tram in downtown Neuss. church in the city of Neuss
Roman period Neuss was founded by the
Romans in 16 BC as a military fortification (
castrum) with the current city to the north of the castrum, at the confluence of the rivers
Rhine and
Erft, with the name of
Novaesium.
Legio XVI Gallica ("Gallic 16th Legion") of the Roman army was stationed here in 43–70 AD. It was disbanded after surrendering during the
Batavian rebellion (AD 70). Later a civil settlement was founded in the area of today's centre of the town during the 1st century AD. Novaesium, together with
Trier (
Augusta Treverorum), is one of the three oldest Roman settlements in Germany.
Middle Ages Neuss grew during the
Middle Ages because of its prime location on several routes, by the crossing of the great Rhine valley, and with its harbour and ferry. During the 10th century, the remains of the
martyr and
tribune Saint Quirinus, not to be confused with the Roman god
Quirinus, had been relocated to Neuss. This resulted in
pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Quirinus even from countries beyond the borders of the
Holy Roman Empire. Neuss was first documented as a town in 1138. One of the main events in the town's history is the
siege of the town in 1474–75 by
Charles the Bold, Duke of
Burgundy, that lasted for nearly a year. The citizens of Neuss withstood the siege and were therefore rewarded by the Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick III. The town was granted the right to mint its own coins and to carry the imperial
coat of arms, the imperial eagle and the crown, in the town's own coat of arms. Neuss became a member of the
Hanseatic League, although it was never accepted by the other members of the League.
Early modernity In 1586,
more than two-thirds of the city was destroyed by fire, and several wars during the reign of King
Louis XIV of France resulted in worsening finances for Neuss. Its importance as a place for trading declined rapidly, and from the mid-17th century onwards, Neuss became a place only important for its agriculture. Until the late 18th century, Neuss belonged to the
Electorate of Cologne. From 1794 to 1814, Neuss was part of France during the reign of
Napoleon. In 1815 after the
Napoleonic Wars, Neuss became part of the
Kingdom of Prussia, and was reorganized as a district with the municipalities of Neuss,
Dormagen,
Nettesheim,
Nievenheim,
Rommerskirchen and
Zons. The town had a population of 6,333 at that time. It was part of the Prussian
Province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg (1815–22) and its successor, the
Rhine Province (1822–1946).
19th century – present Neuss regained its economic power in the 19th century, with expansion of the harbour in 1835, and increasing industrial activity. The city's boundaries were expanded in 1881. Neuss became part of the new state of
North Rhine-Westphalia in 1946. In 1968 the spelling of the name was changed from
Neuß to
Neuss. In 1975 the town of Neuss and the district of
Grevenbroich were joined to form the district of
Rhein-Kreis Neuss with a population of 440,000 and its seat of government in Neuss. Neuss is also home to
Toshiba's European headquarters,
3M,
Norsk Hydro ASA and
UPS.
Jewish history A Jewish community has been documented in the city since the
High Middle Ages. The earliest documentation of Jews in the city is from 1096, when Jews from
Cologne fleeing from
Crusaders were sheltered in the city by the
Archbishop of Cologne . Nevertheless, about 200 of them (men, women, and children) were slaughtered by Crusaders. This all was in the context of what is known as the
Rhineland massacres. There is however no indication that Neuss already had an organized Jewish community in 1096; It is however certain that there was one in the
Staufer period from the late 12th century onwards, in the context of a general influx of merchants into the city at the time. In 1694, Jews were given permission to hold a cattle market in front of the
Obertor. The exact number of Jewish victims of the Nazi regime is not known with certainty. However, one can find the names of 204 murdered Jews who had some sort of link to Neuss on a monument by
Ulrich Rückriem. A significant amount of
Stolpersteine can be found around the city. Since the 1990s the community has enjoyed a revival thanks to
an influx of Jews from the ex-USSR. In 2021, it was estimated that around 550 Jews lived in Neuss. ==Politics==