Witten

Town hall in Witten

Coat of arms

Witten

Location of Witten within Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis district

Coordinates: 51°26′0″N 7°20′0″E / 51.43333°N 7.33333°ECoordinates: 51°26′0″N 7°20′0″E / 51.43333°N 7.33333°E

Country

Germany

State

North Rhine-Westphalia

Government

• Mayor

Sonja Leidemann (no party affiliation)

Area

• Total

72.40 km² (27.95 sq mi)

Elevation

104 m (341 ft)

Population (2015-12-31)

• Total

96,700

• Density

1,300/km² (3,500/sq mi)

Time zone

CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)

Postal codes

58401 - 58456

Dialling codes

02302
02324 (Buchholz)

Vehicle registration

EN, WIT

Website

witten.de

Witten is a university city in the Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis (district) in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the home of the Witten/Herdecke University, the first private university in Germany.

Witten is situated in the Ruhr valley, in the southern Ruhr area.

Witten is divided into 8 boroughs and every of these boroughs is divided into city-districts. Every district has its own district-number:

When Witten was first mentioned in historical documents, it was part of the Archdiocese of Cologne. Since 1821 it has been a part of the Diocese of Paderborn; however, the borough of Herbede belongs to the Diocese of Essen. In the 19th century the Ruhr area drew up to 500,000 Poles from East Prussia and Silesia, most of whom were Catholic. Hundreds settled in Witten, leading to a growth in the Catholic community. Today, between 30 and 40 per cent of the population is Catholic.

In the 16th century Witten was influenced by Martin Luther's Reformation, and until the late 19th century, Witten was a predominantly Protestant town with just a few Catholic inhabitants. Between 30 and 40 per cent of the population is Protestant today.

There are four mosques in Witten, Annen and Herbede today, founded by immigrants from Turkey who arrived in the 1970s and 1980s. Between five and eight per cent of the population is Muslim.

In 1815 the first Jewish community was mentioned in Witten. In 1938 the synagogue was destroyed during the so-called "Reichspogromnacht" (also known as Kristallnacht) of 9–10 November 1938. Today, only about a dozen Jews live in Witten. They belong to the Jewish community in Dortmund.

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Wikipedia