Bielefeld (IPA2: ˈbiːləfɛlt) is a district-free town in the Regierungsbezirk Detmold in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located at on both the western and eastern slopes of the Teutoburg Forest. With its population of 326,000, it is the biggest city of the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region. The current mayor is Eberhard David.
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Bielefeld (IPA2: ˈbiːləfɛlt) is a district-free town in the Regierungsbezirk Detmold in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located at on both the western and eastern slopes of the Teutoburg Forest. With its population of 326,000, it is the biggest city of the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region. The current mayor is Eberhard David.
The name Bielefeld is derived from the old name bileveld, which means "hilly field". The city is situated below a pass separating the Northern and Southern Teutoburg Forest. The centre of Bielefeld is situated on the eastern side of the Teutoburg Forest, but the modern city incorporates boroughs on the opposite side and on the hilltops.
History
Ravensberg, including Bielefeld, was inherited by Berg in 1346. The territory then passed to the Margraviate of Brandenburg in the 1614 Treaty of Xanten. Bielefeld was administered within Minden-Ravensberg from 1719–1807, after which it was part of the Kingdom of Westphalia. Restored to the Kingdom of Prussia after the Napoleonic Wars, Bielefeld was subsequently administered within the Prussian province of Westphalia.
Bielefeld began its industrial rise in the 1850s, after the new Cologne-Minden railway created a connection to the larger German and European rail network. 1851 saw the construction of the first large mechanised spinning mill in the town by the Bozi brothers, and later years witnessed the construction of additional mills, including the Ravensberg Spinning Mill, built between 1854 and 1857. In addition to these mills, metal works began to open in the 1860s.
Between 1904 and 1930, Bielefeld grew, opening a railway station, a municipal theatre, and, finally, the Rudolf Oetker-Halle concert hall, which was famous for its excellent acoustics . The 1930s, as in much of Germany, saw the dissolution and the banning of democratic political parties, and the town's synagogue was burned in 1938.
During World War II, the Bielefeld railway viaduct was the first target to be attacked with Barnes Wallis' Grand Slam bomb by 617 ("Dambusters") squadron of the R.A.F. 1944 saw heavy bombing, leaving large areas of the town in rubble, while American troops entered the city in April 1945.
Industry
Major industries in Bielefeld currently include food processing, home appliance manufacture, information technology, and various heavy industries.
Bielefeld was the original home to the AG Dürkoppwerke company, which began in 1867 as a humble sewing machine repair company with only two employees . The company developed its own sewing machine and expanded rapidly, moving into the production of bicycles and gas and kerosine engines. In 1892, the year of its 25th anniversary, the company employed 1,665 people. After continued growth and diversification through the early parts of the 20th century, the company switched to war production, building machine guns, grenades, and chassis for tanks This led to the bombing and destruction of the plant at the end of 1944. However, at the close of the war, production began again, with a focus on bicycles, motorcycles and household sewing machines. In 1990, the company merged with several other Bielefeld companies to form Dürkopp Adler AG.
