Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

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 betwee ...

. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region (''

Regierungsbezirk A ' () means "governmental district" and is a type of administrative division in Germany. Four of sixteen ' ( states of Germany) are split into '. Beneath these are rural and urban districts. Saxony has ' (directorate districts) with more res ...

'') of

Detmold Detmold () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of . It was the capital of the small Principality of Lippe from 1468 until 1918 and then of the Free State of Lippe until 1947. Today it is the administrative center of t ...

and the 18th largest city in Germany. The historical centre of the city is situated north of the Teutoburg Forest line of hills, but modern Bielefeld also incorporates boroughs on the opposite side and on the hills. The city is situated on the ', a hiking trail which runs for 156 km along the length of the Teutoburg Forest. Bielefeld is home to a significant number of internationally operating companies, including

Dr. Oetker Dr. Oetker () is a German multinational company that produces baking powder, cake mixes, frozen pizza, pudding, cake decoration, cornflakes, party candles, and various other products. The company is a wholly owned branch of the Oetker Group ...

, Gildemeister and Schüco. It has a

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

and several technical colleges ('' Fachhochschulen''). Bielefeld is also famous for the Bethel Institution, and for the Bielefeld conspiracy, which satirises conspiracy theories by claiming that Bielefeld does not exist. This concept has been used in the town's marketing and alluded to by

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Angela Merkel.

History

Founded in 1214 by Count Hermann IV of Ravensberg to guard a pass crossing the Teutoburg Forest, Bielefeld was the "city of linen" as a minor 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 ...

, known for bleachfields into the 19th Century. Bielefeld was part of the Kingdom of Westphalia when it was created in 1807. In 1815 it was incorporated into the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

following the defeat of France and the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon ...

. After the Cologne-Minden railway opened in 1849, the Bozi brothers constructed the first large mechanised spinning mill in 1851. The Ravensberg Spinning Mill was built from 1854 to 1857, and metal works began to open in the 1860s. Founded in 1867 as a Bielefeld sewing machine repair company, Dürkoppwerke AG employed 1,665 people in 1892; it used Waffenamt code "WaA547" from 1938 to 1939 as the Dürkopp-Werke, and merged with other Bielefeld companies to form Dürkopp Adler AG in 1990. Between 1904 and 1930, Bielefeld grew, opening a rebuilt railway station, a municipal theatre, and finally, the Rudolf-Oetker-Halle concert hall, renowned for its excellent acoustics. The Dürkopp car was produced 1898–1927. After printing emergency money (german: Notgeld) in 1923 during the inflation in the Weimar Republic, Bielefeld was one of several towns that printed very attractive and highly collectable

banknote A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable instrument, negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes w ...

s with designs on

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from th ...

, linen and velvet. These pieces were issued by the Bielefeld Stadtsparkasse (town's savings bank) and were sent all around the world in the early 1920s. These pieces are known as ''Stoffgeld'' – that is, money made from fabric. The town's synagogue was burned in 1938 during the '' Kristallnacht'' pogrom carried out against Jewish population. In 1944, Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses of the USAAF bombed the gas works at Bielefeld on 20 September and the marshaling yard on 30 September;September 1944
/ref> Bielefeld was bombed again on 7 October and the RAF bombed the town on the night of 4/5 December. On 17 January 1945, B-17s bombed the nearby

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...

marshalling yard, and the railway viaduct in the suburb of Schildesche. On 14 March the RAF bombed the viaduct again, wrecking it. This was the first use of the RAF's 10 tonne Grand Slam bomb. American troops entered the city in April 1945. Due to the presence of a number of barracks built during the 1930s and its location next to the main East-West Autobahn in northern Germany, after World War II Bielefeld became a headquarters town for the fighting command of the British Army of the Rhine – BAOR (the administrative and strategic headquarters were at

Rheindahlen Rheindahlen (called ''Dalen'' from the Early Middle Ages to the Early Modern Period around 1700, and ''Dahlen'' until 1878) is a town in the western and largest borough of the city of Mönchengladbach in the German state of North Rhine-Westphali ...

near the Dutch border). Until the 1980s there was a large British presence in the barracks housing the headquarters of the British First Corps and support units, as well as schools, NAAFI shops, officers' and sergeants' messes and several estates of married quarters. The British presence was heavily scaled back after the reunification of Germany and most of the infrastructure has disappeared. In 1973 the first villages on the south side of the Teutoburg Forest were incorporated.

