Oberhausen (, ) is a city on the river

Emscher The Emscher () is a river, a tributary of the Rhine, that flows through the Ruhr area in North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany. Its overall length is with a mean outflow near the mouth into the lower Rhine of . Description The Emscher ha ...

in the

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 ...

, Germany, located between

Duisburg Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...

and

Essen Essen () 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 Dortmund, as well as ...

( ). The city hosts the

International Short Film Festival Oberhausen The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, founded in 1954, is one of the oldest short film festivals in the world. Held in Oberhausen, it is one of the major international platforms for the short form. The festival holds an International ...

and its

Gasometer Oberhausen The Gasometer Oberhausen is a decommissioned gas holder in Oberhausen, Germany, repurposed into a prominent exhibition venue. As an industrial landmark, it serves as an anchor point for both the European Route of Industrial Heritage and the Ind ...

is an anchor point of the

European Route of Industrial Heritage The European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH) is a tourist route of the most important industrial heritage sites in Europe. This is a tourism industry information initiative to present a network of industrial heritage sites across Europe. The ...

History

Oberhausen was named for its 1847 railway station which had taken its name from the Oberhausen Castle. The new borough was formed in 1862 following inflow of people for the local

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

mines and

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

mills. Awarded town rights in 1874, Oberhausen absorbed several neighbouring boroughs including Alstaden, parts of

Styrum Styrum (; sometimes spelled "Stirum") was an immediate lordship in the Holy Roman Empire, located in Mülheim an der Ruhr, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It held no seat in the Diet and was circumvened by the Lordship of Broich. The exact dat ...

and Dümpten in 1910. Oberhausen became a city in 1901, and they incorporated the towns of Sterkrade and Osterfeld in 1929. The Ruhrchemie AG synthetic oil plant ("Oberhausen-Holten" or "Sterkrade/Holten") was a bombing target of the oil campaign of World War II, and the US forces reached the plant by 4 April 1945. In 1973,

Thyssen AG Thyssen was a major German steel producer founded by August Thyssen. The company merged with Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp to form ThyssenKrupp in 1999. History On 29 September 1891, August Thyssen and his brother Joseph Thyssen came to ...

employed 14,000 people in Oberhausen in the steel industry, but ten years later the number had fallen to 6,000. In 1954 the city began hosting the

, and the 1982

Deutscher Filmpreis The German Film Award (), also known as Lola after its prize statuette, is the national film award of Germany. It is presented at an annual ceremony honouring cinematic achievements in the Cinema of Germany, German film industry. Besides being ...

was awarded to a group that wrote the

Oberhausen Manifesto The Oberhausen Manifesto was a declaration by a group of 26 young West German filmmakers at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, North Rhine-Westphalia on 28 February 1962. The manifesto was a call to arms to establish a "new estGerm ...

Demographics

Population development since 1862: The age breakdown of the population (2013) is: There were 12.5% non-Germans living in Oberhausen, as of 2014. The unemployment rate is 10.4% (Jul 2020). Migrant communities in Oberhausen as of 31 December 2017:

Politics

Mayor

The current mayor of Oberhausen is Daniel Schranz of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), elected in 2015 and re-elected in 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, Daniel Schranz , align=left, Christian Democratic Union , 30,150 , 45.5 , 28,456 , 62.1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Thorsten Berg , 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 ...

, 19,699 , 29.7 , 17,381 , 37.9 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Norbert Emil Axt , 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 ...

, 7,002 , 10.6 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Wolfgang Kempkes , 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 ...

, 4,521 , 6.8 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Jens Carstensen , align=left, The Left , 3,095 , 4.7 , - , , align=left, Urban Mülhausen , align=left, Open for Citizens , 1,378 , 2.1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Claudia Wädlich , align=left,

The Violets The Violets were an English post punk/ indie/ pop band from the New Cross area of London, England. Formed initially as a bassless garage punk trio, The Violets early gigs saw them playing stark, spiky and minimalist punk that evoked early art-s ...

, 468 , 0.7 , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 66,313 ! 98.7 ! 45,837 ! 99.2 , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 859 ! 1.3 ! 368 ! 0.8 , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 67,172 ! 100.0 ! 46,205 ! 100.0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 159,510 ! 42.1 ! 159,458 ! 29.0 , - , colspan=7, Source
State Returning Officer

