Gelsenkirchen (, , ; wep, Gelsenkiärken) is the 25th most populous city of Germany and the 11th most populous in the state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher River (a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

of the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , source ...

), it lies at the centre of the Ruhr, the largest urban area of Germany, of which it is the fifth largest city after

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

, Essen,

Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in ...

and

Bochum Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous German federal state of N ...

. The Ruhr is located in the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Region, one of Europe's largest urban areas. Gelsenkirchen is the fifth largest city of

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

after Dortmund, Bochum, Bielefeld and

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state di ...

, and it is one of the southernmost cities in the Low German dialect area. The city is home to the football club Schalke 04, which is named after . The club's current stadium

Veltins-Arena Arena AufSchalke (), currently known as Veltins-Arena () for sponsorship reasons, is an indoor football stadium in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It opened on 13 August 2001, as the new home ground for Bundesliga club FC ...

, however, is located in . Gelsenkirchen was first documented in 1150, but it remained a tiny village until the 19th century, when the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

led to the growth of the entire area. In 1840, when the mining of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

began, 6,000 inhabitants lived in Gelsenkirchen; in 1900 the population had increased to 138,000. In the early 20th century, Gelsenkirchen was the most important coal mining town in Europe. It was called the "city of a thousand fires" for the flames of mine gases flaring at night. In 1928, Gelsenkirchen was merged with the adjoining cities of Buer and . The city bore the name Gelsenkirchen-Buer, until it was renamed Gelsenkirchen in 1930. The city remained a center of coal mining and oil refining during the

Nazi Era Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, so it was often a target of Allied bombing raids during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. There are no longer colliers in Gelsenkirchen with the city searching for a new image, having been hit for decades with one of the highest unemployment rates in Germany. Today Germany's largest

solar power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovolta ...

plant is located in the city. In Gelsenkirchen-Scholven there is a coal-fired power station with the tallest chimneys in Germany (302 m).

History

Ancient and medieval times

Although the part of town now called Buer was first mentioned by Heribert I in a document as ''Puira'' in 1003, there were hunting people on a hill north of the

Emscher The Emscher () is a river, a tributary of the Rhine, that flows through the Ruhr area in North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany. Its overall length is with an mean outflow near the mouth into the lower Rhine of . Description The Emsche ...

as early as the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

– earlier than 1000 BC. They did not live in houses as such, but in small yards gathered together near each other. Later, the Romans pushed into the area. In about 700, the region was settled by the

Saxons The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

. A few other parts of town which today lie in Gelsenkirchen's north end were mentioned in documents from the early

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, some examples being: ''Raedese'' (nowadays ''Resse''), Middelvic (''Middelich'', today part of Resse), ''Sutheim'' (''Sutum''; today part of Beckhausen) and ''Sculven'' (nowadays ''Scholven''). Many nearby farming communities were later identified as ' ("near Buer"). It was about 1150 when the name ''Gelstenkerken'' or ''Geilistirinkirkin'' appeared up for the first time. At about the same time, the first

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chri ...

in town was built in what is now Buer. This ' ("church at Buer") was listed in a directory of

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

churches by the sexton from Deutz, Theodericus. This settlement belonged to the

Mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Finn ...

. However, in ancient times and even in the Middle Ages, only a few dozen people actually lived in the settlements around the Emscher basin.

Industrialisation

Up until the middle of the 19th century, the area in and around Gelsenkirchen was only thinly settled and almost exclusively agrarian. In 1815, after temporarily belonging to the

Grand Duchy A grand duchy is a country or territory whose official head of state or ruler is a monarch bearing the title of grand duke or grand duchess. Relatively rare until the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the term was often used in th ...

of Berg, the land now comprising the city of Gelsenkirchen passed to the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

, which assigned it to the

province of Westphalia The Province of Westphalia () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946. In turn, Prussia was the largest component state of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918, of the Weimar Republic and from 191 ...

. Whereas the Gelsenkirchen of that time – not including today's north-end communities, such as Buer – was put in the ''

Amt Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...

