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103-609: Richard Hugo Siepmann was born on 24 May 1868, in Hagen , Province of Westphalia , Kingdom of Prussia , the third of six children, to Heinrich-Wilhelm Siepmann (1827-1902), originally hailing from Schwelm , and Louise ( née Siepmann; 1828-1899). His father was the proprietor of the lumber wholesale company H. W. Siepmann which he operated in the second generation. This business would later be taken-over by Siepmann's eldest brother August Siepmann (1861-1894). Siepmann grew-up in an Evangelical family and through his father's business relations,

206-424: A federal state , consists of sixteen states . Berlin , Hamburg and Bremen (with its seaport exclave , Bremerhaven ) are called Stadtstaaten (" city-states "), while the other thirteen states are called Flächenländer ("area states") and include Bavaria , Saxony , and Thuringia , which describe themselves as Freistaaten ("free states"). The Federal Republic of Germany ("West Germany")

309-548: A cache of Nazi artifacts from a house was announced. A history teacher revealed a painted portrait of Adolf Hitler and medals decorated with eagles and swastikas , a newspaper from 1945, a pistol, gas masks , brass knuckles , and stacks of documents. It is also found out that the house once served as the headquarters of the Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt . In April 1945, the US Army liberated

412-567: A length of 52.2 km: Ruhr 11.5 km, Lenne 13.1 km, Volme 21.3 km and Ennepe 6.3 km. The difference in altitude from the lowest point on the Ruhr near Vorhalle (86 metres above sea level) to the highest point east of Bölling ♁51° 18′ N, 7° 34′ E (438 metres above sea level) is 352 metres. Since the early 19th century, the Hagen area has been regarded as a classic discovery region for palaeontology and archaeology There are various rocks and deposits from

515-501: A more independent status, especially in Bavaria. However, it has no legal significance. All sixteen states are represented at the federal level in the Bundesrat (Federal Council), where their voting power depends on the size of their population. Germany is a federal , parliamentary , representative democratic republic . The German political system operates under a framework laid out in

618-540: A mother tongue other than German. At 12.1% (8.4% for Germans and 28.1% for foreigners), the unemployment rate in October 2022 was above the north rhine-westphalian average of 7.7%. The following table shows the largest foreign resident groups in the city of Hagen. Part of the Hagen – Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis I constituency for elections to the Bundestag States of Germany The Federal Republic of Germany , as

721-571: A plan to divide the German Reich into 14 roughly equal-sized states. His proposal was turned down due to opposition of the states and concerns of the government. Article 18 of the constitution enabled a new delimitation of the German territory but set high hurdles: "Three fifth of the votes handed in, and at least the majority of the population are necessary to decide on the alteration of territory". In fact, until 1933 there were only four changes in

824-511: A production plant in Germany at the time. All bridges from Soest to Warstein had to be reinforced for its transport to Siepmann's works. The company had been an important supplier to the bicycle and later to the automobile and railroad industries since the turn of the century. Siepmann was also active as a patron in his workforce and the place. His first public endowment was in 1907, when he contributed 5 Goldmark (approximately $ 3,200 in 2024), to

927-616: A referendum in the Federal Republic as a whole (paragraph 4) was abolished, which meant territorial revision was no longer possible against the will of the population affected by it. East Germany had originally consisted of five states (i.e., Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia). In 1952, these states were abolished and the East was divided into 14 administrative districts called Bezirke . Soviet -controlled East Berlin – despite officially having

1030-427: A revision, the federal government had to include the proposal into its legislation. Then a referendum was required in each territory or part of a territory whose affiliation was to be changed (paragraph 3). The proposal should not take effect if within any of the affected territories a majority rejected the change. In this case, the bill had to be introduced again and after passing had to be confirmed by referendum in

1133-519: A so-called Großstadt in 1928, when the population exceeded the 100,000 mark. In 1964, the population passed the 200,000 mark. The city had its highest population after the municipal reorganisation in 1975 with 231,840 inhabitants. Since December 2005, the city has been permanently below the 200,000 population mark (according to the city administration), while the North Rhine-Westphalia State Office for Data Processing and Statistics

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1236-598: Is 17.1 km in a north-south direction and 15.5 km in a west-east direction. The city boundary of 89.7 km is made up of 3.3 km to Dortmund, 9 km to the district of Unna , 56.6 km to the Ennepe-Ruhr district and 20.8 km to the Märkisch district . The area of the city (160.36 km²) is roughly the size of the Principality of Liechtenstein . 42 per cent of Hagen's municipal area consists of forest. The four rivers in Hagen stretch over

