Herne () is a city 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. It is located in 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 ...

directly between the cities of

Bochum Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous Germany, German federal state o ...

and

Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; wep, Gelsenkiärken) is the 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 River (a tributary of the Rhine), it lies ...

History

Like most other cities in the region, Herne (ancient Haranni) was a tiny village until the 19th century. When the mining of coal (and possibly ore) and the production of coke (the fuel processed from the harvested coal) and steel began, the villages of the Ruhr area slowly grew into towns and cities because of the influx of people, mostly from the East (Germany as well as East-Prussia, Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Poland and beyond, even Italy and Spain), looking for, and finding, work. Herne is located on the direct axis between

to the South and

Recklinghausen Recklinghausen (; Westphalian: ''Riäkelhusen'') is the northernmost city in the Ruhr-Area and the capital of the Recklinghausen district. It borders the rural Münsterland and is characterized by large fields and farms in the north and indus ...

to the North, with Münster yet further North;

lies to the West, and

Castrop-Rauxel Castrop-Rauxel (), often simply referred to as Castrop by locals, is a former coal mining city in the eastern part of the Ruhr Area in Germany. Geography Castrop-Rauxel is located in Germany between Dortmund to the southeast, Bochum to the sou ...

and

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

to the East. The physical border between Herne and Recklinghausen in fact is, and has been for a long time, the bridge at the Bochumer Strasse across the

Rhine–Herne Canal The Rhine–Herne Canal (german: Rhein-Herne-Kanal) is a transportation canal in the 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 c ...

(the south shore of the Canal is Herne, the North shore is Recklinghausen). A little further north of the canal flows the

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 an mean outflow near the mouth into the lower Rhine of . Description The Emscher h ...

River, which was a major known location because of the former abundance of wild horses that were caught in the Emscher Valley (Emschertal), then sold and/or traded at the yearly horse market at Crange, which later developed into the "Cranger Kirmes", now a World renowned Fair and the largest family kermess in Germany. After World War II Herne was known as "Die Goldene Stadt" (The Golden City) because of the comparatively limited damage suffered during World War II. Present-day Herne includes the former settlements of Haranni, originating at the South end of the Bahnhofstrasse and just across the Evangelische Hauptkirche Herne (main Lutheran Church—seems to be called "Kreuzkirche" now) and the crossing of Sodingerstrasse, running to the East at that point, then turning into Wiescherstrasse; Haranni used to be somewhat hidden at about 9:40 hrs. In reference to the "Kreuzkirche", if you will, but seems to be totally obliterated, razed, eliminated, forgotten, the sole reference to Haranni eautiful, old, quaint, small "timbered buildings"seemingly resting with the very short "Harannistrasse". Herne, Wanne and Eickel as well as formerly independent settlements or villages like Baukau, Börnig, Crange, Horsthausen, Pöppinghausen, Sodingen et al. became the present Herne. Farms bearing these names were probably or possibly founded in the 11th and 12th centuries and were later integrated at one time or another into the city of Herne. In 1860 the first of a number of many coal mines started operating. In the following thirty years the population increased twentyfold. For the first time, Herne would be called a city. The same process took place in Wanne and Eickel, the two of which merged in 1926 to form the new city of ""Wanne-Eickel"" (). In 1975 Wanne-Eickel, by then a city with over 70,000 inhabitants, was incorporated into Herne, which had a population considerably larger than ""Wanne-Eickel"" at that point in time.

World War II

Herne was targeted by the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

on 4 June 1940, early in World War II, and air-raids became daily and nightly occurrences. On one occasion, three high-explosive torpedo-bombs were dropped, severely damaging a number of houses in the Vincke-Strasse (only some of the outer shell had remained) and resulting in the deaths of all the inhabitants. Phosphorus bombs were dropped in several locations and caused fires that lasted for days. Because Herne had a lot of undeveloped land, however, damage during the following years of often multiple daily and nightly air-raids with many "blind hits" was not very extensive, in contrast to more densely populated and developed areas like Essen rupp Werkeand Wuppertal, which were almost totally erased. Herne was probably targeted because of the many coal mines as well as the Rhein-Herne Kanal with two double chambered locks (a total of four chambers) at that time, within the city-confines of Herne and at the northern edge. The canal was the major mode of transportation for coal and coke from the many coal mines in the area to the factories for iron ore to be processed into steel (Blau-Stahl) and coal being transported along the inter-connecting waterways in all other directions, to be used for industrial as well as domestic use. In particular, the Bridge across the Rhine-Herne Canal closest to the easternmost double-chambered lock and the wharf (for repair of damaged Canal-going vessels) on the North shore, was hit and taken out, so that there was no connection across the Canal at that location (at the time, the Street there was known as Ludwig-Strasse but has been renamed since to Pöppinghauser Strasse). The locks have been renovated, each of those two double-chambered locks having been combined into just one single-chambered lock each, albeit considerably larger chambered, to accommodate much larger vessels. "Goldfinger" and "Otto Normalverbraucher" star Gerd Fröbe was a native of Wanne-Eickel, as were a number of other well known actors as well as a singing duo popularizing "Der Mond von Wanne-Eickel" (The Moon of Wanne-Eickel). The

Krupp The Krupp family (see pronunciation), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, is notable for its production of steel, artillery, ammunition and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG (Friedrich Krup ...

