Hagen () is a city in the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

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 ...

, in western

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, on the southeastern edge of the

Ruhr area The Ruhr ( ; , 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 1,160/km2 and a populati ...

, 15 km south of

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

, where the rivers

Lenne The Lenne () is a tributary of the river Ruhr in the Sauerland hills, western Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north a ...

and Volme meet the

Ruhr The Ruhr ( ; , 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 1,160/km2 and a populati ...

. In 2023, the population was 197,677. The city is home to the FernUniversität Hagen (University of Hagen), the only state-funded

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance; today, it usually involves online ...

university in Germany.

Geography

The largest extension of Hagen's municipal area is 17.1 km in a north-south direction and 15.5 km in a west-east direction. The city boundary of 89.7 km is made up of 3.3 km to Dortmund, 9 km to the district of Unna, 56.6 km to the Ennepe-Ruhr district and 20.8 km to the Märkisch district. The area of the city (160.36 km²) is roughly the size of the

Principality of Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a doubly landlocked German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east and north and Switzerland in the west and south. Liechtenst ...

. 42 per cent of Hagen's municipal area consists of forest. The four rivers in Hagen stretch over a length of 52.2 km:

11.5 km,

13.1 km, Volme 21.3 km and Ennepe 6.3 km. The difference in altitude from the lowest point on the Ruhr near Vorhalle (86 metres above sea level) to the highest point east of Bölling ♁51° 18′ N, 7° 34′ E (438 metres above sea level) is 352 metres.

Geology and palaeontology

Since the early 19th century, the Hagen area has been regarded as a classic discovery region for

palaeontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geo ...

and

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

There are various rocks and deposits from the

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

to the

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...

in the municipal area. Marine and terrestrial deposits from the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

Tertiary Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to: * Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago * Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...

and

Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...

periods have been preserved in karst caves in the mass limestone. Other fossil sites with animal and plant remains from the

Palaeozoic The Paleozoic ( , , ; or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma at the start of ...

to the

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era is the Era (geology), era of Earth's Geologic time scale, geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period (geology), Periods. It is characterized by the dominance of archosaurian r ...

have also made important contributions to geoscientific research. In the area around Hagen, for example, the bones of land dinosaurs and early mammals as well as plant remains from the Lower Cretaceous period were found. The former Hagen-Vorhalle brickworks quarry is considered an important site for the discovery of fossilised insects and other fossils, including early large dragonflies with wingspans of 40 cm, extinct primordial web-footed butterflies and giant centipedes and millipedes from the Upper Carboniferous period. The Hagen-Vorhalle quarry is considered a geotope of global importance for palaeontological research. Finds from the quarry and from the entire region can be seen in the Museum of Prehistory and Early History in Werdringen moated castle. In a side valley of the Lenne near Holthausen, the remains of Stone Age people were discovered in the ‘Blätterhöhle’ cave. With a C14 age of up to 11,300 years, they date from the beginning of the Mesolithic period. This makes them the oldest evidence to date of anatomically modern humans in the post-glacial period on the European continent.

History

Medieval times

The Hagen region first appears in historical records in the Lorsch Annals (): In 775,

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

's troops conquered the Saxon Hohensyburg (then called ) castle located near the city limits of Dortmund above the Ruhr-Lenne estuary. Hagen itself was first mentioned around the year 1200, and is presumed to have been the name of a farm at the confluence of the Volme and the Ennepe rivers. After the conquest of in 1324, Hagen passed to the

County of Mark The County of Mark (, colloquially known as ) was a county and Imperial State, state of the Holy Roman Empire in the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle. It lay south of Lippe (river), Lippe river on both sides of the Ruhr river along the Volme a ...

Early modern period

After the

Treaty of Xanten The Treaty of Xanten () was signed in the Lower Rhenish town of Xanten on 12 November 1614 between Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg and John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg, with representatives from Kingdom of England, England and Kin ...

in 1614, it was granted to the

Margraviate of Brandenburg The Margraviate of Brandenburg () was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that, having electoral status although being quite poor, grew rapidly in importance after inheriting the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 and then came ...

