The name Almelo comes from the Germanic words
alma (which means
elm) and
lauha. The city had a
moat, but no walls, and therefore never held any military significance. Huis Almelo (Almelo House) likely existed since the 12th century and remains in the hands of the Van Rechteren Limpurg family to this day. For centuries, the family held various rights in the city of Almelo, including the right to administer justice. After the then lord of Almelo, Zeger van Rechteren (1623-1674) banned the practice of
Catholicism in 1664, the nuns of the St. Catherine Monastery in Almelo left in 1665 and settled 300 meters across the German border, just southwest of Glane in the Netherlands, in a monastery they named Maria Vlucht (Maria Flight). After the monastery was closed, the church treasures were dispersed throughout the region. At the end of the 19th century,
textile emerged as a major employer and drew many workers to Almelo, at first from within the Netherlands. The municipality of Almelo was formed from a merger (1914) between the municipalities of Ambt Almelo and Stad Almelo.
World War II During World War II, Almelo was one of the locations where the Twente raid took place in September 1941. Ten Jewish men were arrested in Almelo and perished in the
Mauthausen concentration camp. A monument commemorating the 242 Jews from Almelo who died, as well as those who hid them, stands in the Almelo Jewish cemetery. On 15 November 1944, eight resistance fighters against the
Reichskommissariat Niederlande regime robbed the
De Nederlandsche Bank (Dutch Central Bank) on Wierdensestraat. The loot amounted to 46.1 million guilders, the largest haul ever during a robbery in the Netherlands.
After war Since the 1960s workers from
Spain and
Turkey came to Almelo. The first
mosque of the Netherlands was built in Almelo in 1976 for the Turkish population of the city. Almelo also has a sizeable number of Armenians who built their own
Armenian Apostolic Church in 2003. In the 1970s the industry dwindled and most factories were relocated to countries with cheaper labour. Some factories remain in the city centre and are now in use for apartments or offices. == Geography ==