Subdivisions

Bielefeld is subdivided into the following ten (10) districts: * Bielefeld-Mitte (downtown) * Brackwede * Dornberg * Gadderbaum * Heepen * Jöllenbeck * Schildesche * Senne * Sennestadt * Stieghorst

Climate

Bielefeld has an oceanic climate (''Cfb''). The average annual high temperature is , the annual low temperature is , and the annual precipitation is .

Industry and education

Bielefeld Germany Linen Notgeld 8 November 1923

Bielefeld was a linen-producing town, and in the early 1920s the Town's Savings Bank (Stadtsparkasse) issued money made of linen, silk and velvet. These items were known as 'stoffgeld'. In addition to the manufacture of home appliances and various heavy industries, Bielefeld companies include

(food manufacturing), Möller Group (leather products and plastics), Seidensticker (clothing and textiles) and Bethel Institution with 17.000 employees. Bielefeld University was founded in 1969. Among its first professors was the notable contemporary German sociologist

Niklas Luhmann Niklas Luhmann (; ; December 8, 1927 – November 6, 1998) was a German sociologist, philosopher of social science, and a prominent thinker in systems theory. Biography Luhmann was born in Lüneburg, Free State of Prussia, where his father's ...

. Other institutions of

higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after compl ...

include the Theological Seminary Bethel (''Kirchliche Hochschule Bethel'') and the Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences (german: Fachhochschule Bielefeld), which offers 21 courses in 8 different departments (agriculture and engineering are in Minden) and has been internationally recognized for its photography school.

Demographics

Einwohnerentwicklung von Bielefeld - ab 1871

Politics

Mayor

The current Mayor of Bielefeld is Pit Clausen of 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 For ...

(SPD), who was elected in 2009 and re-elected in 2014 and 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, Pit Clausen , align=left,

, 53,836 , 39.7 , 57,803 , 56.1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Ralf Nettelstroth , align=left, Christian Democratic Union , 39,782 , 29.3 , 45,246 , 43.9 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Kerstin Haarmann , align=left, Alliance 90/The Greens , 16,903 , 12.5 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Jan Maik Schlifter , align=left, Free Democratic Party , 6,984 , 5.1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Onur Ocak , align=left, The Left , 5,503 , 4.1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Florian Sander , align=left, Alternative for Germany , 4,708 , 3.5 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Lena Oberbäumer , align=left, Die PARTEI , 2,799 , 2.1 , - , , align=left, Rainer Ludwig , align=left, League of Free Citizens , 1,612 , 1.2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Gordana Rammert , align=left, Pirate Party Germany , 1,206 , 0.9 , - , , align=left, Sami Elias , align=left, Alliance for Innovation and Justice , 1,204 , 0.9 , - , , align=left, Michael Gugat , align=left, Local Democracy in Bielefeld , 958 , 0.7 , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 135,765 ! 99.4 ! 103,049 ! 99.4 , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 812 ! 0.6 ! 612 ! 0.6 , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 136,577 ! 100.0 ! 103,661 ! 100.0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 254,778 ! 53.6 ! 254,757 ! 40.7 , - , colspan=7, Source
State Returning Officer

