Iserlohn (; Westphalian: ''Iserlaun'') is a city in the Märkischer Kreis district, in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, Germany. It is the largest city by population and area within the district and the

Sauerland The Sauerland () is a rural, hilly area spreading across most of the south-eastern part of the States of Germany, German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, in parts heavily forested and, apart from the major valleys, sparsely inhabited. ...

region.

Geography

Iserlohn is located at the north end of the

near the

Ruhr The Ruhr ( ; , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr Area, sometimes Ruhr District, Ruhr Region, or Ruhr Valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 1,160/km2 and a populati ...

river, in West-Central Germany.

History

The Pancratius church (also called Bauernkirche) is believed to have been founded in around 985, but the first written document mentioning ''lon'' dates only from 1150. In 1237 the Count of the Mark gave Iserlohn municipal rights. In 1975 the city, which had been an urban district before, incorporated the surrounding ex-municipalities of Letmathe, Hennen, Sümmern and Kesbern, and became part of the district " Märkischer Kreis". As a larger mid-sized city, Iserlohn, however, still has a special status compared to most other municipalities in the district. This means that the city takes on tasks more usually performed by the district, such as social and youth affairs, hence it is comparable to an urban district.

Politics

Mayor

The current mayor of Iserlohn is Michael Joithe, a member of the voter group ''Die Iserlohner''. 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, Eva-Barbara Kirchhoff , align=left, Christian Democratic Union , 13,275 , 39.8 , 11,912 , 49.8 , - , bgcolor=#648C5A, , align=left, Michael Joithe , align=left, Die Iserlohner , 5,273 , 15.8 , 12,007 , 50.2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Martin Luckert , align=left,

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 Form ...

, 5,015 , 15.0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Manuel Huff , align=left, The Left , 2,864 , 8.6 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Martin Isbruch , align=left,

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (, ), often simply referred to as Greens (, ), is a Green (politics), green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (formed in East Ger ...

, 2,692 , 8.1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Daniel Bläsing , align=left,

Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...

, 1,608 , 4.8 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Claudio Vurro , align=left,

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

, 1,521 , 4.6 , - , , align=left, Hans Herbers , align=left, Independent Voters' Association , 592 , 1.8 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Martin Radojcic , align=left,

, 233 , 0.7 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Robert Gustävel , align=left,

, 194 , 0.6 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Michael Klammt , align=left,

, 129 , 0.4 , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 33,396 ! 99.2 ! 23,919 ! 98.3 , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 279 ! 0.8 ! 419 ! 1.7 , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 33,675 ! 100.0 ! 24,338 ! 100.0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 72,958 ! 46.2 ! 72,849 ! 33.4 , - , colspan=7, Source: City of Iserlohn
1st round

City council

The Iserlohn 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, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , 11,817 , 35.6 , 3.6 , 24 , 4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(SPD) , 6,337 , 19.1 , 13.3 , 13 , 3 , - , bgcolor=#648C5A, , align=left, Die Iserlohner , 4,397 , 13.2 , New , 9 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(Grüne) , 3,713 , 11.2 , 4.3 , 8 , 5 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, The Left (Die Linke) , 2,498 , 7.5 , 0.5 , 5 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(AfD) , 1,985 , 6.0 , 0.2 , 4 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Democratic Party (FDP) , 1,483 , 4.5 , 0.4 , 3 , 1 , - , , align=left, Independent Voters' Association (UWG) , 960 , 2.9 , 0.7 , 2 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Independent Radojcic , 43 , 0.1 , New , 0 , New , - ! colspan=2, Valid votes ! 33,233 ! 98.8 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Invalid votes ! 420 ! 1.2 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Total ! 33,653 ! 100.0 ! ! 68 ! 18 , - ! colspan=2, Electorate/voter turnout ! 72,958 ! 46.1 ! ! ! , - , colspan=7, Source
City of Iserlohn

Points of interest

The Dechenhöhle caves were discovered in 1868 during the construction of the railway line

Hagen Hagen () is a city in the States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, on the southeastern edge of the Ruhr area, 15 km south of Dortmund, where the rivers Lenne and Volme meet the Ruhr (river), Ruhr. In 2023, the ...

