Aalten

Aalten ( listen^{? /i}) is a municipality located in the east of the Netherlands. It is located in the Achterhoek in the province of Gelderland, directly on the border with the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Aalten lives mainly from agriculture, small business and tourism. It has a railway station on the Winterswijk-Zevenaar-Arnheim railway line, operated by Arriva. Of the three castles formerly located here, only the Walfort remains.

Aalten is a neighbouring village of the German town of Bocholt and was also on the Lichtenvoorde-Bocholt railway line.

With the municipal reform of 1 January 2005, the neighbouring municipality of Dinxperlo (about 8,600 inhabitants) was dissolved and became part of the municipality of Aalten, which previously had about 18,900 inhabitants.

A well-known resident of Aalten is Angus Young, guitarist of the Australian band AC/DC.

History

During the Second World War, a particularly large number of persons in hiding, such as Jews, political and racial persecutees, resistance fighters and fugitives from forced labour, were hidden from the German occupiers and the police in Aalten. In Aalten there were about 2,500 people in hiding for every 13,000 inhabitants. The building at Markt 12, home of the Kempink family, was the headquarters of the German local commandant's office, a place of refuge during bombing raids for people from the neighbourhood and a hiding place for those who had to go into hiding from the National Socialists. Today it houses the National Museum of Underground Diving.

Local

• Aalten (12,785 inhabitants; seat of the municipal administration)
• Bredevoort, known as the "book town" (1,635 inhabitants)
• Dale (630 Inhabitants)
• Dinxperlo: The village has the peculiarity that since the First World War the border to Germany goes right through the middle of the village, which has 7,230 inhabitants. The national border runs partly through properties, so that individual houses can only be reached via the neighbouring country. A road was also divided. Today, the border with the German Bocholt-Suderwick is only recognizable by the different license plates and traffic signs. Dinxperlo also has the only German-Dutch police station. It is located on Dutch territory, right next to the town hall. The smallest church in the Netherlands is in Dinxperlo.
• Haart (660 Inhabitants)
• De Heurne (955 inhabitants) and Heurne (370 inhabitants)
• IJzerlo (620 Inhabitants)
• 't Klooster
• Lintelo (790 Inhabitants)

Church of St. Helena in Aalten