City council

The Bielefeld 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) , 37,503 , 27.7 , 2.5 , 18 , 2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(SPD) , 33,716 , 24.9 , 5.9 , 16 , 4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne) , 30,166 , 22.3 , 6.4 , 15 , 4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Democratic Party (FDP) , 9,529 , 7.0 , 4.1 , 5 , 3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, The Left (Die Linke) , 8,278 , 6.1 , 1.2 , 4 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Alternative for Germany (AfD) , 4,630 , 3.4 , New , 2 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Die PARTEI (PARTEI) , 3,936 , 2.9 , New , 2 , New , - , , align=left, League of Free Citizens (BfB) , 2,161 , 1.6 , 6.9 , 1 , 5 , - , , align=left, Close to the Citizens (Bürgernähe) , 1,662 , 1.2 , 0.3 , 1 , ±0 , - , , align=left, Alliance for Innovation and Justice (BIG) , 1,339 , 1.0 , New , 1 , New , - , , align=left, Local Democracy in Bielefeld (LiB) , 1,284 , 0.9 , New , 1 , New , - , colspan=7 bgcolor=lightgrey, , - , , align=left, Independent Citizens' Forum (UBF) , 505 , 0.4 , New , 0 , New , - , , align=left, Citizens' Movement for Civil Courage (BBZ) , 444 , 0.3 , New , 0 , New , - , , align=left, Independent Jürgen Zilke , 13 , 0.0 , New , 0 , New , - ! colspan=2, Valid votes ! 135,166 ! 99.0 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Invalid votes ! 1,319 ! 1.0 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Total ! 136,485 ! 100.0 ! ! 66 ! ±0 , - ! colspan=2, Electorate/voter turnout ! 254,778 ! 53.6 ! 2.6 ! ! , - , colspan=7, Source
State Returning Officer

Transport

Two major ''

autobahn The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track' ...

s'', the A 2 and A 33, intersect in the south east of Bielefeld. The ''Ostwestfalendamm'' expressway connects the two parts of the city, naturally divided by the Teutoburg Forest.

Bielefeld Hauptbahnhof Bielefeld Hauptbahnhof is the main station in the region of Ostwestfalen-Lippe, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is an important station because of the size of the city of Bielefeld and its location at the Bielefeld Pass, which ...

, the main railway station of Bielefeld, is on the

Hamm–Minden railway The Hamm–Minden Railway is an important and historically significant railway in Germany. It is completely quadruple track. It is a major axis for long distance passenger and freight trains between the Ruhr and the north and east of Germany. I ...

and is part of the German ICE high-speed railroad system. The main station for intercity bus services is Brackwede station. Bielefeld has a small airstrip, Flugplatz Bielefeld, in the Senne district but is mainly served by the three larger airports nearby, Paderborn Lippstadt Airport, Münster Osnabrück International Airport and Hannover Airport. Bielefeld boasts a well-developed public transport system, served mainly by the companies ''moBiel'' (formerly ''Stadtwerke Bielefeld – Verkehrsbetriebe'') and "BVO". The Bielefeld Stadtbahn has four major lines and regional trains connect different parts of the city with nearby counties. Buses also run throughout the area.

Main sights

Sparrenburg Castle is Bielefeld's characteristic landmark. It was built between 1240 and 1250 by Count Ludwig von Ravensberg. The tower and the catacombs of the castle are open to the public. The Old City Hall (''Altes Rathaus'') was built in 1904 and still serves the same function. Its façade reflects the so-called

Weserrenaissance Weser Renaissance is a form of Northern Renaissance architectural style that is found in the area around the River Weser in central Germany and which has been well preserved in the towns and cities of the region. Background Between the sta ...

and features elements of various architectural styles, including

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

. Though the mayor still holds office in the Old City Hall, most of the city's administration is housed in the adjacent New City Hall (''Neues Rathaus''). Sparrenburg innovative sights

The City Theatre (''Stadttheater'') is part of the same architectural ensemble as the Old City Hall, also built in 1904. It has a notable Jugendstil façade, is Bielefeld's largest theatre and home of the Bielefeld Opera. Another theatre (''Theater am Alten Markt'') resides in the former town hall building on the Old Market Square (''Alter Markt''), which also contains a row of restored 16th and 17th-century townhouses with noteworthy late Gothic and Weser Renaissance style façades (''Bürgerhäuser am Alten Markt''). The oldest city church is ''Altstädter Nicolaikirche''. It is a Gothic hall church with a height of . It was founded in 1236 by the Bishop of Paderborn, and enlarged at the beginning of the 14th century. The church was damaged in World War II and later rebuilt. Three times a day, a carillon can be heard. The most valuable treasure of this church is a carved altar from

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, decorated with 250 figures. A small museum housed within illustrates the history of the church up to World War II. The largest church is the ''Neustädter Marienkirche'', a Gothic hall church dating back to 1293, completed 1512. It stands tall and has a length of . Historically speaking, this building is considered to be the most precious possession of the town. It was the starting point of the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...

