Kleve (district, North Rhine-Westphalia)

District area

Parts of the district belong to the Maas-Schwalm-Nette Nature Park.

District municipalities

The district of Kleve is divided into 16 municipalities, five of which are medium-sized towns. These municipalities are basically responsible for their own local affairs, while the district assumes local and otherwise supra-local tasks for smaller municipalities.

(Population figures as of 31 December 2020 in brackets)

Neighbouring districts or provinces

The district of Kleve borders on the districts of Borken, Wesel and Viersen. In the west it borders the province of Limburg, in the north and northwest the province of Gelderland (both in the Netherlands).

On 23 April 1816, in the course of the Prussian administrative organisation, the district of Kleve was formed as one of 29 districts of the province of Jülich-Kleve-Berg, later to become the Rhine Province. The district area was made up of the cantons of Kalkar, Kleve and Kranenburg, which had been formed during the French period, and part of the canton of Goch. Before the French period, the district had belonged to the Duchy of Kleve, which had been part of Prussia since 1666 and was reassigned to Prussia at the Congress of Vienna in 1815.

The district belonged to the administrative district of Kleve until its dissolution in 1822 and since then to the administrative district of Düsseldorf. It covered an area from Goch in the south, along the German-Dutch border northwards to the Rhine in the east and southwards to Kalkar. After the entry into force of the Municipal Code for the Rhine Province of 1845 and the Rhenish Town Code of 1856 for the two towns of Goch and Kleve, the district was subdivided as follows:

The municipality of Schenkenschanz was incorporated into the municipality of Salmorth in 1911. The mayoralties consisting of several municipalities were called Ämter from 1927 onwards. In 1952, the two new municipalities of Reichswalde and Nierswalde were founded. On 1 April 1958, the new municipality of Grietherort was formed from the part of the municipality on the right bank of the Rhine, which was assigned to the district of Rees. After that, the district of Kleve had the following administrative division until 1969:

As a result of the law on the reorganisation of the district of Kleve, on 1 July 1969, in the first phase of the territorial reform in North Rhine-Westphalia, all offices were dissolved and the municipalities were reorganised. Since then, the district of Kleve has consisted of the following municipalities:

• City of Kleve, formed from the old city of Kleve as well as Materborn, Donsbrüggen, Keeken, Rindern, Wardhausen, Brienen, Griethausen, Kellen, Salmorth, Warbeyen and Reichswalde.
• City of Kalkar, formed from the old city of Kalkar as well as Altkalkar, Appeldorn, Bylerward, Grieth, Hanselaer, Hönnepel, Neulouisendorf, Niedermörmter, Wissel, Wisselward and Emmericher Eyland.
• City of Goch, formed from the old city of Goch as well as Asperden, Hassum, Hommersum, Hülm, Kessel, Nierswalde and Pfalzdorf.
• Municipality of Kranenburg, formed from the old municipality of Kranenburg as well as Wyler, Zyfflich, Mehr and Niel.
• Municipality of Bedburg-Hau, formed by Hau, Louisendorf, Schneppenbaum, Till-Moyland and Huisberden
• Municipality of Uedem, formed from the old municipality of Uedem as well as Keppeln, Uedemerbruch and Uedemerfeld.

On 1 January 1975, in the second reorganisation phase under the Lower Rhine Act, the old district of Kleve was merged with the district of Geldern and parts of the districts of Moers and Rees to form the new district of Kleve. The southern eight municipalities are also referred to as Südkreis Kleve.

Population statistics

Confession statistics

According to the 2011 census, 62.9 % of the inhabitants were Roman Catholic and 17.1 % Protestant. 20.0 % were non-denominational, belonged to another denomination or did not specify.

According to the Diocese of Münster, the proportion of Catholics has fallen to 59.5 % by the end of 2019.

County Council

Since the local elections on 13 September 2020, the following parties have been represented in the district council: CDU (44.1 %, 27 seats), SPD (19.6 %, 12 seats), Greens (19.6 %, 12 seats), FDP (6.4 %, 4 seats), AfD (4.0 %, 2 seats), VWGem (3.6 %, 2 seats) and Linke (1.8 %, 1 seat). The turnout was 51.6 %.

The next district council election will take place in autumn 2025.

District Administrator

Silke Gorißen (CDU) has been the district administrator of the district of Kleve since the district election of 27 September 2020. She won the run-off election with 54.2 % of the votes against Peter Driessen (45.8 %). The voter turnout was 31.4 %.

In the district council election on 13 September 2020, no candidate achieved an absolute majority. Of the valid votes cast, Silke Gorißen (CDU) received 48.7 %, Peter Driessen 24.0 %, Guido Winkmann 23.1 % and Friedrich Eitzert (AfD) 4.2 %. The voter turnout was 51.5%.

For the first time, the SPD, the Greens, the FDP and the United Voters' Associations had agreed on a joint candidate for district administrator in the 2020 elections. However, this candidate, Peter Driessen, formally ran as an individual candidate.

The next district council election will take place in autumn 2025.

Coat of arms

Museums

• List of museums in the district of Kleve

Jewish cemeteries

There are 14 documented Jewish cemeteries in the district of Kleve: three each in Emmerich and Goch, two each in Rees and Uedem and one each in Geldern, Issum, Kalkar and Kleve. They are cultural monuments worthy of protection - stone witnesses to formerly existing Jewish communities and a lively Jewish community life until the 1930s.

Air traffic

The Niederrhein Airport is located in the district area - in the municipality of Weeze. The nearest international airport is Düsseldorf Airport.

Rail transport

The district of Kleve is served by two railway lines, on the right bank of the Rhine by the Oberhausen-Arnhem railway line (also known as the Holland line) from Duisburg to Arnhem, and on the left bank of the Rhine by the Left Lower Rhine line from Krefeld to Kleve. On the Holland line on the right bank of the Rhine, the RE19 line (Rhine-IJssel Express) runs hourly between Arnhem and Düsseldorf, and on the left bank of the Rhine, the RE10 line (Niers Express) runs half-hourly between Kleve and Düsseldorf.

The Kleve - Spyck line was closed in 1969. The Kleve - Xanten and Kleve - Kranenburg - Nijmegen lines have been out of service since 1990 and 1991 respectively.

See also list of railway stations in the district of Kleve.

Streets

The district of Kleve is served by three federal motorways and eight federal roads:

• the A 3 (E 35) Arnhem - (Holland line) - Oberhausen - Cologne - Frankfurt am Main - Passau
• the A 40 Venlo - Dortmund
• the A 57 (E 31) Nijmegen - Cologne
• the national roads 8, 9, 57, 58, 67, 220, 221 and 510.

In the district of Kleve, the Rhine bridge Rees-Kalkar in the course of the B 67 at Rhine river km 839 and the Rhine bridge Emmerich in the course of the B 220 at Rhine river km 853 cross the Rhine.

Waterways and ports

The Rhine and the Spoy Canal near Kleve form the basis for the ports operated in the district area in Emmerich, Rees and Kleve.

Number plate

On 1 July 1956, the district of Kleve was assigned the distinguishing sign KLE when the licence plates were introduced that are still valid today. It is still used today. Since 10 June 2014, the distinguishing sign GEL (Geldern) has also been available in connection with the liberalisation of licence plates.

There are a number of undestroyed bunkers of the former Westwall in the district.