Bremen (/ˈbreɪmən/, also US: /ˈbrɛmən/;[3][4][5] Low German also: Breem or Bräm), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (German: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, IPA: [ˈʃtatɡəˌmaɪndə ˈbʁeːmən] (audio speaker iconlisten)), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (Freie Hansestadt Bremen), a two-city-state consisting of the cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven. With about 570,000 inhabitants, the Hanseatic city is the 11th largest city of Germany and the second largest city in Northern Germany after Hamburg.

Bremen is the largest city on the River Weser, the longest river flowing entirely in Germany, lying some 60 km (37 mi) upstream from its mouth into the North Sea, and is surrounded by the state of Lower Saxony. A commercial and industrial city, Bremen is, together with Oldenburg and Bremerhaven, part of the Bremen/Oldenburg Metropolitan Region, with 2.5 million people. Bremen is contiguous with the Lower Saxon towns of Delmenhorst, Stuhr, Achim, Weyhe, Schwanewede and Lilienthal. There is an exclave of Bremen in Bremerhaven, the "Citybremian Overseas Port Area Bremerhaven" (Stadtbremisches Überseehafengebiet Bremerhaven). Bremen is the fourth largest city in the Low German dialect area after Hamburg, Dortmund and Essen.

Bremen's port, together with the port of Bremerhaven at the mouth of the Weser, is the second largest port in Germany after the Port of Hamburg. The airport of Bremen (Flughafen Bremen "Hans Koschnick") lies in the southern borough of Neustadt-Neuenland and is Germany's 12th busiest airport.

Bremen is a major cultural and economic hub of Northern Germany. The city is home to dozens of historical galleries and museums, ranging from historical sculptures to major art museums, such as the Bremen Overseas Museum (Übersee-Museum Bremen).[6] The Bremen City Hall and the Bremen Roland are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Bremen is well known through the Brothers Grimm's fairy tale "Town Musicians of Bremen" (Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten), and there is a statue dedicated to it in front of the city hall.

Bremen has a reputation as a working-class city.[7] The city is home to many multinational companies and manufacturing centers. Companies headquartered in Bremen include the Hachez chocolate company and Vector Foiltec.[8] Bremen's best known football club is 2.Bundesliga club SV Werder Bremen, who play in the Weser Stadium (Weserstadion) that sits directly on the bank of the Weser.

Contents

1 History

2 Geography

2.1 Hills of Bremen

2.2 Climate

3 Population

4 Politics

4.1 Last state election

4.1.1 State election 2015

4.2 Administrative structure

5 Main sights

5.1 Structures

6 Economy

7 Transport

8 Events

9 Sports

10 Education

11 Miscellanea

12 Notable people

13 Twin towns – sister cities

14 See also

15 References

15.1 Notes

15.2 Bibliography

16 External links

History

Main articles: History of Bremen (city) and Timeline of Bremen

For most of its 1,200 year history, Bremen was an independent city within the confederal jurisdiction of Germany's Holy Roman Empire. Its governing merchants and guilds were at the centre of the Hanseatic League that sought to monopolise the North Sea and Baltic Sea trade. To enlarge and confirm its independence, the city had, until the Reformation, to contend with the temporal power of the Church, and after the Thirty Years War with Sweden, the masters of the surrounding Duchy of Bremen-Verden.

In the late nineteenth century, Bremen was drawn by Prussia into the German Empire. With its new sea anchorage and wharves at Bremerhaven, it was the principal port of embarkation for German and central European emigrants to the Americas, and an entrepôt for Germany's late developing colonial trade. The Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL), founded in Bremen in 1857, became one of the world's leading shipping companies.

In the twentieth century, Bremen, a broadly liberal and social-democratic city, lost its autonomy under the Hitler regime. After World War Two, in which almost two thirds of the city's fabric was destroyed, this was restored. Bremen became one of the founding Länder (or states) of the German Federal Republic.

Geography

View from the Stephanibrücke towards the city centre and cathedral

Bremen lies on both sides of the River Weser, about 60 kilometres (37 miles) upstream of its estuary on the North Sea and its transition to the Outer Weser by Bremerhaven. Opposite Bremen's Altstadt is the point where the "Middle Weser" becomes the "Lower Weser" and, from the area of Bremen's port, the river has been made navigable to ocean-going vessels. The region on the left bank of the Lower Weser, through which the Ochtum flows, is the Weser Marshes, the landscape on its right bank is part of the Elbe-Weser Triangle. The Lesum, and its tributaries, the Wümme and Hamme, the Schönebecker Aue and Blumenthaler Aue, are the downstream tributaries of the Weser.

