Ratingen (; ) is a town in the district of Mettmann 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 Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It lies in the northwestern part of

Berg Berg may refer to: People *Berg (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * General Berg (disambiguation) * Berg Ng (born 1960), Hong Kong actor * Berg (footballer, born 1963), Ninimbergue dos Santos Guerra, Brazilian footba ...

about 12 km northeast of

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

Administration

With a communal reform of 1975 the independent municipalities of Breitscheid, Eggerscheidt, Hösel, Lintorf (seat Angerland) as well as the local part of Homberg and the municipality of Homberg-Meiersberg (seat Hubbelrath) were added to the city of Ratingen.

History

Ratingen was settled before 849. From the

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

the Ratingen area belonged to the count and later dukes of

. On December 11, 1276 the settlement received city rights. Ratingen was one of the four places of Berg which experienced an economic boom in the end of the Middle Ages, but slowed during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

. At the beginning of the Industrial Age, the first manufacturing plants opened in 1783. In Cromford the first mechanical spinnery of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

opened, which grew into the ''

Textilfabrik Cromford The Textilfabrik Cromford in Ratingen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany was built in 1783 by Johann Gottfried Brügelmann. It was the first Cotton mill, cotton spinning mill on the Europe, European mainland. Today it is an museum, industrial museu ...

'', now part of the ''

Rheinisches Industriemuseum The Rheinisches Industriemuseum (lit. Rhineland Museum of the Industry) is a decentralized museum with six locations in Rhineland, western Germany. The locations are: *Oberhausen: the main site at the old Zinkfabrik Altenberg (zinc factory), near ...

'' (Rhine Industry Museum). In the

Napoleonic Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led a series of mi ...

times, it became part of the city of

and in 1815, into the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

. In the communal re-organization of 1929, Ratingen maintained its independence. After the defeat of German forces in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Field Marshal

Walter Model Otto Moritz Walter Model (; 24 January 1891 – 21 April 1945) was a German during World War II. Although he was a hard-driving, aggressive panzer commander early in the war, Model became best known as a practitioner of defensive warfare. H ...

committed suicide in the forest adjacent to the city. After relatively small war damage, Ratingen in the 1960s and the 1970s experienced years of growth and development (West Ratingen with 20,000 inhabitants, developed in the late 1960s-1980s). In 1970, before further incorporations the number of inhabitants surpassed 50,000.

Politics

The current mayor of Ratingen is Klaus Konrad Pesch of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 2014. 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, Klaus Konrad Pesch , align=left, Christian Democratic Union , 16,433 , 41.5 , 12,874 , 52.1 , - , , align=left, Rainer Vogt , align=left, Citizens' Union Ratingen , 7,490 , 18.9 , 11,833 , 47.9 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Christian Wiglow , 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 ...

, 6,178 , 15.6 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Heinz Martin Tönnes , 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 ...

, 5,434 , 13.7 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Markus Sondermann , align=left, Free Democratic Party , 2,344 , 5.9 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Hans Michael Gericke , align=left,

Die PARTEI (''Party for Labour, Rule of Law, Animal Protection, Promotion of Elites and Grassroots Democratic Initiative''), or Die PARTEI (''The PARTY''), is a German political party. It was founded in 2004 by the editors of the German satirical magazine ...

, 1,029 , 2.6 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Manfred Evers , 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 ...

, 700 , 1.8 , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 39,608 ! 98.9 ! 24,707 ! 99.4 , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 432 ! 1.1 ! 162 ! 0.7 , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 40,040 ! 100.0 ! 24,869 ! 100.0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 72,748 ! 55.0 ! 72,741 ! 34.2 , - , colspan=7, Source: City of Ratingen
1st round

City council

The Ratingen 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) , 13,595 , 34.4 , 0.2 , 24 , 4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(Grüne) , 7,553 , 19.1 , 9.5 , 14 , 9 , - , , align=left, Citizens' Union Ratingen (BU) , 6,964 , 17.6 , 6.7 , 12 , 2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(SPD) , 6,056 , 15.3 , 5.6 , 11 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Democratic Party (FDP) , 2,479 , 6.3 , 1.7 , 4 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , 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 ...