1339-532: Is a city in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany , on the southeastern edge of the Ruhr area , 15 km south of Dortmund , where the rivers Lenne and Volme meet the Ruhr . In 2023, the population was 197,677. The city is home to the FernUniversität Hagen (University of Hagen), the only state-funded distance education university in Germany. The largest extension of Hagen's municipal area

1442-556: Is considered a geotope of global importance for palaeontological research. Finds from the quarry and from the entire region can be seen in the Museum of Prehistory and Early History in Werdringen moated castle. In a side valley of the Lenne near Holthausen, the remains of Stone Age people were discovered in the ‘Blätterhöhle’ cave. With a C14 age of up to 11,300 years, they date from the beginning of

1545-437: Is heavily indebted and in the process of cutting city services in order to balance its budget. The city has capitalized on the export of a wide variety of breads, most notably Hagenschmagenbrot , a traditional dark bread. One of the five branches of South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences is located in the city (also: Fachhochschule Südwestfalen (FH SWF)), which offers various engineering programmes. This institution

1648-439: Is in 41st place behind Kassel and ahead of Hamm . The proportion of under 20-year-olds in Hagen in 2023 was 20.3%, while the proportion of people aged 60 and over was 28.8%. The proportion of the foreign population in Hagen in 2023 was 23.9%. In 2021, 34.1% of the Hagen population had a migration background. In March 2021, 41.7% of children in daycare centres had a migrant background and 43.2% of children in daycare centres had

1751-429: Is referred to as "Land government" (Landesregierung) . Before 1 January 2000, Bavaria had a bicameral parliament, with a popularly elected Landtag , and a Senate made up of representatives of the state's major social and economic groups. The Senate was abolished following a referendum in 1998. The states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg are governed slightly differently from the other states. In each of those cities,

1854-650: Is sometimes propagated by the richer states as a means to avoid or reduce fiscal transfers . In southwestern Germany, territorial revision seemed to be a top priority since the border between the French and American occupation zones was set along the Autobahn Karlsruhe-Stuttgart-Ulm (today the A8 ). Article 118 stated "The division of the territory comprising Baden , Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern into Länder may be revised, without regard to

1957-404: Is very common to use the term Bundesland (federated Land ). Officially this term Bundesland neither appears in the constitution of 1919 nor in the current one. Three Länder call themselves Freistaaten ("free states", an older German term for "republic"): Bavaria (since 1919), Saxony (originally from 1919 and again since 1990), and Thuringia (since 1994). Of the 17 states at the end of

2060-635: The Congress of Vienna (1815), 39 states formed the German Confederation . The Confederation was dissolved after the Austro-Prussian War in which Prussia defeated Austria and forced Austria to remove itself from the affairs of the German states. Territorial boundaries were essentially redrawn as a result of military conflicts and interventions from the outside: from the Napoleonic Wars to

2163-662: The Congress of Vienna , the number of territories decreased from about 300 to 39; in 1866 Prussia annexed the sovereign states of Hanover , Nassau , Hesse-Kassel , and the Free City of Frankfurt . Prussia and the other states in Northern and Central Germany united as a federal state , the North German Federation , on 1 July 1867. Four of the five southern German states (Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt) entered military alliances with Prussia but Austria did not. In

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2266-685: The Deutsche Mark was introduced as legal tender in the Saarland. Paragraph 6 of Article 29 stated that, if a petition was successful, a referendum should be held within three years. Since the deadline passed on 5 May 1958 without anything happening, the Hesse state government filed a constitutional complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court in October 1958. The complaint was dismissed in July 1961 on

2369-666: The Devonian to the Carboniferous in the municipal area. Marine and terrestrial deposits from the Cretaceous , Tertiary and Holocene periods have been preserved in karst caves in the mass limestone . Other fossil sites with animal and plant remains from the Palaeozoic to the Mesozoic have also made important contributions to geoscientific research. In the area around Hagen, for example,

2472-580: The Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, those four states joined the North German Federation which was consequently renamed to German Empire . The parliament and Federal Council decided to give the Prussian king the title of German Emperor (since 1 January 1871). The new German Empire included 25 states (three of them, Hanseatic cities) and the imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine . Within

2575-601: The Kapp Putsch in March 1920, when rightists tried to overthrow the elected government and set up an authoritarian regime, tens of thousands of leftist workers in the Ruhr Valley, Germany's most important industrial area, used the opportunity for a revolutionary uprising from the Left. In the Ruhr uprising of 13 March – 2 April 1920, the 50,000-man Ruhr Red Army took control of

2678-661: The Oder-Neisse line fell under either Polish or Soviet administration but attempts were made at least symbolically not to abandon sovereignty well into the 1960s. The former provinces of Farther Pomerania , East Prussia , Silesia and Posen-West Prussia fell under Polish administration with the Soviet Union taking the area around Königsberg (now Kaliningrad), pending a final peace conference with Germany which eventually never took place. More than 8 million Germans had been expelled from these territories that had formed part of

