Lünen is a 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 state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhab ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. It is located north of

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 th ...

, on both banks of the River Lippe. It is the largest town of the

Unna district The Unna () district is a Kreis (district) in central North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring authorities are the district of Coesfeld, the city of Hamm, the districts of Soest and Märkischer Kreis, the cities of Hagen and Dortmund, and th ...

and 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/k ...

. In 2009 a biogas plant was built to provide electric power to the city. Lünen is the first city in the world to receive electricity via public utility companies that is generated on the base of animal waste. The plant produces up to 6.6 MW, supplying 26,000 homes with heat and electricity.

Culture and main sights

Structure *Saint George's Church *Saint Mary's Church *Chateau of Schwansbell *Colani-UFO *Freiherr-vom-Stein School *Town hall of Lünen *Geschwister-Scholl School *Industrial Monument "Moor Crane" Museum *Museum of the town Lünen *Mining Museum in Lünen South *Mining residential Museum in Lünen Brambauer Theatre *Heinz-Hilpert theater

Politics

The current mayor of Lünen is

independent politician An independent or non-partisan politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have political views t ...

Jürgen Kleine-Frauns since 2015; he was originally elected as a member of Together for Lünen (German: Gemeinsam für Lünen = GFL), but later left the party. 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, Rainer Schmeltzer , align=left, Social Democratic Party , 10,864 , 40.9 , 9,824 , 48.9 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Jürgen Kleine-Frauns , align=left,

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

, 9,767 , 36.7 , 10,282 , 51.1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Christoph Tölle , align=left, Christian Democratic Union , 4,341 , 16.3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Sascha Gottwald , align=left, Free Voters Lünen , 1,624 , 6.1 , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 26,596 ! 97.7 ! 20,106 ! 98.9 , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 641 ! 2.3 ! 215 ! 1.1 , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 27,237 ! 100.0 ! 20,321 ! 100.0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 66,291 ! 41.1 ! 66,247 ! 30.7 , - , colspan=7, Source: City of Lünen
1st round

City council

The Lünen 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, Social Democratic Party (SPD) , 9,066 , 33.9 , 7.0 , 19 , 3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , 5,895 , 22.1 , 2.5 , 12 , 1 , - , , align=left, Together for Lünen (GFL) , 3,835 , 14.4 , 1.1 , 8 , 1 , - , 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 political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (for ...

(Grüne) , 3,690 , 13.8 , 6.4 , 8 , 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 ...

(AfD) , 1,816 , 6.8 , New , 4 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

Free Democratic Party Free Democratic Party is the name of several political parties around the world. It usually designates a party ideologically based on liberalism. Current parties with that name include: *Free Democratic Party (Germany), a liberal political party in ...

(FDP) , 922 , 3.5 , 0.7 , 2 , ±0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, The Left (Die Linke) , 846 , 3.2 , 0.9 , 2 , ±0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Voters Lünen (FW Lünen) , 501 , 1.9 , New , 1 , New , - , colspan=7 bgcolor=lightgrey, , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Independent Fohrmeister , 85 , 0.3 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Independent Rosenkranz , 85 , 0.2 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Independent God , 19 , 0.1 , New , 0 , New , - ! colspan=2, Valid votes ! 26,730 ! 98.2 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Invalid votes ! 480 ! 1.8 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Total ! 27,210 ! 100.0 ! ! 56 ! 2 , - ! colspan=2, Electorate/voter turnout ! 66,291 ! 41.1 ! 3.4 ! ! , - , colspan=7, Source
City of Lünen

Twin towns - sister cities

Lünen is

twinned Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...

with: *

Bartın Bartın is a city in northern Turkey and the central district of the province of Bartın. Formerly a district of Zonguldak Province, Bartın was made into a province seat in 1991 with the constitution of its province, including four districts: ...

, Turkey * Demmin, Germany * Kamień Pomorski, Poland *

Panevėžys Panevėžys (; Latin: ''Panevezen''; pl, Poniewież; yi, פּאָנעװעזש, ''Ponevezh''; see also other names) is the fifth largest city in Lithuania. As of 2011, it occupied with 113,653 inhabitants. As defined by Eurostat, the populatio ...

, Lithuania *

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

, England, United Kingdom *

Zwolle Zwolle () is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Overijssel and the province's second-largest municipality after Enschede with a population of 130,592 as of 1 December 2021. Zwolle is on ...

, Netherlands

Notable people

* Jens Beutel (1946–2019), SPD politician, mayor of Mainz 1997–2011 * Markus Brzenska (born 1984), footballer * Karl-Heinz Granitza (born 1951), footballer * Björn Höcke (born 1972), AfD politician, Member of Landtag in Thuringia * Theodor Kleine (1924–2014), sprint canoer, Olympic medalist *

Friedhelm Konietzka Friedhelm "Timo" Konietzka (2 August 1938 – 12 March 2012) was a German professional football player and manager who played as a striker. He earned his nickname "Timo" due to a supposed resemblance to the Soviet commander Semyon Timoshen ...

(1938–2012), football player and coach * Wilhelm Kuhne (born 1926), priest (Monsignore) and former rector of the Hardehausen Abbey * Michael Mendl (born 1944), actor * Max Raabe (born 1962), singer and conductor of the Palast Orchester in Berlin *

Berndt Röder Berndt Röder (born 3 December 1948 in Lünen, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German politician, representative of the German Christian Democratic Union. Röder was born on 3 December 1948 in Lünen and married with three children. He studied law ...

(born 1948), CDU politician, former president of the

Hamburgische Bürgerschaft The Hamburg Parliament (german: Hamburgische Bürgerschaft; literally “Hamburgish Citizenry”) is the unicameral legislature of the German state of Hamburg according to the constitution of Hamburg. As of 2011 there were 121 members in the parli ...

Rollergirl Nicole Safft (born 19 November 1975), known professionally as Rollergirl, is a German singer with a number of successful tracks such as "Dear Jessie" (a loose cover of the Madonna song) and " Luv U More", a cover of the Sunscreem song. Biogra ...

(born 1975), singer *

Rüdiger Sagel Rüdiger Sagel (born 9 August 1955 in Lünen) is a German politician currently with the Left Party and previously with the Alliance '90/The Greens. From 1998 until 2012 he was a member of the state parliament (''Landtag'') for North Rhine-Westpha ...

(born 1955), politician

, later The Left, Member of Landtag North Rhine-Westphalia 1998–2012 *

Max Simon Max Simon (6 January 1899 – 1 February 1961) was a German SS commander and war criminal during World War II. Simon was one of the first members of the SS in the early 1930s. He rose through the ranks of the SS, and became a corps commander dur ...

(1899–1961), SS officer and war criminal * Andreas Thiel (born 1960), handball player * Eckhart Tolle (born 1948), spiritual teacher and author * Clara Vogedes (1892–1983), artist * Ernst Waldschmidt (1897–1985), orientalist and indologist * Wolfgang Wendland (born 1962), singer, politician of the Pogo party * Dieter Zorc (1939–2007), footballer

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lunen Unna (district) Members of the Hanseatic League