The city's municipal area is about 38 kilometres (24 miles) long and 16 kilometres (10 miles) wide. In terms of area, Bremen is the thirteenth largest city in Germany; and in terms of population the second largest city in northwest Germany after Hamburg and the eleventh largest in the whole of Germany (see: List of cities in Germany).[contradictory]

Bremen lies about 50 kilometres (31 miles) east of the city of Oldenburg, 110 kilometres (68 miles) southwest of Hamburg, 120 kilometres (75 miles) northwest of Hanover, 100 kilometres (62 miles) north of Minden and 105 kilometres (65 miles) northeast of Osnabrück. Part of Bremerhaven's port territory forms an exclave of the City of Bremen.

Hills of Bremen

The inner city lies on a Weser dune, which reaches a natural height of 10.5 metres (34'6") above sea level at Bremen Cathedral; its highest point, though, is 14.4 metres (47'3") above sea level and lies to the east at the Polizeihaus, Am Wall 196. The highest natural feature in the city of Bremen is 32.5 metres (107') above sea level and lies in Friedehorst Park in the northwestern borough of Burglesum.[9]: 25  As a result, Bremen has the lowest high point of all the German states.[10]

Climate

Bremen has a moderate oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb) due to its proximity to the North Sea coast and temperate maritime air masses that move in with the predominantly westerly winds from the Atlantic Ocean. However, periods in which continental air masses predominate may occur at any time of the year and can lead to heat waves in the summer and prolonged periods of frost in the winter. In general though, extremes are rare in Bremen and temperatures below −15 °C (5.0 °F) and above 35 °C (95.0 °F) occur only once every couple of years. The record high temperature was 37.6 °C (99.7 °F) on 9 August 1992, while the official record low temperature was −23.6 °C (−10.5 °F) on 13 February 1940. On 13 October 2018, Bremen recorded its warmest October day on record with 28.6 °C (83.4 °F).[11] However, the astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers reported to have measured −27,3 °C on 23. January 1823.[12] Being at some distance from the main North Sea, Bremen still has a somewhat wider temperature range than Bremerhaven that is located on the mouth of Weser.

Average temperatures have risen continually over the last decades, leading to a 0.6 °C (1.1 °F) rise in the mean annual temperature between 1961–90 and 1981–2010 reference periods. As in most parts of Germany, the year 2014 has been the warmest year on record averaging 11.1 °C (52.0 °F), making Bremen the second-warmest German state after Berlin in 2014.[13] While Bremen is located in the comparatively cloudy northwestern part of Germany, there has been a significant increase in average sunshine hours over the last decades, especially in the months of April, May, and July, causing the annual mean to rise by 121 hours between the reference periods of 1961-90 and 1991-2020.[14] This trend has continued over the last 10 years (2011-2020), which average 1680 hours of sunshine, almost 200 hours more than in the international reference period of 1961–90.[15] Nevertheless, especially the winters remain extremely gloomy by international standards with December averaging hardly more than one hour of sunshine (out of 7 astronomically possible) per day, a feature that Bremen shares with most of Germany and its neighbouring countries, though.

Precipitation is distributed fairly even around the year with a small peak in summer mainly due to convective precipitation, i.e. showers and thunderstorms. Snowfall and the period of snow cover are variable; whereas in some years, hardly any snow accumulation occurs, there has recently been a series of unusually snowy winters, peaking in the record year 2010 counting 84 days with a snow cover.[16] Nevertheless, snow accumulation of more than 20 centimetres (8 in) remains exceptional, the record being 68 centimetres (26.8 in) of snow on 18 February 1979.

The warmest months in Bremen are June, July, and August, with average high temperatures of 20.2 to 22.6 °C (68.4 to 72.7 °F). The coldest are December, January, and February, with average low temperatures of −1.1 to 0.3 °C (30.0 to 32.5 °F). Typical of its maritime location, autumn tends to remain mild well into October, while spring arrives later than in the southwestern parts of the country.