in Bielefeld in 1553. A valuable wing-altar with 13 pictures, known as the ''Marienaltar'' is also kept inside. The

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires a ...

s were destroyed in World War II and later replaced by two unusually-shaped "Gothic" clocktowers. The altarpiece of the Bielefeld church ''Neustädter Marienkirche'' from around 1400 is among the most prominent masterpieces of artwork of the German Middle Ages. Two of the altarpieces, ''The Flagellation'' and ''The Crucifixion'' are now in the collection of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

in New York. Bielefeld is also the seat of the two largest

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

social welfare establishments (''Diakonie'') in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, the Bethel Institution and the ''Evangelisches Johanneswerk''. Other important cultural sights of the region are the art museum (Kunsthalle), the Rudolf-Oetker-Halle concert hall, and the city's municipal

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

(

Botanischer Garten Bielefeld The Botanischer Garten Bielefeld (4 hectares) is a municipal botanical garden located beside the southeast edge of the Teutoburger Wald at Am Kahlenberg 16, Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is open daily without charge. The gar ...

). Bielefeld is home to the widely known

Bielefelder Kinderchor Bielefelder Kinderchor is a children's choir founded in 1932 in Bielefeld by Friedrich Oberschelp in 1932 and led by him until 1984, when his son Jürgen Oberschelp took over until 2016. The choir, the first mixed children's choir in Germany, ...

, founded in 1932 by Friedrich Oberschelp as the first mixed children's choir in Germany. It became famous for its recordings and concerts of traditional German Christmas carols, filling the Rudolf-Oetker-Halle several times each season. Foreign tours have taken the choir to many European countries, and also the U.S. and Japan. On Hünenburg there is an observation tower, next to a radio tower.

Sport

Bielefeld is home to the professional football team DSC Arminia Bielefeld. Currently a member of

1. Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...

in the 2020–2021 season, the club plays at the SchücoArena stadium in the west of the town centre. Bielefeld is home to the Radrennbahn Bielefeld bike racing track.

Notable people

Born before 1900

Johann Christoph Hoffbauer Johann Christoph Hoffbauer (19 May 1766, Bielefeld – 4 August 1827, Halle an der Saale) was a German philosopher, who published extensively on natural law, ethics and psychology. From 1785 he studied at the University of Halle, where his in ...

(1766–1827), philosopher

Christian Friedrich Nasse Christian Friedrich Nasse (18 April 1778 – 18 April 1851) was a German physician and psychiatrist born in Bielefeld. He studied medicine at the University of Halle under physiologist Johann Christian Reil (1759–1813). At Halle, Achim von Arn ...

(1778–1851), psychiatrist * August Krönig (1822–1879), chemist and physicist *

Friedrich von Bodelschwingh, Senior Friedrich Christian Carl von Bodelschwingh (* 6 March 1831 in Tecklenburg; † 2 April 1910 in Bielefeld-Bethel), better known as Friedrich von Bodelschwingh the Elder, was a German theologian and politician. He is remembered as the founder of t ...

(1831–1910), second boss of the "Evangelischen Heil- und Pflegeanstalt für Epileptische" (Protestant Sanatorium for Epileptics) (1874 renamed into "Bethel") *

Friedrich von Bodelschwingh Friedrich "Fritz" von Bodelschwingh (; 14 August 1877, Bethel – 4 January 1946), also known as Friedrich von Bodelschwingh the Younger, was a German pastor, theologian and public health advocate. His father was Friedrich von Bodelschwingh the El ...

(1877–1946) (named after F. v. Bodelschwingh Senior), Protestant theologian, third boss of the von Bodelschwinghsche Anstalten (later renamed into von Bodelschwinghsche Stiftungen) * Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (1888–1931), German film director Stenner Hermann Museumsberg Flensburg Hans-Christansen-Haus

Stenner Hermann Museumsberg Flensburg Hans-Christansen-Haus

Hermann Stenner Hermann Stenner (12 March 1891, Bielefeld – 5 December 1914, near Iłów (German: Enlau)) was a German Expressionism, Expressionist painter and graphic artist. Biography His father, Hugo, was a decorative painter. He attended the local Arts ...

