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Erkrath
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<h2 id="geography">Geography</h2> <p>Erkrath is situated on the river <a href="/facts/D%C3%BCssel/KAT5b3R5">Düssel</a>, directly east of <a href="/facts/D%C3%BCsseldorf/twteRHCh">Düsseldorf</a> and west of <a href="/facts/Wuppertal/ey5KPmGU">Wuppertal</a>, close to the famous <a href="/facts/Neandertal/19rBo6ze">Neandertal</a>. It has two stations, <a href="/facts/Erkrath_station/b0Gtfv89">Erkrath station</a>, which is served by <a href="/facts/Rhine-Ruhr_S-Bahn/PjXFyNDQ">Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn</a> line <a href="/facts/S8_(Rhine-Ruhr_S-Bahn)/VLPNYRjY">S 8</a>, and <a href="/facts/Erkrath_Nord_station/vE7MTjJr">Erkrath Nord station</a>, which is served by S-Bahn line <a href="/facts/S28_(Rhine-Ruhr_S-Bahn)/M41QjIlL">S 28</a>, both at 20-minute intervals. </p> <h2 id="history">History</h2> <p>In that part of <a href="/facts/Neandertal_(valley)/zGCm5nd3">Neandertal</a>, which is located in Erkrath, in the summer of 1856, quarry workers discovered the <a href="/facts/Fossil/by7NzIA1">fossilised</a> remains of what became known as the <a href="/facts/Neanderthal/19rBo6ze">Neanderthal</a> man or <i><a href="/facts/Homo_neanderthalensis/19rBo6ze">Homo neanderthalensis</a></i> in Feldhof <a href="/facts/Cave/SNfJTJtM">cave</a>. The name Erkrath was first mentioned in 1148. Erkrath received town rights in 1966. In 1975, the municipality of Hochdahl was incorporated into Erkrath. As well its former borough <a href="/facts/D%C3%BCsseldorf-Unterbach/JU7rmcgS">Unterbach</a> was incorporated into <a href="/facts/D%C3%BCsseldorf/twteRHCh">Düsseldorf</a>. Only a part of Unterbach called Unterfeldhaus remained as now a borough of its own with Erkrath. Erkrath today has three local parts: Erkrath, Hochdahl and Unterfeldhaus. </p> <h2 id="mayors">Mayors</h2> <p><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a> </p> <ul><li>Johann Kaiser (1898–1907) (the old town hall was built in 1899)</li> <li>Franz Zahren (1907–1930)</li> <li>Werner Hallauer (1930–1935)</li> <li>Heinrich Rasche (1935–1945), <a href="/facts/NSDAP/qQCramHd">NSDAP</a>, later <a href="/facts/Free_Democratic_Party_(Germany)/4HekM3Vw">FDP</a></li> <li>Wilhelm Broch (1945–1946)</li> <li>August Westerholz (1946), <a href="/facts/Social_Democratic_Party_of_Germany/GyXlKgqJ">SPD</a></li> <li>Hermann Moritz (1946–1949), <a href="/facts/Christian_Democratic_Union_of_Germany/xJxhhtUr">CDU</a></li> <li>Alex Bendt (1949–1954), <a href="/facts/Social_Democratic_Party_of_Germany/GyXlKgqJ">SPD</a></li> <li>Gertrud Thomé (later: Küpper) (1954–1956), <a href="/facts/Christian_Democratic_Union_of_Germany/xJxhhtUr">CDU</a></li> <li>Alex Bendt (1956–1961), <a href="/facts/Social_Democratic_Party_of_Germany/GyXlKgqJ">SPD</a></li> <li>Gertrud Küpper (geb. Thomé) (1961–1963), <a href="/facts/Christian_Democratic_Union_of_Germany/xJxhhtUr">CDU</a></li> <li>Johannes van Oost (1963–1964),</li> <li>Gertrud Küpper (geb. Thomé) (1964–1972), <a href="/facts/Christian_Democratic_Union_of_Germany/xJxhhtUr">CDU</a></li> <li>Hans Weyer (1972–1974), <a href="/facts/Social_Democratic_Party_of_Germany/GyXlKgqJ">SPD</a></li> <li>Aloys Kiefer (1975–1983), <a href="/facts/Christian_Democratic_Union_of_Germany/xJxhhtUr">CDU</a></li> <li>Gloria Ziller (1983–1989), <a href="/facts/Christian_Democratic_Union_of_Germany/xJxhhtUr">CDU</a></li> <li>Rudolf Unger (1989–1999), <a href="/facts/Social_Democratic_Party_of_Germany/GyXlKgqJ">SPD</a></li> <li>Arno Werner (1999–2015), <a href="/facts/Christian_Democratic_Union_of_Germany/xJxhhtUr">CDU</a></li> <li>Christoph Schultz (since 2015), <a href="/facts/Christian_Democratic_Union_of_Germany/xJxhhtUr">CDU</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="gallery">Gallery</h2> <h2 id="twin-towns--sister-cities">Twin towns – sister cities</h2> <p class="note">See also: <a href="/facts/List_of_twin_towns_and_sister_cities_in_Germany/leG5Q1JN">List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany</a></p> <p>Erkrath is <a href="/facts/Sister_city/NVzDyA7v">twinned</a> with:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> </p> <ul><li><a href="/facts/England/U9mE5bGL"></a> <a href="/facts/West_Lancashire/fWIymPXy">West Lancashire</a>, England, United Kingdom</li></ul> <h2 id="notable-people">Notable