, which became part of the newly founded

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 ...

in 1701. A major fire destroyed a significant part of Hagen's buildings in 1724. With the help of the Prussian state administration, Hagen was rebuilt within a short time. Hagen was granted

town privileges Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...

on 3 September 1746.

19th and early 20th Century

After the defeat of Prussia in the Fourth Coalition, Hagen was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Berg founded by

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

from 1807 to 1813. It became part of the new Prussian province of Westphalia after 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 ...

in 1815. From 1817, Hagen was the seat of an office and a district within the administrative district of Arnsberg. In 1837, the revised town regulations and a magistrate were introduced. In the course of industrialisation, Hagen was connected to the network of the Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahngesellschaft in 1848 and developed into an important railway junction. By 1865, Hagen had overtaken Iserlohn, which had previously been the leading town in South Westphalia in terms of population and economic power. During the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

from 1871 to 1914, Hagen experienced a period of prosperity. Through urbanisation and industrialisation of the 19th century, the city developed into the main centre for the entire region south of the river

. In 1887, Hagen was administratively separated from the district of Hagen and became an independent city ( urban district). In the years following the turn of the century, the banker and patron Karl Ernst Osthaus brought many later important architects to the city, including Henry van de Velde, Peter Behrens and

Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (; 18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-born American architect and founder of the Bauhaus, Bauhaus School, who is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modernist architecture. He was a founder of ...

. They established Hagen's reputation as a link between

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

and

Modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

(). The centrepiece of this initiative was the Folkwang Museum and the (only partially built) garden city of Hohenhagen (). In reaction to the Kapp Putsch in March 1920, when rightists tried to overthrow the elected government and set up an authoritarian regime, tens of thousands of leftist workers in the Ruhr Valley, Germany's most important industrial area, used the opportunity for a revolutionary uprising from the Left. In the

Ruhr uprising The Ruhr uprising () or March uprising () was an uprising that occurred in the Ruhr region of Germany from 13 March to 6 April 1920. It was a Left-wing politics, left-wing workers' revolt triggered by the call for a Kapp Putsch#General Strike ...

of 13 March – 2 April 1920, the 50,000-man Ruhr Red Army took control of the industrial district. Government and paramilitary forces were ordered against the workers, suppressing the uprising, and killing an estimated 1,000 workers. A memorial to the uprising was installed in Hagen. By 1928, Hagen had developed into a city of more than 100,000 inhabitants.

During the nazi regime

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, forced laborers of the 3rd SS construction brigade were dispatched in the town by the Nazis in 1943. Hagen was bombed repeatedly, by both the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

and the United States

Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Forces S ...

. On the night of 1 October 1943, 243 Lancasters and 8

Mosquitoes Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a family of small flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by '' mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mosquitoes have a slender segmented body, ...

from the

's Bomber Command attacked the city. According to the Bomber Command Campaign Diary, "This raid was a complete success achieved on a completely cloud-covered target of small size, with only a moderate bomber effort and at trifling cost." Hagen sustained severe damage from that raid, and hundreds of civilians were killed. After the war, the city centre was almost completely destroyed, so that only the surrounding districts still partially reflect the city's Wilhelminian architectural character. The victims of the Second World War and National Socialism in Hagen: more than 2,200 people died in Allied bombing raids between 1940 and 1945. Over 10,000 Hagen citizens died on the various fronts of the Second World War. Dozens of Hagen citizens were murdered in concentration camps and prisons for racial, religious, ideological and political reasons. In August 2021, discovery of a cache of

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

artifacts from a house was announced. A history teacher revealed a painted portrait of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

and medals decorated with eagles and

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...

s, a newspaper from 1945, a pistol,

gas mask A gas mask is a piece of personal protective equipment used to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft ...

brass knuckles Brass knuckles (also referred to as brass knucks, knuckledusters, iron fist and paperweight, among other names) are a melee weapon used primarily in Hand to hand combat, hand-to-hand combat. They are fitted and designed to be worn around the kn ...

