Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia

Herne
View towards the center of Herne
Flag Coat of arms
Herne
Coordinates: 51°33′0″N 07°13′0″E
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Arnsberg
District	Urban district
Government
• Mayor	Horst Schiereck (SPD)
Area
• Total	51.41 km2 (19.85 sq mi)
Population (2013-12-31)
• Total	154,417
• Density	3,000/km2 (7,800/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	44601-44653
Dialling codes	02323, 02325
Vehicle registration	HER, WAN
Website	herne.de

Herne (German pronunciation: [ˈhɛʁnə]) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the Ruhr area directly between the cities of Bochum and Gelsenkirchen.

History

Like most other cities in the region Herne was a tiny village until the 19th century. When the mining of coal and the production of steel began, the villages of the Ruhr area became cities.

Present-day Herne includes the former settlements of Herne, Wanne and Eickel. Farms bearing these names were founded in the 11th and 12th centuries. In 1860 the first coal mine started operation. In the following thirty years the population increased twentyfold. For the first time Herne was called a city. The same process took place in Wanne and Eickel, which merged in 1926 to form the new city of Wanne-Eickel. In 1975 Wanne-Eickel, by then a city with over 70,000 inhabitants, was incorporated into Herne.

World War II

Herne was targeted by the RAF on 4 June 1940, early in World War II. Three high-explosive bombs were dropped and one house was damaged.

In Wanne-Eickel, the Krupp Treibstoffwerke oil refinery near the local Shamrock 3/4 coal mine was bombed during the Oil Campaign of World War II.

Gallery

• 

  Herne, church

• 

  Baukau, castle: Schloss Strünkede

• 

  Baukau, chapel: Schlosskapelle Strünkede

Notable places

A fair called Cranger Kirmes is held in the city's Crange district every first week of August. This is the second largest carnival in Germany with an average of around 4,500,000 visitors. Its origins can be traced back to the 15th century, when farmers started trading horses on Saint Lawrence’s Day. That is why the official opening always takes place on the first Friday in August. The horse market tradition is kept up, by arranging a horse show and horse equipment sales at the same place where horses were traded years ago. Today there are about 500 stalls every year covering 111,000 square metres, meaning that it takes a 5 kilometre walk to see the whole fairground. Among other things you can buy sugared almonds and all kinds of other food, visit beer gardens, win prizes in shooting galleries or tombolas, or enjoy traditional and new rides like roundabouts, ghost trains and all sorts of high-tech delights. One of the main attractions is the 60-metre high big wheel that is the largest movable one in the world.

Notable persons

Famous Hernians or Wanne-Eickelians include

• Jürgen von Manger (known as „Mr. Tegtmeier“, see Tegtmeiers Reisen),
• Kurt Edelhagen,
• Bernd Storck,
• Jürgen Marcus,
• Heinz Rühmann (few years),
• Rudolf Witzig,
• Andrea Jürgens, Dr. Claudia Dollins (Geier),
• Yıldıray Baştürk,
• Jan Zweyer,
• Peavy Wagner, Leonie Saint and Bärbel Beuermann.

Sports

Herne-West is a mockery name of the football club Schalke 04, most commonly used by the fans of Borussia Dortmund.

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany

Herne, Germany is twinned with:

• Hénin-Beaumont, France, since 1954
• Wakefield, England, United Kingdom, since 1956
• Ometepe Island, Nicaragua, since 1988
• Belgorod, Russia, since 1990
• Lutherstadt Eisleben, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, since 1990
• Konin, Poland, since 1991

External links

Media related to Herne at Wikimedia Commons