Delmenhorst is a district-free town (Kreisfreie Stadt) of nearly 76,000 inhabitants located in Lower Saxony at between Bremen and Oldenburg. The city has a total area of 62.36 square-kilometer and a population density of about 1218,51/km2.

As of 2003 it is ruled by the conservative mayor Carsten Schwettmann. It is best known in the Weser-Ems region for its watertower with adjacent town hall built from 1910 to 1914, the public pool (the Delfina), and its central park (the Graft), in which the Delmenhorst castle was located in medieval times. It has a relatively high unemployment rate.

History

Delmenhorst was first mentioned in a charter in the year 1254, after the count of Oldenburg, Otto I. bought the place near the river Delme in 1234. A castle to protect the newborn settlement was established circa 1247. The following count Otto II. made the castle its residency; Delmenhorst was declared an independet town on 15th of July 1371 under Bremen's law.

After a short period under the governance by the bishop af Bremen from 1421 to 1436 Delmenhorst returned under custody of Oldenburg. Delmenhorst later were infamous for its robber-baronship under the count Gerd. Its reign ended in 1482 thanks to a siege laid to the castle under the leadership of the Münster bishop. Therefore the town now was under Münster authority until finally count Anton I. won back the town as well as the castle in 1547.

When the last heir of Anton, Christian died in 1647, Delmenhorst again fell under Oldenburg custody. For the Oldenburg regent of that time was a relative of the Danish king, Delmenhorst was under danish control now.

In 1767 Delmenhorst was bought by tsarina Katharina II , but was given up to Oldenburg in 1773. 1777 Delmenhorst was declared dukedom of Oldenburg. In 1806 a french and dutch army occupied the territory; Delmenhorst was a part of the French empire under Napoleon from 1811 to 1813.

In the industrial ages Delmenhorst experienced a great economical growth, thanks to Bremen. For Bremen was a different duty-zone, merchants who wanted to export manufactured goods outside of Bremen hab to pay high customs duties. They therefore only exportet the resources and produced their commodities in the surrounding villages. The industries arising were the ""Jute"" - a spinning works and weavery mill in 1871, the ""Delmenhorster Linoleumfabrik"" - a linoleum fabrik in 1882, the ""Norddeutsche Wollkämmerei und Kammgarnspinnerei"" or ""Nordwolle"" - another, bigger spinning works and several others. The number of inhabitants quadrupled in these years.

In 1903 Delmenhorst was declared ""kreisfrei"", meaning it was under its own regentship, not having to obey any other county. In the 1930th world economy crisis the Nordwolle went bankrupt - nevertheless the town went bigger, incorporating several smaller villages around it. On Reichspogromnacht in November 1938 the synagogue was burnt down by the Nazis which came to power in Germany in 1933. After the second world war Delmenhorst was in the British zone of occupation and had to deal with thousands of refugees from Eastern Germany, which now was occupied by the Soviet Union. In 1950, more than 57.000 people lived in Delmenhorst.

Present

Since the 1960th there has been a steady decrease in employment, leaving more than 13% of its inhabitants unemployed and nearly 7% living from social welfare. In the year 2000 Delmenhorst was an outpost of the Hannover based EXPO2000.

External links

• Delmenhorst Homepage (in German)
• webcam providing a view over the market place from the top of the town hall