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

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 ...

, Germany, located between

Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in ...

and

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') 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 Do ...

( ). 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 C ...

and its

Gasometer Oberhausen The Gasometer Oberhausen is a former gas holder in Oberhausen, Germany, which has been converted into an exhibition space. It has hosted several large scale exhibitions, including two by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The Gasometer is an industrial l ...

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 elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

mines and

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistan ...

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 d ...

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 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 German film industry. Besides being the most important ...

was awarded to a group that wrote the

Oberhausen Manifesto The Oberhausen Manifesto was a declaration by a group of 26 young 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 German feat ...

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 For ...

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

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

, 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-sch ...

, 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 semi-professional football division administered by the Western German Football Association based in Duisburg. It is one of the five German regional football associations. Being the single flight of the Western ...

football team Rot-Weiß Oberhausen, who play at the Niederrheinstadion situated on the banks of the Rhine–Herne Canal. The city had a professional ice hockey team between 1997 and 2007, the

Revierlöwen Oberhausen Reiverlöwen Oberhausen was an ice hockey team in Oberhausen, Germany. They played in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga from 1997 to 2002.Arena Oberhausen The Rudolf Weber-Arena (originally the Arena Oberhausen) is a multi-purpose arena, located in Oberhausen, Germany. Opening in 1996, the arena is a part of leisure and shopping center, CentrO. The venue was built in Neue Mitte Oberhausen, a for ...

when playing in the top-flight

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

but later moved to the Emscher-Lippe-Halle in

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 ...

following financial woes. The

Rudolf Weber-Arena The Rudolf Weber-Arena (originally the Arena Oberhausen) is a multi-purpose arena, located in Oberhausen, Germany. Opening in 1996, the arena is a part of leisure and shopping center, CentrO. The venue was built in Neue Mitte Oberhausen, a form ...

has hosted many international indoor sporting events including

MMA Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incor ...

event UFC 122 in 2010 and the PDC Unibet European Championship of

darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small sharp-pointed missiles known as darts at a round target known as a dartboard. Points can be scored by hitting specific marked areas of the bo ...

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

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

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 eve ...

(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 ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the ...

, England, United Kingdom (1974) *

Zaporizhzhia Zaporizhzhia ( uk, Запоріжжя) or Zaporozhye (russian: Запорожье) is a city in southeast Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper River. It is the administrative centre of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Zaporizhzhia has a populat ...

, 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 ...

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

Mersin Mersin (), also known as İçel, is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Mersin (İçel) Province. It is made up of four municipalities and district governorates: Akdeniz, Mezitl ...

, Turkey (2004) *

Tychy Tychy (Polish pronunciation: ; german: Tichau; szl, Tychy) 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 boders Katowice to the north, ...

, Polen (2020)

Notable people

* Georg Schaltenbrand (1897–1979), author, neurologist and Multiple Sclerosis specialist * Martha Schneider-Bürger (1903–2001), civil engineer and author *

Reni Erkens Renate "Reni" Erkens (later ''Küppers'', 24 June 1909 – 22 October 1987) was a German freestyle swimmer who competed in the 1928 Summer Olympics. She was born in Oberhausen Oberhausen (, ) is a city on the river Emscher in the R ...

(1909–1987), swimmer * Wilhelm Brinkmann (1910–1991), field handball player *

Erich Kempka Erich Kempka (16 September 1910 – 24 January 1975) was a member of the SS in Nazi Germany who served as Adolf Hitler's primary chauffeur from 1936 to April 1945. He was present in the area of the Reich Chancellery on 30 April 1945, when H ...

(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 recog ...

(1914–2003), actor *

Alf Marholm Alf Marholm (1918–2006) was a German actor. Partial filmography * '' Turtledove General Delivery'' (1952) - Benno Perlitz, Zeichner * '' No Way Back'' (1953) - Direktor Berger * ''Die goldene Pest'' (1954) * ''Viele kamen vorbei'' (1956) - Kr ...

(1918–2006), actor, radio plays, audio books and voice * Arnulf Zitelmann (born 1929), writer * Paul Lange (1931–2016), kayaker, Olympic champion * Karl-Heinz Feldkamp (born 1934), football player and trainer * Wilhelm Keim (1934–2018), chemist and professor for technical chemistry * Theo Vennemann (born 1937), linguist and professor of German and theoretical linguistics *

Siegfried Jerusalem Siegfried Jerusalem (born 17 April 1940) is a German operatic tenor. Closely identified with the heldentenor roles of Richard Wagner, he has performed Siegfried, Siegmund, Lohengrin, Parsifal, and Tristan to wide acclaim. Since the 1990s, he ha ...

(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 Ditmar Jakobs (born 28 August 1953) is a German former footballer who played as a defender. He played as a centre-back, a classical libero in the mold of Franz Beckenbauer or Willi Schulz. Jakobs played 493 games from 1971 to 1990 for Rot-Wei ...

(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 (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 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 Duq ...

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 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 Oil campaign of World War II Populated places established in 1862 1862 establishments in Prussia