg, popular German singer
• Cosmic Gate, popular German trance duo

Artists:

• Joseph Beuys (12 May 1921 – 1986), artist
• Heinrich Campendonk (3 November 1889 – 9 May 1957 in Amsterdam)
• Albert Oehlen, artist
• Markus Oehlen, artist
• Marc Margielsky, artist

Aviators:

• Felix Kracht (1912–2002), aerospace engineer, an Airbus pioneer and former Senior Vice President
• Werner Voss (13 April 1897 – 23 September 1917), German World War I aviator
• Emil Schäfer (17 December 1891 – 5 June 1917), German World War I aviator

Sportspeople:

• Martin Hyun, German and U.S. hockey player
• Frank Schwinghammer a German and Canadian hockey player

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Krefeld (category)

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Crefeld.

• Official city website
• Map of the districts of Krefeld
• Krefeld-Linner Flachsmarkt
• Krefeld Icehockeyteam
• KFC Uerdingen
• Stadttheater Krefeld
• Krefelds Veranstaltungen, Events, Termine

v t e Urban and rural districts in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany Urban districts Bielefeld Bochum Bonn Bottrop Dortmund Duisburg Düsseldorf Essen Gelsenkirchen Hagen Hamm Herne Köln (Cologne) Krefeld Leverkusen Mönchengladbach Mülheim Münster Oberhausen Remscheid Solingen Wuppertal Rural districts Aachen Borken Coesfeld Düren Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis Euskirchen Gütersloh Heinsberg Herford Hochsauerlandkreis Höxter Kleve (Cleves) Lippe Märkischer Kreis Mettmann Minden-Lübbecke Oberbergischer Kreis Olpe Paderborn Recklinghausen Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis Rhein-Erft-Kreis Rhein-Kreis Neuss Rhein-Sieg-Kreis Siegen-Wittgenstein Soest Steinfurt Unna Viersen Warendorf Wesel

Scott Langkow (born April 21, 1975) is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing in Europe with the Krefeld Pinguine of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.

Playing career[link]

Langkow is a goalkeeper who has been in the Finnish SM-liiga for four seasons. He describes his playing style as a combination of butterfly and stand-up.^[1]

Langkow played for the Portland Winter Hawks in the WHL and recorded three straight 20-win seasons with the club before being drafted by Winnipeg Jets with their 2nd pick, 31st overall, in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft. When the Winnipeg franchise relocated on July 1, 1996, he was transferred to the Phoenix Coyotes. During this time he won 63 games over three seasons and was one of the top goaltenders in the AHL while playing for the Springfield Falcons. In 1998 he won the Aldege "Baz" Bastien Memorial Award as AHL's best goalkeeper.^[2][3]

Langkow was traded to Atlanta Thrashers on June 25, 1999, where he played 15 games for the NHL club before being traded again to Anaheim Ducks with Sergei Vyshedkevich for Ladislav Kohn on February 9, 2001.^[2]

After four seasons playing for Ässät in the SM-liiga, Langkow signed a one-year contract with HV71 in Sweden's top hockey league Elitserien.^[4] After only having played 11 games as starting goalie for HV71 in the Swedish league, Langkow signed with the Swiss team Rapperswil-Jona Lakers in Nationalliga A.^[5][6] In June 2007 he signed a one-year contract with Jokerit of the Finnish SM-liiga.^[7]

Although Langkow was contracted to Jokerit his contract was terminated as he was replaced by Jussi Markkanen as the number 1 goaltender for Jokerit.^[8]

Off the ice[link]

Langkow is married with two children, one boy and one girl. He has a younger brother named Daymond who is a hockey player in the NHL. Scott likes to go fishing and play golf in his spare time.^[1]

Awards[link]

• Named to the WHL West Second All-Star Team in 1994 and 1995.
• Awarded the Hap Holmes Memorial Award (AHL fewest goals against) in 1996. (Shared with Manny Legace)
• Named to the AHL First All-Star Team in 1998.
• Awarded the Aldege "Baz" Bastien Memorial Award (AHL Outstanding Goaltender) in 1998.

Career statistics[link]

Regular season[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Scott Langkow's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database