What is Gladbeck?

Gladbeck
Coat of arms	Location
Coat of arms of Gladbeck	Gladbeck (Germany)
Administration
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Münster
District	Recklinghausen
Basic statistics
Population	77.436   Please give "Stand" in YYYY-MM-DD format , e. g. 2005-12-31
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate code	RE
Postal codes	45964–45968
Area codes	02043
Website	www.gladbeck.de

Coordinates: Gladbeck (IPA: [ˈglatbɛk]) is a city and municipality within the district of Recklinghausen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The name ´Gladbeck´ evolves from Low German actually spoken in the area around Gladbeck. ´Glad´ means something like gleamy and ´beck´ means about brook. However the brook Gladbeck flows under the ground nowadays. The districts of Gladbeck are Brauck, Butendorf, Ellinghorst, Mitte, Ost, Rentfort, Rosenhügel, Schultendorf and Zweckel.

Geography

Gladbeck is located in the Ruhr Area and belongs to the so called Emscherzone in which mining started late in relation to other towns of this area. Gladbeck is predominantly surrounded by Bottrop, Gelsenkirchen, Dorsten and by Essen in the south.

History

Gladbeck was first mentioned in 1020 as Gladbeki and was originally a small village of 300 inhabitants, until coal was found in the 1870s. It rapidly grew by immigration from the surrounding Prussian provinces Westphalia and Rhineland and from eastern provinces of Prussia including citizens with Polish as their native language. Gladbeck was heavily damaged in World War II. About 43% of the buildings in the center of Gladbeck were destroyed and thus it was one of the most destroyed towns in the Ruhr Area.

During the 1960s the coal industry went into a substantial crisis, resulting in widespread unemployment. In 1969 Gladbeck's population reached 85.927 inhabitants, which is unique in the history of this town. At the 16th August 1988 Gladbeck received sad awareness when two bank-robbers robbed a bank. They kidnapped several persons and drove through Germany and the Netherlands. Three people were killed in this crime.

Demographics

• Population:
• 1575: 1,500
• 1800: 2,000
• 1900: 11,704
• 1916: 48,302
• 1945: 59,439
• 1965: 84,097
• 2006: 77,436

Culture and sights

Museum

The moated castle Wittringen houses the museum of the town. It contains collections and exhibitions of the history of Gladbeck. The museum shows the development of the region from the origin of the coal over the first inhabitants to the present of the town. Besides all topics are being offered for school classes specially. A major exhibit is a skeleton of a bison found in the district of Brauck.

Religious communities

According to information of the town council 30,906 of 77,436 inhabitants were Catholics and 22,121 inhabitants were Protestants in December 2006. In school pupils are allowed to choose between Catholic and Protestant lessons. Alternatively, pupils can be taught in Philosophy likewise if they want to. Visits to churches are included to the lessons in basic school. However there is a Muslim minority in Gladbeck due to the immigration of the 1960s.

Theater and music

Several events, for example jazz festivals, take place regularly. There is also one library in Gladbeck and theater courses are normally offered in the three grammar schools. From time to time theater plays can be visited in the municipal hall, even well known plays like Emilia Galotti written by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. There is one school of music where one can participate in different courses.

Famous people

• Jean-Henri Riesener (German: Johann Heinrich Riesener, 1734-1806 in Paris), cabinetmaker having worked at the French household in the 18th century. A grammar school, a fountain in front of the townhall as well as a street are dedicated to him. The furniture mainly designed for the French king Louis XVI can be admired in big museums, for example in Los Angeles, London and in Versailles, Paris
• Hermann Nattkämper (1911-2005), won the German cup 1934 and 1935 as a player of the FC Schalke 04

Twin towns

• Enfield, United Kingdom
• Marcq-en-Barœul, France
• Fushun, China
• Wodzisław Śląski, Poland
• Alanya, Turkey
• Schwechat, Austria

•  • [ e] Cities and towns in Recklinghausen (district)
Castrop-Rauxel