Dortmund
Dortmund is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city of the Ruhr as well as the largest city of Westphalia. It lies on the Emscher and Ruhr rivers in the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Region, the second biggest metropolitan region by GDP in the European Union, and is considered the administrative, commercial, and cultural centre of the eastern Ruhr. Dortmund is the second-largest city in the Low German dialect area, after Hamburg.
Founded around 882, Dortmund became an Imperial Free City. Throughout the 13th to 14th centuries, it was the "chief city" of the Rhine, Westphalia, and the Netherlands Circle of the Hanseatic League. During the Thirty Years' War, the city was destroyed and decreased in significance until the onset of industrialisation. The city then became one of Germany's most important coal, steel, and beer centres; as a consequence, it was one of the most heavily bombed cities in Germany during World War II. The devastating bombing raids of 12 March 1945 destroyed 98% of the buildings in the inner city. Involving more than 1,110 aircraft, the raids were the largest targeting a single city during World War II. Today, around 30% of the city’s buildings date from before the war.
Since the collapse of its century-long steel and coal industries, the region has adapted and shifted to high-technology biomedical technology, micro systems technology, and also services. Other key sectors include retail, leisure and the visitor economy, creative industries, and logistics. Dortmund was classified as a "Node city" in the Innovation Cities Index, ranked among the twelve innovation cities in European Union, and is the most sustainable and digital city in Germany. With its central station and airport, the third-busiest in North Rhine-Westphalia, Dortmund is an important transport junction for the surrounding Ruhr area as well as the Benelux countries, and with the largest canal port in Europe it has a connection to important seaports on the North Sea.
Dortmund is home to many cultural and educational institutions. It is the location of the Technical University of Dortmund, Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts, the International School of Management, and other educational, cultural and administrative facilities, with over 49,000 students. It has many museums, such as Museum Ostwall, Museum of Art and Cultural History, and German Football Museum, as well as theatres and music venues like the Konzerthaus or the Opera House of Dortmund. Nearly half the municipal territory consists of waterways, woodland, agriculture, and green spaces with spacious parks such as Westfalenpark and Rombergpark. This stands in a stark contrast with nearly a hundred years of extensive coal mining and steel milling in the past, which created a rich Gründerzeit architectural heritage. Borussia Dortmund is one of the most successful German football clubs.
History
Etymology
Dortmund was first mentioned in the Werden Abbey, which was built between 880 and 884. The Latin entry reads: In Throtmanni liber homo Arnold viii den nob solvit. According to this, there are a large number of different names, but they all go back to the same phoneme stem. Their respective use in the sources appears arbitrary and random.In the course of time the name changed many times: trut munia 899, Thortmanni, Trutmania, Trotmunni 939, Tremonia 1152. From the 13th century on, the Dortmunde appeared for the first time, but it was not until a few centuries later that it became generally accepted.
In 1389, when the city had withstood a siege of 1,200 knights led by the Archbishop of Cologne, it adopted a motto that is still upheld today by traditional societies: So fast as Düörpm.
In the past, the city was called Dortmond in Dutch, Tremonia in Spanish, and Trémoigne in Old French. However, these exonyms have fallen into disuse and the city is now internationally known by its German name of Dortmund. The common abbreviation for the name of the city is "DTM", the IATA code for Dortmund Airport.
Early history
The Sigiburg was a hillfort in the south of present-day Dortmund, overlooking the River Ruhr near its confluence with the River Lenne. The ruins of the later Hohensyburg castle now stand on the site of the Sigiburg. The hillfort is presumably of Saxon origin, but there is no archeological or documentary proof of this. During the Saxon Wars, it was taken by the Franks under Charlemagne in 772, retaken by the Saxons in 774, and taken again and refortified by Charlemagne in 775. Archaeological evidence suggests the Sigiburg site was also occupied in the Neolithic era.The first time Dortmund was mentioned in official documents was around 882 as Throtmanni – In throtmanni liber homo arnold viii den nob soluit . In 1005 the "Ecclesiastical council" and in 1016 the "Imperial diet" met in Dortmund.
Middle Ages and early modern period
After it was destroyed by a fire, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I had the town rebuilt in 1152 and resided there for two years. In 1267 St. Mary's Church, Dortmund, and three years later in 1270 St. Reinold's Church first mentioned. The combination of crossroad, market place, administrative centre – town hall, made Dortmund an important centre in Westphalia.It became an Imperial Free City and one of the first cities in Europe with an official Brewing right in 1293. Throughout the 13th to 14th centuries, it was the "chief city" of the Rhine, Westphalia, the Netherlands Circle of the Hanseatic League.
