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city in Overijssel the Netherlands
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Enschede (Dutch: [ˈɛnsxədeː] ⓘ; local Twents: Eanske [ˈɛːnskə]) is a city and municipality in the province of Overijssel and the Twente region of the eastern Netherlands. The east of the urban area reaches the border of the German town of Gronau.
Enschede began as a small settlement in the Middle Ages and was granted city rights in 1325. It grew as a regional centre for trade and agriculture before becoming a major hub of the textile industry in the 18th and 19th centuries. Until 1935, the municipality of Enschede consisted only of the city of Enschede, when the rural municipality of Lonneker, which surrounded the city, was annexed after the rapid industrial expansion of Enschede that began in the 1860s and involved the building of railways and the digging of the Twentekanaal.
Enschede is home to the football club FC Twente, a one-time Dutch champion; the University of Twente; Saxion University of Applied Sciences and the last Polaroid film factory.
The early history of Enschede is largely unknown, but a settlement existed around the Old Marketplace in early medieval times. The name of this settlement is mentioned as Anescede or Enscede meaning either "near the border" (with Bentheim) or "near the Es" and sported a church, a marketplace and a fortified aristocratic house.
Enschede was granted city rights around 1300 which were confirmed in 1325 by Bishop Jan III van Diest and henceforth was allowed to protect itself with a wall. Because a stone wall was too expensive (since stone had to be imported), Enschede had a system of ditches, palisades and hedges instead, which is still reflected in the street-names Noorderhagen and Zuiderhagen (North Hedge and South Hedge, respectively). The city plan of this era is still recognisable in the street-pattern. The city was spared destruction in 1597 at its capture during the Eighty Years' War when after a short siege, the Spanish garrison surrendered the city and the defences were razed.
Because the medieval city was largely built of wood and stone houses were the exception, fire was a constant risk and a series of fires in 1517, 1750 and again on 7 May 1862 earned the people from Enschede the nickname Brandstichters (arsonists).
The last fire coincided with the start of the growth of the city into a large production center for textiles, stimulating a large increase in population, which by 1894 had reached an estimated 18,267: nineteenth-century urban growth was at first rather chaotic. The names of the slums (like De Krim and Sebastopol) are still notorious, although they have long since been torn down. In 1907 the laissez faire mentality was dropped and Enschede was the first city in the Netherlands to draw up an official expansion plan, incorporating the surrounding municipality of Lonneker.
Textile production, originally a cottage industry, reached an industrial scale at the start of the 19th century. In particular, bombazijn (a mixture of cotton and linen) proved a successful export. One such factory to have produced textiles in the late 19th century is the Hardick & Seckel Factory.
During World War II, Enschede was one of the first Dutch cities to be captured by German troops due to its proximity to the German border. Resistance members helped many of the Jews from Enschede to hide on farms in the vicinity. Out of approximately 1300 Jews in Enschede, 500 were saved (38.5%), compared to less than 20% in the rest of the Netherlands. This higher survival rate is attributed to three members of the Jewish Council of Enschede, Sig Menko, Gerard Sanders and Isidoor Van Dam who took the initiative, against the advice of the Jewish Council of Amsterdam, of urging their community to go into hiding and not to answer the call-up of the Germans for "labour in the East." Another notable hero of the era was Enschede Pastor Leendert Overduin, who saved hundreds of Jewish children and adults, with help from his sister and others, through a network of safehouses in and around Enschede.
Enschede was bombed on several occasions, most notably on 10 October 1943, and 22 February 1944. During the first raid the nearby airport (then Fliegerhorst Twente) was a target of opportunity for the VIII Bomber Command during a raid on rail- and waterways in Münster. 141 people died and many houses were damaged. The latter mission named Enschede as a target of opportunity during Big Week after bombers had been recalled due to adverse weather.
In the 1960s, the textile industry was completely lost, at the cost of approximately 30,000 jobs. Most of the large factory complexes were demolished in the 1970s and 1980s, some were renovated and given a new purpose. For example, homes were built in the former factories of Jannink and Van Heek. In addition, part of the Jannink complex was converted into a museum. Enschede developed into a service city.
In the 1970s, the textile production in Enschede came to a halt, due to fierce competition from mainly the Far East. This had a profound effect on the populace. Enschede became one of the poorest municipalities in the Netherlands and went bankrupt. Large areas of industrial wasteland came to mark the city. With the support of the national government, this property was acquired and rebuilt. The city center was rendered a car-free zone.
In 1961, it was announced that a third technical university would be founded, placed on an estate on the western border of Enschede. This green campus called Drienerlo was donated by the city of Enschede. Building was complete in 1964, when the first and only full-facility university of the Netherlands was realised.
On 13 May 2000, a fireworks storage depot in Enschede exploded, destroying part of the neighborhood of Roombeek and killing 23 people, including 4 firemen. In 2001, a referendum confirmed the proposal of the city council to expand the built-up area into the Usseler Es, an area of historic cultural significance and of geological importance, as it was here that the Usselo horizon was discovered. The renovations at Roombeek were finished in the year 2012. The place where the factory used to be is now a monument.