'' of Wattenscheid in the

district, in the governmental region of Arnsberg, Buer, which was an ''Amt'' in its own right, was along with nearby Horst joined to Recklinghausen district in the governmental region of Münster. This arrangement came to an end only in 1928. After the discovery of

– lovingly known as "Black Gold" – in the Ruhr area in 1840, and the subsequent industrialisation, the

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

– Minden Railway and the Gelsenkirchen Main Railway Station were opened. In 1868, Gelsenkirchen became the seat of an ''Amt'' within the Bochum district which encompassed the communities of Gelsenkirchen, Braubauerschaft (since 1900, ), Schalke, Heßler, Bulmke and Hüllen.

Friedrich Grillo Henrich Friedrich Theodor Ernst Grillo (20 December 1825, Essen – 16 April 1888, Düsseldorf-Grafenberg) was a prominent industrialist in the Ruhr area of Germany, particularly in Essen and Gelsenkirchen. Born the son of an Essen merchant, int ...

founded the Corporation for Chemical Industry (''Aktiengesellschaft für Chemische Industrie'') in Schalke in 1872, as well as founding the ''Vogelsang & Co.'' with the Grevel family (later '' Schalker Eisenhütte Maschinenfabrik''), and also the Schalke Mining and Ironworks Association (''Schalker Gruben- und Hüttenverein''). A year later, and once again in Schalke, he founded the Glass and Mirror Factory Incorporated (''Glas- und Spiegel-Manufaktur AG''). After Gelsenkirchen had become an important heavy-industry hub, it was raised to city in 1875.

Independent city

In 1885, after the Bochum district was split up, Gelsenkirchen became the seat of its own district (''Kreis''), which would last until 1926. The cities of Gelsenkirchen and Wattenscheid, as well as the Ämter of Braubauerschaft (in 1900, Bismarck), Schalke, Ückendorf, Wanne and Wattenscheid all belonged to the Gelsenkirchen district. A few years later, in 1896, Gelsenkirchen split off from Gelsenkirchen district to become an independent city (german: kreisfreie Stadt). In 1891, Horst was split off from the ''Amt'' of Buer, which itself was raised to city status in 1911, and to an independent city status the next year. Meanwhile, Horst became the seat of its own ''Amt''. In 1924, the rural community of Rotthausen, which until then had belonged to the Essen district, was made part of the Gelsenkirchen district. In 1928, under the Prussian local government reforms, the cities of Gelsenkirchen and Buer along with the ''Amt'' of Horst together became a new ''kreisfreie Stadt'' called Gelsenkirchen-Buer, effective on 1 April that year. From that time, the whole city area belonged to the governmental district of Münster. In 1930, on the city's advice, the city's name was changed to ''Gelsenkirchen'', effective 21 May. By this time, the city was home to about 340,000 people. In 1931, the Gelsenkirchen Mining Corporation (german: Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-Aktien-Gesellschaft) founded the Gelsenberg Petrol Corporation (german: Gelsenberg-Benzin-AG). In 1935, the Hibernia Mining Company founded the ''Hydrierwerk Scholven AG GE-Buer''

Coal liquefaction Coal liquefaction is a process of converting coal into liquid hydrocarbons: liquid fuels and petrochemicals. This process is often known as "Coal to X" or "Carbon to X", where X can be many different hydrocarbon-based products. However, the most c ...

plant. Scholven/Buer began operation in 1936 and achieved a capacity of "''200,000 tons/year of finished product, mainly aviation base gasoline.'

After 1937, Gelsenberg-Benzin-AG opened the Nordstern plant for converting bituminous coal to synthetic oil.

Nazi Germany

The November 9 in German history, 9 November 1938 Kristallnacht antisemitic riots destroyed Jewish businesses, dwellings and cemeteries, and a

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of wor ...

in Buer and one in downtown Gelsenkirchen. A new downtown Gelsenkirchen synagogue was opened on 1 February 2007. Gelsenkirchen was a target of

strategic bombing during World War II World War II (1939–1945) involved sustained strategic bombing of railways, harbours, cities, workers' and civilian housing, and industrial districts in enemy territory. Strategic bombing as a military strategy is distinct both from close ...

, particularly during the 1943 Battle of the Ruhr and the Oil Campaign. Three quarters of Gelsenkirchen was destroyed and many above-ground air-raid shelters such as near the town hall in Buer are in nearly original form. Oberst Werner Mölders the legendary

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German '' Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the '' Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabt ...

