Witten

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Witten
Town
Town hall in Witten
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Witten within Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis district
Witten Show map of Germany Witten Show map of North Rhine-Westphalia
Coordinates: 51°26′N 7°20′E / 51.433°N 7.333°E / 51.433; 7.333
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Arnsberg
District	Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis
Subdivisions	8 districts
Government
• Mayor (2020–25)	Lars König[1] (CDU)
Area
• Total	72.40 km2 (27.95 sq mi)
Elevation	104 m (341 ft)
Population  (2023-12-31)[2]
• Total	95,724
• Density	1,300/km2 (3,400/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	58401 - 58456
Dialling codes	02302, 02324 (Buchholz)
Vehicle registration	EN, WIT
Website	witten.de

Witten (German: [ˈvɪtn̩] ^ⓘ) is a city with almost 100,000 inhabitants in the Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis (district) in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Witten is situated in the Ruhr valley, in the southern Ruhr area.

• Bochum
• Dortmund
• Herdecke
• Wetter (Ruhr)
• Sprockhövel
• Hattingen

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
• 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

Year Inhabitants 1739 566 1787 690 1808 1,587 1830 2,210 1 December 1840 2,987 1 December 1855 5,112 3 December 1858 6,908 3 December 1864 10,500 3 December 1867 12,200 1 December 1871 15,161 1 December 1875 18,100 1 December 1880 21,600 1 December 1885 23,879

Year Inhabitants 1 December 1890 26,310 2 December 1895 28,769 1 December 1900 33,517 1 December 1905 35,841 1 December 1910 37,450 1 December 1916 34,864 5 December 1917 35,033 8 October 1919 37,441 16 June 1925 45,519 16 June 1933 72,580 17 May 1939 73,365 31 December 1945 70,276 29 October 1946 69,384

Year Inhabitants 13 September 1950 76,312 25 September 1956 91,706 6 June 1961 96,462 31 December 1965 98,506 27 May 1970 97,379 31 December 1975 108,771 31 December 1980 105,876 31 December 1985 102,259 25 May 1987 102,902 31 December 1990 105,403 31 December 1995 104,754 31 December 2000 103,196 30 June 2005 101,019

Year Inhabitants 31 December 2011 98,330 31 December 2015 96,700 31 December 2016 96,781 31 December 2019 96,459 31 December 2020 95,876

Witten was first mentioned in historic sources in 1214, however the borough Herbede (which was incorporated into the city in 1975) dates back to 851. The city was a mining town from 1578. In 1946, it was included in North Rhine-Westphalia on its establishment. In 1975 Witten was included in the administrative district Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis 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.

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.^{[citation needed]}

In the local elections of 2004 the Social Democratic Party (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 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).

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:

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Sonja Leidemann	Social Democratic Party	12,365	34.5	11,365	40.0
	Lars König	Christian Democratic Union	10,595	29.6	17,036	60.0
	Stefan Borggraefe	Pirate Party Germany	4,005	11.2
	Martin Strautz	Citizens' Forum	2,276	6.4
	Ursula Weiß	The Left	2,227	6.2
	Richard Surrey	Witten Citzen's Association/Free Voters	1,793	5.0
	Michael Hasenkamp	CityClimate Witten	1,110	3.1
	Hans-Peter Skotarzik	Witten.Direct	1,052	2.9
	Norman Kerner	Independent	397	1.1
Valid votes			35,820	98.1	28,401	98.7
Invalid votes			709	1.9	369	1.3
Total			36,529	100.0	28,770	100.0
Electorate/voter turnout			78,110	46.8	77,920	36.9
Source: City of Witten (1st round, 2nd round)

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:

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	9,052	25.2	10.0	16	9
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	8,349	23.2	0.3	15	2
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	7,404	20.6	7.6	13	4
	Citizens' Forum (BF)	2,182	6.1	4.4	4	3
	Alternative for Germany (AfD)	1,681	4.7	New	3	New
	Pirate Party Germany (Piraten)	1,536	4.3	2.2	3	1
	The Left (Die Linke)	1,441	4.0	2.0	3	1
	Witten Citizens' Association/Free Voters (WGB-FW)	1,120	3.1	0.9	2	±0
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	838	2.3	0.1	2	±0
	Die PARTEI	739	2.1	New	1	New
	CityClimate Witten (SKW)	631	1.8	New	1	New
	Witten.Direct (W.D)	535	1.5	New	1	New
	Alternative Independent Progressive Witten (AUF)	227	0.6	0.6	0	1
	Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP)	139	0.4	New	0	New
	Grassroots Democratic List Witten (BLW)	87	0.2	New	0	New
	Independent Norman Kerner	13	0.0	New	0	New
Valid votes		35,974	98.5
Invalid votes		547	1.5
Total		36,521	100.0		64	8
Electorate/voter turnout		78,108	46.8	0.4
Source: City of Witten

In the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia, 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.

In the Bundestag, 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.

Witten is connected to the Autobahn network by the A 43 and A 44 motorways. It has a central station, connecting the city to the regional-train-network of Deutsche Bahn 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 Bochum. 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.

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.

• 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
• Märkisches Museum (Witten) [de]

Witten is twinned with:^[3]

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; however, the borough of Herbede belongs to the Diocese of Essen. In the 19th century the Ruhr area drew up to 500,000 Poles from East Prussia and Silesia, 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.

In the 16th century Witten was influenced by Martin Luther's Reformation, 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.

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.

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

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

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