(AfD) , 1,607 , 4.1 , 1.0 , 3 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

, 1,159 , 2.9 , New , 2 , New , - , colspan=7 bgcolor=lightgrey, , - , , align=left, The Optimists , 119 , 0.3 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Independent Manfred Evers , 40 , 0.1 , New , 0 , New , - ! colspan=2, Valid votes ! 39,572 ! 98.9 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Invalid votes ! 458 ! 1.1 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Total ! 40,030 ! 100.0 ! ! 70 ! 12 , - ! colspan=2, Electorate/voter turnout ! 72,748 ! 55.0 ! 3.4 ! ! , - , colspan=7, Source
City of Ratingen

Economy

Several important international enterprises (particularly from the IT industry) as

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public Limited Company () is a British Multinational company, multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economic ...

ASUS ASUSTeK Computer Inc. (, , , ; stylized as ASUSTeK or ASUS) is a Taiwanese Multinational corporation, multinational computer, phone hardware and electronics manufacturer headquartered in Beitou District, Taipei, Taiwan. Its products include deskto ...

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

SAP Sap is a fluid transported in the xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a s ...

CEMEX CEMEX S.A.B. de C.V., known as Cemex, is a Mexican multinational building materials company headquartered in San Pedro, near Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. It manufactures and distributes cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates in more than ...

and Esprit maintain branches and/or main centres in Ratingen. It is also the hometown of automotive dealer Gottfried Schultz. On 1 June 2021 Trading Hub Europe, the market area manager for the German natural gas market, was founded in Ratingen.

Sport

Since 1997 the town has hosted the Mehrkampf-Meeting, an annual

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄ ...

and

pentathlon A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek language, Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) (). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of the Anci ...

meeting.

Twin towns – sister cities

Ratingen is twinned with: *

Maubeuge Maubeuge (; historical or ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department in northern France. It is situated on both banks of the Sambre (here canalized), east of Valenciennes and ab ...

, France (1958) *

Le Quesnoy Le Quesnoy (; ) is a commune and small town in the east of the Nord department of northern France. It was part of the historical province of French Hainaut. It is known for its fortifications, dating from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. ...

, France (1963) *

Vermillion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color family and pigment most often used between antiquity and the 19th century from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide). It is synonymous with red orange, which often takes a modern ...

, United States (1969) *

Kokkola Kokkola (; , ) is a town in Finland and the regional capital of Central Ostrobothnia. It is located on the west coast of the country, on the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Kokkola is approximately , while the Kokkola sub-region, sub-region h ...

, Finland (1989) *

Beelitz Beelitz () is a historic town in Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is chiefly known for its cultivation of white asparagus (''Beelitzer Spargel''). Geography Beelitz is situated about 18 km (11 mi) south of Potsda ...

, Germany (1990) * Gagarin, Russia (1998) * Huishan (Wuxi), China (2007) Between 1972 and 2016 Ratingen was also twinned to

Cramlington Cramlington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland. It is north of Newcastle upon Tyne. The name suggests a probable founding by the Danes or Anglo-Saxons. The population was 28,843 as of 2021 census data from Northumberland County Cou ...

Blyth Valley Blyth Valley was a local government district with borough status in south-east Northumberland, England, bordering the North Sea and Tyne and Wear. The two principal towns were Blyth and Cramlington. Other population centres include Seaton De ...

, United Kingdom.

Notable people

* Martin J. Beckmann (1924–2017), economist * Heribert Fassbender (born 1941), sports presenter * Claudia Jung (born 1964), singer * Johann Peter Melchior (1747–1825), sculptor and porcelain designer *

Marius Müller-Westernhagen Marius Hubertus Hans Müller-Westernhagen (born 6 December 1948) is a German musician and actor. He has been a feature in German rock music since the mid-1970s. Müller-Westernhagen is known for his energetic public concerts, and his fans know h ...

(born 1948), rock musician and actor * Rosemarie Nitribitt (1933–1957), luxury call girl *

Dieter Nuhr Dieter Herbert Nuhr (born 29 October 1960) is a German kabarett artist, comedian, author and television presenter. Nuhr's stage program ''nuhr in Berlin'' (the title is a pun; for explanation, see below) is the first German stand-up comedy whic ...

(born 1960), comedian, author and cabaret artist * Norbert Pohlmann (born 1960), computer scientist *

Sönke Wortmann Sönke Wortmann (; 25 August 1959 in Marl, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German film director and producer. Biography Wortmann's father was a miner. After Wortmann's A-Levels he wanted to become a professional football player and started playi ...

(born 1959), film director

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Towns in North Rhine-Westphalia Mettmann (district) Members of the Hanseatic League