2781-526: The Prussian Army . The couple had three children; Siepmann died on 4 October 1950 aged 82. Less than a month later his brother Emil Siepmann passed as well aged 87. Siepmann died on October 4, 1950, aged 82. His elder brother died only three weeks later, aged 87. With both patrons of the largest employer of the region a ceremonial march was held with several hundred attendees. Hagen Hagen ( German pronunciation: [ˈhaːɡn̩] )

2884-657: The Regierender Bürgermeister (governing mayor) in Berlin. The parliament for Berlin is called the Abgeordnetenhaus (House of Representatives), while Bremen and Hamburg both have a Bürgerschaft . The parliaments in the remaining 13 states are referred to as Landtag (State Parliament). The city-states of Berlin and Hamburg are subdivided into Districts . The City of Bremen consists of two urban districts : Bremen and Bremerhaven , which are not contiguous. In

2987-528: The Saarland  – which later received a special status – in the French zone; Mecklenburg(-Vorpommern) , Brandenburg , Saxony , Saxony-Anhalt , and Thuringia in the Soviet zone . No single state comprised more than 30% of either population or territory; this was intended to prevent any one state from being as dominant within Germany as Prussia had been in the past. Initially, only seven of

3090-553: The Weimar Republic , six still exist (though partly with different borders): The other 11 states of the Weimar Republic either merged into one another or were separated into smaller entities: Some territories bordering other states were annexed to the bordering state. Also, Prussia had exclaves that were surrounded by other states. These became part of their surrounding states. All states, except Bavaria , now have territory of

3193-582: The West German constitution thus applied to the entire German people . Article 23, which had allowed "any other parts of Germany" to join, was rephrased. It had been used in 1957 to reintegrate the Saar Protectorate as the Saarland into the Federal Republic, and this was used as a model for German reunification in 1990. The amended article now defines the participation of the Federal Council and

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3296-530: The city museum and Werdringen castle. In the Blätterhöhle cave in Hagen, the oldest fossils of modern people in Westphalia and the Ruhr were found. Some date to the early Mesolithic , 10,700 years B.C.E. It seems that the descendants of Mesolithic people in this area maintained a foraging lifestyle for more than 2000 years after the arrival of farming societies. Quarters/localities of Hagen: Hagen became

3399-544: The 16 German states in matters concerning the European Union . Article 29 was again modified and provided an option for the states to "revise the division of their existing territory or parts of their territory by agreement without regard to the provisions of paragraphs (2) through (7)". Article 118a was introduced into the Basic Law and provided the possibility for Berlin and Brandenburg to merge "without regard to

3502-537: The 17th and 18th centuries, textile and steel industries, as well as paper production were developed here. In the early 21st century, Hagen is the home of the Suedwestfaelische Industrie- und Handelskammer, as well as Sparkasse Hagen , the local public savings bank . The bank's former headquarters, the Sparkasse Hagen Tower , was a regional landmark until its demolition in 2004. The city

3605-528: The 1949 constitutional document known as the Grundgesetz (Basic Law). By calling the document the Grundgesetz , rather than Verfassung (constitution), the authors expressed the intention that it would be replaced by a true constitution once Germany was reunited as one state. Amendments to the Grundgesetz generally require a two-thirds majority of both chambers of the parliament; the fundamental principles of

3708-560: The American states and regional governments in other federations without serious calls for territorial changes" in those other countries. Arthur B. Gunlicks summarizes the main arguments for boundary reform in Germany: "the German system of dual federalism requires strong Länder that have the administrative and fiscal capacity to implement legislation and pay for it from own source revenues. Too many Länder also make coordination among them and with

3811-480: The Basic Law as a binding order. An expert commission was established, named after its chairman, the former Secretary of State Professor Werner Ernst. After two years of work, the experts delivered their report in 1973. It provided an alternative proposal for the two regions: the north and center-southwest. In the north, either a single new state consisting of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Bremen and Lower Saxony should be created (solution A) or two new states, one in

3914-583: The Federal Minister of the Interior by reference to the referendum of 1951. However, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany ruled that the rejection was unlawful: the population of Baden had the right to a new referendum because the one of 1951 had taken place under different rules from the ones provided for by article 29. In particular, the outcome of the 1951 referendum did not reflect

4017-399: The Federal Republic as a whole (paragraph 4). The reorganization should be completed within three years after the Basic Law had come into force (paragraph 6). Article 29 states that "the division of the federal territory into Länder may be revised to ensure that each Land be of a size and capacity to perform its functions effectively". In their letter to Konrad Adenauer ,

