Gelsenkirchen (, , ; wep, Gelsenkiärken) is the 25th most populous city of Germany and the 11th most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher River (a tributary of the Rhine), it lies at the centre of the

Ruhr The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , 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 2,800/km ...

, 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 Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

, Duisburg 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 Germany, German federal state o ...

. 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 after Dortmund, Bochum, Bielefeld and Münster, and it is one of the southernmost cities in the

Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ancestor2 = Middle L ...

dialect area. The city is home to the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club Schalke 04, which is named after . The club's current stadium Veltins-Arena, however, is located in . Gelsenkirchen was first documented in 1150, but it remained a tiny village until the 19th century, when the Industrial Revolution led to the growth of the entire area. In 1840, when the mining of coal 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. 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 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 as early as the Bronze Age – 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. A few other parts of town which today lie in Gelsenkirchen's north end were mentioned in documents from the early Middle Ages, 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 in town was built in what is now Buer. This ' ("church at Buer") was listed in a directory of parish churches by the sexton from

Deutz Deutz may refer to: People * Emmanuel Deutz (1763–1842), German-born French rabbi * Rupert of Deutz, (–), Benedictine theologian and writer * Simon Deutz (1802–1852), German-born French courtier Places * Deutz, Cologne, a former town, si ...

, Theodericus. This settlement belonged to the Mark. 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 of Berg, the land now comprising the city of Gelsenkirchen passed to the Kingdom of Prussia, 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 1918 ...

. Whereas the Gelsenkirchen of that time – not including today's north-end communities, such as Buer – was put in the '' Amt'' 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 coal – lovingly known as "Black Gold" – in the

area in 1840, and the subsequent

industrialisation Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...

, the Cologne–

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the greatest town between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detm ...

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 ...

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 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 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

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 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 worshi ...

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 shelter Air raid shelters are structures for the protection of non-combatants as well as combatants against enemy attacks from the air. They are similar to bunkers in many regards, although they are not designed to defend against ground attack (but many ...

s such as near the town hall in Buer are in nearly original form. Oberst Werner Mölders the legendary Luftwaffe 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 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 codes (''Postleitzahlen'') were introduced in 1961, Gelsenkirchen was one of the few cities in West Germany 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 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 ...

in North Rhine-Westphalia" 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 celebrated Mass 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 Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

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 Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially us ...

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 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 ...

of Westphalia, , 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 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 and

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

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 Münster,

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

, 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 initi ...

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

Transport

Gelsenkirchen lies on autobahns 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 se ...

'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'' 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 '' Hauptschulen'', 6 '' Realschulen'', 7 '' Gymnasien'', and 5 '' Gesamtschulen'', among which the ''Gesamtschule Bismarck'', as the only comprehensive school run by the Westphalian branch of the Evangelical ( Lutheran) Church, warrants special mention. The ''

Fachhochschule A ''Fachhochschule'' (; plural ''Fachhochschulen''), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts ...

Gelsenkirchen'', founded in 1992, also has campuses in Bocholt and Recklinghausen. It offers courses in Economics, Computer Science, 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, and Supply and Disposal Engineering. There is a '' Volkshochschule'' for

adult education Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ralp ...

as well as a city library with three branches. The Institute for Underground Infrastructure, founded in 1994 and associated with the Ruhr University Bochum, provides a wide range of research, certification, and consulting services. The science park 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 (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, Social Democratic Party , 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 Alternative for Germany (german: link=no, Alternative für Deutschland, AfD; ) is a right-wing populist * * * * * * * political party in Germany. AfD is known for its opposition to the European Union, as well as immigration to Germany. I ...

, 9,355 , 12.1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, David Fischer , align=left,

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a Green politics, green List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens ...

, 7,188 , 9.3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Susanne Cichos , align=left,

Free Democratic Party Free Democratic Party is the name of several political parties around the world. It usually designates a party ideologically based on liberalism. Current parties with that name include: *Free Democratic Party (Germany), a liberal political party in ...

, 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, Social Democratic Party (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,

(AfD) , 9,944 , 12.9 , 7.9 , 11 , 8 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(Grüne) , 9,457 , 12.2 , 6.4 , 11 , 7 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(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 mostl ...

), heritage listings *

/Ruhr-Zoo * Industrial Heritage Trail (''Route der Industriekultur'') – Gelsenkirchen * Nordsternpark * Ruhr.2010 – European Capital of Culture * Rock Hard Festival * Filming of '' The Miracle of Father Malachia''

Sports

Gelsenkirchen is home of the football club

, currently in the Bundesliga, 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 the ...

, hosting matches between Poland and Ecuador, Argentina and

Serbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

, Portugal and Mexico, and USA and Czech Republic. 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 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 Sc ...

was also born in Gelsenkirchen. Since 1912, Gelsenkirchen owns the

harness racing Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace). They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, or spider, or chariot occupied by a driver. In Europe, and less frequently in Australi ...

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 Alfons Goldschmidt (28 November 1879, Gelsenkirchen – 20 or 21 January 1940, Mexico City) was a German journalist, economist and university lecturer. Life Goldschmidt was born in Gelsenkirchen. He was finance editor for Rudolf Mosse's B ...

(1879–1940), journalist, economist, university lecturer * Claire Waldoff (1884–1957), kabarett singer in Berlin * Wilhelm Zaisser (1893–1958), communist politician, first Minister for State Security of East Germany *

Hans Krahe Hans Krahe (7 February 1898 – 25 June 1965) was a German philologist and linguist, specializing over many decades in the Illyrian languages. He was born in Gelsenkirchen. Work Between 1936 and 1946 he was a professor at the University of W ...

(1898–1965), philologist, linguist * Anton Stankowski (1906–1998), graphic designer, photographer, painter * Werner Mölders (1913–1941), officer of the Luftwaffe *

Klaus Wolfgang Niemöller Klaus Wolfgang Niemöller (21 July 1929 in Gelsenkirchen) is a German musicology, musicologist. Life and career Niemöller studied musicology at the University of Cologne from 1950 to 1955. Afterwards he received his doctorate with a dissertati ...

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

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

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 worked ...

(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 Alliance ...

(born 1987), politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Greens-EFA group

Sport

* Ernst Kuzorra (1905–1990), footballer and manager, 12 caps and 7 goals for Germany, 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 Rh ...

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

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 the ...

winner, 440 appearances for

, part of their 'Team of the Century' *

(born 1965), former football player and current coach * Olaf Thon (born 1966), footballer and manager, 52 caps for Germany,

1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being M ...

winner, 3x Bundesliga Winner, 383 appearances for

, part of their 'Team of the Century' * Hamit Altıntop (born 1982), footballer with 82 caps and 7 goals for Turkey, league winner in Germany, Spain and Turkey * Manuel Neuer (born 1986), footballer with 97 caps for Germany,

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

winner, 8x Bundesliga Winner, 2x Champions League Winner and 5x World's Best Goalkeeper *

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

winner and La Liga winner * İlkay Gündoğan (born 1990), footballer with 37 caps and 7 goals for Germany, league winner in Germany and England

Twin towns – sister cities

Gelsenkirchen is

twinned Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...

with: * Newcastle upon Tyne, England, UK (1948) *

Zenica Zenica ( ; ; ) is a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and an administrative and economic center of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Zenica-Doboj Canton. It is located in the Bosna (river), Bosna river valley, about north of Sarajevo. Th ...

, Bosnia and Herzegovina (1969) * Shakhty, Russia (1989) * Olsztyn, Poland (1992) * Cottbus, Germany (1995) * Büyükçekmece, 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