Fighter pilot was born here. The Gelsenberg Lager subcamp of KZ Buchenwald was established in 1944 to provide forced labor of about 2000 Hungarian women and girls for Gelsenberg-Benzin-AG. About 150 died during September 1944 bombing raids (shelters and protection ditches were forbidden to them). From 1933 to 1945, the city's mayor was the appointed

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

Carl Engelbert Böhmer. In 1994, the Institute for City History opened the documentation centre "Gelsenkirchen under National Socialism" ().

After the war

On 17 December 1953, the ''Kokerei Hassel'' went into operation, billed as Germany's "first new coking plant" since the war. When

postal code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal ...

s (''Postleitzahlen'') were introduced in 1961, Gelsenkirchen was one of the few cities in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

to be given two codes: Buer was given 466, while Gelsenkirchen got 465. These were in use until 1 July 1993. The "first comprehensive school in

" was opened in 1969. Scholven-Chemie AG (the old hydrogenation plant) merged with Gelsenberg-Benzin-AG to form the new corporation VEBA-Oel AG. In 1987,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

celebrated

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different ele ...

before 85,000 people at Gelsenkirchen's Parkstadion. The Pope also became an honorary member of

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhi ...

. In 1997, the Federal Garden Show (''Bundesgartenschau'' or ''BUGA'') was held on the grounds of the disused coalmine in Horst. In 1999, the last phase of the Internationale Bauausstellung Emscher Park, an undertaking that brought together many cities in North Rhine-Westphalia, was held. Coke was produced at the old Hassel coking works for the last time on 29 September 1999. This marked the shutdown of the last coking plant in Gelsenkirchen, after being a coking town for more than 117 years. In the same year, Shell Solar Deutschland AG took over production of photovoltaic equipment. On 28 April 2000, the Ewald-Hugo colliery closed – Gelsenkirchen's last colliery. Three thousand coalminers lost their jobs. In 2003, Buer celebrated its thousandth anniversary of first documentary mention, and FC Schalke 04 celebrated on 4 May 2004 its hundredth anniversary.

Jewish history

19th century

The

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

community of Gelsenkirchen was officially established in 1874, relatively late compared to the Jewish

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

communities in Germany. In a list of 1829 to determine the salary for the

Chief Rabbi Chief Rabbi ( he, רב ראשי ''Rav Rashi'') is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities. Since 1911, through a ...

, , three families were named: the families of Ruben Levi, Reuben Simon, and Herz Heimann families."Das Judentum in Gelsenkirchen"
by Chajm Guski With the growth of the town during the second half of the 19th century, its Jewish population also grew bigger, with about 120 Jews living in town in 1880, and a

established in 1885. With the growth of the community, a bigger building was built to serve as the community school.

20th century

The community continued to grow and around 1,100 Jews were living in Gelsenkirchen in 1901, a number that reached its peak of 1,300 individuals in 1933. At the turn of the 20th century the

Reform Jewish Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous searc ...

community was the most dominant among all Jewish communities in town, and after an

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

was installed inside the synagogue, and most prayers performed mostly in German instead of traditional Hebrew, the town's orthodox community decided to stop attending the synagogue and tried to establish a new orthodox community, led by Dr. Max Meyer, Dr. Rubens and Abraham Fröhlich, most of them living on Florastraße. In addition, another Jewish orthodox congregation of Polish Jews was found in town. In 1908, a lot on Wanner Straße was purchased and served the community as its cemetery until 1936, today containing about 400 graves. In addition, another cemetery was built in 1927 in the suburb of .

Nazi Germany

With the rise of

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

and National Socialism in 1933, Jewish life in Gelsenkirchen was still relatively unaffected at first. In August 1938, 160 Jewish businesses were still open in town. In October 1938, though, an official ban restricted these businesses and all Jewish doctors became unemployed. In the same month, the Jewish community of the town was expelled. Between 1937 and 1939, the Jewish population of Gelsenkirchen dropped from 1,600 to 1,000. During Kristallnacht, the town's synagogue was destroyed, after two thirds of the town's Jewish population had already left. On 27 January 1942, 350 among the 500 remaining Jews in town were deported to the Riga Ghetto; later, the last remaining Jews were deported to Warsaw and the Theresienstadt concentration camp.