4120-604: The Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. This was in contrast to the post-war development in Austria , where the national Bund ("federation") was constituted first, and then the individual states were carved out as units of that federal nation. The German use of the term Länder ("lands") dates back to the Weimar Constitution of 1919. Previously, the states of the German Empire had been called Staaten ("states"). Today, it

4223-536: The Federal Territory must be revised (paragraph 1). Moreover, in territories or parts of territories whose affiliation with a Land had changed after 8 May 1945 without a referendum, people were allowed to petition for a revision of the current status within a year after the promulgation of the Basic Law (paragraph 2). If at least one tenth of those entitled to vote in Bundestag elections were in favour of

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4326-532: The French-occupied Saar Protectorate was returned and formed into the Saarland , the Federal Republic consisted of ten states, which are referred to as the " Old States " today. West Berlin was under the sovereignty of the Western Allies and neither a Western German state nor part of one. However, it was in many ways integrated with West Germany under a special status. A new delimitation of

4429-578: The German-speaking lands for centuries and which mostly did not have sizable Polish minorities before 1945. However, no attempts were made to establish new states in these territories, as they lay outside the jurisdiction of West Germany at that time. In 1948, the military governors of the three Western Allies handed over the so-called Frankfurt Documents to the minister-presidents in the Western occupation zones. Among other things, they recommended revising

4532-631: The Mesolithic period. This makes them the oldest evidence to date of anatomically modern humans in the post-glacial period on the European continent. The Hagen region first appears in historical records in the Lorsch Annals ( Latin : Annales Laureshamenses ): In 775, Charlemagne 's troops conquered the Saxon Hohensyburg (then called Sigiburg ) castle located near the city limits of Dortmund above

4635-655: The Nazi regime via the Gleichschaltung process, as the states administratively were largely superseded by the Nazi Gau system . Three changes are of particular note: on 1 January 1934, Mecklenburg-Schwerin was united with neighbouring Mecklenburg-Strelitz ; and, by the Greater Hamburg Act ( Groß-Hamburg-Gesetz ) of 1937, the territory of the city-state was extended, while Lübeck lost its independence and became part of

4738-676: The Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein . During the Allied occupation of Germany after World War II , internal borders were redrawn by the Allied military governments. New states were established in all four zones of occupation: Bremen , Hesse , Württemberg-Baden , and Bavaria in the American zone ; Hamburg , Schleswig-Holstein , Lower Saxony , and North Rhine-Westphalia in the British zone ; Rhineland-Palatinate , Baden , Württemberg-Hohenzollern and

4841-705: The Ruhr-Lenne estuary. Hagen itself was first mentioned around the year 1200, and is presumed to have been the name of a farm at the confluence of the Volme and the Ennepe rivers. After the conquest of Burg Volmarstein  [ de ] in 1324, Hagen passed to the County of Mark . After the Treaty of Xanten in 1614, it was granted to the Margraviate of Brandenburg , which became part of

4944-401: The Saarland (solution C), the district of Germersheim would then become part of Baden-Württemberg. The other alternative was that the Palatinate (including the region of Worms ) could be merged with the Saarland and Baden-Württemberg, and the rest of Rhineland-Palatinate would then merge with Hesse (solution D). Both alternatives could be combined (AC, BC, AD, BD). At the same time,

5047-414: The Western Allies, viewed itself as part of the Federal Republic and was largely integrated and considered a de facto state. In 1952, following a referendum , Baden, Württemberg-Baden, and Württemberg-Hohenzollern merged into Baden-Württemberg . In 1957, the Saar Protectorate joined the Federal Republic as the state of Saarland . The next change occurred with German reunification in 1990, in which

5150-402: The affected states, the proposals were shelved. Public interest was limited or nonexistent. The referendum in Baden was held on 7 June 1970. 81.9% of voters decided for Baden to remain part of Baden-Württemberg, only 18.1% opted for the reconstitution of the old state of Baden . The referendums in Lower Saxony and Rhineland-Palatinate were held on 19 January 1975 (the percentages given are

5253-452: The bones of land dinosaurs and early mammals as well as plant remains from the Lower Cretaceous period were found. The former Hagen-Vorhalle brickworks quarry is considered an important site for the discovery of fossilised insects and other fossils, including early large dragonflies with wingspans of 40 cm, extinct primordial web-footed butterflies and giant centipedes and millipedes from the Upper Carboniferous period. The Hagen-Vorhalle quarry

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5356-407: The boundaries of the West German states in a way that none of them should be too large or too small in comparison with the others. As the premiers did not come to an agreement on this question, the Parliamentary Council was supposed to address this issue. Its provisions are reflected in Article 29 of the Basic Law . There was a binding provision for a new delimitation of the federal territory:

5459-458: The city centre was opened in the 1970s. In the early 1980s, Hagen made a name for itself as the ‘Liverpool of New German Wave (Neue Deutsche Welle) ’. Many well-known musicians and bands of this musical genre (including Nena , Extrabreit and the sisters Annette and Inga Humpe ) have their roots in Hagen. Economically, Hagen came under renewed pressure in the 1990s due to increasing globalisation. A further wave of deindustrialisation began in

5562-406: The city, which was later part of the British occupation zone . In August 1948, Hagen was included in the new state of North Rhine-Westphalia and soon became part of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, also known as West Germany ), founded in 1949. In the 1950s and 1960s, Hagen experienced another stormy growth and mainly elted into the flatter, northern plain. At the beginning of the 1970s,

5665-454: The commission developed criteria for classifying the terms of Article 29 Paragraph 1. The capacity to perform functions effectively was considered most important, whereas regional, historical, and cultural ties were considered as hardly verifiable. To fulfill administrative duties adequately, a population of at least five million per state was considered as necessary. After a relatively brief discussion and mostly negative responses from

5768-468: The configuration of the German states: the 7  Thuringian states were merged in 1920, whereby Coburg opted for Bavaria , Pyrmont joined Prussia in 1922, and Waldeck did so in 1929. Any later plans to break up the dominating Prussia into smaller states failed because political circumstances were not favourable to state reforms. After the Nazi Party seized power in January 1933, the Länder were gradually abolished and reduced to provinces under

5871-419: The consent of the federal government (Article 32 of the Basic Law). Typical treaties relate to cultural relationships and economic affairs. Some states call themselves a " free state " ( Freistaat ). It is merely a historic synonym for "republic" and was a description used by most German states after the abolishment of monarchy after World War I . Today, Freistaat is associated emotionally with

5974-401: The constituent states have certain limited powers in this area: in matters that affect them directly, the states defend their interests at the federal level through the Bundesrat ("Federal Council"), and in areas where they have the legislative authority they have limited powers to conclude international treaties "with the consent of the federal government". It was the states that formed

6077-416: The constitution, as expressed in the articles guaranteeing human dignity, the separation of powers, the federal structure, and the rule of law are valid in perpetuity. Despite the original intention, the Grundgesetz remained in effect after the German reunification in 1990, with only minor amendments. The federal constitution stipulates that the structure of each Federated State's government must "conform to

6180-432: The constitution. An appeal against the decision was rejected as inadmissible by the Federal Constitutional Court. On 24 August 1976, the binding provision for a new delimitation of the federal territory was altered into a mere discretionary one. Paragraph 1 of Article 29 was rephrased, with the provision that any state had to be "of a size and capacity to perform its functions effectively" put first. The option for

6283-410: The construction of the new town hall on the riverside. In mid-July 2021, Hagen was affected by a flood disaster caused by heavy rainfall. In particular, damage was caused in the Volme valley and Hohenlimburg. Owing to the extensive use of water power along the rivers Ruhr, Lenne, Volme and Ennepe, metal processing played an important role in the region of Hagen in and even before the 15th century. In

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6386-431: The construction the Equestrian Monument in Windhoek (then German South West Africa ). In 1921, the Siepmann brothers donated 250,000 marks (approximately $ 1 million in 2024) for the construction of the Warburg children's home , an orphanage, on the North German island of Norderney . Siepmann held numerous honorary posts and was on the Board of Directors for the Warstein Saving's Union (Sparkasse). Since 1935, Siepmann

6489-458: The decline of heavy industry in Hagen began in the wake of the steel crisis . Hasper Hütte was completely shut down between 1972 and 1982, Gussstahlwerke Wittmann went bankrupt and two of the three plants of Stahlwerke Südwestfalen were closed. Further job losses affected the food industry with the breweries Bettermann and Andreas, the confectionery manufacturers Villosa and Grothe and the production plant of Zwieback Brandt . The pedestrian zone in

6592-416: The empire, 65% of the territory and 62% of the population belonged to the state of Prussia. After the territorial losses of the Treaty of Versailles , the remaining states continued as republics of a new German federation. The debate on a new delimitation of the German territory started in 1919 as part of discussions about the new constitution. Hugo Preuss , the father of the Weimar Constitution , drafted

6695-404: The executive branch consists of a Senate of approximately eight, selected by the state's parliament; the senators carry out duties equivalent to those of the ministers in the larger states. The equivalent of the minister-president is the Senatspräsident (president of the senate), also commonly referred to as Bürgermeister (Mayor) in Bremen, the Erster Bürgermeister (first mayor) in Hamburg, and

