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Versmold or Vassem in Westphalian Platt is a town in Gütersloh District in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located some 30 km west of Bielefeld. == History == In 1096 Versmold was first mentioned in a document, and is thus one of the oldest known settlements in the region. The name "-mold" alludes to "melle", "mal" a location of a court. Situated between the bishoprics Osnabrück and Münster, the possession of Versmold was disputed for a long time in the high Middle Ages. The population tried to protect themselves as well as they could. The St. Petri church was built as a "Wehrkirche" for defense. After 1277, when the counts of Ravensberg acquired possession of the region of Versmold, the siutation changed. Versmold formed the western most town of the historic county of Ravensberg with its capital Bielefeld. After the War of the Jülich Succession in 1614 the county came to Brandenburg and later to Prussia. Within predominantly Catholic Westphalia, the county of Ravensberg became Protestant. In 1719 the King of Prussia granted city rights in order to raise more taxes. Until the late nineteenth century the county was poor and subsistence oriented. Only the linen production is worthy to note. Between 1650 to 1914, during the harvest season many people who did not found any other income in the county sought for an additional income in the Netherlands. They were called 'Hollandgänger'. For the same reasons the city saw an extensive emigration to America, especially during the 1850s and 1860s, because of the weak economic situation. Many of them settled in the Midwest, especially in Missouri and Texas. After 1871 when the newly united Germany built up a navy, the linen-industry became prosperous by providing sailing canvases. Most notably engaged in the linen-industry was the family Delius. In the 1820s some members of the family emigrated to Mexico where they established a flourishing import-export business. By the late nineteenth century they had representations in Berlin and Hamburg. The 1930s saw an almost unnoticed cultural change. The language of the county and Versmold was for centuries Westphalian Platt, a language closer to Dutch than to Standard German. The 'Hollandgänger' conversed in their own vernacular when they were abroad. Through compulsory school attendance, a pressure by the state on 'responsible' parents, and the spread of the new medium of radio, parents began to talk to their children (born between 1925 and 1935) only in standard German, earlier in Versmold, later also in the neighboring villages and farmsteads. As in many regions under Prussian rule, Ravensberg and Versmold lost its native language almost within one generation. Westphalian Platt is currently only preserved in circle of local preservation societies () and some children's rhymes of the local Halloween tradition.〔https://www.haller-kreisblatt.de/hk-templates/nachrichtendetails/datum/2013/11/04/viele-fragen-zum-oller-hilgesmann/ retrieved April 23, 2014〕 Since World War II the city flourished mainly due to its meat-processing factories, which had grown out of the rural art of sausage-making. After WWII larger companies and factories sold what they could not process often to small one-man meat dealers and small scale butchers. They in turn sold it on weekly markets mostly in the underprovisioned but prosperous industrial region of the Ruhrgebiet. Sometimes they created also their own specialties. This profession was called ''Kleinfleischhaendler'' (small scale meat dealer) which became typical for Versmold in the 1950s and 1960s. This peculiarity faded out during the 1980s and 1990s. Supply industries evolved around meat processing. Several forwarding companies specialized in food transportation. The largest of them, ''Kraftverkehr Nagel'' operates today in many countries. Its headquarters remains in Versmold. The industry diversified after World War II. A major factory for bottle crown caps Brueninghaus developed out of a factory for bicycle saddles, called ''Metall und Leder''. It is still one of the main industries in Versmold. In the late 1940s just neighboring the saddle factory a local entrepreneur Gustav Baumhoefer established a shoe factory producing under the brand name ''Ravensberger Schuhe''. The company closed in 1980 due to shifts in the world market for shoes and the lack of competitiveness. In 1949 a wood processing factory producing window and door frames was opened, the ''Wirus Werke''; but it also shut down during the 1980s. Its mother company resides still in Guetersloh. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Versmold」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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