City council

The Oberhausen 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) , 21,471 , 32.8 , 0.2 , 19 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(SPD) , 20,754 , 31.7 , 7.2 , 19 , 4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(Grüne) , 9,450 , 14.4 , 5.9 , 8 , 3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(AfD) , 4,995 , 7.6 , New , 4 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, The Left (Die Linke) , 3,367 , 5.1 , 2.8 , 3 , 2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Democratic Party (FDP) , 1,988 , 3.0 , 0.2 , 2 , ±0 , - , , align=left, Alliance of Obenhauser Citizens (BOB) , 1,913 , 2.9 , 5.7 , 2 , 3 , - , , align=left, Open for Citizens (OfB) , 1,153 , 1.8 , New , 1 , New , - , colspan=7 bgcolor=lightgrey, , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(Die Violetten) , 445 , 0.7 , 0.5 , 0 , ±0 , - ! colspan=2, Valid votes ! 65,536 ! 98.1 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Invalid votes ! 1,290 ! 1.9 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Total ! 66,826 ! 100.0 ! ! 58 ! 2 , - ! colspan=2, Electorate/voter turnout ! 159,510 ! 41.9 ! 0.9 ! ! , - , colspan=7, Source
State Returning Officer

Sport

Oberhausen is home to

Regionalliga West The Regionalliga West is a German professional football division administered by the German Football Association#Western Germany, Western German Football Association based in Duisburg. It is one of the five German regional football associations. ...

football team

Rot-Weiß Oberhausen Rot-Weiß Oberhausen is a German association football club in Oberhausen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club was formed as ''Oberhausener SV'' in December 1904 out of the merger of ''Emschertaler SV'' (1902) and the football enthusiasts of ''Oberh ...

, who play at the

Niederrheinstadion Niederrheinstadion or Stadion Niederrhein is a multi-purpose stadium in Oberhausen, Germany. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches and is the home stadium of Rot-Weiß Oberhausen. The stadium currently has a capacity ...

situated on the banks of the

Rhine–Herne Canal The Rhine–Herne Canal () is a transportation canal in the Ruhrgebiet, Ruhr area of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with five canal locks. The canal was built over a period of eight years (5 April 1906 – 14 July 1914) and connects the har ...

. The city had a professional ice hockey team between 1997 and 2007, the

Revierlöwen Oberhausen Revierlöwen Oberhausen was an ice hockey team in Oberhausen, Germany. They played in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga The Deutsche Eishockey Liga (for sponsorship reasons called Penny (supermarket), PENNY Deutsche Eishockey Liga) (; English: ''Germ ...

. The team initially played at the Arena Oberhausen when playing in the top-flight

Deutsche Eishockey Liga The Deutsche Eishockey Liga (for sponsorship reasons called Penny (supermarket), PENNY Deutsche Eishockey Liga) (; English: ''German Ice Hockey League'') or DEL, is a professional ice hockey league in Germany and the highest division in German i ...

but later moved to the Emscher-Lippe-Halle in

Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; ) is the List of cities in Germany by population, 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, Emscher River (a tribu ...

following financial woes. The Rudolf Weber-Arena has hosted many international indoor sporting events including

MMA Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...

event

UFC 122 ''UFC 122: Marquardt vs. Okami'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on November 13, 2010 at König Pilsener Arena in Oberhausen, Germany. This event aired on the same day, via tape delay, on Spike TV in ...

in 2010 and the PDC Unibet European Championship of

darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard. Point ...

in 2020. The city has established itself as a popular destination for

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

in Germany, with

-based promotion

Westside Xtreme Wrestling Westside Xtreme Wrestling, commonly shortened to wXw, is a German professional wrestling promotion based in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. wXw has been one of the leading professional wrestling promotions in Germany, and most of its event ...

(wXw) regularly running shows in Oberhausen's Turbinenhalle.Cagematch
Westside Xtreme Wrestling
/ref> wXw's 16 Carat Gold Tournament is considered one of the most prestigious independent wrestling tournaments in the world and is held in March every year in Oberhausen - attracting fans from around the world.

Twin towns – sister cities

Oberhausen is twinned with: *

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

, England, United Kingdom (1974) *

Zaporizhzhia Zaporizhzhia, formerly known as Aleksandrovsk or Oleksandrivsk until 1921, is a city in southeast Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. It is the Capital city, administrative centre of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Zaporizhzhia ...

, Ukraine (1986) *

Freital Freital is a town in the district of Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge in Saxony, Germany. The town is situated on a small river, the Weißeritz, and is southwest of Dresden. Geography Freital is located southwest of Dresden in the Döhlen Ba ...

, Germany (1990) * Carbonia, Italy (2002) * Iglesias, Italy (2002) *

Mersin Mersin () is a large city and port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of Mediterranean Region, Turkey, southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of the Mersin Province (formerly İçel). It is made up of four district governorates ...

, Turkey (2004) *

Tychy Tychy (Polish pronunciation: ; ) is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, approximately south of Katowice. Situated on the southern edge of the Upper Silesian industrial district, the city borders Katowice to the north, Mikołów to the west, Bie ...

