Velen

Velen is a municipality in the district Borken, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany with about 12,000 citizens. It consists of the two settlements of Velen and Ramsdorf and the four rural regions Ostendorf-Krueckling, Bleking-Holthausen, Nordvelen and Waldvelen. In 2003 the city received the title "staatlich anerkannter Erholungsort" (recreation village approved by the state) from the regional president. Since August 2012 it is a town.Personalities Hendrickje Stoffels (1626-1663), partner of the Dutch Baroque painter Rembrandt Ludwig Averkamp (1927-2013), Archbishop of Hamburg Klaus Balkenhol (born 1939), German dressage rider Georg Veit (born 1956), writer