Oberhausen

City in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

(2020–25) Daniel Schranz^[1] (CDU)Area • Total77.04 km² (29.75 sq mi)Elevation78 m (256 ft)Population • Total210,824 • Density2,700/km² (7,100/sq mi)Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET) • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)Postal codesDialling codes0208Vehicle registrationOBWebsiteCity of Oberhausen (de)

Oberhausen (/ˈoʊbərhaʊzən/,^[3][4][5] German: [ˈoːbɐhaʊzn̩] ^ⓘ) is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen (c. 13 km or 8 mi). The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage.

History

Oberhausen was named for its 1847 railway station which had taken its name from the Oberhausen Castle. The new borough was formed in 1862 following inflow of people for the local coal mines and steel mills. Awarded town rights in 1874, Oberhausen absorbed several neighbouring boroughs including Alstaden, parts of Styrum and Dümpten in 1910. Oberhausen became a city in 1901, and they incorporated the towns of Sterkrade and Osterfeld in 1929. The Ruhrchemie AG synthetic oil plant ("Oberhausen-Holten" or "Sterkrade/Holten")^[6] was a bombing target of the oil campaign of World War II, and the US forces reached the plant by 4 April 1945.

In 1973, Thyssen AG employed 14,000 people in Oberhausen in the steel industry, but ten years later the number had fallen to 6,000.^[7]

In 1954 the city began hosting the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, and the 1982 Deutscher Filmpreis was awarded to a group that wrote the Oberhausen Manifesto.

Demographics

Population development since 1862:

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1862	5,590	—
1871	12,805	+129.1%
1900	42,148	+229.2%
1910	89,900	+113.3%
1919	98,677	+9.8%
1925	105,121	+6.5%
1933	192,345	+83.0%
1939	191,842	−0.3%
1950	202,808	+5.7%
1961	256,773	+26.6%
1970	246,736	−3.9%
1987	220,286	−10.7%
2001	221,619	+0.6%
2011	210,216	−5.1%
2017	211,422	+0.6%
2020	209,566	−0.9%
source:[8][circular reference]

The age breakdown of the population (2013) is:^[9]

<18 years	15.6%
18–64 years	63.3%
>64 years	21.1%

There were 12.5% non-Germans living in Oberhausen, as of 2014.^[10]

The unemployment rate is 10.4% (Jul 2020).^[11]

Migrant communities in Oberhausen as of 31 December 2017:

Turkey	8,560
Syria	2,315
Serbia	2,090
Italy	2,005
Poland	1,840
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1,530
Greece	1,346
Croatia	1,209
North Macedonia	865
Sri Lanka	673

Politics

Mayor

The current Mayor of Oberhausen is Daniel Schranz of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), elected in 2015 and re-elected in 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:

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Daniel Schranz	Christian Democratic Union	30,150	45.5	28,456	62.1
	Thorsten Berg	Social Democratic Party	19,699	29.7	17,381	37.9
	Norbert Emil Axt	Alliance 90/The Greens	7,002	10.6
	Wolfgang Kempkes	Alternative for Germany	4,521	6.8
	Jens Carstensen	The Left	3,095	4.7
	Urban Mülhausen	Open for Citizens	1,378	2.1
	Claudia Wädlich	The Violets	468	0.7
Valid votes			66,313	98.7	45,837	99.2
Invalid votes			859	1.3	368	0.8
Total			67,172	100.0	46,205	100.0
Electorate/voter turnout			159,510	42.1	159,458	29.0
Source: State Returning Officer

City council

The Oberhausen 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:

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	21,471	32.8	0.2	19	1
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	20,754	31.7	7.2	19	4
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	9,450	14.4	5.9	8	3
	Alternative for Germany (AfD)	4,995	7.6	New	4	New
	The Left (Die Linke)	3,367	5.1	2.8	3	2
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	1,988	3.0	0.2	2	±0
	Alliance of Obenhauser Citizens (BOB)	1,913	2.9	5.7	2	3
	Open for Citizens (OfB)	1,153	1.8	New	1	New
	The Violets (Die Violetten)	445	0.7	0.5	0	±0
Valid votes		65,536	98.1
Invalid votes		1,290	1.9
Total		66,826	100.0		58	2
Electorate/voter turnout		159,510	41.9	0.9
Source: State Returning Officer

Sport

Oberhausen is home to Regionalliga West football team Rot-Weiß Oberhausen, who play at the Niederrheinstadion situated on the banks of the Rhine–Herne Canal.

The city had a professional ice hockey team between 1997 and 2007, the Revierlöwen Oberhausen.^[12] The team initially played at the Arena Oberhausen when playing in the top-flight Deutsche Eishockey Liga but later moved to the Emscher-Lippe-Halle in Gelsenkirchen following financial woes.

The Rudolf Weber-Arena has hosted many international indoor sporting events including MMA event UFC 122 in 2010^[13] and the PDC Unibet European Championship of darts in 2020.^[14]

The city has established itself as a popular destination for professional wrestling in Germany, with Essen-based promotion Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) regularly running shows in Oberhausen's Turbinenhalle.^[15] wXw's 16 Carat Gold Tournament is considered one of the most prestigious independent wrestling tournaments in the world^[16] and is held in March every year in Oberhausen - attracting fans from around the world.

Twin towns – sister cities

Oberhausen is twinned with:^[17]

Notable people

Gallery

• 
  Oberhausen Hauptbahnhof
• 
  Gasometer
• 
  Oberhausen Castle as seen from the Gasometer
• 
  Industrial Museum
• 
  Courthouse
• 
  Baumeister-Mill
• 
  Vondern Castle
• 
  Kastell Holten
• 
  Ruhr meadows in Oberhausen-Alstaden
• 
  CentrO shopping mall
• 
  Oberhausen Castle, inner courtyard with the Little castle
• 
  AQUApark near CentrO in 2012
• 
  'Shellakabookie' on Schwartzstraße
• 
  Turbinenhalle Oberhausen
• 
  Waste processing company GMVA in Oberhausen

References

External links

1,000,000+500,000–999,999200,000–499,999100,000–199,999