Climate data for Bremen

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year

Record high °C (°F) 14.6

(58.3) 18.5

(65.3) 23.5

(74.3) 30.2

(86.4) 34.4

(93.9) 34.9

(94.8) 36.8

(98.2) 37.6

(99.7) 33.4

(92.1) 28.6

(83.5) 20.1

(68.2) 16.1

(61.0) 37.6

(99.7)

Average high °C (°F) 3.9

(39.0) 4.8

(40.6) 8.7

(47.7) 12.8

(55.0) 18.0

(64.4) 20.2

(68.4) 22.4

(72.3) 22.6

(72.7) 18.4

(65.1) 13.5

(56.3) 8.0

(46.4) 5.1

(41.2) 13.2

(55.8)

Daily mean °C (°F) 2.2

(36.0) 2.6

(36.7) 5.2

(41.4) 9.4

(48.9) 13.2

(55.8) 16.2

(61.2) 18.4

(65.1) 18.0

(64.4) 14.3

(57.7) 10.0

(50.0) 5.8

(42.4) 3.1

(37.6) 9.9

(49.8)

Average low °C (°F) −1.1

(30.0) −1.1

(30.0) 1.3

(34.3) 3.4

(38.1) 7.4

(45.3) 10.3

(50.5) 12.4

(54.3) 12.1

(53.8) 9.3

(48.7) 5.8

(42.4) 2.3

(36.1) 0.3

(32.5) 5.2

(41.4)

Record low °C (°F) −21.8

(−7.2) −23.6

(−10.5) −18.7

(−1.7) −7.6

(18.3) −3.5

(25.7) 0.5

(32.9) 3.0

(37.4) 3.4

(38.1) −1.2

(29.8) −7.8

(18.0) −14.1

(6.6) −17.5

(0.5) −23.6

(−10.5)

Average rainfall mm (inches) 55.1

(2.17) 35.6

(1.40) 51.2

(2.02) 40.8

(1.61) 54.2

(2.13) 73.4

(2.89) 65.0

(2.56) 61.2

(2.41) 60.1

(2.37) 55.4

(2.18) 57.7

(2.27) 61.6

(2.43) 671.3

(26.43)

Average rainy days (≥ 1.0 mm) 11.3 8.6 11.0 9.0 9.5 11.1 10.8 10.1 10.6 10.5 11.5 12.0 126

Average relative humidity (%) 87 84 80 75 71 73 75 75 81 84 87 88 80

Mean monthly sunshine hours 48 70 122 182 213 205 214 198 151 110 53 40 1,606

Source: DWD; wetterkontor.de;[17][18]

Population

Historical population

Year Pop. ±%

1350 10,000 —    

1650 25,000 +150.0%

1811 36,630 +46.5%

1852 57,055 +55.8%

1864 70,692 +23.9%

1871 82,969 +17.4%

1890 125,684 +51.5%

1900 161,184 +28.2%

1910 247,437 +53.5%

1919 262,767 +6.2%

1925 295,585 +12.5%

1933 324,189 +9.7%

1939 431,800 +33.2%

1945 366,427 −15.1%

1951 463,049 +26.4%

1961 569,862 +23.1%

1971 594,591 +4.3%

1981 553,261 −7.0%

1986 521,976 −5.7%

1991 552,746 +5.9%

2001 540,834 −2.2%

2006 547,934 +1.3%

2011 544,043 −0.7%

2016 565,719 +4.0%

2019 568,352 +0.5%

Bremen's economy boomed in line with the West German Wirtschaftswunder of the 1950s and 60s. This saw the growth, and permanent settlement, of a large migrant worker population, drawn largely from Turkey and southern Europe. A new wave immigration occurred after the turn of new century, following the entry of Poland, Bulgaria and other former East Bloc countries into the European Union, and after 2015 with the settlement of refugees from Syria and other war-torn regions.

By the second decade of the century out of a population (including Bremerhaven) of approximately 680,000, over 115,000 had foreign citizenship,[9][19] and nearly twice that number, almost a third of the total population, could be classified as having non-German origin/ethnicity.[20]

Number of minorities in Bremen by nationality as of 31 December 2020:[21]

Rank Nationality Population (31.12.2020)

1 Turkey 23,315

2 Syria 18,085

3 Poland 9,905

4 Bulgaria 9,240

5 Romania 4,365

6 Afghanistan 3,725

7 Russia 3,705

8 Serbia 3,380

9 Ghana 2,765

10 Portugal 2,580

11 Italy 2,560

12 Iran 2,440

The recent influx has somewhat moderated the tendency toward an accelerated ageing of the population. As it is, more than half the population of the state of Bremen are over 50, and more than a quarter are over 60.[22]

Politics

The Stadtbürgerschaft (municipal assembly) is made up of 68 of the 83 legislators of the state legislature, the Bremische Bürgerschaft who reside in the city of Bremen. The legislature is elected by the citizens of Bremen every four years.

