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

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region () of Detmold and the 18th largest city in Germany. The historical centre of the city is situated north of the

Teutoburg Forest The Teutoburg Forest ( ; ) is a range of low, forested hills in the German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. Until the 17th century, the official name of the hill ridge was Osning. It was first renamed 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 '' Hermannsweg'', 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, Pizza#Preparation, frozen pizza, pudding, cake decoration, cornflakes, birthday candles, beer, and various other products. The company is a wholly owned b ...

, DMG Mori (former Gildemeister), Möller Group, Goldbeck and Schüco. It has a

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

and several technical colleges (). Bielefeld is also known for the Bethel Institution.

History

Founded in 1214 by Count Hermann IV of Ravensberg to guard a pass crossing the

, Bielefeld was the "city of

linen Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is very strong and absorbent, and it dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. Lin ...

" as a minor member of the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...

, known for bleachfields into the 19th century. Bielefeld was part of the

Kingdom of Westphalia The Kingdom of Westphalia was a client state of First French Empire, France in present-day Germany that existed from 1807 to 1813. While formally independent, it was ruled by Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte. It was named after Westphalia, ...

when it was created in 1807. In 1815 it was incorporated into the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

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, Napol ...

. 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 (WaA) was the German Army Weapons Agency. It was the centre for research and development of the Weimar Republic and later the Third Reich for weapons, ammunition and army equipment to the German Reichswehr and then Wehrmacht. It was founded 8 ...

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 () 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 or bank notealso called a bill (North American English) or simply a noteis a type of paper money that is made and distributed ("issued") by a bank of issue, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued by commerc ...

s with designs on

silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...

and

velvet Velvet is a type of woven fabric with a dense, even pile (textile), pile that gives it a distinctive soft feel. Historically, velvet was typically made from silk. Modern velvet can be made from silk, linen, cotton, wool, synthetic fibers, silk ...

. 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 A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

was burned in 1938 during the ''

Kristallnacht ( ) or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilia ...

'' pogrom carried out against Jewish population. In 1944,

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber, the B-17 dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during ...

es of the

USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

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 language, Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn (district), Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pade ...

marshalling yard, and

the railway viaduct ''The Railway Viaduct'' is the third title in the ''Railway Detective'' series of detective mystery novels written by Keith Miles under the pseudonym Edward Marston. Set in 1852, it is about a murder on a train which is investigated and ultimatel ...

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 British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) was the name given to British Army occupation forces in the Rhineland, West Germany, after the First and Second World Wars, and during the Cold War, becoming part of NATO's Northern Army Group (NORTHAG) tasked ...

– BAOR (the administrative and strategic headquarters were at Rheindahlen 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 The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI ) is a company created by the United Kingdom, British government on 9 December 1920 to run recreational establishments needed by the British Armed Forces, and to sell goods to servicemen and their fam ...

shops, officers' and sergeants' messes and several estates of married quarters. The British presence was heavily scaled back after the

reunification of Germany German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the German Democratic Republic and the integration of i ...

and most of the infrastructure has disappeared. In 1973 the first villages on the south side of the Teutoburg Forest were incorporated. Starting in 1994, the city has been featured in the humorous Bielefeld conspiracy, which satirises

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...

by claiming that the city does not exist.

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 An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Cfb''; Trewartha: ''Dobk''). The average annual high temperature is , the annual low temperature is , and the annual precipitation is . The Alzey weather station has recorded the following extreme values: * Its highest temperature was on 25 July 2019. * Its lowest temperature was on 13 February 2021. * Its greatest annual precipitation was in 2023. * Its least annual precipitation was in 2018. * The longest annual sunshine was 1,918.3 hours in 2022. * The shortest annual sunshine was 1,418.4 hours in 2013.

Industry and education

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 A home appliance, also referred to as a domestic appliance, an electric appliance or a household appliance, is a machine which assists in household functions such as cooking, cleaning and food preservation. The domestic application attached to ...

and various

heavy industries Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); o ...

, Bielefeld companies include

(food manufacturing), Möller Group (leather products and plastics), Seidensticker (clothing and textiles) and Bethel Institution with 17.000 employees.

Bielefeld University Bielefeld University () is a public university in Bielefeld, Germany. Founded in 1969, it is one of the country's newer universities, and considers itself a "reform" university, following a different style of organization and teaching than the e ...

was founded in 1969. The first professors included the well-known German sociologist

Niklas Luhmann Niklas Luhmann (; ; December 8, 1927 – November 11, 1998) was a German sociologist, philosopher of social science, and systems theorist. Niklas Luhmann is one of the most influential German sociologists of the 20th century. His thinking was ...

. Other institutions of

higher education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...

include the Theological Seminary Bethel (''Kirchliche Hochschule Bethel'') and the Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences (), which offers 21 courses in 8 different departments (agriculture and engineering are in

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the largest town in population between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district () of Minden-Lübbecke, situated in the cultural region ...