The Gelsenkirchen transport

On 31 March 1942, a Nazi deportation train set out from Gelsenkirchen and, carrying 48 Jews from the town area, made its way to the Warsaw Ghetto. The train was the first to deport Jews to Warsaw and not to Trawniki concentration camp in southern Poland, as used before. After it left Gelsenkirchen, the train was boarded by other Jews from

and a few other stops along the way, and mostly by the Jews of

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

, 500 in number. The arrival of this transport from Westphalia and Upper Saxony was recorded in his diaries by Adam Czerniakov, the last chairman of the Warsaw Ghetto Judenrat. He stated that those older than 68 were allowed to stay in Germany. The majority of these deportees were killed later on the different death sites around modern-day Poland.

After World War II

In 1946, 69 Jews returned to Gelsenkirchen and in 1958, a synagogue and cultural centre were built for the remaining community. In 2005, about 450 Jews were living in town. During the last decade of the 20th century, a noted number of Jews came to the town, after emigrating out of the former USSR. This situation made it necessary to extend the synagogue. Eventually, a new and bigger synagogue was built to serve the increasing Jewish community of Gelsenkirchen. The current community practices Orthodox Judaism, even though no family practices it at home. On 16 May 2014, antisemitic graffiti were painted on the town synagogue.

Sites

The building at Husemannstraße 75 belonged to Dr. Max Meyer, who built it between 1920 and 1921. A mezuzah sign can still be seen on the top right side of the door. On Florastraße, near Kennedyplatz, (formerly Schalker Straße 45), stands the house of the Tepper family, a Jewish family that vanished during the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

. As part of the national Stolperstein project, five bricks, commemorating the Jewish inhabitants, were installed outside the house.

Economy and infrastructure

Gelsenkirchen presents itself as a centre of solar technology. Shell Solar Deutschland GmbH produces solar cells in Rotthausen. Scheuten Solar Technology has taken over its solar panel production. There are other large businesses in town: ,

Gelsenwasser Gelsenwasser AG is a German utilities company that supplies natural gas and fresh water to residents in Germany. Areas of service include Ruhr, Lower Rhine, Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Münster, ...

, e.on, BP Gelsenkirchen GmbH, Shell Solar Deutschland GmbH and Pilkington.

ZOOM Erlebniswelt Gelsenkirchen ZOOM Erlebniswelt Gelsenkirchen, founded on April 14, 1949, as "Ruhr-Zoo", is one of the most modern zoological gardens in Germany. It was founded on a heavily shelled area in Gelsenkirchen adjacent to a port on the Rhine–Herne Canal. It in ...

is a

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to z ...

founded in 1949 as "Ruhr-Zoo" which is now operated by the city.

Transport

Gelsenkirchen lies on

autobahn The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track' ...

s A 2, A 40, A 42 and A 52, as well as on Bundesstraßen (Federal Highways) B 224, B 226 and B 227. Gelsenkirchen Hauptbahnhof (central station) lies at the junction of the Duisburg–Dortmund, the Essen–Gelsenkirchen and the Gelsenkirchen–Münster lines. The Rhine–Herne Canal has a commercial-industrial harbour in Gelsenkirchen. has a yearly turnover of 2 million tonnes and a water surface area of about , one of Germany's biggest and most important canal harbours, and is furthermore connected to

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the ...

's railway network at Gelsenkirchen Hauptbahnhof. Local transport in Gelsenkirchen is provided by the Bochum/Gelsenkirchen tramway network and buses run by the Bochum-Gelsenkirchener Straßenbahn AG (BOGESTRA), as well as by buses operated by Vestische Straßenbahnen GmbH in the city's north (despite its name, it nowadays runs only buses). Some Stadtbahn and tram lines are operated by . All these services have an integrated fare structure within the VRR. There are three tram lines, one light rail line, and about 50 bus routes in Gelsenkirchen.

Media

Gelsenkirchen is the headquarters of the ''Verband Lokaler Rundfunk in Nordrhein-Westfalen e.V. (VLR)'' (Network of Local Radio in North Rhine-Westphalia Registered Association). REL (''Radio Emscher-Lippe'') is also headquartered in Gelsenkirchen. Among newspapers, the ''Buersche Zeitung'' was a daily till 2006. The ''

Ruhr Nachrichten ''Ruhr Nachrichten'' is a daily newspaper that has been published in Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-large ...

