Iserlohn
Encyclopedia
Märkischer Kreis
The Märkischer Kreis is a district in central North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Unna, Soest, Hochsauerland, Olpe, Oberbergischer Kreis, Ennepe-Ruhr, and the city of Hagen.-History:...
district, in North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It is the largest city by population and area within the district and the Sauerland
Sauerland
The Sauerland is a rural, hilly area spreading across most of the south-eastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, in parts heavily forested and, apart from the major valleys, sparsely inhabited...
region.
Geography
Iserlohn is located at the north end of the SauerlandSauerland
The Sauerland is a rural, hilly area spreading across most of the south-eastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, in parts heavily forested and, apart from the major valleys, sparsely inhabited...
near the Ruhr river.
History
The Pancratius church (also called Bauernkirche) was founded in around 985, but the first written document mentioning lon dates only from 1150. In 1237 the Count of the Mark gave Iserlohn municipal rights. In 1975 the city, which had been an urban districtUrban district
In the England, Wales and Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected Urban District Council , which shared local government responsibilities with a county council....
before, incorporated the surrounding ex-municipalities of Letmathe, Hennen, Sümmern and Kesbern, and became part of the district "Märkischer Kreis
Märkischer Kreis
The Märkischer Kreis is a district in central North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Unna, Soest, Hochsauerland, Olpe, Oberbergischer Kreis, Ennepe-Ruhr, and the city of Hagen.-History:...
". As a larger mid-sized city, Iserlohn, however, still has a special status as compared to most other municipalities in the district. This means that the city takes on tasks more usually performed by the district (e.g. social and youth affairs) so that in some ways it is comparable to an urban district.
As an important industrial city in the Ruhr region, during the post-WWII era starting in 1953 Canadian and British military under NATO were garrisoned here and in surrounding municipalities (Hemer, where a large Canadian Army housing area was located to house Canadian Army personnel and their families, and Deilinghofen where two of the Canadian Army barracks were located (Fort Prince of Wales and Fort McLeod). There were also garrisons stationed at Werl and Soest/Bad Sassendorf.
Within Iserlohn itself the Canadian Army had barracks in former tank barracks and renamed the Barracks Fort Beausejour and Fort Qu'Appelle.
After 1970, following the transfer of Canadian troops to the Black Forest Region, these barracks in Iserlohn and Deilinghofen, as well as the barracks located in Werl and Soest, were either transferred to British, back to the Bundeswehr
Bundeswehr
The Bundeswehr consists of the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities...
, or converted to civilian use. The Canadian housing in Hemer (Private Married Quarters or "PMQs") was converted to civilian housing.
A lot of women from Iserlohn married service personnel and left for Canada in the sixties.
Points of interest
The DechenhöhleDechenhöhle
The Dechen Cave at Iserlohn in Germany is one of the most beautiful and most visited show caves in Germany. It is located in the northern part of the Sauerland at Iserlohn . 360 metres of the 870-metre long cave have been laid out for visitors, beginning at the spot where, in 1868, the cave was...
was discovered in 1868 during the construction of the railway line Hagen
Hagen
Hagen is the 39th-largest city in Germany, located in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the eastern edge of the Ruhr area, 15 km south of Dortmund, where the rivers Lenne, Volme and Ennepe meet the river Ruhr...
-Iserlohn. 360m are accessible for visitors, and lots of stalactite
Stalactite
A stalactite , "to drip", and meaning "that which drips") is a type of speleothem that hangs from the ceiling of limestone caves. It is a type of dripstone...
s make it a spectacular sight.
The Danzturm, located atop the southern hill overlooking the old city, is a landmark and featured on the logo of the local brewery (Iserlohner). The tower features spectacular views of the valley and surrounding hills and is open to the public with a small inn at the base.
Sports
The city is home of the Iserlohn RoostersIserlohn Roosters
The Iserlohn Roosters are a professional ice hockey team based in Iserlohn, North-Rhine-Westphalia. They are members of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga since 2000 and play their home games at the Eissporthalle Iserlohn which is also known as Eissporthalle am Seilersee. Playing nine years in the DEL the...
, a DEL (first-division) ice hockey team. They came into the DEL in 2000 and developed from a low-budget-team to a solid team, which battles every year for a Playoff
Playoff
The playoffs, postseason, or finals of a sports league are a game or series of games played after the regular season by the top competitors, usually but not always with a single-elimination system, to determine the league champion or a similar accolade.In the U.S...
-spot. The club plays its homegames at the Eissporthalle Iserlohn
Eissporthalle Iserlohn
Eissporthalle Iserlohn GEOCACHE is an arena in Iserlohn, Germany. It is primarily used for ice hockey and is the home arena of Iserlohn Roosters. It opened in 1971 and holds 4,999 People- External links :*...
, which holds 4967 spectators. The original club EC Deilinghofen was founded in 1959 and went bankrupt in 1987, the second club ECD Sauerland existed from 1988 to 1994. 1994 the Iserlohner EC was founded whereof the Roosters came to the DEL.
Education
In Iserlohn are 15 elementary schools and 13 secondary schools (4 Gymnasien, 1 Gesamtschule, 3 RealschuleRealschule
The Realschule is a type of secondary school in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia , Denmark , Sweden , Hungary and in the Russian Empire .-History:The Realschule was an outgrowth of the rationalism and empiricism of the seventeenth and...
n, 5 Hauptschule
Hauptschule
A Hauptschule is a secondary school in Germany and Austria, starting after 4 years of elementary schooling, which offers Lower Secondary Education according to the International Standard Classification of Education...
n).
