Porta Westfalica

Porta Westfalica
Porta Westfalica
	View over Porta Westfalica to the Weser hills
	Coat of arms
	Location of Porta Westfalica within Minden-Lübbecke district
	Porta Westfalica Porta Westfalica
	Coordinates: 52°13′0″N 8°56′0″E
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Detmold
District	Minden-Lübbecke
Subdivisions	15
Government
• Mayor	Bernd Hedtmann (no party)
Area
• Total	105 km2 (41 sq mi)
Highest elevation	303 m (994 ft)
Lowest elevation	46 m (151 ft)
Population (2018-12-31)[1]
• Total	35,671
• Density	340/km2 (880/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	32457
Dialling codes	0571, 05706, 05722, 05731, 05751
Vehicle registration	MI
Website	www.portawestfalica.de

Porta Westfalica (German: [ˈpɔʁta vɛstˈfaːlɪka] (listen)) is a town in the district of Minden-Lübbecke, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

The name "Porta Westfalica" is Latin and means "gate to Westphalia". Coming from the north, the gorge is the entry to the region of Westphalia. The name was coined by scholars of the 19th century.

History

The town Porta Westfalica was established in 1973 by merging fifteen villages surrounding the gorge. The centre of the modern town is the former village of Hausberge, which was first mentioned in 1096.

The Emperor William Monument was erected near the town by the then Prussian Province of Westphalia between 1892 and 1896[2] The monument, which is around 88 metres[2] high, is classified as one of Germany's national monuments.

From March 18, 1944 until April 1, 1945 a concentration camp was established in the Barkhausen quarter.[3] From February 1, 1945 until April 1, 1945 a camp was used in the Hausberge quarter.[4] In the Lerbeck quarter also was a concentration camp in use from October 1, 1944 until April 1, 1945.[5] In the Neesen quarter was a location for the forced labour for some of the inmates.[6] All of these camps were subcamps of the Neuengamme concentration camp.

On 10 January 2015, Belgian footballer Junior Malanda died in a car accident near the town, aged 20.[7]

Geography

Porta Westfalica is situated on the right bank of the Weser (except for the Barkhausen quarter), near the Porta Westfalica gorge, where the river runs through the passage between the mountain chains of the Wiehen Hills in the west and the Weser Uplands in the east. The gorge appears like a gate to the region Westphalia, which lies to the south of it. It is overlooked by the Jakobsberg and Wittekindsberg hills.

View of Porta Westfalica from a postcard dated 1904.

Neighbouring places

Division of the town

The town of Porta Westfalica consists of 15 districts:

Hausberge (5,064 inhabitants)
Lohfeld (1,350 inhabitants)
Barkhausen (4,253 inhabitants)
Neesen (2,319 inhabitants)
Lerbeck (3,727 inhabitants)
Nammen (2,208 inhabitants)
Wülpke (606 inhabitants)
Kleinenbremen (2,245 inhabitants)

Eisbergen (3,401 inhabitants)
Veltheim (2,539 inhabitants)
Möllbergen (1,643 inhabitants)
Holtrup (1,048 inhabitants)
Vennebeck (983 inhabitants)
Costedt (508 inhabitants)
Holzhausen (4,284 inhabitants)

Twin Towns

Hansestadt Demmin (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany)
Waterloo, Illinois (United States)
Berlin-Kreuzberg (Berlin, Germany)

Monument of Kaiser Wilhelm I

Buildings and structures

Jakobsberg Telecommunication Tower, a TV tower with an observation deck.
Monument to Kaiser Wilhelm I, above the gorge, near the village Barkhausen
Wittekindsburg, remains of an Iron Age "oppidum" (3rd - 1st century BC) and Saxon-Frankish fort (8th/9th century AD), in the Wiehen Hills near Barkhausen

Notes

"Bevölkerung der Gemeinden Nordrhein-Westfalens am 31. Dezember 2018" (in German). Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
Information board with the title Emperor William Monument at the northern approach to the monument at commons.wikimedia.org
The camp is listed as No. 77 Barkhausen official German list.
The camp is listed as No. 585 Hausberge a.d. Porta in the official German list.
The camp is listed as No. 843 Lerbeck/Westfalen in the official German list.
The location is listed as No. 1024 Neesen, Kreis Minden, in the official German list.
"Junior Malanda funeral draws over 1,000 mourners including Wolfsburg team-mate Kevin de Bruyne". Daily Mail. Press Association. 20 January 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2015.

References

Official German list of concentration camps Verzeichnis der Konzentrationslager und ihrer Außenkommandos (in German)

External links

Official website (in German)

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[1] "Bevölkerung der Gemeinden Nordrhein-Westfalens am 31. Dezember 2018" (in German). Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW. Retrieved 10 July 2019.

[TafelKWD-2] Information board with the title Emperor William Monument at the northern approach to the monument at commons.wikimedia.org

[3] The camp is listed as No. 77 Barkhausen official German list.

[4] The camp is listed as No. 585 Hausberge a.d. Porta in the official German list.

[5] The camp is listed as No. 843 Lerbeck/Westfalen in the official German list.

[6] The location is listed as No. 1024 Neesen, Kreis Minden, in the official German list.

[7] "Junior Malanda funeral draws over 1,000 mourners including Wolfsburg team-mate Kevin de Bruyne". Daily Mail. Press Association. 20 January 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2015.