Oerlinghausen


Oerlinghausen is a city in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany located between Bielefeld and Detmold in the Teutoburg Forest. At the end of February 2023, it had 17,314 inhabitants.
WWW oerlinghausen.de

Geography

Geographically, Oerlinghausen is situated on top of the Teutoburger Forest hills. Oerlinghausen's highest point is the Tönsberg with 334 meters. The flatlands of northern Germany start some 40 km north of Oerlinghausen. There are hiking routes along the hill chain which stretches 80 km in east-west direction. To the south of the hills are large sand areas originating from melting glaciers during past ice ages. Although not high, the hills are steep in many places and almost completely covered by forest.

History and culture

First mentioned in documents in 1036, the town became a city in 1926 by authority of the Land of Lippe. In 1969 the city was expanded with the addition of Helpup, Währentrup and Lipperreihe as part of the "Gebietsreform" movement.
Oerlinghausen is home to an airfield which is one of Europe's largest gliding centres as well as the well known Archäologisches Freilichtmuseum Oerlinghausen featuring reconstructions of a variety of dwellings spanning from 10,000 BC to 1000 AD.
The city has also been home to an unusual number of well-known sociologists. Marianne Weber, who was born in Oerlinghausen and married Max Weber here in 1893, was a well-respected author herself. Niklas Luhmann and Richard Grathoff, two of the key sociologists who made the Bielefeld University one of the premier institutions for sociology in Europe, have also lived in Oerlinghausen for extended time periods.
Hanning Elektro-Werke is headquartered in Oerlinghausen.

Number of inhabitants

YearInhabitants
196812.839
197013.276
197414.292
197514.474
198014.751
198514.738
198714.757
199015.689
199517.165
200017.465
200517.305
200716.988
201216.654

Mayors

Time of officeNameParty
1926–1933August Reuter
1933–1945Friedrich MöllerNSDAP
1945–1946August Reuter
1946–1965Heinrich KramerSPD
1965–1969Heinrich SchildmannSPD
1969–1975Konrad DreckshageFDP
1975–1984Erich DiekhofSPD
1984–1989Horst SteinkühlerSPD
1989–1999Martin WeberSPD
1999–2015Ursula Herbortindependent
since 2015Dirk BeckerSPD

Sons and daughters of the town