-Iserlohn. 360 metres are accessible for visitors, and there are many

stalactite A stalactite (, ; , ) is a mineral formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves, hot springs, or man-made structures such as bridges and mines. Any material that is soluble and that can be deposited as a colloid, or is in suspension (chemistry ...

s and

stalagmite A stalagmite (, ; ; ) is a type of rock formation that rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of material deposited on the floor from ceiling drippings. Stalagmites are typically composed of calcium carbonate, but may consist ...

s in the cave. The Danzturm, located on the southern hill overlooking the old city, is a landmark and featured on the logo of the local brewery (Iserlohner). The tower has views of the valley and surrounding hills and is open to the public with a small inn at the base. In the 18th century, the town became known for its Iserlohn boxes, a form of tobacco or snuff box with an engraved or embossed lid that often featured an image of former

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n King

Frederick the Great Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself ''King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prussia ...

. Fleming, John &

Hugh Honour Hugh Honour FRSL (26 September 1927 – 19 May 2016) was a British art historian, known for his writing partnership with John Fleming. Their ''A World History of Art'' (a.k.a. ''The Visual Arts: A History''), is now in its seventh edition and ...

. (1977) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Decorative Arts. '' London:

Allen Lane Sir Allen Lane (born Allen Lane Williams; 21 September 1902 – 7 July 1970) was a British publisher who together with his brothers Richard and John Lane founded Penguin Books in 1935, bringing high-quality paperback fiction and non-fictio ...

, p. 399.

Sports

The city is home of the Iserlohn Roosters, a

DEL Del, or nabla, is an operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes ...

(first-division) ice hockey team. The Roosters joined the DEL in 2000 and developed from a low-budget team to a solid one that regularly competes for a

Playoff The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

-spot. The club plays its home games at the Eissporthalle Iserlohn, which holds 4,967 spectators. The original club, EC Deilinghofen, was founded in 1959 and went bankrupt in 1987. The second club, ECD Sauerland, existed from 1988 to 1994. In 1994, Iserlohner EC was founded.

Education

Iserlohn has 15 elementary schools and 12 secondary schools (3 Gymnasien, 1

Gesamtschule A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 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 restricted on the basis ...

, 3

Realschule Real school (, ) is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), F ...

n, 5

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). Two universities of applied sciences are also located in the city. The headquarters, together with a major branch, of the South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences (also: Fachhochschule Südwestfalen (FH SWF)) offering engineering and informatics programmes is located in the city centre on Alexanderhöhe. The Gesamtschule Seilersee (BiTS) is a private, state-approved business school with a campus near the Seilersee.

Schützenfest

The Schützenfest is a famous festival which takes place every year, and is central to Iserlohner's cultural life – and the town's identity. It is held at the Parkhalle, Alexanderhöhe. At the same time as the Shooters festival (Schützenfest) the Iserlohn Peace committee (FriedensPlenum) has held a 3-day free benefit music festival around the farmers church (Bauernkirche) since 1991.

Coat of arms

Iserlohn's coat of arms features, in the middle, Saint Pancras (''St. Pancratius''), who is patron of the oldest church in Iserlohn. He is depicted between two towers of the historic

city wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or Earthworks (military), earthworks to extensive military fortifications such as ...

. The checked fess below the saint is derived from the arms of the Counts of the Mark.

Twin towns – sister cities

Iserlohn is twinned with: *

Almelo Almelo () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands. The main population centres in the town are Aadorp, Almelo, Mariaparochie, and Bornerbroek. Almelo has about 72,000 inhabitants in the middle o ...

, Netherlands (1954) *

Biel/Bienne Biel/Bienne (official bilingual wording; German language, German: ''Biel'' ; French language, French: ''Bienne'' ; Bernese German, locally ; ; ; ) is a bilingual city in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. With over 55,000 residents, it is the ...