) and has been internationally recognized for its photography school. Bielefeld has several vocational schools like Berufskolleg Senne. and Berufskolleg Bethel These schools focus on hands-on training in various fields, including business, healthcare, and technical disciplines.

Demographics

Einwohnerentwicklung von Bielefeld - ab 1871

Politics

Mayor

The current mayor ('' Oberbürgermeister'') 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 Form ...

(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 Alliance 90/The Greens (, ), often simply referred to as Greens (, ), is a Green (politics), green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (formed in East Ger ...

, 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 Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...

, 4,708 , 3.5 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Lena Oberbäumer , align=left,

Die PARTEI (''Party for Labour, Rule of Law, Animal Protection, Promotion of Elites and Grassroots Democratic Initiative''), or Die PARTEI (''The PARTY''), is a German political party. It was founded in 2004 by the editors of the German satirical magazine ...

, 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. The SPD, the Greens, and the Left made a coalition with 35 of the 66 seats in the council. The full 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,

(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,

(AfD) , 4,630 , 3.4 , New , 2 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(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 , ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. Much of t ...

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 m ...

, the main railway station of Bielefeld, is on the Hamm–Minden railway and is part of the German

ICE Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...

high-speed railroad system. The main station for

intercity bus service An intercity bus service (North American English) or intercity coach service (British English and Commonwealth English), also called a long-distance, express, over-the-road, commercial, long-haul, or highway bus or coach service, is a public t ...

s 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 Paderborn Lippstadt Airport (German: ''Flughafen Paderborn Lippstadt'') is a minor international airport in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe area in the Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Despite its name, the airport is actually located nea ...

, Münster Osnabrück 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 Sparrenberg Castle, also known as the Sparrenburg ( or ''Sparrenburg''), is a restored fortress in the Bielefeld-Mitte district of Bielefeld, Germany. It is situated on the Sparrenberg hill ( altitude) in the Teutoburg Forest and towers above the ...

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 Linen Weavers' Monument, with the German name ''Leineweber-Denkmal'', created by the Tyrolean sculptor Perathoner, has been one of Bielefeld's most recognisable symbols for over 100 years. It stands as a reminder of the time when the city gained importance through the production of

, with the traditional crafts of spinning and weaving, and its high-quality linen became known worldwide, characterised by its own seal of quality. The Old City Hall (''Altes Rathaus'') was built in 1904 and still serves the same function. Its façade reflects the so-called Weserrenaissance and features elements of various

architectural styles An architectural style is a classification of buildings (and nonbuilding structures) based on a set of characteristics and features, including overall appearance, arrangement of the components, method of construction, building materials used, for ...

, including Gothic and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

. 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 (; "Youth Style") was an artistic movement, particularly in the decorative arts, that was influential primarily in Germany, Austria and elsewhere in Europe to a lesser extent from about 1895 until about 1910. It was the German and Austrian cou ...

façade, is Bielefeld's largest theatre and home of the

Bielefeld Opera The Bielefeld Opera is the venue of Städtische Bühnen Bielefeld (Municipal stages Bielefeld) in Bielefeld, Germany. It is a ''Dreisparten Haus'' (three-department house), offering Play (theatre), plays, music (opera, musical theatre), and ball ...

. Another theatre (''Theater am Alten Markt'') resides in the former

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

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 A hall church is a Church (building), church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height. In England, Flanders and the Netherlands, it is covered by parallel roofs, typically, one for each vessel, whereas in Germany there is often one s ...

with a height of . It was founded in 1236 by the

Bishop of Paderborn The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Paderborn () is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Germany; its seat is 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 A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a musical keyboard, keyboard and consists of at least 23 bells. The bells are Bellfounding, cast in Bell metal, bronze, hung in fixed suspension, and Musical tuning, tu ...

can be heard. The most valuable treasure of this church is a carved altar from

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

, 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, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

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 Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

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. Spire ...

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, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. Bielefeld is also the seat of the two largest

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

social welfare Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance p ...

establishments (''Diakonie'') in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, 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, 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. is ...

( Botanischer Garten Bielefeld) and th
Olderdissen Heimat-Zoo
a zoological garden based on German wildlife. Bielefeld is home to the widely known Bielefelder Kinderchor, 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 An observation tower is a tower used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision to conduct long distance observations. Observation towers are usually at least tall and are made from stone, iron, and woo ...

, next to a radio tower.

