Wuppertal

Population development

Wuppertal in its present borders was formed in 1929 by merging the industrial cities of Barmen and Elberfeld with the communities Vohwinkel, Ronsdorf, Cronenberg, Langerfeld and Beyenburg. The initial name Barmen-Elberfeld was changed in a 1930 referendum to Wuppertal ("Wupper Valley"). The new city was administered as part of the Prussian Rhine Province.

Uniquely for Germany, it is a "linear city", owing to the steep hillsides along the river Wupper. Its highest hill is the Lichtscheid, which is 351 metres above sea level. The dominant urban centres Elberfeld (historic commercial centre) and Barmen (more industrial) have formed a continuous urbanized area since 1850. During the succeeding decades, "Wupper-Town" became the dominant industrial agglomeration of northwestern Germany. During the 20th century, this conurbation had been surpassed by Cologne, Düsseldorf and the Ruhr area, all with a more favourable topography.

From July 5, 1933, to January 19, 1934, the Kemna concentration camp was established in Wuppertal. It was one of the early Nazi concentration camps, created by the Third Reich to incarcerate their political opponents after the Nazi Party first gained power in 1933. The camp was established in a former factory on the Wupper in the Kemna neighborhood of the Barmen part of Wuppertal. Wuppertal is famous as an important place of resistance in Germany. The Barmen Declaration or the Theological Declaration of Barmen was a document adopted by Christians in Nazi Germany who opposed the Deutsche Christen philosophy. In the opinion of the delegates to the Synod that met in Wuppertal-Barmen in May 1934, the German Christians had corrupted church government by making it subservient to the state and had introduced Nazi ideology into the German Protestant churches that contradicted the Christian gospel.

During World War II, about 40% of buildings in the city were destroyed by Allied bombing, as were many other German cities and industrial centres (see Bombing of Wuppertal in World War II). However, a large number of historic sites have been preserved, such as:

• Ölberg, literally "Oil mountain", Germany's largest original working class district, is protected as a historic monument. The name came about during the 1920s as the district continued using oil lamps while the surrounding bourgeois residential quarters were electrified. In traditional use, the name "Ölberg" refers to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
• Brill is one of Germany's largest districts of Gründerzeit villas, i.e. middle class mansions built by industrial entrepreneurs during the second half of the 19th century.

The US 78th Infantry Division under Major General Edwin P. Parker Jr. captured Wuppertal against scant resistance on April 16, 1945.[5] Wuppertal became a part of the British Zone of Occupation, and subsequently part of the new state of North Rhine-Westphalia in West Germany.

Population development since 1929:

Largest groups of foreign residents by December 31, 2017

Turkey	11,575
Syria	7,415
Italy	6,870
Greece	6,130
Poland	5,870

In total, Wuppertal possesses over 4,500 buildings classified as national monuments, most exemplifying styles such as Neoclassicism, Eclecticism, Historicism, Art Nouveau/Jugendstil and Bauhaus. The American TV station CNN recommends Wuppertal as one of 20 places worldwide to visit in the year 2020 because of the Schwebebahn, the architectural diversity and the Nordbahntrasse, a 22-kilometre (14 mi) cycle route across the city 2020[7]

Main sights include:

• Schwebebahn or floating tram. One of the city's greatest attractions is the globally unique suspended monorail Wuppertaler Schwebebahn, which was established in 1901. The tracks are 8 m (26 ft) above the streets and 12 m (40 ft) above the Wupper.
• Wuppertaler Schwebebahn Kaiserwagen A guided tour of the suspension railway in a special tram.
• Wuppertal Opera (Opernhaus Wuppertal).
• Concerthall Stadthalle , a fine piece of turn-of-the-century architecture with outstanding acoustics. Home of the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra (Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal) (Stadthalle).
• Wuppertal Dance Theatre (Tanztheater Wuppertal), a world-famous centre of modern dance founded by the choreographer Pina Bausch.
• Engels-Haus, 18th century-architecturally typical of the region, it houses a permanent display of materials associated with the co-founder of modern Communism, Friedrich Engels.
• Wuppertal Zoo, a large, nicely landscaped zoo.
• Botanischer Garten Wuppertal, a municipal botanical garden.
• Arboretum Burgholz, an extensive arboretum.
• Von der Heydt Museum is an important art gallery with works from the 17th century to the present time. The first of Picasso's works that ever appeared in public was displayed here.
• Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden, a sculpture park with exhibition hall, founded by sculptor Tony Cragg.

• In the 1974 Wim Wenders movie Alice in the Cities, the main characters visit Wuppertal.
• Part of the action of Le Feu de Wotan (1984) of the comic book Yoko Tsuno series by Roger Leloup take place in Wuppertal and its Schwebebahn.
• The play Die Wupper by Else Lasker-Schüler is set in Elberfeld.
• The 2000 movie The Princess and the Warrior, by Tom Tykwer, was filmed in Wuppertal.
• The 2001 movie No Regrets (Nichts Bereuen), by Benjamin Quabeck, was filmed in Wuppertal.
• In the 2011 movie Pina, several of the dance sequences take place in and around Wuppertal. In several sequences, the elevated tram is used as a setting, as well as a backdrop.