After 1320, the city appeared in writing as "Dorpmunde". In the years leading up to 1344, the English King, Edward III, even borrowed money from well-heeled Dortmund merchant families Berswordt and Klepping, offering the regal crown as security. In 1388, the Count of Mark joined forces with the Archbishop of Cologne and issued declarations of a feud against the town. Following a major siege lasting 18 months, peace negotiations took place and Dortmund emerged victorious. In 1400 the seat of the first Vehmic court was in Dortmund, in a square between two linden trees, one of which was known as the Femelinde. With the growing influence of Cologne during the 15th century, the seat was moved to Arnsberg in 1437. After Cologne was excluded after the Anglo-Hanseatic War, Dortmund was made capital of the Rhine-Westphalian and Netherlands Circle. This favors the founding of one of the oldest schools in Europe in 1543 –. In 1661 an earthquake made the Reinoldikirche collapse.
18th, 19th and early 20th centuries
With the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss resolution in 1803, Dortmund was added to the Principality of Nassau-Orange-Fulda, with as a result that it was no longer a free imperial city. William V, Prince of Orange-Nassau did not want stolen areas and therefore let his son Prince Willem Frederik take possession of the city and the principality. This prince held its entry on 30 June 1806, and as such the County of Dortmund then became part of the principality. On 12 July 1806, most of the Nassau principalities were deprived of their sovereign rights by means of the Rhine treaty. In October of the same year, the County of Dortmund was occupied by French troops and was added to the Grand Duchy of Berg on 1 March 1808. It is the capital of the Ruhr department. In 1808 Dortmund becomes capital of French satellite Ruhr. At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the entire Grand Duchy of Berg, including Dortmund, was added to the Kingdom of Prussia. The state mining authority of the Ruhr area was founded in 1815 and moved from Bochum to Dortmund. Within the Prussian Province of Westphalia, Dortmund was a district seat within Regierungsbezirk Arnsberg until 1875, when it became an urban district within the region.During the industrialisation of Prussia, Dortmund became a major centre for coal and steel. The town expanded into a city, with the population rising from 57,742 in 1875 to 379,950 in 1905. Sprawling residential areas like the North, East, Union and Kreuz district sprang up in less than 10 years. In 1920, Dortmund was one of the centres for resistance to the Kapp Putsch – a right-wing military coup launched against the Social Democratic-led government. In the Ruhr uprising, radical workers formed the 50,000-man Ruhr Red Army in hopes of setting up a soviet-style government. They were defeated with considerable loss of life by government and Freikorps units. On 11 January 1923, French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr. French Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré was responding to Germany's failure to comply with the reparations demands of the Treaty of Versailles. The occupation lasted until August 1925.
World War II
Under Nazi Germany, the Old Synagogue, which had opened in 1900, was destroyed in 1938. With a capacity of 1,300 seats, it was one of the largest Jewish houses of worship in Germany. Also, the Aplerbeck Hospital in Dortmund transferred mentally and/or physically disabled patients to the Hadamar Killing Facility as part of Aktion T4, where they were murdered. An additional 229 children were murdered in the "Children's Specialist Department", which was transferred from Marburg in 1941.Dortmund was the location of the Stalag VI-D prisoner-of-war camp for Polish, French, Belgian, British, Serbian, Soviet and Italian POWs with some 300 forced labour units in the city alone, a camp for Sinti and Romani people, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp for 800 predominantly Polish women, and a detachment of the 3rd SS construction brigade. In September 1943, the local Gestapo carried out a mass execution of 17 Polish POWs, who escaped the Oflag VI-B POW camp, but were soon captured.
Bombing targets of the Oil Campaign of World War II in Dortmund included Hoesch-Westfalenhütte AG, the "Hoesch-Benzin GmbH" synthetic oil plant, and the Zeche Hansa. The bombings destroyed about 66% of Dortmund homes. The devastating bombing raids of 12 March 1945 with 1,108 aircraft destroyed 98% of buildings in the inner city centre, and 4,851 tonnes of bombs were dropped on Dortmund city centre and the south of the city; this was a record for a single target in the whole of World War II.
The Allied ground advance into Germany reached Dortmund in April 1945. The US 95th Infantry Division attacked the city on 12 April 1945 against a stubborn German defense. The division, assisted by close air support, advanced through the ruins in urban combat and completed its capture on 13 April 1945.