Duivelsberg

Duivelsberg
Duivelsberg
Wylerberg
Highest point
Elevation	75.9 metres
Coordinates	51°49′13″N5°56′37″E / 51.820192°N 5.943666°E
Geography
	Duivelsberg Gelderland, Netherlands

Last updated February 10, 2024

Duivelsberg (German : Wylerberg or Teufelsberg, which literally translates to 'the devil's mountain') is a hill and nature reserve in the municipality of Berg en Dal in the Dutch province of Gelderland, near the border with Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia). It is politically significant, however, because Duivelsberg is the only part of the Netherlands that was both annexed from Germany and retained after World War II.

Location

The 75.9-metre (249 ft) hill is located on a moraine east of Nijmegen, between Berg en Dal, Beek and the Dutch-German border. The nature reserve covers about 125 hectares (310 acres) and is predominantly covered with deciduous trees, especially chestnut. It is managed by the Staatsbosbeheer, the Dutch Forestry Commission.^[1]

History

Over the centuries the hill has been militarily significant, this historical background in more recent times having given rise to issues of sovereignty between Germany and The Netherlands.

Military history from the Middle Ages until World War Two

In the Middle Ages Mergelp Castle stood on the hill. In September 1944 airborne troops of the U.S. 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment ^[2] fought to capture the Duivelsberg, "Hill 75.9",^[3] during Operation Market Garden.^[4]

Annexation issues

Until 1949, the hill was part of the nearby German village of Wyler in the municipality of Kranenburg. Duivelsberg's German name, Wylerberg, is derived from the name of this village. With the notable support of Dutch politician Frits Bakker Schut, Duivelsberg was one of the many small areas the Netherlands annexed from Germany on 23 April 1949. Unlike the other areas, Duivelsberg was not returned to the German authorities on 1 August 1963 and remained Dutch territory.^[5] The Nijmegen-born politician Marinus van der Goes van Naters, who also lived in nearby Nijmegen during the negotiations with Germany, successfully urged that the nature reserve be kept Dutch.^[6]

Ownership & Conservation

The Duivelsberg was inherited in 1906 by Marie Schuster-Hiby who, between 1921 and 1924, built an expressionist villa designed by the German architect Otto Bartning. In 1965, the Schuster-Hiby family sold the villa to the Dutch State. Since 1985, the Huis Wylerberg has been a nationally-protected building in which conservation organisations are located.^[7]

Huis Wylerberg
Castle Hill
View from the hilltop with Germany in background

Related Research Articles

Nijmegen is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and the tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole. Located on the Waal River close to the German border, Nijmegen is one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands and the first to be recognized as such in Roman times. In 2005, it celebrated 2,000 years of existence.

Gelderland, also known as Guelders in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of 5,136 km² (1,983 sq mi) of which 173 km² (67 sq mi) is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by total area. Gelderland shares borders with six other provinces and the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Groesbeek is a town and former municipality in the province of Gelderland, the Netherlands. In January 2015 the former municipality merged with Millingen aan de Rijn and Ubbergen. The larger area was known as Groesbeek until January 2016, when its name was changed to Berg en Dal.

Kleve is a town in the Lower Rhine region of northwestern Germany near the Dutch border and the River Rhine. From the 11th century onwards, Cleves was capital of a county and later a duchy. Today, Cleves is the capital of the district of Kleve in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The city is home to one of the campuses of the Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences.

The Bergisches Land is a low mountain range in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, east of the Rhine and south of the Ruhr. The landscape is shaped by forests, meadows, rivers and creeks and contains over twenty artificial lakes. Wuppertal is the biggest town, while the southern part has economic and socio-cultural ties to Cologne. Wuppertal and the neighbouring cities of Remscheid and Solingen form the Bergisches Städtedreieck.

Operation Pegasus was a military operation carried out on the Lower Rhine near the village of Renkum, close to Arnhem in the Netherlands. Overnight on 22–23 October 1944, Allied military forces, Britain's MI9 intelligence organization, and the Dutch Resistance evacuated 138 men, mostly soldiers trapped in German-occupied territory who had been in hiding since the Battle of Arnhem a month earlier.

JonkheerMarinus van der Goes van Naters was a Dutch politician of the defunct Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) and later the Labour Party (PvdA) and lawyer.

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Emmerich am Rhein is a city and municipality in the northwest of the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The city has a harbour and a quay at the Rhine. In terms of local government organization, it is a medium-sized city belonging to the district of Kleve in the administrative region (Regierungsbezirk) of Düsseldorf.

