Breckerfeld is a town in the district of

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 town ...

, in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

, (

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

). It is located in the southeasternmost part of the

Ruhr area 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 ...

in northern

Sauerland The Sauerland () is a rural, hilly area spreading across most of the south-eastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, in parts heavily forested and, apart from the major valleys, sparsely inhabited. The Sauerland is the largest tourist region in ...

. The town is a member of Regionalverband Ruhr (association).

Geography

Breckerfeld is a rural community in a hilly area. The weather around the city is generally cool with a substantial amount of rain. The town consists of two administrative parts: Breckerfeld proper and Waldbauer.

History

Breckerfeld has had town rights since 1396 and was a member of the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German to ...

. From 1907 until 1963 the

Haspe–Voerde–Breckerfeld Light Railway The Haspe–Voerde–Breckerfeld Light Railway (german: Kleinbahn Haspe-Voerde-Breckerfeld) was a narrow-gauge railway linking the towns of Breckerfeld and Ennepetal, Voerde with the Elberfeld–Dortmund railway at Haspe. Construction lasted from 1 ...

connected Breckerfeld with the

Elberfeld–Dortmund railway The Elberfeld–Dortmund railway is a major railway in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is part of a major axis for long distance and regional rail services between Wuppertal and Cologne, and is served by Intercity Express, InterCit ...

at Haspe. In 1970, the independent municipality of Dahl joined the town of Breckerfeld. In 1975, the federal parliament decided to reorganize this area into falling within the boundaries of the nearby district-free city,

Hagen Hagen () is the Largest cities in Germany, 41st-largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany. The municipality is located in the States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the south eastern edge of the R ...

Nena Gabriele Susanne Kerner (born 24 March 1960), better known as Nena, is a German singer and songwriter who rose to international fame in 1983 as the lead vocalist of the band Nena (band), Nena with the Neue Deutsche Welle song "99 Luftballons". I ...

, one of Germany's most successful pop-singers, spent the first several years of her life in Breckerfeld.

Politics

The current mayor of Breckerfeld is André Dalhaus of the CDU. In the most recent mayoral election on 13 September 2020, he was elected unopposed with 88% of votes in favour and 12% against.

Local council

The Breckerfeld municipal council governs the city alongside the Mayor. The most recent 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) , 2,106 , 48.5 , 1.4 , 15 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , 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 Fo ...

(SPD) , 764 , 17.6 , 6.5 , 5 , 2 , - , bgcolor=, , 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 ...

(Grüne) , 744 , 17.1 , 4.7 , 5 , 1 , - , , align=left, Voters' Association Breckerfeld , 422 , 9.7 , 1.3 , 3 , ±0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Democratic Party (FDP) , 308 , 7.1 , 1.6 , 2 , ±0 , - ! colspan=2, Valid votes ! 4,344 ! 98.6 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Invalid votes ! 60 ! 1.4 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Total ! 4,404 ! 100.0 ! ! 30 ! ±0 , - ! colspan=2, Electorate/voter turnout ! 7,400 ! 59.5 ! ! ! , - , colspan=7, Source
Hansestadt Breckerfeld

Twin cities

* Gençay,

Vienne Vienne (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Viéne'') is a landlocked department in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It takes its name from the river Vienne. It had a population of 438,435 in 2019.France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

References

Towns in North Rhine-Westphalia Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis Members of the Hanseatic League {{EnnepeRuhrKreis-geo-stub