, and stacks of documents. It is also found out that the house once served as the

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

of the Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt.

Post-war period

In April 1945, the US Army liberated the city, which was later part of the British occupation zone. In August 1948, Hagen was included in the new state of

and soon became part of the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

(FRG, also known as

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

), founded in 1949. In the 1950s and 1960s, Hagen experienced another stormy growth and mainly elted into the flatter, northern plain.

Late 20th century to the present

At the beginning of the 1970s, the decline of heavy industry in Hagen began in the wake of the steel crisis. Hasper Hütte was completely shut down between 1972 and 1982, Gussstahlwerke Wittmann went bankrupt and two of the three plants of Stahlwerke Südwestfalen were closed. Further job losses affected the food industry with the breweries Bettermann and Andreas, the confectionery manufacturers Villosa and Grothe and the production plant of Zwieback Brandt. The pedestrian zone in the city centre was opened in the 1970s. In the early 1980s, Hagen made a name for itself as the ‘Liverpool of New German Wave (Neue Deutsche Welle)’. Many well-known musicians and bands of this musical genre (including

Nena Gabriele Susanne Kerner (born 24 March 1960), better known by her stage name Nena, is a German singer who rose to international fame in 1983 as the lead vocalist of the band Nena (band), Nena with the Neue Deutsche Welle song "99 Luftballons". I ...

Extrabreit Extrabreit is a German band established in Hagen, Germany in 1978. The band was one of the most successful exponents of the Neue Deutsche Welle movement of the 1980s. History The band was founded around the end of 1978, when they began thei ...

and the sisters Annette and Inga Humpe) have their roots in Hagen. Economically, Hagen came under renewed pressure in the 1990s due to increasing globalisation. A further wave of deindustrialisation began in the steel sector, while Hagen's population declined at the same time. Hagen's debt level was €1.383 billion on 31 December 2012. Since the 2000s, major new construction and renovation projects have been realised that have significantly shaped Hagen's cityscape today. Examples include the Volme- and Rathaus-Galerie, the redesign of Friedrich-Ebert-Platz and the station forecourt (Berliner Platz) as well as the construction of the new town hall on the riverside. In mid-July 2021, Hagen was affected by a flood disaster caused by heavy rainfall. In particular, damage was caused in the Volme valley and Hohenlimburg.

Economy

Owing to the extensive use of water power along the rivers Ruhr, Lenne, Volme and Ennepe, metal processing played an important role in the region of Hagen in and even before the 15th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries,

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

and steel industries, as well as

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

production were developed here. In the early 21st century, Hagen is the home of the Suedwestfaelische Industrie- und Handelskammer, as well as Sparkasse Hagen, the local public savings bank. The bank's former headquarters, the Sparkasse Hagen Tower, was a regional landmark until its demolition in 2004. The city is heavily indebted and in the process of cutting city services in order to balance its budget. The city has capitalized on the export of a wide variety of breads, most notably ''Hagenschmagenbrot'', a traditional dark bread.

Education

One of the five branches of South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences is located in the city (also: Fachhochschule Südwestfalen (FH SWF)), which offers various engineering programmes. This institution was founded in the city in 1824.

Attractions

Hagen is home to the ''LWL-Freilichtmuseum Hagen'', or Hagen Westphalian Open-Air Museum, a collection of historic industrial facilities. Trades such as printing, brewing, smithing, milling, and many others are represented, not only with static displays, but as living, working operations that visitors may in some cases participate in. It is located near the Hagen community of Eilpe. The Historisches Centrum Hagen includes the

city museum City Museum is a museum whose exhibits consist largely of Repurposing, repurposed architectural and industrial objects, housed in the former International Shoe building in the Washington Avenue Loft District of St. Louis, Missouri, United Stat ...

and Werdringen castle. In the Blätterhöhle cave in Hagen, the oldest fossils of modern people in

Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...

and the

were found. Some date to the early

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Ancient Greek language, Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic i ...