(1891–1914), early Expressionist painter

Born 1900–1950

Erich Consemüller Erich Consemüller (10 October 1902 — 11 April 1957) was a German photographer and architect who studied and taught at Bauhaus art school. He worked alongside the photographer Lucia Moholy documenting life at the Bauhaus. Early life Consemüll ...

(1902–1957), Bauhaus-trained architect and photographer * Heinz Klingenberg (1905–1959), actor * Horst Wessel (1907–1930), SA leader, author of the Horst-Wessel-Song Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

Hermann Paul Müller Hermann Paul Müller (21 November 190930 December 1975) was a German sidecar, motorcycle, and race car driver. Müller started his competitive career on an Imperia in 1928. He became German Sidecar Champion in 1932, then in 1936, he took the Ge ...

(1909–1975), racing driver * Veronica Carstens (1923–2012), medical doctor, wife of

Karl Carstens Karl Carstens (, 14 December 1914 – 30 May 1992) was a German politician. He served as the president of West Germany from 1979 to 1984. Early life and education Carstens was born in the City of Bremen, the son of a commercial school teacher ...

Hajo Meyer Hajo Meyer (born Hans Joachim Gustav Meyer; 12 August 1924 – 23 August 2014) was a German-born Dutch physicist, Holocaust survivor and political activist. While primarily known for his public commentaries in terms of the European Jewish commun ...

(1924–2014), German-Dutch physicist and author *

Werner Lueg Werner Lueg (16 September 1931 – 13 July 2014) was a West German middle distance runner who equalised Lennart Strand's and Gunder Hägg's 1500 m world record in 3:43.0 min in Berlin in 1952. Along with Otto Peltzer he is the only Germa ...

(1931–2014), athlete *

Rüdiger Nehberg Rüdiger Nehberg, also known as 'Sir Vival', (4 May 1935 – 1 April 2020) was a German human rights activist, author and survival expert. He was the founder and chairman of the anti-FGM organization TARGET, and chairman of the organizations Fri ...

(1935–2020), survival expert and activist for human rights *

Christian Tümpel Christian Tümpel (1937–2009) was a German art historian active in the Netherlands. Tümpel was born in Bielefeld. He first studied theology and philosophy before continuing his education at Heidelberg in art history and archeology, receiving ...

(1937–2009), art historian * Klaus Hildebrand (born 1941), historian * Klaus Kobusch (born 1941), cyclist *

Hannes Wader Hannes Wader (born Hans Eckard Wader on 23 June 1942) is a German singer-songwriter (" Liedermacher"). He has been an important figure in German leftist circles since the 1970s, with his songs covering such themes as socialist and communist resis ...

(born 1942), musician and songwriter *

Bernhard Schlink Bernhard Schlink (; born 6 July 1944) is a German lawyer, academic, and novelist. He is best known for his novel ''The Reader'', which was first published in 1995 and became an international bestseller. He won the 2014 Park Kyong-ni Prize. Earl ...

(born 1944), professor of jurisprudence and author * Ulrich Wessel (1946–1975), member of the Red Army Faction * Aleida Assmann (born 1947), anglist, egyptologist and literary and cultural scientist *

Irmgard Möller Irmgard Möller (born 13 May 1947) is a former member of the German group the Red Army Faction (RAF). Her father was a high school teacher, and before joining the RAF, she was a student of German studies. RAF activity *On 12 May 1972, Möl ...

(born 1947), member of the Red Army faction * Johannes Friedrich (born 1948), Lutheran Protestant theologian * Hans-Werner Sinn (born 1948), economist and president of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research

Born 1951 and later

* Richard Oetker (born 1951), entrepreneur

Michael Diekmann Michael Diekmann (born December 23, 1954) is a German manager who served as the CEO of Allianz in between 2003 and 2015. Early life and education Diekmann knew early that the family construction business would go to his twin brother, who was mor ...

(born 1954), chief executive officer of

Allianz SE Allianz ( , ) is a German multinational financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core businesses are insurance and asset management. The company is one of the world's largest insurers and financial services groups. The ...

