Wickrathberg is a borough of the German city Mönchengladbach, located in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia. The river Niers flows through the village.
Wickrathberg | |
|---|---|
 Monument to the 1945 German prisoner of war camp in Wickrathberg. | |
Location of Wickrathberg in Mönchengladbach  | |
  Wickrathberg  Wickrathberg | |
| Coordinates: 51°7′N 06°25′E / 51.117°N 6.417°E | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | North Rhine-Westphalia |
| Admin. region | Düsseldorf |
| District | Urban district |
| City | Mönchengladbach |
| Area | |
• Total | 3.52 km2 (1.36 sq mi) |
| Population (2022-12-31)[1] | |
• Total | 2,185 |
| • Density | 620/km2 (1,600/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| Postal codes | 41189 |
| Dialling codes | 02161, 02166 |
History
editThe village belonged to the manor of Wickrath in the Middle Ages and early modern times.
An important Jewish community existed in Wickrathberg since before 1704. There was a synagogue, a school and a Jewish cemetery in neighboring Wanlo. The Wickrathberg synagogue was destroyed during the Kristallnacht in November 1938. Only a memorial plaque remains in the pavement of Berger Dorfstraße. In the following years, the Jewish citizens were arrested and deported to concentration camps. By 1942, the 250-year-old Wickrathberg Jewish community had ceased to exist.[2]
In 1945, after the end of the Second World War, the American army built a large temporary prisoner of war camp in the triangle between Güdderath, Hochneukirch and Wickrathberg, one of the so-called "Rheinwiesenlager". It held between 120,000 and 150,000 German prisoners of war from April to September 1945 in the open air.[3]
People who grew up in Wickrathberg
edit- Hilde Sherman (1923–2011), Jewish woman who survived the Holocaust.
- Wolfgang Lüderitz (1926–2012), composer.