, 10,700 years B.C.E. It seems that the descendants of Mesolithic people in this area maintained a foraging lifestyle for more than 2000 years after the arrival of farming societies. Stadt

Boroughs

Quarters/localities of Hagen: * Hagen-Mitte: ** Mittelstadt , Wehringhausen , Kuhlerkamp , Altenhagen , Hochschulviertel , Eppenhausen ,

Emst Emst is a village in the municipality of Epe, Netherlands, Epe in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands. It is the birthplace of former footballer Marc Overmars. Emst is located in the forest area of Veluwe. Emst was first mentioned be ...

, Haßley * Hagen-Nord: ** Boele , Boelerheide , Eckesey , Vorhalle , Brockhausen , Hengstey , Bathey , Kabel , Helfe , Fley , Garenfeld * Hagen-Hohenlimburg: ** Hohenlimburg , Elsey , Reh , Henkhausen , Oege , Nahmer , Wesselbach , Holthausen , Herbeck ,

Halden Halden (), between 1665 and 1928 known as Fredrikshald, is both a List of cities in Norway, town and a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The municipality borders Sarpsborg to the northwest, R ...

, Berchum * Hagen-Eilpe/Dahl: ** Eilpe , Selbecke , Delstern , Ambrock , Dahl , Priorei , Rummenohl * Hagen-Haspe: ** Haspe , Westerbauer , Baukloh , Quambusch , Spielbrink , Geweke , Kückelhausen , Hestert

Demographics

Hagen became a so-called Großstadt in 1928, when the population exceeded the 100,000 mark. In 1964, the population passed the 200,000 mark. The city had its highest population after the municipal reorganisation in 1975 with 231,840 inhabitants. Since December 2005, the city has been permanently below the 200,000 population mark (according to the city administration), while the North Rhine-Westphalia State Office for Data Processing and Statistics was already assuming a population of just 196,934 at that time. The population reached a low point in 2012 with 187,810 people, since then it has been increasing again. In 2021, the balance of inflows and outflows was +592 (-1,112 for Germans and +1,704 for foreigners). On 31 December 2023, the population was 197,677, including 150,505 Germans and 47,172 foreigners. In the ranking of cities in Germany by population, Hagen is in 41st place behind

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

and ahead of Hamm. The proportion of under 20-year-olds in Hagen in 2023 was 20.3%, while the proportion of people aged 60 and over was 28.8%. The proportion of the foreign population in Hagen in 2023 was 23.9%. In 2021, 34.1% of the Hagen population had a migration background. In March 2021, 41.7% of children in daycare centres had a migrant background and 43.2% of children in daycare centres had a mother tongue other than German. At 12.1% (8.4% for Germans and 28.1% for foreigners), the unemployment rate in October 2022 was above the north rhine-westphalian average of 7.7%. The following table shows the largest foreign resident groups in the city of Hagen.

Politics

Bundestag

Part of the Hagen – Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis I

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

for elections to the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

Mayor

The current mayor of Hagen is

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

Erik O. Schulz, elected in 2014 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, Erik O. Schulz , 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 Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

( CDU/

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

/ FDP) , 31,086 , 51.1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Wolfgang Jörg , 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 Form ...

, 15,547 , 25.5 , - , , align=left, Josef Bücker , align=left, Hagen Active , 5,214 , 8.6 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Michael Eiche , 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 ...

, 5,197 , 8.5 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Laura Knüppel , 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 ...