people</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Klaus_Allofs/q7zA9ksK">Klaus Allofs</a> (born 1956), German footballer, manager of <a href="/facts/VfL_Wolfsburg/9xWbsJKt">VfL Wolfsburg</a>, lived for a long time in Erkrath-Unterfeldhaus</li> <li><a href="/facts/Thomas_Allofs/RNu5nyXu">Thomas Allofs</a> (born 1959), German footballer, lives in Erkrath-Unterfeldhaus and runs a disposal company in Düsseldorf</li> <li><a href="/facts/Heiner_Baltes/3z8HBMIg">Heiner Baltes</a> (born 1949), German footballer</li> <li>Johann Heinrich Bongard (1779–1857), eye and wound surgeon and <a href="/facts/Kingdom_of_Prussia/x796l7vx">royal Prussian</a> <a href="/facts/Hofrat/bhgvlLLc">Hofrat</a>, first author of a publication on the Neandertal</li> <li><a href="/facts/Klaus_H%C3%A4nsch/w4sRv3XI">Klaus Hänsch</a> (born 1938), former President of the <a href="/facts/European_Parliament/H9WLUd1r">European Parliament</a></li> <li>Friedrich Hünermann (1886–1969), Catholic theologian and auxiliary bishop in Aachen</li> <li><a href="/facts/Werner_Koch/SwGoHo3W">Werner Koch</a> (born 1961), German developer of <a href="/facts/Free_Software/IaoVtJXn">Free Software</a> and founder of the <a href="/facts/GNU_Privacy_Guard/EqmGmx7V">GNU Privacy Guard</a> (GnuPG or GPG), lives in Hochdahl</li> <li><a href="/facts/Manfred_Lahnstein/Pu2x7v5T">Manfred Lahnstein</a> (born 1937) politician (SPD), former <a href="/facts/Federal_Ministry_of_Finance_(Germany)/s6SkDmW8">Federal Finance Minister</a> and Member of the Management Board and Supervisory Board of <a href="/facts/Bertelsmann/5vp5nwAJ">Bertelsmann</a> AG</li> <li><a href="/facts/Flemming_Lund/G6cRRnut">Flemming Lund</a> (born 1952), Danish footballer for Fortuna Düsseldorf and Rot-Weiss Essen, lived in Hochdahl</li></ul> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Joachim_Neander/w6hrujjv">Joachim Neander</a> (c. 1650–1680) German pastor, church poet and composer, first author about the Neandertal</li> <li><a href="/facts/Aleksandar_Risti%C4%87/V72IauJ0">Aleksandar Ristić</a> (born 1944), footballer and coach (among others Fortuna Düsseldorf), lived in Erkrath at this time</li> <li><a href="/facts/Karl_Sudhoff/sTRg92pL">Karl Sudhoff</a> (1853–1938), founder of the medical history as a scientific discipline in <a href="/facts/Germany/paluuWBX">Germany</a>, was from 1885 to 1905 doctor of the Hochdahl iron foundry and Armenian physician, later also councilor of Hochdahl-Millrath</li> <li><a href="/facts/Toni_Turek/qK8tPQIv">Toni Turek</a> (1919–1984), national goalkeeper and world champion of Bern 1954, lived during his years with <a href="/facts/Fortuna_D%C3%BCsseldorf/6ksQo0xp">Fortuna Düsseldorf</a> and his world title in Erkrath. 50 years after Bern the Erkrath Stadium was named after him ("Toni-Turek-Stadion", Freiheitsstraße 46).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a></li> <li>Karl Wenders (1841–1905), mayor of Neuss, Member of Reichstag and member of Landtag</li></ul> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> Wikimedia Commons has media related to Erkrath. <ul><li><a href="https://www.erkrath.de/">Official website</a> (in German)</li> <li><a href="https://www.neanderthal.de/">Homepage of the Neanderthal Museum</a> (in German)</li> <li><a href="http://www.lokschuppen-hochdahl.de">Homepage of the Lokschuppen Museum</a> (in German)</li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Stadt Erkrath (Hrsg.), Erika Stubenhöfer: Die Erkrather Bürgermeister 1898–1999 – Stadtgeschichte im Spiegel von Biografien 2004 (ohne ISBN) <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Ergebnis auf der Webseite der Stadt Erkrath: http://wahlen.erkrath-it.de/bw2015.html <a href="http://wahlen.erkrath-it.de/bw2015.html" target="_blank">http://wahlen.erkrath-it.de/bw2015.html</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>"Haushaltsrede 2019 CDU-Fraktionsvorsitzender Wolfgang Jöbges" (PDF). erkrath.de (in German). Erkrath. 2019-02-26. Retrieved 2021-02-02. <a href="https://www.erkrath.de/media/custom/2871_2593_1.PDF?1551960351" target="_blank">https://www.erkrath.de/media/custom/2871_2593_1.PDF?1551960351</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Werner Raupp: Toni Turek – „Fußballgott“. Eine Biographie, Hildesheim: Arete Verlag 2019 (ISBN 978-3-96423-008-9), p. 73-74; 117-119; 171-176. <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>