Germany–Netherlands border

Moors and old frontiers

The line runs from the marshes of the Ems estuary through former peat moors, now dotted with oil wells shared between the two countries, past the textile towns of Enschede and Gronau, across the Rhine and into the coal districts around Kerkrade, ending on a hill of 321 metres southwest of Aachen, the highest point in the Netherlands. It is not a natural boundary: north of the Rhine it follows county and bishopric lines stable since 1559, while the southern part dates from the Congress of Vienna in 1815.^[1]

Post-war adjustments

In 1948 the Netherlands claimed some 700 square miles of Germany with over 100,000 people, partly as compensation for war damage. An Allied working party scaled this down, and in 1949 about 26 square miles and 9,553 people passed to provisional Dutch administration, the largest pieces being around Sittard and the village of Elten.^[1]

A treaty signed on 8 April 1960 and in force from 10 June 1963 made 43 adjustments, returning some of the provisionally administered land to Germany and confirming other transfers. The hardest question was the Ems–Dollart estuary: the Netherlands wanted to reclaim land and build a deep-water port at Delfzijl, while Germany argued this would ruin Emden as a port. The two sides left the boundary there undecided, agreeing only on how to share resources.^[1]

“The boundary has been one of Europe’s more stable lines, the northern segment being approximately 400 years old while the southern dates from 150 years ago.”^[1]