, 1,704 , 2.8 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Ingo Hentschel , align=left, The Left , 1,534 , 2.5 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Thorsten Kiszkenow , align=left, Pirate Party Germany , 420 , 0.7 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Franco Flebus , align=left, The Republicans , 182 , 0.3 , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 60,884 ! 98.1 , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 1,156 ! 1.9 , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 62,040 ! 100.0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 147,361 ! 42.1 , - , colspan=7, Source
State Returning Officer
The following is a list of mayors since 1746: * 1746–1749: Heinrich Wilhelm Emminghaus * 1749–1750: Heinrich Caspar Hiltrop * 1750–1771: Johann Caspar Hücking * 1771–1795: Heinrich Arnold Wülfingh * 1795–1808: Peter Matthias Jule * 1808–1809: Carl Johann Elbers I. * 1809–1821: Carl Ludwig Christian Dahlenkamp * 1821–1823: Wilhelm Möllenhoff * 1823–1827: Johann Conrad Pütter * 1827–1831: August Wille * 1831–1832: Wilhelm Kämper * 1832–1835: Johann Peter Aubel * 1835–1837: Friedrich Kämper * 1837–1849: Ferdinand Elbers * 1849–1864: Johann Diedrich Friedrich Schmidt * 1864–1876: Friedrich Dödter * 1876–1900: August Prentzel * 1901–1927: Willi Cuno, ( FVP, ab 1918: DDP) * 1927–1929: Alfred Finke (DDP) * 1929–1933: Cuno Raabe ( Zentrum) * 1933–1945: Heinrich Vetter (

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor, the German Workers ...

) * 1945: Werner Dönneweg (NSDAP, acting from 18 April–18 May 1945) * 1945–1946: Ewald Sasse ( CDU, from 18 May 1945, initially on an acting basis, later permanent) * 1946–1956: Fritz Steinhoff ( SPD) later became minister president of north rhine-westphalia * 1956–1963: Helmut Turck (SPD) * 1963–1964: Fritz Steinhoff (SPD) * 1964–1971: Lothar Wrede (SPD) * 1971–1989: Rudolf Loskand (SPD) * 1989: Renate Löchter (SPD) * 1989–1999: Dietmar Thieser (SPD) * 1999–2004: Wilfried Horn (CDU) * 2004–2009: Peter Demnitz (SPD) * 2009–2014: Jörg Dehm (CDU) * since 2014: Erik O. Schulz (independent)

City council

The Hagen 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) , 16,813 , 27.5 , 4.5 , 14 , 6 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(SPD) , 15,573 , 25.5 , 7.3 , 13 , 8 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne) , 8,114 , 13.3 , 4.3 , 7 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(AfD) , 5,692 , 9.3 , 5.6 , 5 , 3 , - , , align=left, Hagen Active (HA) , 4,186 , 6.8 , 1.3 , 4 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Democratic Party (FDP) , 2,829 , 4.6 , 1.0 , 2 , ±0 , - , , align=left, Citizens for Hohenlimburg (BfHo) , 2,066 , 3.4 , 1.1 , 2 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, The Left (Die Linke) , 1,762 , 2.9 , 1.4 , 2 , 1 , - , , align=left, Hagen Activist Circle (HAK) , 1,740 , 2.8 , New , 2 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(PARTEI) , 1,692 , 2.8 , New , 1 , New , - , colspan=7 bgcolor=lightgrey, , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Pirate Party Germany (Piraten) , 436 , 0.7 , 0.9 , 0 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, The Republicans (REP) , 194 , 0.3 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Independents , 19 , 0.0 , – , 0 , – , - ! colspan=2, Valid votes ! 61,116 ! 98.7 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Invalid votes ! 825 ! 1.3 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Total ! 61,941 ! 100.0 ! ! 52 ! 10 , - ! colspan=2, Electorate/voter turnout ! 147,361 ! 42.0 ! 3.1 ! ! , - , colspan=7, Source
State Returning Officer

Transport

The

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 ...

en A1, A45 and A46 pass by Hagen. Hagen has been an important rail junction for the southeastern Ruhr valley since the first rail line opened in 1848. The marshalling yard of Hagen-Vorhalle is among Germany's largest, and the

central station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

offers connections to the

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 ...

network of

Deutsche Bahn (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...

as well as to local and

S-Bahn The S-Bahn ( , ), , is a hybrid urban rail, urban–suburban rail system serving a metropolitan region predominantly in German language, German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit syst ...

services. Since December 2005, Hagen has also been the starting point for a service into

Essen Essen () 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 Dortmund, as well as ...