Annette Groth Annette Groth (born 16 May 1954 in Bielefeld) is a German politician from Baden-Wuerttemberg. Career From 1974 to 1979, she studied at the Free University of Berlin, in development sociology, economics and business administration and intern ...

(born 1954), politician (The Left) * Erich Marks (born 1954), educator * Christina Rau (born 1956), political scientist and widow of the Federal President

Johannes Rau Johannes Rau (; 16 January 193127 January 2006) was a German politician (SPD). He was the president of Germany from 1 July 1999 until 30 June 2004 and the minister president of North Rhine-Westphalia from 20 September 1978 to 9 June 1998. In th ...

* Klaus Tscheuschner (born 1956), Lord Mayor of the City of Flensburg *

Rolf Kanies Rolf Kanies (born 21 December 1957) is a German actor who played many high-profile roles on the stage before switching to a career in film and television in 1997. Since then Rolf has specialized in German and international film and television. M ...

(born 1957), film and theater actor * Karoline Linnert (born 1958), politician (The Greens) *

Ingolf Lück Ingolf Lück (born 26 April 1958) is a German actor, comedian and television host. Lück was born in Bielefeld. He hosted several sketch comedy shows; the best known, '' Die Wochenshow'', aired on Sat.1 between 1996 and 2002. He also hosted '' ...

(born 1958), actor, synchronizer, presenter, comedian and director *

Hartmut Ostrowski Hartmut Ostrowski (born 25 February 1958 in Bielefeld) was CEO of Bertelsmann AG from 1 January 2008 until 31 December 2011, succeeding Gunter Thielen. Ostrowski studied business administration at Bielefeld University and joined Bertelsmann AG in ...

(born 1958), chief executive officer of

Bertelsmann AG Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA () is a German private multinational conglomerate corporation based in Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is one of the world's largest media conglomerates, and is also active in the service sector an ...

Ralf Ehrenbrink Ralf Ehrenbrink (born 29 August 1960 in Bielefeld, Nordrhein-Westfalen) is a German equestrian and Olympic champion. He won a team gold medal in '' eventing'' at the 1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), official ...

(born 1960), versatility rider * Hartmut Schick (born 1960), musicologist * Olaf Hampel (born 1965), bob driver *

Anja Feldmann Anja Feldmann (born 8 March 1966 in Bielefeld) is a German computer scientist. Education and career Feldmann studied computer science at Universität Paderborn and received her degree in 1990. She continued her studies at Carnegie Mellon Univ ...

(born 1966), computer scientist * Oliver Welke (born 1966), author, comedian, sports journalist and moderator * Ruediger Heining (born 1968), agricultural scientist and economist *

Ingo Niermann Ingo Niermann (born 1969, Bielefeld, West Germany) is a German literature, German novelist, writer, and artist. Biography Niermann was born in Bielefeld and studied philosophy in Berlin. He has lived in Berlin, to the East Berlin, eastern part ...

(born 1969), writer, journalist and artist * Ingo Oschmann (born 1969), comedian, entertainer and magician *

Nina George Nina George (born 30 August 1973) is a German writer, best known as the author of ''The Little Paris Bookshop'', an international bestseller that has been translated into more than 28 languages , and sold in more than 500.000 copies. She has publi ...

(born 1973), writer and journalist * Florian Panzner (born 1976), actor * Lisa Middelhauve (born 1980), metal singer * Lena Goeßling (born 1986), women's

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player for Germany women's national football team and VfL Wolfsburg (women) *

Aylin Tezel Aylin Tezel (; born 29 November 1983) is a German actress and dancer. She was born in Bünde. Her father is a Turkish-born medical doctor practicing in Bielefeld, Germany, and her mother is a nurse. She is a middle child, having an older sister ...

(born 1983), German actress * Mieke Kröger (born 1993), cyclist

Twin towns – sister cities

Bielefeld is twinned with: * Concarneau, France * Estelí, Nicaragua * Nahariya, Israel *

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Bor ...

, England, United Kingdom * Rzeszów, Poland * Veliky Novgorod, Russia

References

External links

{{Authority control Members of the Hanseatic League