Wesel

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Wesel
Willibrordi-Dom in Wesel
Coat of arms	Location

Administration
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Düsseldorf
District	Wesel
Town subdivisions	5
Mayor	Ulrike Westkamp (SPD)
Basic statistics
Area	122.617 km² (47.3 sq mi)
Elevation	23 m (75 ft)
Population	61,432 (31/12/2006)
- Density	501 /km² (1,298 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	WES
Postal codes	46483, 46485, 46487
Area codes	02 81 0 28 03 (Büderich) 0 28 59 (Bislich)
Website	www.wesel.de Coordinates: 51°39′31″N 6°37′4″E / 51.65861, 6.61778

Wesel (IPA: [ˈveːzəl]) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel district.

1 Geography
- 1.1 Division of the town
2 History
3 Politics
- 3.1 Twin Towns
4 Buildings and places of interest in Wesel
5 People born in Wesel
6 Miscellaneous
7 Footnotes
8 External links

[edit] Geography

Wesel is situated at the point where the Lippe River empties into the Rhine.

[edit] Division of the town

Suburbs of Wesel include Lackhausen, Obrighoven, Ginderich, Büderich, Flüren and Blumenkamp.

[edit] History

The city originates from a Franconian manor that was first mentioned in the 8th century. In the 12th century, Wesel came into the possession of the Duke of Cleves. The city was given extensive privileges and became a member of the Hanseatic League during the 15th century. Within the Duchy of Cleves, Wesel was second only to Cologne in the lower Rhine region as an entrepôt. It was an important commercial centre: a clearing station for the transshipment and trading of goods.

Wesel was inherited by the Hohenzollerns of the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1609. Friedrich Wilhelm von Dossow was the Prussian Governor of Wesel during the 18th century. The city became part of the Prussian Rhine Province after the Napoleonic Wars.

97% of Wesel was destroyed before it was finally taken by Allied troops in 1945

During World War II, Wesel became a target of the Allies particularly in its capacity as a strategic depot. On the 16, 17 and 19 February 1945, the town was attacked with impact and air-burst weapons and almost entirely destroyed. The Rhine and Lippe bridges were blown by the Wehrmacht; among others, on 10 March, the 1,950m long railway bridge, the last Rhine bridge remaining in German hands. On 23 March, Wesel came under the fire of over 3,000 guns when it was bombarded anew, in preparation for Operation Plunder. 97% of the town was destroyed before it was finally taken by Allied troops and the population had fallen from almost 25,000 in 1939 to 1,900 in May 1945.^[1].