6798-402: The federal system: the legislatures are popularly elected for four or five years (depending on the state), and the minister-president is then chosen by a majority vote among the Landtag ' s members. The minister-president is typically the head of the biggest party of a coalition. The minister-president appoints a cabinet to run the state's agencies and to carry out the executive duties of

6901-487: The federal territory has been discussed since the Federal Republic was founded in 1949 and even before. Committees and expert commissions advocated a reduction of the number of states; academics ( Werner Rutz , Meinhard Miegel , Adrian Ottnad , etc.) and politicians ( Walter Döring , Hans Apel , and others) made proposals – some of them far-reaching – for redrawing boundaries but hardly anything came of these public discussions. Territorial reform

7004-412: The federation more complicated." But several proposals have failed so far; territorial reform remains a controversial topic in German politics and public perception. Federalism has a long tradition in German history. The Holy Roman Empire comprised many petty states , numbering more than 300 in around 1796. The number of territories was greatly reduced during the Napoleonic Wars (1796–1814). After

7107-412: The federation. The states retain residual or exclusive legislative authority for all other areas, including culture, which in Germany includes not only topics such as the financial promotion of arts and sciences, but also most forms of education and job training (see Education in Germany ). Though international relations including international treaties are primarily the responsibility of the federal level,

7210-446: The five " New States " on 3 October 1990. The former district of East Berlin joined West Berlin to form the new state of Berlin. Henceforth, the 10 "old states" plus 5 "new states" plus the new state Berlin add up to current 16 states of Germany. After reunification, the constitution was amended to state that the citizens of the 16 states had successfully achieved the unity of Germany in free self-determination and that

7313-431: The former Hüsing & Co plant who went into bankruptcy and continued to produce under new management and name. Siepmann, popularly known as Schippen-Hugo , was active in the distribution of the steel products, which were mainly used in the agricultural sector. Over time, the company was completely converted to drop forging. In 1916 a new hammer was built with an 85 ton anvil. That was the heaviest hammer that existed in

7416-409: The former Free State of Prussia. Other former Prussian territories lying east of the rivers Neisse and Oder were lost in 1945 and are now part of Poland or Russia . They are Silesia (Upper and Lower), Pomerania, West Prussia-Posen, and East Prussia respectively. Possible boundary changes between states continue to be debated in Germany, in contrast to how there are "significant differences among

7519-576: The grounds that Article 29 had made the new delimitation of the federal territory an exclusively federal matter. At the same time, the Court reaffirmed the requirement for a territorial revision as a binding order to the relevant constitutional bodies. The grand coalition decided to settle the 1956 petitions by setting binding deadlines for the required referendums. The referendums in Lower Saxony and Rhineland-Palatinate were to be held by 31 March 1975, and

7622-548: The industrial district. Government and paramilitary forces were ordered against the workers, suppressing the uprising, and killing an estimated 1,000 workers. A memorial to the uprising was installed in Hagen. By 1928, Hagen had developed into a city of more than 100,000 inhabitants. During World War II , Hagen was bombed repeatedly, by both the Royal Air Force and the United States Eighth Air Force . On

7725-565: The leading town in South Westphalia in terms of population and economic power. During the German Empire from 1871 to 1914, Hagen experienced a period of prosperity. Through urbanisation and industrialisation of the 19th century, the city developed into the main centre for the entire region south of the river Ruhr . In 1887, Hagen was administratively separated from the district of Hagen and became an independent city ( urban district ). In

7828-501: The necessary majority vote in Brandenburg, while a majority of Berliners voted in favour. Federalism is one of the entrenched constitutional principles of Germany . According to the German constitution , some topics, such as foreign affairs and defence, are the exclusive responsibility of the federation (i.e., the federal level), while others fall under the shared authority of the states and

7931-592: The new Prussian province of Westphalia after the Congress of Vienna in 1815. From 1817, Hagen was the seat of an office and a district within the administrative district of Arnsberg. In 1837, the revised town regulations and a magistrate were introduced. In the course of industrialisation, Hagen was connected to the network of the Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahngesellschaft in 1848 and developed into an important railway junction. By 1865, Hagen had overtaken Iserlohn, which had previously been

8034-550: The newly founded Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. A major fire destroyed a significant part of Hagen's buildings in 1724. With the help of the Prussian state administration, Hagen was rebuilt within a short time. Hagen was granted town privileges on 3 September 1746. After the defeat of Prussia in the Fourth Coalition , Hagen was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Berg founded by France from 1807 to 1813. It became part of

8137-497: The night of 1 October 1943, 243 Lancasters and 8 Mosquitoes from the Royal Air Force 's Bomber Command attacked the city. According to the Bomber Command Campaign Diary, "This raid was a complete success achieved on a completely cloud-covered target of small size, with only a moderate bomber effort and at trifling cost." Hagen sustained severe damage from that raid, and hundreds of civilians were killed . After