Bremen has a reputation as a left-wing city. The port, shipyards and related industries sustained a large and unionised working class. This translated into support for the Social Democrats, considered Bremen's natural governing party. However, in the 1980s mechanization of the port and closure of the city's leading shipbuilder induced an employment crisis and shook the confidence of the party's traditional voter base. The SPD, which had still polled 51% in 1987, lost its effective majority. The once dominant left-liberal vote split, and coalition government became the norm.[23] The state today is governed by a coalition of the Social Democratic Party, The Greens and The Left.

In November 2019 the right-wing group Phalanx 18 was banned by the city-state of Bremen.[24]

One of the two mayors (Bürgermeister) is elected President of the Senate (Präsident des Senats) and serves as head of the city and the state. The current president is Andreas Bovenschulte.[25]

Last state election

Main article: Bremen state election, 2019

State election 2015

Main article: Bremen state election, 2015

Party Votes % +/– Seats +/–

Social Democratic Party (SPD) 32.9 Decrease5.7 30 Decrease6

Christian Democratic Union (CDU) 22.4 Increase2.0 20 Steady0

Alliance '90/The Greens 15.1 Decrease7.4 14 Decrease7

The Left 9.5 Increase3.9 8 Increase3

Free Democratic Party (FDP) 6.5 Increase4.1 6 Increase6

Alternative for Germany (AfD) 5.5 N/A 4 N/A

Citizens in Rage (BIW) 3.2 Decrease0.5 1 Steady0

The Party 1.9 N/A 0 N/A

Pirate Party Germany (PIRATEN) 1.5 Decrease0.4 0 Steady0

Human Environment Animal Protection (The Animal Protection Party) 1.2 N/A 0 N/A

National Democratic Party (NPD) 0.2 Decrease1.4 0 Steady0

Totals 100.0% — 83 —

Provisional results; the AfD did not reach the 5% threshold in Bremerhaven (and will hence only receive seats for votes from Bremen), the BIW did not reach the threshold in Bremen (and will only receive one seat in Bremerhaven, none in Bremen).[26][27]

Administrative structure

Stadtbezirk

(borough) Stadtteile (urban districts),

Ortsteile (subdistricts, selectively) Area Population Density

of population Maps

Mitte

(Central)

1

Mitte (Central)

Altstadt (Old city), incl. Schnoor

Ostertor, part of Viertel (Bremen)

Häfen (Ports)

33.741 km² 17,392 515 / km² Bremen 11 Mitte.svg

Mitte Bremen 12 Häfen.svg

Häfen

Süd

(South)

2

Neustadt (New Town)

Alte Neustadt (Old New Town, near the Weser, opposite of the City)

Buntentor (an old suburb, southeast of Alte Neustadt)

Huckelriede, between Buntentor and Habenhausen

Hohentor, west of Alte Neustadt

Neuenland, with Bremen Airport and some hightech companies

Neustadt, Südervorstadt and Gartenstadt Süd between Alte Neustadt and the airport city

Obervieland [de]

Arsten (near Weser river, upstream)

Habenhausen (near Weser, north of Arsten)

Kattenesch (west of Arsten)

Kattenturm (northwestern section)

Huchting, mainly west of river Ochtum

Woltmershausen with Rablinghausen, between Weser river and Neustädter Hafen

Seehausen, a village near river Weser

Strom, a village

66.637 km² 123,303 1,850 / km² Bremen 21 Neustadt.svg

Neustadt

Bremen 24 Huchting.svg

Huchting

Bremen 26 Seehausen.svg

Seehausen

Bremen 23 Obervieland.svg

Obervieland

Bremen 25 Woltmershausen.svg

Woltmershausen

Bremen 27 Strom.svg

Strom

Ost

(East)

3

Östliche Vorstadt (Eastern Suburb)

Steintor (near the city), part of Viertel (Bremen)

Fesenfeld (northern part of Steintor)

Peterswerder (with Weserstadion)

Hulsberg (north of Peterswerder)

Schwachhausen

Vahr [de] (with Aalto-Hochhaus)

Horn-Lehe (with University of Bremen)

Borgfeld

Oberneuland [de]

Osterholz

Hemelingen

Hastedt (near Östliche Vorstadt)

Sebaldsbrück (east of Hastedt)

Hemelingen (south of Sebaldsbrück, near Weser river)

Arbergen (east of Hemelingen)

Mahndorf (east of Arbergen)