Goch is a town in the district of Kleve, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated close to the border with the Siebengewald in Netherlands, approx. 12 km (7 mi) south of Kleve, and 27 km (17 mi) southeast of Nijmegen.

Kranenburg is a town and municipality in the district of Cleves in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located near the border with the Netherlands, 12 kilometres (7 mi) south-east of Nijmegen and 11 kilometres (7 mi) west of Cleves.

At the end of World War II, plans were made in the Netherlands to annex German territory as compensation for the damages caused by the war. In October 1945, the Dutch state asked Germany for 25 billion guilders in reparations. In February 1945 it had already been established at the Yalta Conference that reparations would not be given in monetary form. The plan which was worked out in most detail was the one made by Frits Bakker Schut, and hence became known as the Bakker Schut Plan or Groot Nederland Plan.

Beek is a village in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is located in the municipality of Berg en Dal, about 5 km east of Nijmegen. It was sometimes referred to as "Beek " or "Beek-Ubbergen" because there are many villages called Beek.

Berg en Dal is a village in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is located to the southeast of the city of Nijmegen. The village lies in the municipality of Berg en Dal.

Wyler is a village along the Dutch-German border, 7 km southeast of Nijmegen, Gelderland, The Netherlands, and 5 km west of Kranenburg, Germany.

The Klever Reichswald is an Imperial forest in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) between the rivers Rhine and Meuse at the German–Dutch border. The forest is located in the municipal territory of Kleve, Goch, Kranenburg and Bedburg-Hau. It is the largest coherent wooded area of the lower Rhine and the largest coherent public state forest of North Rhine-Westphalia with an area of 51 km².

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Arnold Jan d'Ailly was mayor of Amsterdam between 1946 and 1956.

References

↑ Archived 2015-02-11 at the Wayback Machine Wandelroute Duivelsberg Rijk van Nijmegen 3 km. Staatsbosbeheer
↑ Holt, Tonie; Holt, Valmai (October 2001). Major and Mrs Holt's Battlefield Guide to Operation Market Garden. Pen and Sword. p. 132. ISBN 978-0850527858 . Retrieved 2015-02-11.
↑ MacDonald, Charles B. (1990). "8". The European Theater of Operations The Siegfried Line Campaign. Washington, D. C.: Center Of Military History, United States Army. LCCN 62-60001 . Retrieved 2015-02-11.
↑ ""De Duivelsberg in September 1944/2014: Venue for symposium and public event" | Market Garden 70". Archived from the original on 2015-02-11. Retrieved 2015-02-11. De Duivelsberg in September 1944/2014: venue for symposium and public event. Berg en Dal, 11 September 2014
↑ (German : Vertrag vom 8. April 1960 zwischen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und dem Königreich der Niederlande zur Regelung von Grenzfragen und anderen zwischen beiden Ländern bestehenden Problemen; short: Ausgleichsvertrag, i.e. treaty of settlement. Bundesgesetzblatt (Federal Law Gazette), part III, no. 181-1.
↑ Geschiedenis Andere Tijden: 'Eisch Duitschen grond!' - De Duivelsberg. Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (organization)
↑ Archived 2015-02-11 at the Wayback Machine De Duivelsberg als grensgeval. GSRO

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[1] Archived 2015-02-11 at the Wayback Machine Wandelroute Duivelsberg Rijk van Nijmegen 3 km. Staatsbosbeheer

[2] Holt, Tonie; Holt, Valmai (October 2001). Major and Mrs Holt's Battlefield Guide to Operation Market Garden. Pen and Sword. p. 132. ISBN 978-0850527858 . Retrieved 2015-02-11.

[3] MacDonald, Charles B. (1990). "8". The European Theater of Operations The Siegfried Line Campaign. Washington, D. C.: Center Of Military History, United States Army. LCCN 62-60001 . Retrieved 2015-02-11.

[4] ""De Duivelsberg in September 1944/2014: Venue for symposium and public event" | Market Garden 70". Archived from the original on 2015-02-11. Retrieved 2015-02-11. De Duivelsberg in September 1944/2014: venue for symposium and public event. Berg en Dal, 11 September 2014

[5] (German : Vertrag vom 8. April 1960 zwischen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und dem Königreich der Niederlande zur Regelung von Grenzfragen und anderen zwischen beiden Ländern bestehenden Problemen; short: Ausgleichsvertrag, i.e. treaty of settlement. Bundesgesetzblatt (Federal Law Gazette), part III, no. 181-1.

[6] Geschiedenis Andere Tijden: 'Eisch Duitschen grond!' - De Duivelsberg. Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (organization)

[7] Archived 2015-02-11 at the Wayback Machine De Duivelsberg als grensgeval. GSRO

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