Treibstoffwerke oil refinery near the local Shamrock ¾ coal mine was bombed during the Oil Campaign of World War II.

Politics

Mayor

The current Mayor of Herne is Frank Dudda 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), elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2020. The most recent mayoral election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows: ! colspan=2, Candidate ! Party ! Votes ! % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Frank Dudda , align=left,

, 30,758 , 63.4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Timon Radicke , align=left, Christian Democratic Union , 8,685 , 17.9 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Pascal Krüger , 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 ...

, 5,014 , 10.3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Daniel Kleibömer , align=left, The Left , 2,026 , 4.2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Thomas Bloch , align=left, Free Democratic Party , 2,025 , 4.2 , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 48,508 ! 98.0 , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 980 ! 2.0 , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 49,488 ! 100.0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 119,462 ! 41.4 , - , colspan=5, Source
State Returning Officer

City council

The Herne 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) , 21,560 , 44.1 , 0.6 , 28 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , 9,775 , 20.0 , 5.9 , 12 , 3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(Grüne) , 7,723 , 15.8 , 6.5 , 10 , 4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (german: link=no, Alternative für Deutschland, AfD; ) is a right-wing populist * * * * * * * political party in Germany. AfD is known for its opposition to the European Union, as well as immigration to Germany. I ...

(AfD) , 4,127 , 8.4 , 4.3 , 5 , 3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, The Left (Die Linke) , 1,980 , 4.1 , 2.2 , 3 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Democratic Party (FDP) , 1,615 , 3.3 , 0.5 , 2 , ±0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

Pirate Party Germany The Pirate Party Germany (german: Piratenpartei Deutschland), commonly known as Pirates (), is a political party in Germany founded in September 2006 at c-base. It states general agreement with the Swedish Piratpartiet as a party of the informat ...

(Piraten) , 767 , 1.6 , 1.1 , 1 , 1 , - , , align=left, Independent Citizens Herne (UB Herne) , 804 , 1.6 , 0.0 , 1 , ±0 , - , colspan=7 bgcolor=lightgrey, , - , , align=left, Voters' Association Wanne-Herne (WWH) , 443 , 0.9 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Independents , 49 , 0.1 , – , 0 , – , - ! colspan=2, Valid votes ! 48,843 ! 98.6 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Invalid votes ! 694 ! 1.4 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Total ! 49, 537 ! 100.0 ! ! 62 ! 2 , - ! colspan=2, Electorate/voter turnout ! 119,462 ! 41.5 ! 0.7 ! ! , - , colspan=7, Source
State Returning Officer

Gallery

File:Herne, kerk in straatzicht foto3 2010-08-07 17.07.JPG, Herne, church File:Baukau, Schloss Strünkede foto6 2012-03-28 10.27.JPG, Baukau, castle: Schloss Strünkede File:Baukau, Schlosskapelle Strünkede foto1 2012-03-28 10.32.JPG, Baukau, chapel: Schlosskapelle Strünkede The largest communities of migrants:

Notable places

A fair called Cranger Kirmes is held in the city's ''Crange'' district every first week of August. This is the second largest carnival in Germany with an average of around 4,500,000 visitors. Its origins can be traced back to the 15th century, when farmers started trading horses on Saint Lawrence's Day. That is why the official opening always takes place on the first Friday in August. The horse market tradition is kept up, by arranging a horse show and horse equipment sales at the same place where horses were traded years ago. Today there are about 500 stalls every year covering 111,000 square metres, meaning that it takes a 5 kilometre walk to see the whole fairground. Among other things you can buy sugared almonds and all kinds of other food, visit beer gardens, win prizes in shooting galleries or tombolas, or enjoy traditional and new rides like roundabouts, ghost trains and all sorts of high-tech delights. One of the main attractions is the 60-metre high big wheel that is the largest movable one in the world.

Notable people

Famous Hernians or Wanne-Eickelians include * Cigdem Akyol *

Yıldıray Baştürk Yıldıray Baştürk (, born 24 December 1978) is a retired professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Born in Germany, he was capped 49 times for the Turkey national football team, representing the team at the 2002 FIFA Wor ...

Kurt Edelhagen Kurt Edelhagen (born 5 June 1920 – 8 February 1982) was a German big band leader. He was born in Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Edelhagen studied conducting and piano in Essen. In 1945, he started a trio, then a big band a year later. ...