, the Ruhr-Lenne-Express, operated by Abellio Deutschland. Since 2022, it has been operated by DB Regio. Local traffic is handled by Hagener Straßenbahn (Hagen Tramways), which, despite its name, offers only bus services, as the last

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

way route in Hagen was abandoned in May 1976. All in all there is a large-scale network of 36 bus lines in Hagen. All local rail and bus services operate under the transport association VRR.

Sport

The German Basketball Federation (DBB) is based in Hagen. Sport clubs in Hagen: * TSV Hagen 1860 - largest club (multiple

fistball Fistball is a sport of European origin, primarily played in the German-speaking nations of Austria, Germany and Switzerland, as well as in Brazil. The objective of the game is similar to volleyball, in that teams try to hit a ball over a net, b ...

champions) * SSV Hagen (1974 basketball champions), later known as

Brandt Hagen Brandt Hagen Hagen is a professional basketball club from Hagen in Germany. History It is the successor of Brandt Hagen, a professional club that had considerable success in the German Basketball Bundesliga in the 90s. In April 1990, the club was ...

* SSV Hagen, a sport club for

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 ...

, cycling, jiu-jitsu, weightlifting and jazzdance. The football team plays its home matches in the Ischelandstadion. * Phoenix Hagen, ''

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the German basketball league system, highest level Sports league, league of professional club basketball in German ...

- ENERVIE Arena im Sportpark Ischeland'' * Hasper SV * Hohenlimburger SV (multiple women

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

champions) Hagen is also famous of its annual equestrian show ' Horses & Dreams' in April at Hof Kasselmann. It is one of the greatest equestrian shows in Germany and abroad. In 2005 they were the host of the European Dressage Championships after Moscow withdrew. In 2021 Hagen is again host of the 2021 European Dressage Championships for seniors and U25.

Twin towns – sister cities

Hagen is twinned with: * Liévin, France (1960) *

Kouvola Kouvola () is a city in Finland and the administrative capital of Kymenlaakso. It is located in the southeastern interior of the country. The population of Kouvola is approximately . It is the most populous municipality in Finland, and the 17th m ...

(

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

), 1963–2009 * Montluçon, France (1965) * Steglitz-Zehlendorf (Berlin), Germany (1967) *

Bruck an der Mur Bruck an der Mur () is a city of some 15,970 people located in the district Bruck-Mürzzuschlag, in the Austrian state of Styria. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Mur and Mürz. Its manufacturing includes metal products and paper. ...

, Austria (1974) *

Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...

, Russia (1985) *

Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut ( ''Mōdīʿīn-Makkabbīm-Rēʿūt'') is a city located in central Israel, about southeast of Tel Aviv and west of Jerusalem, and is connected to those two cities via Highway 443. In the population was . The populati ...

, Israel (1997)

Notable people

Artur Axmann Artur Axmann (18 February 1913 – 24 October 1996) was the Germans, German Nazi national leader (''Reichsjugendführer'') of the Hitler Youth (''Hitlerjugend'') from 1940 to 1945, when the war ended. He was the last living Nazi with a rank equi ...