, Switzerland (1959) *

Hall in Tirol Hall in Tirol is a town in the Innsbruck-Land district of Tyrol (state), Tyrol, Austria. Located at an altitude of 574 m, about 5 km (3 mi) east of the state's capital Innsbruck in the Inn (river), Inn valley, it has a population of 14,77 ...

, Austria (1967) * Auchel, France (1975) * Laventie, France (1975) *

Nyíregyháza Nyíregyháza (, ) is a city with county rights in northeastern Hungary and the county capital of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg. With a population of 118,001, it is the seventh-largest city in Hungary and the second largest in the Northern Great ...

, Hungary (1989) *

Novocherkassk Novocherkassk () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located near the confluence of the Tuzlov and Aksay Rivers, the latter a distributary of the Don (river), Don River. Novocherkassk is best known as the ...

, Russia (1990) * Glauchau, Germany (1991) *

Chorzów Chorzów ( ; ; ) is a city in the Silesia region of southern Poland, near Katowice. Chorzów is one of the central cities of the Metropolis GZM – a metropolis with a population of 2 million. It is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Rawa ...

, Poland (2004)

Notable people

* Johann Stephan Pütter (1725–1807), Reichspublizist and teacher of state law * Friedrich Soennecken (1848–1919), businessman, entrepreneur, inventor and graphic artist * Alexander Pfänder (1870–1941), philosopher * Karl Rasche (1892–1951), SS honor and rank leader for special use with the rank of Obersturmbannführer and board member and spokesman of the

Dresdner Bank Dresdner Bank AG () was a German bank, founded in 1872 in Dresden, then headquartered in Berlin from 1884 to 1945 and in Frankfurt from 1963 onwards after a postwar hiatus. Long Germany's second-largest bank behind Deutsche Bank, it was eventually ...

* Wilhelm Wessel (1904–1971), painter * Curt Rechel (1902–1973), Navy officer * Walter Bosse (1904–1979), artist, designer, and potter * Richard Friederich Arens (1919–2000), mathematician * Gerd Roellecke (1927–2011), jurist and legal philosopher * Aloys Kontarsky (1931–2017), pianist * Alfons Kontarsky (1932–2010), pianist * Bernhard Kontarsky (born 1937), conductor and pianist * Jochen Busse (born 1941), actor and cabaret artist * Helmut Neuhaus (born 1944), historian on Early modern period

Albert Ernst (1912–1986) World War 2 tank ace, who saved the city by peacefully surrendering to US troops * Harm Klueting (born 1949), Roman Catholic clergyman, historian, theologian and university lecturer * Volker Fischer (born 1950), fencer * Ulrich Walter (born 1954), astronaut *

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...

(1958–2020), sculptor * Timothy Paul Evans (born 1962), British general lieutenant and commander of the ARRC * Matthias Mellinghaus (born 1965), rowing sportsman, film director and assistant director, Olympiasieger 1988 * Brian Glynn (born 1967), ice hockey player * Marsha Wattanapanich (born 1970), Thai singer and actress * Markus Giesler (born 1976), consumer researcher * (born Soner Duman) (born 1983), rapper *

Thore Schölermann Thore Schölermann (born 26 September 1984) is a German actor and television host. Career Schölermann was born in Iserlohn, North Rhine-Westphalia. After graduation in 2004, he trained to be a professional actor at Palma de Mallorca, Spain. ...

(born 1984), actor * Dieter Orendorz (born 1992), ice hockey player * David Beckmann (born 2000), car racing driver *

Monty Don Montagu Denis Wyatt Don (born George Montagu Don; 8 July 1955) is an English horticulturist, broadcaster, and writer who is best known as the lead presenter of the BBC gardening television series '' Gardeners' World''. Born in Germany and rai ...

(born 1955), gardener * Kevin Orendorz (born 1995), professional ice hockey player

References

External links

*
Newspaper ''Iserlohner Kreisanzeiger und Zeitung''
{{Authority control Towns in North Rhine-Westphalia Märkischer Kreis Members of the Hanseatic League