- Zelhem
Zelhem is a village in the Dutch province of
Gelderland . It has approximately 11.000 inhabitants. Zelhem is located in the municipality ofBronckhorst , about 7 km northeast ofDoetinchem .Zelhem was a separate municipality until 2005, when it became a part of Bronckhorst. [cite book |first=Ad |last=van der Meer |coauthors=Onno Boonstra |title=Repertorium van Nederlandse gemeenten |publisher=KNAW |year=2006 |url=http://www.knaw.nl/cfdata/publicaties/detail.cfm?boeken__ordernr=20061061 |isbn=90-6984-495-8 ] The municipality used to cover an area of 81.89 km².
A little history
The village is more than 1200 years old. The modern name Zelhem originated from Salehem. This name was given to the village when a chapel was build and a gift-document was presented to the habitants.
The name Salehem exests of 2 words 'Sale' which means 'house' and 'heim' which means 'place where people are home'.
The founder of this chapel was a passionate preacher called Liudger. He brought religion to the land of the Saksen. Between 1450 and 1500 the church as we know it was build. It was dedicated to
St. Lambertus ,bishop of Maastricht in the time of Ludger (hence the name 'Lambertikerk').The myth of Smoks Hanne
The village also has a myth of 'Smokshanne'. She lived in Zelhem somewhere in the 19th century. Nowadays she's pictured as a good witch flying on a broom. The funny part is that Smokshanne only has one clog (on her left foot) and the broom she's flying on is backwards. It is assumed that Smokshanne lost her clog during flight. Unfortunately there's not much information about this old lady. But when the village celebrated its 1200th anniversary, the theme was all about her.
People born in Zelhem
*
Jan Remmelink (1922 - 2003), jurist
*Leo Klein Gebbink (born 1968), hockey playerReferences
External links
* [http://www.zelhem.org/index.html Information about Zelhem]
* [http://www.kuijsten.de/atlas/ge/zelhem.html Map of the former municipality in 1868]
* [http://www.oudzelhem.nl Oud Zelhem (historical information about Zelhem)]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