'' ceased publication in Gelsenkirchen in April 2006. Now, the '' Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung'' is the only local newspaper in Gelsenkirchen. The local station also reports the local news. There is also a free weekly newspaper, the ''Stadtspiegel Gelsenkirchen'', along with monthly, or irregular, local publications called the ''Familienpost'' and the ''Beckhausener Kurier''.

Education and science

Gelsenkirchen has 51

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

s (36 public schools, 12 Catholic schools, 3 Protestant schools), 8 ''

Hauptschule A ''Hauptschule'' (, "general school") is a secondary school in Germany, starting after four years of elementary schooling (''Grundschule''), which offers Lower Secondary Education (Level 2) according to the International Standard Classification ...

n'', 6 '' Realschulen'', 7 '' Gymnasien'', and 5 ''

Gesamtschule A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is res ...

n'', among which the ''Gesamtschule Bismarck'', as the only comprehensive school run by the Westphalian branch of the Evangelical (

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

) Church, warrants special mention. The '' Fachhochschule Gelsenkirchen'', founded in 1992, also has campuses in Bocholt and Recklinghausen. It offers courses in

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics anal ...

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

, Engineering Physics,

Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

Mechanical Engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, ...

, and Supply and Disposal Engineering. There is a '' Volkshochschule'' for adult education as well as a city library with three branches. The Institute for Underground Infrastructure, founded in 1994 and associated with the

Ruhr University Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction beg ...

, provides a wide range of research, certification, and consulting services. The

science park A science park (also called a "university research park", "technology park”, "technopark", “technopole", or a "science and technology park" (STP)) is defined as being a property-based development that accommodates and fosters the growt ...

created in 1995 by Internationale Bauausstellung Emscher Park, , provides a pathway to restructure the local economy from coal- and steel-based industries to solar energy and project management.

Politics

Mayor

The current Mayor of Gelsenkirchen is Karin Welge of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(SPD) since 2020. The most recent mayoral election was held on 13 September 2020, with a runoff held on 27 September, and the results were as follows: ! rowspan=2 colspan=2, Candidate ! rowspan=2, Party ! colspan=2, First round ! colspan=2, Second round , - ! Votes ! % ! Votes ! % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Karin Welge , align=left,

, 31,341 , 40.4 , 29,397 , 59.4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Malte Stuckmann , align=left, Christian Democratic Union , 19,468 , 25.1 , 20,101 , 40.6 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Jörg Schneider , align=left, Alternative for Germany , 9,355 , 12.1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, David Fischer , align=left, Alliance 90/The Greens , 7,188 , 9.3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Susanne Cichos , align=left, Free Democratic Party , 3,360 , 4.3 , - , , align=left, Ali-Riza Akyol , align=left, Voter Initiative NRW , 2,752 , 3.6 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Martin Karl-Heinz Gatzemeier , align=left, The Left , 2,300 , 3.0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Claudia Kapuschinski , align=left, Die PARTEI , 1,722 , 2.2 , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 77,486 ! 98.8 ! 49,498 ! 98.9 , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 924 ! 1.2 ! 548 ! 1.1 , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 78,410 ! 100.0 ! 50,046 ! 100.0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 188,716 ! 41.5 ! 188,369 ! 26.6 , - , colspan=7, Source
State Returning Officer

City council

The Gelsenkirch city council governs the city alongside the Mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows: ! colspan=2, Party ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(SPD) , 27,082 , 35.1 , 15.2 , 31 , 3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , 17,932 , 23.2 , 2.2 , 20 , 6 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Alternative for Germany (AfD) , 9,944 , 12.9 , 7.9 , 11 , 8 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne) , 9,457 , 12.2 , 6.4 , 11 , 7 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Democratic Party (FDP) , 3,114 , 4.0 , 2.0 , 4 , 3 , - , , align=left, Voter Initiative NRW (WIN) , 2,804 , 3.6 , 0.3 , 3 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, The Left (Die Linke) , 2,671 , 3.5 , 1.2 , 3 , ±0 , - , , align=left, Animal Welfare Here! (Tierschutz hier!) , 1,735 , 2.2 , New , 2 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Die PARTEI (PARTEI) , 1,527 , 2.0 , New , 2 , New , - , , align=left, Alternative, Independent, Progressive Gelsenkirchen (AUF) , 943 , 1.2 , 0.2 , 1 , ±0 , - , colspan=7 bgcolor=lightgrey, , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Independents , 30 , 0.0 , – , 0 , – , - ! colspan=2, Valid votes ! 77,239 ! 98.5 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Invalid votes ! 1,143 ! 1.5 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Total ! 78,382 ! 100.0 ! ! 88 ! 25 , - ! colspan=2, Electorate/voter turnout ! 188,716 ! 41.5 ! 1.6 ! ! , - , colspan=7, Source
State Returning Officer

