Witten () is a city with almost 100,000 inhabitants in the

Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis The Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis is a district in the center of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is part of the southern Ruhr urban area and has ca. 324,000 inhabitants (2012). The district's seat (capital city) is Schwelm; the largest of its nine towns ...

(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 ...

, in western

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 ...

Geography

Witten is situated in 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 ...

valley, in the southern

Ruhr area 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 ...

Bordering municipalities

Bochum Bochum (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

Herdecke Herdecke () is a town in the district of Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It is located south of Dortmund in the Ruhr Area. Its location between the two Ruhr (river), Ruhr reservoirs Hengsteysee and Harkortsee has earned it t ...

Wetter (Ruhr) Wetter (Ruhr) () is a town in western Germany, in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the district of Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis. The river Ruhr (river), Ruhr flows through the urban area, separating the district of Alt-Wetter from the district ...

* Sprockhövel * Hattingen

Boroughs

Witten is divided into eight boroughs and each borough is further divided into two or more city-districts. Every district has its own district-number: * Witten-Mitte: 11 Innenstadt, 12 Oberdorf-Helenenberg, 13 Industriegebiet-West, 14 Krone, 15 Crengeldanz, 16 Hauptfriedhof, 17 Stadion, 18 Industriegebiet-Nord, 19 Hohenstein * Düren: 21 Düren-Nord, 22 Düren-Sued * Stockum: 31 Stockum-Mitte, 32 Dorney, 33 Stockumer Bruch, 34 Wilhelmshöhe * Annen: 41 Tiefendorf, 42 Wullen, 43 Annen-Mitte-Nord, 44 Annen-Mitte-Süd, 45 Kohlensiepen, 46 Wartenberg, 47

Gedern Gedern () is a town in the Wetteraukreis district in Hesse, Germany, and historically belongs to Upper Hesse, Oberhessen. It is located northeast of Hanau at the foot of the Vogelsberg Mountains, Vogelsberg, one of the largest inactive volcanoes ...

* Rüdinghausen: 51 Industriegebiet-Ost, 52 Rüdinghausen-Mitte, 53 Buchholz, 54 Schnee * Bommern: 61 Steinhausen, 62 Bommerbank, 63 Bommerfeld, 64 Wettberg, 65 Buschey, 66 Bommeregge * Heven: 71 Papenholz, 72 Hellweg, 73 Wannen, 74 Heven-Dorf, 75 Lake * Herbede: 81 Herbede-Ort, 82 Vormholz, 83 Bommerholz-Muttental, 84 Durchholz, 85 Buchholz-Kaempen

Population 1739–2020

History

Witten was first mentioned in historic sources in 1214, however the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

Herbede (which was incorporated into the city in 1975) dates back to 851. The city was a mining town from 1578. In the late 19th century Witten was known for the Roburit dynamite. This dynamite was once used by coal mines around the world. In 1906 an explosion occurred, resulting in the deaths of 41 people. During

World War II 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 ...

, forced laborers of the 3rd SS construction brigade were dispatched in the town by the Nazis in 1943. In 1946, it was included in

on its establishment. In 1975 Witten was included in the administrative district

and it is now its biggest city. 1975 was also the year Witten was first counted to have more than 100,000 inhabitants, the threshold to be considered a large city ("Großstadt") in Germany.

Politics

In the local elections of 2004 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 Form ...

(SPD) was the largest party on the council with 24 seats. It was followed by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) with 18 and the

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 ...

with 7, the WBG (a conservative lis) and Free Democrats with four each, FLW (also a conservative list) with three, National Democratic Party two, and the PDS/WAL (socialists) and AUF Witten (a left wing list) with one each. From 2004 to 2020, for the first time in its history, the council was led by a female mayor: Sonja Leidemann (SPD). In the election of 2020 she lost her mandate to Lars König (CDU).

Mayor

The current mayor of Witten is Lars König of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). 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, Sonja Leidemann , align=left,

, 12,365 , 34.5 , 11,365 , 40.0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Lars König , align=left, Christian Democratic Union , 10,595 , 29.6 , 17,036 , 60.0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Stefan Borggraefe , align=left, Pirate Party Germany , 4,005 , 11.2 , - , , align=left, Martin Strautz , align=left, Citizens' Forum , 2,276 , 6.4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Ursula Weiß , align=left, The Left , 2,227 , 6.2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Richard Surrey , align=left, Witten Citizen's Association/

Free Voters Free Voters (, FW) is a political party in Germany. It originates as an umbrella organisation of several Free Voters Associations (), associations of people which participate in an election without having the status of a registered party. These a ...