Friedrich Bayer 1863

Friedrich Engels

Else Lasker-Schüler 1875

Federal President Johannes Rau in 2004

• Ian Ashley (born 1947), Formula One driver
• Pina Bausch, a choreographer known for her work with the Wuppertal Dance Theater, was born in Solingen and died in Wuppertal.
• Friedrich Bayer (1825–1880), founder of the Friedrich Bayer paint factory, later Bayer AG.
• Greta Bösel (1908–1947), German concentration camp guard executed for war crimes
• Arno Breker (1900–1991), German sculptor.
• Peter Brötzmann (born 1941), free jazz musician.
• Rudolf Carnap (1891–1970), philosopher of science.
• Udo Dirkschneider singer of heavy-metal band Accept and U.D.O.
• George Dreyfus, bassoonist, composer.
• Hermann Ebbinghaus, psychologist who studied memory.
• Friedrich Engels (1820–1895), philosopher, historian, coauthor of The Communist Manifesto (with Karl Marx).
• Daniel Gerlach (born 1977), journalist
• Christoph Maria Herbst (born 1966), German actor and comedian.
• Carolina Hermann (born 1988), figure skater
• Felix Hoffmann (1868–1946), German scientist born in Ludwigsburg who synthesized aspirin while working at a Bayer facility in Wuppertal.
• Werner Hoyer (born 1951), politician (FDP), President of the European Investment Bank
• Ignaz Kirchner (1946–2018), actor
• Linda Kisabaka (born 1969), middle-distance runner.
• Hans Knappertsbusch (1888–1965), orchestra conductor.
• Peter Kowald (1944–2002), free jazz musician.
• Hans Peter Luhn (1896–1964), computer scientist.
• Else Lasker-Schüler (1869–1945), expressionist poet.
• Harald Leipnitz (1926–2000), actor.
• Kurt Franz (1914–1998), former SS Officer of the Treblinka extermination camp, major perpetrator of genocide during the Holocaust. Born in Düsseldorf, died in Wuppertal.
• Ulrich Leyendecker, composer.
• Reimar Lüst, astrophysicist.
• Hans Moller, painter.
• Steffen Möller, satirist, and actor in Poland.
• Sylkie Monoff, international singer-songwriter.
• Simone Osygus, swimmer.
• Siegfried Palm, cellist, director of Hochschule für Musik Köln, former general manager of Deutsche Oper Berlin.
• Julius Plücker, physicist.
• Kolja Pusch (born 1993), football player
• Johannes Rau (1931–2006), German politician (SPD), former Federal President of Germany.
• Hans Reichel (1949–2011), German composer, recording artist, and inventor of the Daxophone.
• Emil Rittershaus (1834–1897), German poet.
• Alice Schwarzer (born 1942), one of the leaders of the German second wave feminism.
• Annette Seiltgen (born 1964), operatic singer
• Hans Singer, economist.
• Ilse Steppat, actress.
• Rita Süssmuth, former President of the German Parliament.
• Horst Tappert (1923–2008), German actor.
• Helmut Thielicke, theologian.
• Stephen Timoshenko (1878–1972), Russian engineer and academician.
• Bettina Tietjen (born 1960), television presenter.
• Tom Tykwer (born 1965), movie director (Run Lola, Run, The Princess and the Warrior), cofounder of syndicate X-Filme.
• Günter Wand (1912–2002), composer and orchestra conductor.
• Ute Vinzing (born 1936), opera singer (soprano)
• Henrik Freischlader (born 1982), blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer.
• Wolf Hoffmann (born 1959), metal guitarist, initiator of the musical band Accept
• Armin T. Wegner (1886–1978), soldier, medic, human rights activist
• Gyles Brandreth (born 1948), English writer, broadcaster, actor, and former British Conservative Member of Parliament.

Junior Uni Campus, designed 2013 by the Wuppertal Architects Goedeking& Niedworok

Four institutions of higher education are in Wuppertal.

• University of Wuppertal (Bergische Universität Wuppertal)
• FOM University of Applied Sciences
• Cologne University of Music, section Wuppertal
• College of Theology, Wuppertal/Bethel (Theologische Zentrum Wuppertal)

The privately financed Junior Uni is a unique German initiative to educate youth from the age of 4 to 18 in science outside the school program.[8]

In July 2014, three Palestinians living in Germany tried to damage the Wuppertal synagogue with molotov cocktails.[10] A year later, a court found them guilty of attempted arson, finding the crime was not motivated by anti-Semitism, and sentenced the men to 200 hours of community service.[11] The court said the three men wanted to draw "attention to the Gaza conflict" with Israel. In January 2017, a regional appeals court upheld the decision, calling the arson attempt a justified expression of criticism of Israel's policies.[12]

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  Typical steep street in Wuppertal
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  Sculpturepark Waldfrieden - Tony Cragg Points of View (2008)
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  View of Burgholz woods with typical Bergisches farmerhouse
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  Panoramic view of the Ölberg quarter in Wuppertal
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  City Hall Wuppertal-Barmen
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  The theatre - Das Wuppertaler Schauspielhaus
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  The swimming arena "Schwimmoper"
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  Elisenturm
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  Zoo Wuppertal
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  Special tours with the historical 'Kaiserwagen'
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  World's largest 'one day flea market'
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  Botanic garden and view over the city
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  The public park 'Hardt' in the center
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  The newest generation of the Schwebebahn
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  The river Wupper in the woods of Wuppertal
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  View from the Kiesberg woods
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  "Neue Bergische Synagoge"
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  Abbey Wuppertal-Beyenburg

• Polizeipräsidium Wuppertal
• Wefelpütt

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wuppertal.

• Official website (in German)
• (in German and English) Wuppertal, Information | Photos
• Wuppertal travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Official website of the University of Wuppertal