From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Leverkusen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the eastern bank of the Rhine, half way between Cologne and Düsseldorf.
[edit] History
Dating to the 12th century as Wiesdorf, the Leverkusen area was rural until the late 19th century.
- Chemical facility
- In 1860, Wiesdorf was chosen by the apothecary Carl Leverkus for establishing a dye factory. The factory was taken over by the Bayer company in 1891. The company moved its office to Wiesdorf in 1912, turning the town into the centre of German chemical industry. In World War II, the Bayer (Standard Oil/IG Farben) plant[1] was bombed on August 22, 1943,[2] and during the Battle of Berlin (air) on November 19/20 and December 10/11, 1943.
Leverkusen was founded in 1930 by merging Wiesdorf, Schlebusch, Steinbüchel and Rheindorf. In 1975, Opladen (including Lützenkirchen since 1930), Hitdorf and Bergisch Neukirchen joined. The present city is made up of several villages, originally called Wiesdorf, Opladen, Schlebusch, Lützenkirchen, Steinbüchel, Rheindorf and Bergisch-Neukirchen.
[edit] Main sights and places of interest
[edit] Twinned cities
Leverkusen is twinned with several cities across Europe and throughout the rest of the world. These include:
Oulu, Finland, since 1968
Bracknell, United Kingdom, since 1975 (Bracknell Town, part of the Bracknell Forest local authority twinned with Opladen in 1973, Opladen then incorporated with Leverkusen in 1975)
Ljubljana, Slovenia, since 1979
Nazareth-Illit, Israel, since 1980
Chinandega, Nicaragua, since 1986
Schwedt, Germany, since 1989
Racibórz, Poland, since 2002
Villeneuve d'Ascq, France, since 2005
[edit] Notable people
- Jörg Bergmeister, racing driver
- Bärbel Dieckmann, politician
- Heidemarie Ecker-Rosendahl, athlete and olympic medalist
- Danny Ecker, athlete, son of Heidemarie Ecker-Rosendahl
- Hans Kühne, plant manager of IG Farben's (Bayer) plant in Leverkusen during World War II, acquitted of crimes against humanity in the IG Farben Trial [1]
- Dietmar Mögenburg, athlete
- Detlef Schrempf, former NBA basketball player
- Felix Sturm, middleweight boxer
- Wolf Vostell, painter
- Werner Wenning, chairman of the board of Bayer AG
- Steffen Schnoor Caspersen, coach of Bayer Leverkusen anno 2033.
[edit] References
- ^ "Profit Over Life" (html). The Nuremberg Pharma Tribunal. http://www.profit-over-life.org/rolls.php?roll=95&pageID=33&expand=no. Retrieved on tbd.
[edit] Literature
- Blaschke, Stefan (1999): Unternehmen und Gemeinde: Das Bayerwerk im Raum Leverkusen 1891-1914 Cologne: SH-Verlag, ISBN 3-89498-068-0 (German)
- Archive of Leverkusen (2005): Leverkusen. Geschichte einer Stadt am Rhein. Bielefeld: Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, ISBN 3-89534-575-X (German)
- Franz Gruß (1987): Geschichte und Porträt der Stadt Leverkusen. Leverkusen: Verlag Anna Gruß, ISBN 393047803X (German)
