History

Recent History

Dortmund's restructure from coal and steel city to progressive regional hub has been swift and effective. Initiatives such as the Dortmund Project and Dortmund Technology Park have created new enterprises. Football has always been the local passion but Dortmund was placed prominently on the international football map when it hosted several matches in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, including a semi-final.

Already one of Germany's busiest junctions, Dortmund is in the process of building a new multi-million-euro train station, complete with shopping malls, restaurants and entertainment venues.

Among the many cultural events and festivals held in Dortmund, is one of Germany's biggest Christmas markets - the town's 45m Christmas tree is said to be the world's biggest!

Modern Day History

Borussia Dortmund Football Club was founded in 1909 and joined the original Bundesliga (national football league) in 1963.

During the Third Reich a Gestapo prison in Dortmund held as many as 65,000 people. As the largest city in the industrial Ruhr region, Dortmund suffered heavily at the hands of Allied bombing during WWII and many buildings were destroyed. Numerous historical landmarks, including churches, were meticulously rebuilt after the war. A decline in the vital coal and steel industries in the 1980s spelled trouble for Dortmund and other towns in the Ruhr region and high unemployment resulted. In the 90s, Dortmund began to reinvent itself as a service centre and branched into the fields of IT, technology, science research and communications.

Pre 20th Century History

Not much is known of the earliest days of Dortmund, but it was recorded as a Ruhr Valley village named 'Throtmani' in the 9th century. Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) spent time here in the 12th century, rebuilding part of the town, but it was Dortmund's entry into the Hanseatic League in the 13th century that started its rise as a wealthy trading city. It was declared a Free Imperial City (responsible directly to the Emperor) in 1220, a status it retained until 1803.

Incorporated into the Prussian province of Westphalia in 1815, Dortmund began to grow in importance as an industrial centre on the strength of coal and steel mining. By the end of the 19th century, Dortmund was also gaining a reputation for producing something many Germans would consider far more important: beer. At its peak there were six major breweries in Dortmund and the city is still the second-largest beer producer in Germany. In 1899, the Dortmund Port and Dortmund-Ems Canal was opened, creating an important link between the Ruhr region and Emden on the North Sea coast.