of factory-owning families that would scratch each other's backs. One infamous episode illustrating the way they treated their work force and how they controlled their lives occurred during World War I. The producers of clay products claimed that the embargo on Germany brought them to the brink of bankruptcy, and the only way they could survive was to drastically reduce wages. The work force went on strike but soon the strike fund was depleted. The local clergy helped negotiate a settlement allowing labourers to return to work for a salary that barely exceeded subsistence levels. It later transpired that there had never been any risk of any of the producers going bankrupt, and that this drastic reduction in labour cost had allowed them to make exorbitant profits. This is still evident from the gigantic villas in which these families lived and of which a number are still standing. After the war, the number of factories in Tegelen steadily decreased. All smelters, including Globe, known throughout the Netherlands for providing drainage covers, disappeared. There are still three operating factories producing clay products, all except Keramische Industrie Limburg, are now in foreign ownership. One chimney, previously owned by a stone cutter named Canoy Herfkens, is still standing as a reminder of Tegelen's industrial heyday. In 2001 Tegelen was merged into the municipality of Venlo. Culture The centuries-old expertise in ceramics and pottery is kept alive by courses held in the ceramic center of the tithe barn. Tegelen has several theater, music and choral organisations. It is internationally famous for its Passion Play held every five years in the years that are divisible by 5, in Openluchttheater De Doolhof. These always attract many visitors. The same open air theater hosts Tegelen's Bluesrock Festival every year. Characters Tegelen has had its fair share of colourful characters. By far the most famous of these is "Baron" , a Prussian aristocrat who inherited the castle of Holtmuhle in the 18th century. He loved the army life so much that he owned a privately financed army corps that fought in the Seven Years' War. More locally famous, before the Second World War, were the pub owners "Joës en Petatte Nelke", Gustaaf Schreurs and Petronella Muller, who had a song written about them and a statue erected for them in the market square. En as weej wir nao Tegele gáon, dèn gáon weej nao Petatte-Nelke. Dao drinke weej