Culture

* Musiktheater im Revier * Hans-Sachs-Haus * * Architecture (

Brick Expressionism The term Brick Expressionism (german: Backsteinexpressionismus) describes a specific variant of Expressionist architecture that uses bricks, tiles or clinker bricks as the main visible building material. Buildings in the style were erected mos ...

), heritage listings *

/Ruhr-Zoo *

Industrial Heritage Trail The Industrial Heritage Trail (german: Route der Industriekultur) links tourist attractions related to the industrial heritage in the Ruhr area in Germany. It is a part of the European Route of Industrial Heritage. The series of routes were devel ...

(''Route der Industriekultur'') – Gelsenkirchen * Nordsternpark *

Ruhr.2010 Ruhr.2010 – Kulturhauptstadt Europas was the name of the campaign in Germany's Ruhr region that earned it recognition as a European Capital of Culture in 2010. This was the first time a region was considered, as Essen represented all 53 towns ...

– European Capital of Culture *

Rock Hard Festival Rock Hard Festival is a heavy metal festival organized and sponsored by the '' Rock Hard'' magazine. First established in Lichtenfels, Bavaria, Germany, in 1990 on an irregular basis, mostly for magazine anniversaries, it is held annually in Gelse ...

* Filming of ''

The Miracle of Father Malachia ''The Miracle of Father Malachia'' (german: Das Wunder des Malachias) is a 1961 West German black-and-white film directed by Bernhard Wicki and starring Horst Bollmann. The film is based on the 1931 novel '' Father Malachy's Miracle'' by Bruce Ma ...

Sports

Gelsenkirchen is home of the football club

, currently in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footb ...

, the first tier of German football. The club has won 7 Bundesliga titles. Schalke's home ground, Arena AufSchalke. It was one of 12 German cities to host matches during the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

, hosting matches between

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

and

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

and Serbia and Montenegro,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

, and USA and

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. German football players İlkay Gündoğan,

Mesut Özil Mesut Özil (, ; born 15 October 1988) is a German professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Süper Lig club İstanbul Başakşehir. Özil is known for his technical skills, creativity, passing skills, and vision. He can ...

Olaf Thon Olaf Thon (born 1 May 1966) is a German former professional association football, football player and coach. Mainly a central midfielder, Thon's 19-year professional career was solely associated to FC Schalke 04, Schalke 04 and FC Bayern Munich ...

and Manuel Neuer were born in Gelsenkirchen. German football manager

Michael Skibbe Michael Heinz Skibbe (born 4 August 1965) is a German former football player and current manager of Japanese club Sanfrecce Hiroshima. Club career In his youth, Skibbe played for SG Wattenscheid 09, then moved to the professional team of FC Sch ...

was also born in Gelsenkirchen. Since 1912, Gelsenkirchen owns the harness racing track

Trabrennbahn Gelsenkirchen Trabrennbahn Gelsenkirchen, also known as GelsenTrabPark, is located in the Feldmark quarter of Gelsenkirchen, Germany. The track, built in 1912, is used for harness racing and is the largest harness racing track in Germany, with a capacity fo ...

(also referred as GelsenTrabPark).

Notable people

* Alfons Goldschmidt (1879–1940), journalist, economist, university lecturer *

Claire Waldoff Claire Waldoff (21 October 1884 – 22 January 1957), born Clara Wortmann, was a German singer. She was a famous kabarett singer and entertainer in Berlin during the 1910s and 1920s, chiefly known for performing ironic songs in the Berlin dialec ...

(1884–1957), kabarett singer in Berlin * Wilhelm Zaisser (1893–1958), communist politician, first Minister for State Security of

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In t ...

* Hans Krahe (1898–1965),

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined ...