, 1,793 , 5.0 , - , , align=left, Michael Hasenkamp , align=left, CityClimate Witten , 1,110 , 3.1 , - , , align=left, Hans-Peter Skotarzik , align=left, Witten.Direct , 1,052 , 2.9 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Norman Kerner , 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 ...

, 397 , 1.1 , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 35,820 ! 98.1 ! 28,401 ! 98.7 , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 709 ! 1.9 ! 369 ! 1.3 , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 36,529 ! 100.0 ! 28,770 ! 100.0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 78,110 ! 46.8 ! 77,920 ! 36.9 , - , colspan=7, Source: City of Witten
1st round

City council

The Witten 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) , 9,052 , 25.2 , 10.0 , 16 , 9 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , 8,349 , 23.2 , 0.3 , 15 , 2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(Grüne) , 7,404 , 20.6 , 7.6 , 13 , 4 , - , , align=left, Citizens' Forum (BF) , 2,182 , 6.1 , 4.4 , 4 , 3 , - , 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) , 1,681 , 4.7 , New , 3 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Pirate Party Germany (Piraten) , 1,536 , 4.3 , 2.2 , 3 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, The Left (Die Linke) , 1,441 , 4.0 , 2.0 , 3 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Witten Citizens' Association/

(WGB-FW) , 1,120 , 3.1 , 0.9 , 2 , ±0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Democratic Party (FDP) , 838 , 2.3 , 0.1 , 2 , ±0 , - , bgcolor=, , 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 ...

, 739 , 2.1 , New , 1 , New , - , , align=left, CityClimate Witten (SKW) , 631 , 1.8 , New , 1 , New , - , , align=left, Witten.Direct (W.D) , 535 , 1.5 , New , 1 , New , - , colspan=7 bgcolor=lightgrey, , - , , align=left, Alternative Independent Progressive Witten (AUF) , 227 , 0.6 , 0.6 , 0 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP) , 139 , 0.4 , New , 0 , New , - , , align=left, Grassroots Democratic List Witten (BLW) , 87 , 0.2 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Independent Norman Kerner , 13 , 0.0 , New , 0 , New , - ! colspan=2, Valid votes ! 35,974 ! 98.5 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Invalid votes ! 547 ! 1.5 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Total ! 36,521 ! 100.0 ! ! 64 ! 8 , - ! colspan=2, Electorate/voter turnout ! 78,108 ! 46.8 ! 0.4 ! ! , - , colspan=7, Source
City of Witten

State Landtag

In the

Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia The Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia is the state parliament (''Landtag'') of the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which convenes in the state capital of Düsseldorf, in the eastern part of the district of Düsseldorf-Hafen, Hafen ...

, Witten is part of the Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis II constituency. Nadja Büteführ of the SPD was elected as representative in the 2017 state election. Verena Schäffer of the Greens also ran in the constituency and was elected to the Landtag on her party's state list.

Federal parliament

In the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

, Witten is part of the Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis II constituency. Axel Echeverria of the SPD was elected as representative in the 2021 German federal election.

Transport

Witten is connected to the

Autobahn The (; German , ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. Much of t ...

network by the A 43 and A 44 motorways. It has a

central station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

, connecting the city to the regional-train-network of

Deutsche Bahn (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...

with direct connections to Hagen, Bochum, Essen, Siegen, Wuppertal, Düsseldorf, Aachen or Dortmund. Local service is carried out by the BOGESTRA, a joint venture between the cities of Bochum and Gelsenkirchen, to which most of the bus lines in Witten belong. There is a tram line connecting to

. From mid-December on, there will be two tram lines, which will run in Witten (lines 309 and 310). When the new track to Langendreer is completed (September 2020), the tram lines will ride to the station of Bochum-Langendreer (309) or to Wattenscheid-Höntrop via Bochum main station (310). Public transport in the city is carried out according to the fare system of the VRR transport association.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms of Witten with its two lions once belong to the Everhards von Witten-Steinhausen and was first mentioned in 1283. The family of Witten-Steinhausen belongs to the founders of the town of Witten. Their slogan was: ''"Sigillum Hermanni de Wittene"''. Because of its long history this coat of arms was the only one in the Ruhr area, that was not forbidden by the Allies in May 1945, after the end of 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 ...

