Netherlands, Enschede

Enschede is a municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands, in the province of Overijssel, in the Twente region. The municipality of Enschede consisted of the city of Enschede until 1935, when the rural municipality of Lonneker, which completely enclosed the city, was annexed after the rapid industrial expansion of Enschede, which had begun in the 1860's and involved the building of railways and the digging of the Twentekanaal.

History

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.

Since 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 May 7, 1862 earned the people from Enschede the nickname Brandstichters (arsonists).

During the Second World War Enschede was one of the first Dutch cities to be captured by the Germans, being the city closest to Germany. Resistance members helped many of the Jews from Enschede to hide on farms in the vicinity.

In the 1970 the textile production in Enschede came to a halt and was transferred to the far east. This had a profound effect on the populace and Enschede became one of the poorest municipalities in the Netherlands and (de facto) went bankrupt. Large area's of industrial wasteland now marked the city.

Economy

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. The biggest challenge of the city is to prevent higher educated (wealthy) citizens from moving to the west (Randstad). Decades of renovation work in the city center have been carried out with the goal of making Enschede more attractive to this group.

The city is cooperating with the nearby municipalities of Almelo, Borne and Hengelo as Netwerkstad Twente. A governmental plan to merge with Hengelo was discarded by local opposition.

Culture

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 December 2007 on a new location under the name Twentse Welle (Wave of Twente).

Transportation

Enschede is a terminal station of the NS railway network to the west.

To the east there is a line to Gronau, Germany, with two more stations of the latter in the Netherlands: "Enschede De Eschmarke" and "Glanerbrug". The line is served by:

DB Regionalbahn Westfalen (part of the German Deutsche Bahn), to Münster.
Prignitzer Eisenbahn (PE Holding AG, Arriva) to Dortmund.

Enschede has a combined regional civil airport, Enschede Airport, and Airbase Twenthe of the Royal Netherlands Air Force. The latter will be closed in 2007; whether the former can remain open is under consideration.