Kaarst

Infobox German Location
Art = Stadt
Name = Kaarst
Wappen = WappenKaarst.jpg
lat_deg = 51 |lat_min = 13
lon_deg = 06 |lon_min = 37
Lageplan =
Bundesland = Nordrhein-Westfalen
Regierungsbezirk = Düsseldorf
Kreis = Rhein-Kreis Neuss
Höhe = 35 - 45
Fläche = 37.48
Einwohner = 42193
Stand = 2005-06-01
PLZ = 41564
Vorwahl = 02131
Kfz = NE
Gemeindeschlüssel = 05 1 62 016
Gliederung = 5
Straße = Am Neumarkt 2
Website = [http://www.kaarst.de www.kaarst.de]
Bürgermeister = Franz-Josef Moormann
Partei = CDU

Kaarst is a town in the district Rhein-Kreis Neuss, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Geography

Kaarst is located west of the city Neuss (5 km) and east of Mönchengladbach (12 km).

Division of the town

Kaarst consists of 5 subdivisions
* Kaarst (23,495 inhabitants)
* Büttgen (6,415 inhabitants)
* Driesch (645 inhabitants)
* Holzbüttgen (5,967 inhabitants)
* Vorst (5,671 inhabitants)

History

Before 100 BC Celts lived in the area. Later the Franks came into this area as graves from the 7th century prove. The first written document is the "Life" of the first bishop of Münster. It describes how bishop Ludger walked from Budica through the forest of Hamrithi. Budica is the former name of Büttgen which now is a village belonging to the town Kaarst.Kaarst was mentioned for the first time as 'Karlesforst' in the year 1218. Karl was a very common name for frankish nobles. The most famous of them was king Charlemagne ('Karl der Große'). Lore says that Kaarst was founded by Charlemagne but this is not proven.Probably, Charlemagne used the forest of Hamarithi in order to hunt with his closest companions.

Kaarst and Büttgen had a prospering Christian life in the middle ages and they both have churches built in the 12th century. In the following centuries the area was influenced by the big wars and both villages were destroyed by Charles the Bold duke of Burgundy (Karl der Kühne, 1474 - 1475), in the 'Truchsässische Kriege' (1585 bis 1586) and in the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). On a farm near Büttgen Jan van Werth was born in 1591 who became a famous general.During the Thirty Years' War, Kaarst got attacked several times by hostile armies, e.g. the one of Northern-Hesse (Northern-Hesse collaborated with Sweden and France, whereas the southern part of Hesse didn't). Some time in 1642, a Hessian troop entered the city murdering bestially the local preacher and destroying the church's accommodation. It is not proofed, but a legend says that a few Hessian soldiers had been somehow caught by farmers who rapidly found out what had happened in the church, reasoning them to lynch the aggressors immediately.From 1794 till 1814 Kaarst was part of France during the reign of Napoleon.After conquering the rhine area the French restructered the districts in 1798 and the city became a part of the Kanton Neuss. A relic of Napoleon is the Nordkanal, a channel that was designed to connect the rivers Maas and Rhine.

In 1936 Büttgen had some 4,400 inhabitants and Kaarst only some 2,000.

In 1975 the villages Kaarst and Büttgen were united to the city Kaarst with now having 33,500 inhabitants.

Politics

The 2004 communal elections certified Franz-Josef Moormann (CDU) as the mayor of Kaarst with scoring 60,0 per cents of the valid votes. With it he topped the results of the 1999 elections, where he took over the function as the mayor from Heinz Klever, who held this function from 1974 until then.

External links

* [http://www.kaarst.de Official Website] de icon