, linguist * Anton Stankowski (1906–1998), graphic designer, photographer, painter * Werner Mölders (1913–1941), officer of the Luftwaffe * Klaus Wolfgang Niemöller (born 1929), musicologist *

Harald zur Hausen Harald zur Hausen NAS EASA APS (; born 11 March 1936) is a German virologist and professor emeritus. He has done research on cervical cancer and discovered the role of papilloma viruses in cervical cancer, for which he received the Nobel ...

(born 1936), virologist, Nobel laureate (2008), 1983–2003 chief scientific officer of German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg * Heinrich Breloer (born 1942), film director *

Tom Angelripper Thomas Such (born 19 February 1963), better known by his stage name Tom Angelripper, is a German musician best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, main songwriter, and the only original remaining member of German thrash metal band Sodom. Biog ...

(born 1963), singer and bassist of the thrash metal band Sodom *

Oliver Mark Oliver Mark (born 20 February 1963) is a German photographer and artist known primarily for his portraits of international celebrities. Life and education Mark trained as a photographer, working first in the field of fashion photography at B ...

(born 1963), photographer * Gregor Hagedorn (born 1965), botanist * Anne Schwanewilms (born 1967),

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

soprano *

Kai Twilfer Kai Henrik Twilfer (born 1976, Gelsenkirchen, West Germany) is a German merchant and author. Early life Kai Twilfer studied economics in Bochum. While a student, he founded a production company for advertising movies. Apart from that, he work ...

(born 1976), author and businessman *

Terry Reintke Theresa Reintke (born 9 May 1987) is a German politician who has been serving as a member of the European Parliament from Germany since 2014. She is co-president of the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament. She is a member of the Allian ...

(born 1987), politician and

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(MEP) for the Greens-EFA group

Sport

Ernst Kuzorra Ernst Kuzorra (16 October 1905 – 1 January 1990) was a German footballer of the pre-war era. During his entire career, he played for Schalke 04, whom he led to six national championships and one national cup. He is commonly regarded as the gre ...

(1905–1990), footballer and manager, 12 caps and 7 goals for

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

, 6x German Champion, 450 Appearances and 419 Goals for

Schalke Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North ...

, part of their 'Team of the Century' * Fritz Szepan (1907–1974), footballer with 34 caps and 8 goals for

, 6x German Champion, 434 Appearances and 309 Goals for

, part of their 'Team of the Century' * Norbert Nigbur (born 1948), footballer with 6 caps for

1974 World Cup The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the tenth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the first time that ...

winner, 440 appearances for

, part of their 'Team of the Century' *

(born 1965), former football player and current coach *

(born 1966), footballer and manager, 52 caps for

, 1990 World Cup winner, 3x

Winner, 383 appearances for

, part of their 'Team of the Century' * Hamit Altıntop (born 1982), footballer with 82 caps and 7 goals for

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

, league winner in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

and

* Manuel Neuer (born 1986), footballer with 97 caps for

, 2014 World Cup winner, 8x

Winner, 2x Champions League Winner and 5x World's Best Goalkeeper *

(born 1988), footballer with 92 caps and 23 goals for

, 2014 World Cup winner and

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Banco Santander, Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaL ...

winner * İlkay Gündoğan (born 1990), footballer with 37 caps and 7 goals for

, league winner in

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Twin towns – sister cities

Gelsenkirchen is twinned with: *

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, England, UK (1948) * Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina (1969) * Shakhty, Russia (1989) *

Olsztyn Olsztyn ( , ; german: Allenstein ; Old Prussian: ''Alnāsteini'' * Latin: ''Allenstenium'', ''Holstin'') is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with county rights. ...

, Poland (1992) * Cottbus, Germany (1995) *

Büyükçekmece Büyükçekmece is a district and municipality in the suburbs of Istanbul, Turkey on the Sea of Marmara coast of the European side, west of the city. It is largely an industrial area with a population of 380,000. The mayor is Hasan Akgün ( ...

, Turkey (2004)

References

External links

* * (in German),
2006 archive
in English)
Gelsenzentrum – Documentation center of urban and contemporary history of GelsenkirchenMusiktheater im RevierGelsenkirchen at MapQuest (interactive)
{{Authority control Oil campaign of World War II Cities in North Rhine-Westphalia Holocaust locations in Germany