108.201 km² 218,843 2,023 / km² Bremen 31 Östliche Vorstadt.svg

Östliche Vorstadt

Bremen 33 Vahr.svg

Vahr

Bremen 35 Borgfeld.svg

Borgfeld

Bremen 37 Osterholz.svg

Osterholz Bremen 32 Schwachhausen.svg

Schwachhausen

Bremen 34 Horn-Lehe.svg

Horn-Lehe

Bremen 36 Oberneuland.svg

Oberneuland

Bremen 38 Hemelingen.svg

Hemelingen

West

4

Blockland

Findorff

Walle

Gröpelingen [de]

Oslebshausen

56.606 km² 89,216 1,576 / km² Bremen 41 Blockland.svg

Blockland

Bremen 42 Findorff.svg

Findorff

Bremen 43 Walle.svg

Walle

Bremen 44 Gröpelingen.svg

Gröpelingen

Nord

(North)

5

Burglesum [de]

Vegesack

Blumenthal

Rönnebeck

Farge

Rekum [de] (with Valentin submarine pens)

60.376 km² 98,606 1,633 / km² Bremen 51 Burglesum.svg

Burglesum

Bremen 53 Blumenthal.svg

Blumenthal Bremen 52 Vegesack.svg

Vegesack

Main sights

Many of the sights in Bremen are found in the Altstadt (Old Town), an oval area surrounded by the Weser River, on the southwest, and the Wallgraben, the former moats of the medieval city walls, on the northeast. The oldest part of the Altstadt is the southeast half, starting with the Marktplatz and ending at the Schnoor quarter.

The Marktplatz (Market square) is dominated by the opulent façade of the Town Hall of Bremen. The building was erected between 1405 and 1410 in Gothic style, but the façade was built two centuries later (1609–12) in Renaissance style. The Town Hall is the seat of the president of the Senate of Bremen. Today, it hosts a restaurant in original decor with gigantic wine barrels, the Ratskeller in Bremen, and the wine list boasts more than 600 – exclusively German – wines. It is also home of the twelve oldest wines in the world, stored in their original barrels in the Apostel chamber. In July 2004, along with the Bremen Roland, the building was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Two statues stand to the west side of the Town Hall: one is the statue Bremen Roland (1404) of the city's protector, Roland, with his view against the Cathedral and bearing Durendart, the "sword of justice" and a shield decorated with an imperial eagle. The other near the entrance to the Ratskeller is Gerhard Marcks' bronze sculpture (1953) Die Stadtmusikanten (Town Musicians), which portrays the donkey, dog, cat and rooster of the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale.

Other interesting buildings in the vicinity of the Marktplatz are the Schütting, a sixteenth-century Flemish-inspired guild hall, Rathscafé, Raths-Apotheke, Haus der Stadtsparkasse and the Stadtwaage, the former weigh house (built in 1588), with an ornate Renaissance façade, and the nearby Essighaus, once a fine Renaissance town house. The façades and houses surrounding the market square were the first buildings in Bremen to be restored after World War II, by the citizens of Bremen themselves.

St Peter's Cathedral (13th century), to the east of the Marktplatz, with sculptures of Moses and David, Peter and Paul and Charlemagne. The Bismarck Monument is also outside the cathedral, which is the only monument in Germany to depict Otto von Bismarck in an equestrian format.

On Katherinenklosterhof to the northwest of the cathedral, a few remaining traces can be found of St Catherine's Monastery dating back to the thirteenth century.

The Liebfrauenkirche (Our Lady's Church) is the oldest church of the town (11th century). Its crypt features several impressive murals from the fourteenth century.

Off the south side of the Markplatz, the 110 m (120 yd) Böttcherstraße was transformed in 1923–1931 by the coffee magnate Ludwig Roselius, who commissioned local artists to convert the narrow street (in medieval times, the street of the barrel makers) into an inspired mixture of Gothic and Art Nouveau. It was considered "entartete Kunst" (degenerate art) by the Nazis. Today, the street is one of Bremen's most popular attractions, with the Glockenspiel House at No. 4 with its carillon of Meissen porcelain bells.[28]

At the end of Böttcherstraße, by the Weser bank, stands the Martinikirche (St Martin's Church), a Gothic brick church built in 1229, and rebuilt in 1960 after its destruction in World War II.[29]

Tucked away between the Cathedral and the river is the Schnoor, a small, well-preserved area of crooked lanes, fishermen's and shipper's houses from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, now occupied by cafés, artisan shops and art galleries. The Convent of Saint Birgitta (Birgittenkloster) founded in 2002 is a small community of just seven nuns offering guest accommodation.[30]