Historical Bocholt newspapers now available online

More than 5,000 historical issues of important Bocholt newspapers are now available digitally and free of charge. The portal "zeit.punktNRW" thus makes it possible to research central sources of the city's history. The activation includes the Bocholter Volksblatt and the Zeno-Zeitung.

The newspaper portal "zeit.punktNRW" of the University and State Libraries of North Rhine-Westphalia makes historical newspapers with general content from the area of today's North Rhine-Westphalia available free of charge. Since February, important Bocholt titles have also been part of this digital service. Specifically, these are the Bocholter Volksblatt for the period from 1895 to 1922 and the Bocholter-Borkener Volksblatt from 1922 to 1933, supplemented by the Zeno-Zeitung from 1934 to 1938 and other smaller newspapers from the city area.

Historical newspapers are indispensable sources of regional and local history. However, due to the often inferior quality of the paper, they are particularly at risk of preservation. They supplement the official records by providing up-to-date and compact documentation of local society, economy, administration, politics and culture.

They also close gaps in the archives and open up new research approaches. The newspaper portal offers academics, local history researchers and interested citizens a wide range of opportunities to work on a wide variety of issues using the digitally available source material.

In the upcoming fourth project phase (2026-2028), original volumes of previously unfilmed newspapers from numerous archives in North Rhine-Westphalia will be digitised alongside further master films from archives and from the Barbara gallery of the federal security filming - including holdings from the Bocholt city archive.

By making the Bocholt newspapers available online, another important step has been taken towards digitally safeguarding the written cultural heritage and making it accessible to the public.

An overview of all the newspaper holdings preserved in the Bocholt city archives can be found on Archive.NRW. There you will also find an overview of the majority of the documents held in the city archive - including documents, files, photos, maps and plans.

Click here to go directly to the online offer of Zeitpunkt.NRW.