The Alpha Tower was completed in 2008 and this tower block with 91 apartments spread over 29 floors, with a height of 101 meters, is the tallest building in Enschede and the whole province of Overijssel. In the period 1995–2010, Enschede grew by approximately 10,000 inhabitants, but since then the growth has stagnated.
Enschede lies in the eastern part of Overijssel and is the easternmost city of more than 140,000 inhabitants in the Netherlands. The city lies a few kilometres from Germany, which borders the municipality. A few small rivers flow through or surround the city, such as the Roombeek and Glanerbeek.
Enschede contains five official city districts, which also include surrounding villages in the municipality:
Like most of the Netherlands, Enschede features an oceanic climate (Cfb in the Köppen classification), however, winters tend to be less mild than the rest of the Netherlands due to its inland location. Although the former military airport is derelict and plans to revive the place were canceled in 2012, the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute still maintains a weather station there.
The largest religion in Enschede is Christianity with 34.9% of the population being Christian.
Enschede has a large Assyrian community, the first Assyrians came to Enschede in the 1970s, primarily from Turkey (Tur Abdin). Today there are three Syriac Orthodox Churches in the city which meet the spiritual needs of Enschede's more than 10,000 Assyrians.
As of 2020, Enschede had a total population of 159,640 people.
The city is a former centre of textile production. When this industry left the area for cheaper production centers in South-East Asia, Enschede became one of the poorest municipalities in the Netherlands. More educated and wealthier citizens have historically migrated to the Randstad region; decades of renovation work in the city center have been carried out with the goal of making Enschede more attractive to this group. Modern shopping centres and department stores that until recently were only found in much larger cities have been opened. Enschede is host to many yearly festivals and the Old Market Square is often the venue for events, live music and other activities at the weekend.
The proximity to Germany has, historically, been another major factor in the city's economic activity, ranging from the smuggling of coffee and tobacco in the 19th and 20th century, to large numbers of Germans, who visit the city's shops and weekly markets. Therefore, many natives of Enschede speak German more or less fluently.
The city is co-operating with the nearby municipalities of Almelo, Borne and Hengelo as Netwerkstad Twente. A draft law plan to merge Enschede with Hengelo and Almelo was defeated in parliament under the influence of opposition from the other towns.
There are over 95,000 jobs in Enschede. Most businesses can be found on one the business parks in the city or the port of Enschede (inland water port).
Grolsch beer is brewed in Enschede, and the tyre manufacturer Apollo Vredestein B.V. head office and a factory are in the city. It now looks like the factory in Enschede will close in 2025.
Other major employers are University of Twente, Saxion University of applied sciences, MST medical centre, Health insurance company Menzis, foodcompany Huuskes and Rabobank.
There are several museums in Enschede, among them the Rijksmuseum Twenthe for art. A museum of natural history and a museum dedicated to the history of the textiles industry, both closed in January 2007, have merged, and have reopened in April 2008 in new premises on a new location under the name TwentseWelle (Source/Well of Twente). The new location is situated in Roombeek, where a fireworks disaster took place in 2000. The new museum is located partly in a renovated old textile factory, in reference to Enschede's textile history, and partly in an adjourning new building, designed by the Amsterdam-based firm SeARCH (project architect: Bjarne Mastenbroek). Besides museums there are also several art spaces, the most prominent being Villa de Bank and TETEM. The latter focuses on art and technology, and aims to be accessible for a wide public. Enschede is also home of The Netherlands Symphony Orchestra.
De Museumfabriek (formerly TwensteWelle) is a museum in the Roombeek district that arose from a merger of three institutions: Natuurmuseum Enschede, Van Deinse Instituut and Fabriekcomplex Jannink. In this museum, the cultural-historical heritage of Twente is linked to the natural-historical heritage, a unique combination for the Netherlands. The museum was opened in April 2008 by the then Queen Beatrix.
The German-Dutch relationship is characteristic of music culture, which arose through cooperation in the border region and the dominant textile industry in the 19th and 20th centuries. Especially during the period of reversal after the World War I, a close German-Dutch cultural cooperation developed in Gronau and Enschede, which became increasingly important from string quartets, salon orchestras and hot dance music bands to symphony orchestras and an operetta company ("Enschedesch Opera en Operette Gezelschap") with their own performances. At the same time, jazz also found enthusiastic supporters from 1920 onwards.
The three major concert stages for classical music in Enschede – the Muziekcentrum, the Twentse Schouwburg and the Grote Kerk – have been operating under the name Podium Twente since September 2002 and since September 2011 under the name Wilminktheater en Muziekcentrum Enschede. There is a varied offer of concerts, theater, youth and youth performances and the like to visit.
In November 2008 the Nationaal Muziekkwartier opened its doors in Enschede. A new large theatre, pop stage Atak, the ArtEZ Conservatory, the Orkest van het Oosten (now the Dutch Symphony Orchestra), the Twente Music School, the Nationale Reisopera (now the Nederlandse Reisopera) and Podium Twente (now Wilminktheater en Muziekcentrum Enschede) have settled in this dominant building opposite the Central Station in Enschede. There will be a new large square, the Willem Wilminkplein.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Enschede”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.