Goch

Goch
Goch
Town
	Protestant Kirche am Markt in Goch
	Coat of arms
	Location of Goch within Kleve district
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Düsseldorf
District	Kleve
Government
• Mayor	Karl-Heinz Otto (CDU)
Area
• Total	115.38 km2 (44.55 sq mi)
Elevation	18 m (59 ft)
Population (2022-12-31)
• Total	35,270
• Density	310/km2 (790/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	47574
Dialling codes	02823,; 02827 (Kessel, Hassum, Hommersum)
Vehicle registration	KLE
Website	www.goch.de

Goch (archaic spelling: Gog, Dutch: Gogh) is a town in the district of Kleve, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated close to the border with the Netherlands, approx. 12 km (7 mi) south of Kleve, and 27 km (17 mi) southeast of Nijmegen. Other places in Goch are Asperden and Kessel.

History

Goch is at least 750 years old: the earliest mention of Goch is in a document dated 1259. It was a part of the Duchy of Cleves. During World War II, the city was completely destroyed by Allied bombers.^[2]

Siege of Goch [nl] in 1625, by Jan Luyken
Goch during Operation Veritable, February 21, 1945
Watertower
View to a street: Am Steintor
Vicarage Goch Hommersum
St Peter church and vicarage Goch Hommersum

Notable natives and residents

The city is the birthplace of:

Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor, (980-1002),
Johannes von Goch, (c. 1400-1475), Medieval theologian
Maarten Schenck van Nydeggen (1540-1589), Count of Afferden and Blijenbeek, war observer
Aenne Biermann (1898-1933), photographer
Hubert Houben (1898-1956), athlete
Josefa Idem, (born 1964), Italian sprint canoer and politician
Arnold Janssen, (1837-1909), founder of the Society of the Divine Word, a Roman Catholic missionary congregation
Luisa Wensing (born 1993), soccer player at the VfL Wolfsburg