Doetinchem (Low Saxon: both Deutekem and Durkum or Dörkum), sometimes pronounced and sometimes also written as Deutekom, is a town on the Oude IJssel, located in the Achterhoek in the Dutch province of Gelderland, and capital of the municipality of Doetinchem.
The oldest mention of Doetinchem dates from 838 as
villa Duetinghem, a settlement with a church. In the period after
838 the fortified city of Deutinkem was created with a church that
was given as a gift to the then bishop of Utrecht. Other name
variations used over time were Duttichem, Duichingen, Dotekom and
Deutekom.
Around 1100 Doetinchem started to grow, and a city
wall was built against looters who tried to raid the city several
times. In 1236 Doetinchem received city rights from Count Otto II of
Gelre; the city wall was also raised by one meter in that year. The
four barriers used until then were replaced by four large city
gates: the Hamburgerpoort, the Waterpoort, the Gruitpoort (also
known as Grutpoort) and the Hezenpoort. Later on, moats were dug
around it, and front gates were made. Doetinchem became important as
a trading place for farmers who came to sell their merchandise on
the market. This market was held on Place Simons and it continued
until World War II. Doetinchem was one of the five voting cities
within the States of the Zutphen quarter. A large city fire in 1527
destroyed all of Doetinchem's data. Not much is known about
Doetinchem from the Middle Ages.
In 1672 the city wall was
largely demolished, in the second half of the 19th century the gates
and a large part of the city wall was dismantled. Some of the
foundations of the city wall from the end of the 13th or the
beginning of the 14th century are still in the ground, and were
about 1.5 meters wide at the base. Doetinchem remained calm until
the First World War, when a few border guards kept watch there.
Doetinchem also seemed to get through the Second World War with
the Hunger Winter. During the war years a small German occupation
force was stationed. At the end of the war, some prisoners were
executed as a reprisal for an act of resistance, committed near the
Veluwe village of Putten when an important German officer was shot
by the resistance. The Bouchina building was also used to house nine
Dutch Jews who enjoyed special protection from the NSB.
Just
before the liberation, Allied planes bombed the historic center of
the city on 19, 21 and 23 March. 120 buildings were destroyed and
143 people were killed and hundreds were injured. Despite various
explanations, the circumstances remain uncertain. Amateur historian
Hendrik Land, based on records from the Air Force Historical
Research Agency in Alabama, believes that the March 23 bombing was
carried out by an American bomber. This statement is supported by
the discovery of an American bomb in 1973. The bombings of March 19
and 21 were probably carried out by British. The first bombing raid
would have had strategic objectives (an aircraft parts factory and a
liaison post) designated by the resistance. The second would have
been a mistake, in which pilots would have mistaken Doetinchem for
Anholt and Isselburg, which are 20 kilometers away. There is also a
statement that the Germans had reinforced the town against the
Allied advance. The Allied bombings should have stopped the Germans
from installing reinforcements and thus also forced an Allied
passage. The city center was badly damaged, but not destroyed. The
Germans were not chased away but hid themselves among the rubble. On
April 2, the town was liberated after fierce fighting between the
Germans and Canadians.
In the decades that followed, reconstruction followed and Doetinchem continued to grow and after a few years it even became larger than its 'competitors' Doesburg, Winterswijk and Zutphen. Philips and Vredestein had a factory in the city for several years. At the beginning of the 21st century, new neighborhoods are also being built, such as Dichteren (this neighborhood bears the same name as the neighborhood next to it), the Wijnbergen, Heelweg, Iseldoks and Vijverberg-Zuid neighborhoods.
The municipal council has decided to renew many places in and around the center (the shell of Doetinchem) by building new buildings on empty places and rebuilding dilapidated neighborhoods. This Master Plan Schil must, among other things, improve the infrastructure, make better use of the Oude IJssel, create more space to live and work, and better express the city's history. Eighteen places in the city are for the master plan.