Selfkant
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Selfkant (Dutch: Selfkant) is a municipality in the Heinsberg district of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the most westerly municipality in Germany (5° 55 OL). The border with the Netherlands is 27 kilometres long; the border with the rest of Germany is 6 kilometres long.
[edit] History
The most important domain in Selfkant in the Middle Ages was the original Millen, the residence of the lords of Millen, which became part of the domain Heinsberg in 1282. In 1499 these were joined by the duke of Jülich and Millen became the seat of an Amtmann. The places Tüddern, Wehr, Süsterseel and Hillensberg belonged to the Amt Born and from 1709 to the Amt Sittard.
From 1794 to 1815 Selfkant was part of the French canton Sittard (department of the Roer). After the congress of Vienna it became part of the Prussian Rhine province. The border with the Netherlands which was then fixed continued to exist until shortly after the Second World War.
[edit] Tüddern
After the Second World War, on 23 April 1949, Selfkant was annexed by the Netherlands as part of war reparations. The governing board chosen by the Germans was sent home because it was contrary to the Dutch constitution. The German inhabitants got a Dutch passport with the special indication "to be treated as a Dutchman". A country landdrost was appointed by the Dutch government as a governing board head of the Tüddern office, as the administrative name of the Selfkant now sounded. The government wanted to establish a transitional measure for ex-German territories. The German governing board would function as an advisory body.
In that time much was invested in the now Dutch Zelfkant, among other things, in building houses and roads. Parts of the city became Dutch-ified. Even now Dutch influence is still present in this city.
In the Dutch period N274 was laid out which links Roermond with Heerlen. Even after 1963 the road has remained a narrow piece of Dutch territory with no junctions with German roads so that a passport was not necessary. On 25 February 2002 the road was returned to Germany and in the course of 2004 connections have been made with several roads, among others with B56 between Gangelt and Süsterseel.
In March 1957 official negotiations started between the Netherlands and Germany concerning the return of the area.
[edit] German municipality
Since 1 August 1963 Selfkant has belonged to Germany after payment of 280 million deutschemarks. From the existing office Tüddern the old municipalities Havert, Hillensberg, Höngen, Millen, Süsterseel, Tüddern and Wehr were formed. Two months later, on 21 October 1963, the first municipality Council elections under German authority were held.
The seven municipalities, with the municipality Saeffelen from the Amt Waldfeucht, were added to the municipality Selfkant on 1 July 1969.
With 233 inhabitants per km² Selfkant is considered a rural municipality. Because of the favourable price of land the municipality is nowadays very much in demand with young families. A lot of Dutch cross the border to build their own houses there. Roughly one quarter to one half of the inhabitants are Dutch. At the mayoral election of 2003 a Dutch inhabitant put himself forward as candidate.
Many residents are also stationed, work, or are family members of those who do work at the NATO Air Base in Geilenkirchen. Tuddern alone has over 30 American families with the Gem. Selkant having dozens more. Many Canadians at the NATO base also live in Selfkant. English is quite prominent as a third language to Dutch and German in the whole area.
Erkelenz | Gangelt | Geilenkirchen | Heinsberg | Hückelhoven | Selfkant | Übach-Palenberg | Waldfeucht | Wassenberg | Wegberg |
