Gummersbach

Gummersbach
Coat of arms
Gummersbach
Location of Gummersbach within Oberbergischer Kreis district
Coordinates:
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Cologne
District	Oberbergischer Kreis
Government
• Mayor	Frank Helmenstein (CDU)
Area
• Total	95.39 km2 (36.83 sq mi)
Population (2013-12-31)
• Total	49,665
• Density	520/km2 (1,300/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	51643, 51645, 51647
Dialling codes	02261, 02266 (Berghausen), 02354 (Lieberhausen), 02263 (Elbach)
Vehicle registration	GM
Website	www.gummersbach.de

Gummersbach is a town in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, being the district seat of the Oberbergischer Kreis. It is located 50 km east of Cologne.

History

In 1109 Gummersbach was mentioned in official documents for the first time. The document in question concerned the lowering of the episcopal tax for the church in Gummersbach by Archbishop Frederick I. At that time the name of the town was spelled as Gumeresbracht. Gummersbach received town privileges in 1857.

The coat of arms

The arms were granted on July 27, 1892. Gummersbach developed rapidly from a small village to a large city during the early 19th century, due to the metal and textile industry. The right part of the arms thus show a spindle as a symbol for the textile industry. The left part shows the arms of the Counts of the Mark, as the area belonged to the Mark since 1287.

Communities, localities and villages

File:Karte-Gummersbach.png

Map of Gummersbach

Apfelbaum - Becke - Berghausen - Bernberg - Birnbaum - Börnchen - Bracht - Bredenbruch - Brink - Bruch - Brunohl - Berghausen - Deitenbach - Derschlag - Dieringhausen - Drieberhausen - Dümmlinghausen - Elbach - Erbland - Erlenhagen - Flaberg - Frömmersbach - Grünenthal - Gummeroth - Hardt - Hardt-Hanfgarten - Helberg - Herreshagen - Hesselbach - Höfen -Hömel - Hülsenbusch - Hunstig - Kalkuhl - Karlskamp - Koverstein - Lantenbach - Lieberhausen - Liefenroth - Lobscheid - Lützinghausen - Luttersiefen - Mühle - Neuenhaus - Neuenschmiede - Niedergelpe - Niedernhagen - Niederseßmar - Nochen - Oberrengse - Ohmig -Peisel - Piene - Rebbelroth - Recklinghausen - Reininghausen - Remmelsohl - Rodt - Rospe - Schneppsiefen - Schönenberg - Schusterburg - Sonnenberg - Steinenbrück - Straße - Strombach - Unnenberg - Veste - Vollmerhausen - Waldesruh - Wasserfuhr - Windhagen - Wörde - Würden

Main sights

• The Vogteihaus, former residence of the Vogt, built in 1700. It is also referred to as die Burg ("the castle"), and lies in the town center, on the Kaiserstraße.
• The Bunte Kerke ("colourful church") in the village Lieberhausen, a Protestant church with medieval wall paintings.
• The Protestant church of the village Hülsenbusch, rebuilt in the 18th century after a fire, in Baroque style.

Education

• Communal elementary schools in the towncentre and the districts Becke, Bernberg, Derschlag, Dieringhausen, Hülsenbusch, Niederseßmar, Steinenbrück and Windhagen
• Jakob Moreno school, school for learning-disabled children
• Town secondary school Gummersbach-Hepel, http://www.rs-hepel.de/
• Town secondary school Gummersbach-Steinberg
• Town high school - Grotenbach, http://www.gymnasium-grotenbach.de/
• Town high school - Moltkestrasse, http://www.gym-moltke.de/
• Occupational lecture Gummersbach
• Business school Gummersbach
• Advanced technical college of Cologne, campus Gummersbach, http://www.gm.fh-koeln.de/
• Educational centrum upper mountain for technology and economy
• Music school Gummersbach e. V.
• Town comprehensive school, http://gesamtschulegm.de
• Waldorf School Oberberg, http://fws-oberberg.de

Twin towns

Main article: List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany

Gummersbach is twinned with:

• La Roche-sur-Yon, France (since 1968)
• Burg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany (since November 1, 1990)
• Afantou, Rhodes, Greece (since 16 October 2001)
• Lębork, Poland (formerly Lauenburg), amicable relations - no official partnership.

Sport

The men's team VfL Gummersbach was one of the most successful handball teams of Europe in the 1970s and 1980s. It is still in the top league of the German handball competition: the Handball-Bundesliga.

Notable people

• Heiner Brand, former handball player and former coach of the handball national team
• Jürgen Domian, call-in radio show host
• Harald Fischer, doctor killed in Palestine on November 15, 2000
• Wolfgang Karius, conductor, organist, and harpsichordist
• Hella von Sinnen, TV personality
• Jan Sosniok, film actor
• Adele Bloesch-Stöcker, Swiss-German violinist and composer
• Fritz Eschmann, former district administrator and member of the German parliament of SPD
• Jürgen Habermas, philosopher

External links

• Official website (German) (English)
• Marksteine Gummersbacher Geschichte A survey about the most important historical events
• Steinmüllergelände - official website of the city development project Steinmüller terrain
• City of Gummersbach: Coat of Arms and Notes of the History of Gummersbach (German)