(1913–1996), politician (NSDAP) and ''Reichsjugendführer'' * Freddy Breck (1942–2008), percussionist * Heinrich Brocksieper (1898–1968), painter and photographer, experimental filmmaker and former Bauhaus student * Franz Bronstert (1895–1967), painter *Wilhelm Böing (1846–1890), father of William E. Boeing, founder of the Boeing aviation company * Georg von Detten (1887–1934), Nazi Party politician and SA-''Gruppenführer'' * Hansheinrich Dransmann (1894–1964), conductor, composer * René Eidams (born 1989), darts player * Liselotte Funcke (1918–2012), liberal politician, vice president of federal parliament, state Minister of Economy in North Rhine-Westphalia, Federal Commissioner for Foreigners *

Jan-Ole Gerster Jan-Ole Gerster (born 1978 in Hagen) is a German film director and screenwriter. Life Gerster works as a film director and screenwriter in Germany. He was a TorinoFilmLab AdaptLab participant in 2016. Filmography * 2004: ''Der Schmerz geh ...

(born 1978), film director and screenwriter * Mousse T. (Mustafa Gündogdu) (born 1966), DJ, musician, remixer and producer * Karl Halle (1819–1895), also known as Sir Charles Hallé, pianist, composer and orchestra conductor * Friedrich Harkort (1793–1880), railway and industrial pioneer and politician (German Progressive Party) * Bettina Hauert (born 1982), professional golfer * Annette Humpe (born 1950), music producer, singer of the bands Ideal and Ich + Ich * (born 1971), politician (SPD), mayor of Gevelsberg *

(Gabriele Susanne Kerner) (born 1960), pop singer * Mambo Kurt (born 1967), musician and solo entertainer * Will Lammert (1892–1957), sculptor * Ernst Meister (1911–1979), lyricist, radio playwright, narrator and theater author *

Erwin Milzkott Erwin Milzkott (1 June 1913 – 2 July 1986) was a German musician. Life Born in Hagen, Milzkott grew up in the merchant family of Wilhelm and Elise Milzkott with his sister Grete. He was considered a musical prodigy, and in 1925 played Beetho ...

(1913–1986), violinist *

Barbara Morgenstern Barbara Morgenstern (born March 19, 1971) is a German electronic music artist, keyboardist and singer. Biography Born in Hagen, Germany, Morgenstern describes herself as self-taught, although she had piano lessons as a child and jazz lessons at t ...

(born 1971), musician * Hans Nieland (1900–1976), politician (NSDAP) * Karl Ernst Osthaus (1874–1921), banker and patron of avant-garde art and architecture * Hugo Paul (1905–1962), politician (KPD) * Hans Reichel (1949–2011), guitarist, violinist, instrument maker and typographer *

Herbert Reinecker Herbert Reinecker (24 December 1914 – 27 January 2007) was a German novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. Career Born in Hagen, Westphalia, Reinecker began to write short stories already as a high school student. In 1936, he moved to Berlin, w ...

(1914–2007), writer and screenwriter *

Nicholas Rescher Nicholas Rescher (; ; 15 July 1928 – 5 January 2024) was a German-born American philosopher, polymath, and author, who was a professor of philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh from 1961. He was chairman of the Center for Philosophy of Sc ...

(born 1928), philosopher *

Eugen Richter Eugen Richter (30 July 183810 March 1906) was a German politician and journalist in Imperial Germany. He was one of the leading Old Liberals in the Prussian Landtag and the German Reichstag. Career Son of a combat medic, Richter attended the ...

(1838–1906), politician (German Progressive Party) * Jürgen Schläder (born 1948), musicologist * Emil Schumacher (1912–1999), painter (abstract art) * Hugo Siepmann (1868-1950), industrialist * Fritz Steinhoff (1897–1969), politician (SPD) * Georg von Vincke (1811–1875), politician * Antje Vowinckel (born 1964), sound artist, radio artist and musician. * Burkhart Waldecker (1902–1964), explorer * Henning Wehn (born 1974), comedian * Rotraut Wisskirchen (1936–2018), Biblical archaeologist

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Cities in North Rhine-Westphalia Urban districts of North Rhine-Westphalia Arnsberg (region) Members of the Hanseatic League