Sport

Bielefeld is home to the professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team DSC Arminia Bielefeld. Currently a member of

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...

in the 2023-24 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 (1766–1827), philosopher

* Christian Friedrich Nasse (1778–1851), psychiatrist * August Krönig (1822–1879), chemist and physicist * Friedrich von Bodelschwingh, Senior (1831–1910), second boss of the "Evangelischen Heil- und Pflegeanstalt für Epileptische" (Protestant Sanatorium for Epileptics) (1874 renamed into "Bethel") * Wilhelmine Lohmann (1872-?), German teacher, social worker, and temperance leader * Friedrich von Bodelschwingh (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 (1891–1914), early Expressionist painter

Born 1900–1950

* Erich Consemüller (1902–1957), Bauhaus-trained architect and photographer * Heinz Klingenberg (1905–1959), actor *

Horst Wessel Horst Ludwig Georg Erich Wessel (9 October 1907 – 23 February 1930) was a member of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party, who became a propaganda symbol in Nazi Germany following his murder in 1930 by two members ...

(1907–1930), SA leader, author of the Horst-Wessel-Song Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

* Hermann Paul Müller (1909–1975), racing driver * Veronica Carstens (1923–2012), medical doctor, wife of Karl Carstens * Hajo Meyer (1924–2014), German-Dutch physicist and author * Werner Lueg (1931–2014), athlete * Rüdiger Nehberg (1935–2020), survival expert and activist for human rights * Christian Tümpel (1937–2009), art historian * Klaus Hildebrand (born 1941), historian * Klaus Kobusch (1941–2025), cyclist * Hannes Wader (born 1942), musician and songwriter * Bernhard Schlink (born 1944), professor of jurisprudence and author * Ulrich Wessel (1946–1975), member of the

Red Army Faction The Red Army Faction (, ; RAF ),See the section "Name" also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang ( ), was a West German far-left militant group founded in 1970 and active until 1998, considered a terrorist organisat ...

Aleida Assmann Aleida Assmann (born Aleida Bornkamm, 22 March 1947) is a German professor of English and literary studies, who studied Egyptology and whose work has focused on cultural anthropology and Cultural memory, cultural and communicative memory. Life ...

(born 1947), anglist, egyptologist and literary and cultural scientist * Irmgard Möller (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 Richard Oetker (born 4 January 1951) is a German billionaire heir and businessman, who in 2010 became CEO of multinational food processing company Dr. Oetker. In 1976 he was kidnapped by Dieter Zlof, a Slovene-born mechanic, and only released a ...

(born 1951), entrepreneur

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

(born 1954), chief executive officer of

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

* Annette Groth (born 1954), politician (The Left) * Erich Marks (born 1954), educator * Christina Rau (born 1956), political scientist and widow of the Federal President Johannes Rau *Klaus Tscheuschner (born 1956), Lord Mayor of the City of Flensburg * Rolf Kanies (born 1957), film and theater actor * Karoline Linnert (born 1958), politician (The Greens) * Ingolf Lück (born 1958), actor, synchronizer, presenter, comedian and director *

Hartmut Ostrowski Hartmut Ostrowski (born 25 February 1958 in Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the adminis ...

(born 1958), chief executive officer of Bertelsmann AG * Ralf Ehrenbrink (born 1960), versatility rider * Hartmut Schick (born 1960), musicologist * Olaf Hampel (born 1965), bob driver * Anja Feldmann (born 1966), computer scientist * Oliver Welke (born 1966), author, comedian, sports journalist and moderator * Ruediger Heining (born 1968), agricultural scientist and economist * Ingo Niermann (born 1969), writer, journalist and artist * Ingo Oschmann (born 1969), comedian, entertainer and magician * Nina George (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 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player for

Germany women's national football team The Germany women's national football team () represents Germany in international Women's association football, women's football. The team is governed by the German Football Association (DFB). The Germany national team is one of the most succ ...

and VfL Wolfsburg (women) * Aylin Tezel (born 1983), German actress * Jost Kobusch (born 1992), mountaineer and author * Mieke Kröger (born 1993), cyclist

Twin towns – sister cities

Bielefeld is twinned with: *

Concarneau Concarneau (, meaning "Bay of Cornouaille") is a Communes of France, commune in the Finistère Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in Northwestern France. Concarneau is bordered to the west by the Baie ...

, France *

Estelí Estelí (), officially Villa de San Antonio de Pavia de Estelí is a city and Municipalities of Nicaragua, municipality within the Estelí Department, Estelí department. It is the 8th largest city in Nicaragua due to the high urbanization of its ...

, Nicaragua *

Nahariya Nahariya () is the northernmost coastal city in Israel. As of , the city had a population of . The city was founded in 1935 by Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany. Etymology Nahariya takes its name from the stream of Ga'aton River, Ga'aton (riv ...

, Israel *

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

, England, United Kingdom *

Rzeszów Rzeszów ( , ) is the largest city in southeastern Poland. It is located on both sides of the Wisłok River in the heartland of the Sandomierz Basin. Rzeszów is the capital of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship and the county seat, seat of Rzeszów C ...

, Poland *

Veliky Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( ; , ; ), also known simply as Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia, being first mentioned in the 9th century. The city lies along the ...

, Russia

References

External links

{{Authority control Members of the Hanseatic League Urban districts of North Rhine-Westphalia Detmold (region) Holocaust locations in Germany