Culture

* Hebezeug-Museum – a museum dedicated to cranes and hoist founded by J. D. Neuhaus and is located on the Route der Industriekultur. * Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, festival for contemporary chamber music, held annually at the end of April *

Twin towns – sister cities

Witten is twinned with: *

Beauvais Beauvais ( , ; ) is a town and Communes of France, commune in northern France, and prefecture of the Oise Departments of France, département, in the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, north of Paris. The Communes of France, commune o ...

, France (1975) * Barking and Dagenham, England, United Kingdom (1979) * Mallnitz, Austria (1979) * Lev HaSharon, Israel (1979) * Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Germany (1990) *

Kursk Kursk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur (Kursk Oblast), Kur, Tuskar, and Seym (river), Seym rivers. It has a population of Kursk ...

, Russia (1990) *

Tczew Tczew (, formerly ) is a city on the Vistula River in the Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland, with 59,111 inhabitants (December 2021). It is the capital of Tczew County and the largest city of the ethnocultural region of Kociewie within th ...

, Poland (1990) * San Carlos, Nicaragua (1990) *

Mekelle Mekelle (), or Mek'ele, is a List of zones of Ethiopia, special zone and capital city, capital of the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. Mekelle was formerly the capital of Enderta province, Enderta Awrajja, awraja in Tigray Province, Tigray. It is locate ...

, Ethiopia (2016)

Religions

Roman Catholic

When Witten was first mentioned in historical documents, it was part of the Archdiocese of Cologne. Since 1821 it has been a part of the

Diocese of Paderborn The Prince-Bishopric of Paderborn () was an ecclesiastical principality (Hochstift) of the Holy Roman Empire from 1281 to 1802. History The Diocese of Paderborn was founded in 799 by Pope Leo III. In the early years it was subordinated to t ...

; however, the borough of Herbede belongs to the Diocese of Essen. In the 19th century the Ruhr area drew up to 500,000

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

from

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

and

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

, most of whom were Catholic. Hundreds settled in Witten, leading to a growth in the Catholic community. Today, between 30 and 40 per cent of the population is Catholic.

Protestant

In the 16th century Witten was influenced by

Martin Luther Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

, and until the late 19th century, Witten was a predominantly Protestant town with just a few Catholic inhabitants. Between 30 and 40 per cent of the population is Protestant today.

Muslims

There are four mosques in Witten, Annen and Herbede today, founded by immigrants from Turkey who arrived in the 1970s and 1980s. Between five and eight per cent of the population is Muslim.

Jews

In 1815 the first Jewish community was mentioned in Witten. In 1938 the synagogue was destroyed during the so-called " Reichspogromnacht" (also known as ''

Kristallnacht ( ) or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilia ...

'') of 9–10 November 1938. Today, only about a dozen Jews live in Witten. They belong to the Jewish community in

. Since 1994 the place of the former synagogue is marked with a memorial.

Notable people

* Ingeborg Danz (born 1961), concert singer * Theodor Detmers (1902–1976), officer * Felix Dornebusch (born 1994), football player *

Mirko Englich Mirko Englich (born 28 August 1978) is a German Greco-Roman wrestler. He won two silver medals at the European Wrestling Championships in 2003 and 2008. Englich won a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), ...

(born 1978), wrestler * Dennis Eilhoff (born 1982), football player * Robert Graf (1923–1966), actor * Martin Geck (1936–2019), musicologist * Ralf Kapschack (born 1954), politician (SPD) * Carsten Keuler (born 1971), football player * Jochen Nickel (born 1959), actor * Sorina Nwachukwu (born 1987), sprinter * Paul Pleiger (1899–1985), industrialist and corporate executive (NSDAP) * Alexandra Popp (born 1991), football player * Andreas Reckwitz (born 1970), sociologist * Stephan Remmler (born 1949), singer * Moritz Römling (born 2001), football player * Otto Schlüter (1872–1959), geographer * Joseph Schmidt-Görg (1897–1981), musicologist and composer *

Otto Schott Friedrich Otto Schott (1851–1935) was a German people, German chemist, glass technologist, and the inventor of borosilicate glass. Schott systematically investigated the relationship between the chemical composition of the glass and its properti ...

(1851–1935), chemist * Erich Schöppner (1932–2005), boxer * Michael Schulz (born 1961), football player * Josef Sieber (1900–1962), film actor * Wilhelm Utermann (1912–1991), writer and journalist * Willi Veller (1896–1941), politician (NSDAP) * Tanja Wedhorn (born 1971), actress * Charles Paul Wilp (1932–2005), artist and photographer * Rosi Wolfstein (1888–1987), politician (KPD)

References

{{Authority control Holocaust locations in Germany