Gudrun Heute-Bluhm Gudrun Heute-Bluhm (born March 17, 1957 in Herne) is a German municipal politician of the CDU. She is a member of the executive committee of the city council of Lörrach, Baden-Württemberg and a member of the federal executive committee of the ...

Andrea Jürgens Andrea Elisabeth Maria Jürgens (15 May 1967 – 20 July 2017) was a German schlager singer. She became famous as a child star in the late 1970s when she had her first hit with "Und dabei liebe ich euch beide" (And Yet I Love You Both) at age 1 ...

, Dr. Claudia Dollins (Geier) *

Jürgen von Manger Jürgen von Manger-Koenig (6 March 1923 – 15 March 1994) was a German actor and comedian. Early life Manger was born Jürgen Julius Emil Fritz Koenig in the Koblenz district of Ehrenbreitstein Ehrenbreitstein Fortress (german: Festung ...

(known as „Mr. Tegtmeier“, see ''

Tegtmeiers Reisen ''Tegtmeiers Reisen'' (“Tegtmeier's Travels”) is a 20 episode German television series (from 1972 until 1980 in ZDF) that featured two travelers, Adolf Tegtmeier and Dr. Tegtmeier, that would explore various countries. The first episode („ ...

'') *

Jürgen Marcus Jürgen Marcus (born Jürgen Beumer; 6 June 1948 – 17 May 2018) was a German schlager singer who was most successful during the 1970s, when he had 14 chart hits in Germany. He is also known for his participation on behalf of Luxembourg in th ...

Heinz Rühmann Heinrich Wilhelm "Heinz" Rühmann (; 7 March 1902 – 3 October 1994) was a German film actor who appeared in over 100 films between 1926 and 1993. He is one of the most famous and popular German actors of the 20th century, and is considered a Ge ...

(few years) *

Bernd Storck Bernd Storck, HOM (born 25 January 1963) is a German professional football manager and former player. He is the manager of Belgian club Kortrijk. A defender in his player days, he played for VfL Bochum and Borussia Dortmund. Club career Storc ...

Peavy Wagner Peter "Peavy" Wagner (born 22 December 1964) is a German heavy metal musician best known as the lead singer, bassist and main songwriter of Rage. Biography Wagner was born in Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia, the second of four children. Hi ...

Leonie Saint Leonie Saint (born 23 April 1986), also known with the stage names Leonie Luder or simply Leonie is a German actress, TV-presenter and former pornographic actress. Life and career Born in Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Leonie entered the adult in ...

and Bärbel Beuermann * Gregor Willmes, musicologist *

Rudolf Witzig The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (german: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) and its variants were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. The decoration was awarded for a wide range of ...

Jan Zweyer Jan Zweyer (born December 12, 1953, in Frankfurt (Main))Heitkamp BauHolding, founded 1892, specialized construction work in different construction business areas

Sports

Herne is well known for the women basketball team „Herner TC“. They won the German championship and cup in 2019. ''Herne-West'' is a mockery name of the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...

, most commonly used by the fans of

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

Twin towns – sister cities

Herne is twinned with: *

Hénin-Beaumont Hénin-Beaumont (; pcd, Hinnin-Biaumont) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Hénin-Beaumont used to be a coalmining town and is now a light industrial town situated some east of L ...

, France (1954) *

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the town centre the River Calder joins the ...

, England, United Kingdom (1956) *

Altagracia : : : Altagracia () is a municipality in the Rivas Department of Nicaragua. It is the second largest town on the island of Ometepe. Its original name was Astagalpa, meaning ‘house of the herons’ in Nahuatl. This city also has a ferry port, ...

, Nicaragua (1988) *

Moyogalpa Moyogalpa () is a municipality in the Rivas department of Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa ...

, Nicaragua (1988) *

Belgorod Belgorod ( rus, Белгород, p=ˈbʲeɫɡərət) is a city and the administrative center of Belgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the Seversky Donets River north of the border with Ukraine. Population: Demographics The population of Be ...

, Russia (1990) *

Eisleben Eisleben is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is famous as both the hometown of the influential theologian Martin Luther and the place where he died; hence, its official name is Lutherstadt Eisleben. First mentioned in the late 10th century, E ...

, Germany (1990) *

Konin Konin (german: Kunau) is a city in central Poland, on the Warta River. It is the capital of Konin County and is located within the Greater Poland Voivodeship. Prior to 1999, it was the capital of the Konin Voivodeship (1975–1998). In 2021 the p ...

, Poland (1991) *

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and ...

, Turkey (2016) *

Luzhou Luzhou (; Sichuanese Pinyin: Nu2zou1; Luzhou dialect: ), formerly transliterated as Lu-chou or Luchow, is a prefecture-level city located in the southeast of Sichuan Province, China. The city, named Jiangyang until the Southern and Northern Dyna ...

, China (2018)

References

External links

Herne Notgeld
(emergency banknotes) depicting the legend of "Der tolle Jost von Strünkede

{{Authority control Cities in North Rhine-Westphalia