8240-535: The northeast consisting of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and the northern part of Lower Saxony (from Cuxhaven to Lüchow-Dannenberg ) and one in the northwest consisting of Bremen and the rest of Lower Saxony (solution B). In the center and southwest, one alternative was that Rhineland-Palatinate (with the exception of the Germersheim district but including the Rhine-Neckar region) should be merged with Hesse and

8343-421: The percentages of those eligible who voted in favour): The votes in Lower Saxony were successful as both proposals were supported by more than 25% of eligible voters. The Bundestag, however, decided that both Oldenburg and Schaumburg-Lippe should remain part of Lower Saxony. The justification was that a reconstitution of the two former states would contradict the objectives of paragraph 1 of article 29 of

8446-407: The pre-War states remained: Baden (in part), Bavaria (reduced in size), Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse (enlarged), Saxony, and Thuringia. The states with hyphenated names, such as Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony-Anhalt, owed their existence to the occupation powers and were created out of mergers of former Prussian provinces and smaller states. Former German territory that lay east of

8549-473: The principles of republican, democratic, and social government, based on the rule of law" (Article 28). Most of the states are governed by a cabinet led by a Ministerpräsident (minister-president), together with a unicameral legislative body known as the Landtag (State Diet ). The states are parliamentary republics and the relationship between their legislative and executive branches mirrors that of

8652-466: The provisions of Article 29, by agreement between the Länder concerned. If no agreement is reached, the revision shall be effected by a federal law, which shall provide for an advisory referendum." Since no agreement was reached, a referendum was held on 9 December 1951 in four different voting districts, three of which approved the merger ( South Baden refused but was overruled, as the result of total votes

8755-467: The provisions of Article 29, by agreement between the two Länder with the participation of their inhabitants who are entitled to vote". A state treaty between Berlin and Brandenburg was approved in both parliaments with the necessary two-thirds majority, but in a popular referendum of 5 May 1996, about 63% voted against the merger. The German states can conclude treaties with foreign countries in matters within their own sphere of competence and with

8858-623: The public support of Federal German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer for the plan. The rejection of the plan by the Saarlanders was interpreted as support for the Saar to join the Federal Republic of Germany. On 27 October 1956, the Saar Treaty established that Saarland should be allowed to join Germany, as provided by the German constitution. Saarland became part of Germany effective 1 January 1957. The Franco-Saarlander currency union ended on 6 July 1959, when

8961-527: The referendum in Baden was to be held by 30 June 1970. The threshold for a successful vote was set at one-quarter of those entitled to vote in Bundestag elections. Paragraph 4 stated that the vote should be disregarded if it contradicted the objectives of paragraph 1. In his investiture address, given on 28 October 1969 in Bonn, Chancellor Willy Brandt proposed that the government would consider Article 29 of

9064-538: The same status as West Berlin – was declared East Germany's capital and its 15th district. The debate on territorial revision restarted shortly before German reunification . While academics (Rutz and others) and politicians (Gobrecht) suggested introducing only two, three, or four states in East Germany, legislation reconstituted the East German states in an arrangement similar to that which they had had before 1952, as

9167-458: The state's government. Like in other parliamentary systems, the legislature can dismiss or replace the minister-president after a successful no-confidence vote . The governments in Berlin , Bremen and Hamburg are referred to as " senates ". In the free states of Bavaria and Saxony , the government is referred to as "state government" (Staatsregierung) ; and in the other states, the government

9270-459: The steel sector, while Hagen's population declined at the same time. Hagen's debt level was €1.383 billion on 31 December 2012. Since the 2000s, major new construction and renovation projects have been realised that have significantly shaped Hagen's cityscape today. Examples include the Volme- and Rathaus-Galerie, the redesign of Friedrich-Ebert-Platz and the station forecourt (Berliner Platz) as well as

9373-481: The territory of the former German Democratic Republic ( East Germany ) became part of the Federal Republic, by accession of the re-established eastern states of Brandenburg , Mecklenburg-West Pomerania ( Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ), Saxony ( Sachsen ), Saxony-Anhalt ( Sachsen-Anhalt ), and Thuringia ( Thüringen ), and the reunification of West and East Berlin into a city state. A referendum in 1996 to merge Berlin with surrounding Brandenburg failed to reach

9476-484: The three western military governors approved the Basic Law but suspended Article 29 until such time as a peace treaty should be concluded. Only the special arrangement for the southwest under Article 118 could enter into force. Upon its founding in 1949, West Germany thus had eleven states. These were reduced to nine in 1952 when three south-western states ( South Baden , Württemberg-Hohenzollern , and Württemberg-Baden ) merged to form Baden-Württemberg . From 1957, when