Also two universities of applied sciences are located in the city of Iserlohn. The headquarters plus a major branch of the South Westphalian University of Applied Sciences (also: Fachhochschule Südwestfalen (FH SWF)) offering engineering and informatics programmes are located in the town centre and on the so-called Alexanderhöhe. The Business and Information Technology School
Business and Information Technology School
The Business and Information Technology School is a private state approved university of applied science based in Iserlohn . The BiTS Iserlohn was founded in 2000 and currently approx. 1.000 students are enrolled in 7 undergraduate and 2 postgraduate programs...
(BiTS) is a private state approved business school with a campus near the Seilersee.
Schützenfest
Every year a part of the Iserlohner culture is the Schützenfest at Alexanderhöhe with its Parkhalle and the Friedensfest at Bauernkirche.Coat of arms
In the middle of the coat of arms is Saint Pancras (St. Pancratius), patron of the oldest church in Iserlohn. He is depicted between two towers of the historic city wall. The checked fessFess
In heraldry, a fess or fesse is a charge on a coat of arms that takes the form of a band running horizontally across the centre of the shield. Writers disagree in how much of the shield's surface is to be covered by a fess or other ordinary, ranging from one-fifth to one-third...
below is derived from the arms of the Counts of the Mark.
International relations
Iserlohn is twinned with: AlmeloAlmelo
Almelo is a municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands. The main population centres in the town are Aadorp, Almelo, Mariaparochie and Bornerbroek....
, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
since 1954 Biel/Bienne
Biel/Bienne
Biel/Bienne is a city in the district of the Biel/Bienne administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.It is located on the language boundary and is throughout bilingual. Biel is the German name for the town, Bienne its French counterpart. The town is often referred to in both...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
- since 1959 Hall in Tirol
Hall in Tirol
Hall in Tirol is a town in the Innsbruck-Land district of Tyrol, Austria. Located at an altitude of 574 m, about 5 km east of the state's capital Innsbruck in the Inn valley, it has a population of about 12,700 .-History:...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
- since 1967 Wrexham
Wrexham
Wrexham is a town in Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham County Borough, and the largest town in North Wales, located in the east of the region. It is situated between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley close to the border with Cheshire, England...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
- since 1970 Auchel
Auchel
Auchel is a commune and seat of a canton in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:An ex-mining town, nowadays a light industrial & farming commune, situated southwest of Béthune and southwest of Lille, at the junction of the D183 and the D183E...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
- since 1975 Laventie
Laventie
Laventie is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:A small farming and light industrial town, situated some northeast of Béthune and west of Lille, at the junction of the D166, D173 and D174 roads. Famous for its...
, France - since 1975 Nyíregyháza
Nyíregyháza
- Tourist sights :Nyíregyháza also has several museums and exhibitions, showing the city's rich cultural heritage.* Collection of the International Medallion Art and Small Sculpture Creative Community of Nyíregyháza-Sóstó – periodic exhibitions of works of contemporary artists-Twin towns — Sister...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
since 1989 Novocherkassk
Novocherkassk
Novocherkassk is a city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Tuzlov River and on the Aksay River. Population: 169,039 ; 170,822 ; 178,000 ; 123,000 ; 81,000 ; 52,000 ....
, Rostov Oblast
Rostov Oblast
Rostov Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , located in the Southern Federal District. Rostov Oblast has an area of and a population of making it the sixth most populous federal subject in Russia...
Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
- since 1990 Glauchau
Glauchau
Glauchau is a town in Germany, in Saxony, on the right bank of the Mulde, 7 miles north of Zwickau and 17 miles west of Chemnitz by rail. It is part of the Zwickau district....
, Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
- since 1991 Chorzów
Chorzów
Chorzów is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. Chorzów is one of the central districts of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union - a metropolis with a population of 2 million...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
- since 2004
Literature
- Götz Bettge: Iserlohn-Lexikon. Iserlohn 1987. ISBN 3-922885-37-3
- Ernst Dossmann: Iserlohner Tabaksdosen erzählen. Ein Einblick in die wirtschaftlichen, gesellschaftlichen, politischen und militärischen Verhältnisse und das Aufblühen von Gewerbe, Industrie und Handel im märkisch-westfälischen Wirtschaftsraum während der Regierungszeit Friedrichs des Großen, dargestellt an bekannten Iserlohner Industrieerzeugnissen. 1981. ISBN 3-922885-01-2
- Margret Kirchhoff: Pulsschläge einer Stadt. Die Oberste Stadtkirche Iserlohn - Zeitbilder und Momentaufnahmen. 2003. Eigenverlag Dr. Margret Kirchhoff.
- Fritz Kühn: Liebes altes Iserlohn. (released about 1956). Westfalenverlag Dortmund
- Peter Müller und Günter Stalp: Unsere gute alte Straßenbahn. Eine Reise in die Vergangenheit. Iserlohn 1995. ISBN 3-922885-78-0
- Hans-Herbert Mönnig Verlag Iserlohn (no author mentioned): Iserlohn - unsere lebendige Stadt. Ein Bildband von Iserlohnern für Iserlohner. Iserlohn 1997. ISBN 3-922885-93-4
- Heinz Stoob (†): Westfälischer Städteatlas; Band: I; 9 Teilband (Stadtmappe Iserlohn). Im Auftrage der Historischen Kommission für Westfalen und mit Unterstützung des Landschaftsverbandes Westfalen-Lippe; edited by Heinz Stoob and Wilfried Ehbrecht. Dortmund-Altenbeken, 1975. ISBN 3-89115-336-8