Bergkamen

Bergkamen
Town
Bergkamen city hall
Coat of arms
Location of Bergkamen within Unna district
Location of Bergkamen
Bergkamen Location within Germany Bergkamen Location within North Rhine-Westphalia
Coordinates: 51°37′N 7°38′E
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Arnsberg
District	Unna
Government
• Mayor (2025–30)	Thomas Heinzel (CDU)
Area
• Total	44.9 km2 (17.3 sq mi)
Elevation	68 m (223 ft)
Population  (2024-12-31)
• Total	49,143
• Density	1,090/km2 (2,830/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	59192
Dialling codes	02307, 02389, 02306
Vehicle registration	UN
Website	www.bergkamen.de

Bergkamen (German pronunciation: [bɛʁkˈkaːmən] ^ⓘ; Westphalian: Biärgkoamen) is a town in the district of Unna, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated south of the river Lippe, approx. 15 km (9 mi) north-east of Dortmund and 15 km (9 mi) south-west of Hamm.

Bergkamen, a fairly new town in the east part of the Ruhr Area and south of the Münsterland, was founded in 1966 by the merging of at first five smaller communities. The town's history, however, reaches back to ancient Roman times - this can be experienced by visiting the Bergkamen Municipal Museum, which has a large Roman department, and the nearby archeological site, the “Roemerlager“.

Main sights

• Westphalian Sports Boat Centre - Marina Ruenthe
• The neighbouring national trust area, “Beversee“, and the wooded hill, “Grosses Holz“, a renaturalized former slag heap, provide an inviting atmosphere for relaxation.

Cultural events

• Harbour Festival ("Hafenfest") in June
• Light Festival ("Lichtermarkt") in October.

Bergkamen is home to theatre performances at the “studio theater bergkamen“ and numerous exhibitions in the town's own art gallery “sohle1“ or the “Stadtmuseum“

History

Memorial to the victims of the mining disaster on Grimberg 1946

In February 1946, a coal mine in the city suffered a dust explosion that killed 418 miners. This was the worst mining accident in German history.

Politics

The current mayor of Bergkamen is Thomas Heinzel of the CDU, who has been serving as mayor since 2025. In the 2025 local election he was elected with 53,4 % of the vote in the runoff election against former mayor Bernd Schäfer of the SPD.

City council

After the 2025 local elections, the Bergkamen city council is composed as follows:

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	6,556	34.3	8.6	19	2
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	5,221	27.3	0.6	15	1
	Alternative for Germany (AfD)	4,194	21.9	New	12	New
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	1,208	6.3	10.6	4	4
	The Left (Linke)	1,033	5.4	2.3	3	1
	Uphill (BergAUF)	584	3.1	2.8	2	1
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	346	1.8	1.8	1	1
Valid votes		19,142	98.4
Invalid votes		310	1.6
Total		19,452	100.0		56	6
Electorate/voter turnout		37,647	51.7
Source: City of Bergkamen

Twin towns – sister cities

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany

Bergkamen is twinned with:

• Hettstedt, Germany (1990)
• Silifke, Turkey (1994)
• Gennevilliers, France (1995)
• Wieliczka, Poland (1995)

Notable people

Ernst von Bodelschwingh

• Ernst von Bodelschwingh-Velmede (1794–1854), Prussian Minister of Interior and Cabinet
• Carl von Bodelschwingh (1800–1873), Prussian Finance Minister
• Ernst von Bodelschwingh (1906–1993), politician (Member of Bundestag, CDU)
• Josef Ledwohn (1907–2003), anti-Nazi resistance activist
• Hans Sennholz (1922–2007), economist
• Dietrich Schwanitz (1940–2004), best-selling author, grew up in Rünthe
• Eugen Drewermann (born 1940), theologian, church critic, best-seller author
• Peer Steinbrück (born 1947), politician (SPD), Member of Landtag, for Bergkamen 2000–2005
• Konrad Ott (born 1959), philosopher and ethicist
• Heiko Antoniewicz (born 1965), cook
• Frauke Petry (born 1975), politician (independent, former AfD), lived in Bergkamen and went to school there

See also

• TuRa Bergkamen

External links

• Official website (in German)
• Website of Roland Schäfer, the former mayor of Bergkamen