9579-668: The war, the city centre was almost completely destroyed, so that only the surrounding districts still partially reflect the city's Wilhelminian architectural character . The victims of the Second World War and National Socialism in Hagen: more than 2,200 people died in Allied bombing raids between 1940 and 1945. Over 10,000 Hagen citizens died on the various fronts of the Second World War. Dozens of Hagen citizens were murdered in concentration camps and prisons for racial, religious, ideological and political reasons. In August 2021, discovery of

9682-423: The wishes of the majority of Baden's population. The two Palatine petitions (for a reintegration into Bavaria and integration into Baden-Württemberg) failed with 7.6% and 9.3%. Further requests for petitions (Lübeck, Geesthacht, Lindau, Achberg, and 62 Hessian communities) had already been rejected as inadmissible by the Federal Minister of the Interior or were withdrawn as in the case of Lindau. The rejection

9785-537: The years following the turn of the century, the banker and patron Karl Ernst Osthaus brought many later important architects to the city, including Henry van de Velde , Peter Behrens and Walter Gropius . They established Hagen's reputation as a link between Art Nouveau and Modernism ( Hagener Impul ). The centrepiece of this initiative was the Folkwang Museum and the (only partially built) garden city of Hohenhagen ( Gartenstadt Hohenhagen ). In reaction to

9888-529: Was a board member ( supervisory board ), of Maschinenbau-Aktiengesellschaft ( English : Mechanical Engineering Corporation) in Kassel (previously known as Beck & Henkel ). In 1897, Siepmann married Louise Emilie Johanna ( née Lämmerhirt; 1876-1962), daughter of Alfred Lämmerhirt and Emilie Schmiedt. His father in-law hailed from a well-established family of lawyers, judges and politicians in Stolberg (Harz) and

9991-535: Was able to secure a commercial apprenticeship at J.C. Söding & Halbach , a steel manufacturing company, in Hagen . He initially worked there until being deployed by his brother Emil Siepmann to lead the commercial department of Peters & Company in Warstein. In 1892, he was deployed by his brother Emil Siepmann, who took-over the management of Peters & Company in Warstein . Their common brother-in-law bought

10094-430: Was already assuming a population of just 196,934 at that time. The population reached a low point in 2012 with 187,810 people, since then it has been increasing again. In 2021, the balance of inflows and outflows was +592 (-1,112 for Germans and +1,704 for foreigners). On 31 December 2023, the population was 197,677, including 150,505 Germans and 47,172 foreigners. In the ranking of cities in Germany by population, Hagen

10197-585: Was confirmed by the Federal Constitutional Court in the case of Lübeck. In the Paris Agreements of 23 October 1954, France offered to establish an independent "Saarland", under the auspices of the Western European Union (WEU), but on 23 October 1955 in the Saar Statute referendum the Saar electorate rejected this plan by 67.7% to 32.3% (out of a 96.5% turnout: 423,434 against, 201,975 for) despite

10300-666: Was created in 1949 through the unification of the three western zones previously under American, British, and French administration in the aftermath of World War II . Initially, the states of the Federal Republic were Baden (until 1952), Bavaria (in German: Bayern ), Bremen , Hamburg , Hesse ( Hessen ), Lower Saxony ( Niedersachsen ), North Rhine-Westphalia ( Nordrhein-Westfalen ), Rhineland-Palatinate ( Rheinland-Pfalz ), Schleswig-Holstein , Württemberg-Baden (until 1952), and Württemberg-Hohenzollern (until 1952). West Berlin , while still under occupation by

10403-411: Was decisive). On 25 April 1952, the three former states merged to form Baden-Württemberg. With the Paris Agreements in 1954, West Germany regained (limited) sovereignty. This triggered the start of the one-year period as set in paragraph 2 of Article 29. As a consequence, eight petitions for referendums were launched, six of which were successful: The last petition was originally rejected by

10506-533: Was founded in the city in 1824. Hagen is home to the LWL-Freilichtmuseum Hagen , or Hagen Westphalian Open-Air Museum , a collection of historic industrial facilities. Trades such as printing, brewing, smithing, milling, and many others are represented, not only with static displays, but as living, working operations that visitors may in some cases participate in. It is located near the Hagen community of Eilpe . The Historisches Centrum Hagen includes

10609-470: Was primarily known for his industrial activities in the Ruhr valley during the late 1800s. He founded the machinery factory Lämmerhirt & Brandenburg in 1872, which would ultimately turn into Westphalia Dinnendahl Gröppel (WEDAG). She was partially raised in Winterthur, Switzerland, while her father held a management position at Sulzer Brothers . Her brother Fritz Lämmerhirt had been a senior officer in

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