, Poland (2020)

Notable people

* Georg Schaltenbrand (1897–1979), author, neurologist and Multiple Sclerosis specialist * Martha Schneider-Bürger (1903–2001), civil engineer and author * Reni Erkens (1909–1987), swimmer * Wilhelm Brinkmann (1910–1991), field handball player * Erich Kempka (1910–1975), SS-officer and Adolf Hitler's driver * Werner Töniges (1910–1995), naval officer * Willy Jürissen (1912–1990), footballer * Édouard Wawrzyniak (1912–1991), French footballer *

Will Quadflieg Friedrich Wilhelm "Will" Quadflieg (; 15 September 1914 – 27 November 2003) was a German actor from Oberhausen. He was the father of actor Christian Quadflieg. He is considered one of Germany's best post-war actors. One of his most widely rec ...

(1914–2003), actor * Alf Marholm (1918–2006), actor, radio plays, audio books and voice * Arnulf Zitelmann (born 1929), writer * Paul Lange (1931–2016), kayaker, Olympic champion *

Karl-Heinz Feldkamp Karl-Heinz Feldkamp (born 2 June 1934) is a German retired football manager and player. Feldkamp started coaching in 1968. In Germany, he coached Borussia Dortmund, 1. FC Kaiserslautern, and Eintracht Frankfurt, among others. He previously coac ...

(born 1934), football player and trainer * Wilhelm Keim (1934–2018), chemist and professor for technical chemistry *

Theo Vennemann Theo Vennemann genannt Nierfeld (; born 27 May 1937) is a German historical linguist known for his controversial theories of a " Vasconic" and an " Atlantic" stratum in European languages, published since the 1990s. He was professor of Germa ...

(born 1937), linguist and professor of German and theoretical linguistics * Siegfried Jerusalem (born 1940), opera singer * Hans Siemensmeyer (born 1940), football player and coach * Wolf-Dieter Ahlenfelder (1944–2014), football referee * Tilman Spengler (born 1947), writer and journalist, author and co-editor of the magazine ''Kursbuch'' * Eckhard Stratmann-Mertens (born 1948), teacher and politician (Alliance 90/The Greens), Member of Bundestag * Ditmar Jakobs (born 1953), footballer * Willi Wülbeck (born 1954), athlete * Achim Hofer (born 1955), musicologist * Christoph Klimke (born 1959), writer * Michael Grosse-Brömer (born 1960), politician (CDU), Member of Bundestag *

Christoph Schlingensief Christoph Maria Schlingensief (24 October 1960 – 21 August 2010) was a German theatre director, performance artist, and filmmaker. Starting as an independent underground filmmaker, Schlingensief later staged productions for theatres and festiva ...

(1960–2010), film and theater director, radio play writer and performance artist * Dirk Balthaus (born 1965), jazz pianist and composer * Esther Schweins (born 1970), actress and comedian * Markus Feldhoff (born 1974), footballer * Mark Kleinschmidt (born 1974), rower * Marcel Landers (born 1984), footballer * Max Meyer (born 1995), footballer * Davin Herbrüggen (born 1998), singer

Gallery

Oberhausen bahnhof1.JPG,

Oberhausen Hauptbahnhof Oberhausen Hauptbahnhof is a railway station in Oberhausen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The station was opened in 1847 and is located on the Duisburg–Dortmund railway, Arnhem-Oberhausen railway, Oberhausen–Duisburg-Ruhrort railway and ...

Gasometer Oberhausen aussen.jpg, Gasometer Schloss Oberhausen-vom Gasometer.jpg, Oberhausen Castle as seen from the Gasometer Rheinisches Industriemuseum.jpg, Industrial Museum Amtsgericht vom Friedensplatz.jpg, Courthouse Baumeister Mühle Sterkrade.jpg, Baumeister-Mill Burg-Vondern-Westen-vom-Weg-2013.jpg, Vondern Castle Kastell Holten (2).jpg, Kastell Holten Ruhrauen bei Oberhausen - Alstaden - panoramio.jpg, Ruhr meadows in Oberhausen-Alstaden 2009-07-21 ob 08 aussicht centro.JPG,

CentrO Centro may refer to: Places Brazil *Centro, Santa Maria, a neighborhood in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Centro, Porto Alegre, a neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Centro (Duque de Caxias), a neighborhood of Du ...

shopping mall Schloss Oberhausen01.jpg, Oberhausen Castle, inner courtyard with the ''Little castle'' Abwun2.jpg, AQUApark near CentrO in 2012 Oberhausen Snail Statue 2018.png, 'Shellakabookie' on Schwartzstraße Turbinenhalle_Oberhausen_Oct_2014.jpg,

Turbinenhalle Oberhausen The Turbinenhalle is a music and cultural venue on Mülheimerstraße in Oberhausen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The complex opened in 1909 to generate power to the ''Gutehoffnungshütte'' coal and steel engineering company which was based i ...

Oberhausen, afvalverwerkingsbedrijf GMVA IMG 8492 2018-09-01 15.21.jpg, Waste processing company GMVA in Oberhausen

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Cities in North Rhine-Westphalia Urban districts of North Rhine-Westphalia Oil campaign of World War II Populated places established in 1862 1862 establishments in Prussia Düsseldorf (region)