Lünen

Lünen (ˈlyːnən) is a town with around 86 000 inhabitants in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located north of Dortmund, on both banks of the River Lippe. It is the largest town of the Unna district and part of the Ruhr Area.

In 2009 a biogas plant was built to provide electric power to the city. Lünen is the first city in the world to receive electricity via public utility companies that is generated on the base of animal waste.^[2] The plant produces up to 6.6 MW, supplying 26 000 homes with heat and electricity.^[3]

Culture and main sights

Structure

• Saint George's Church
• Saint Mary's Church
• Chateau of Schwansbell
• Colani-UFO
• Freiherr-vom-Stein School
• Town hall of Lünen
• Geschwister-Scholl School
• Industrial Monument "Moor Crane"
• Schloß Buddenburg Gedenkstätte

Museum

• Museum of the town Lünen
• Mining Museum in Lünen South
• Mining residential Museum in Lünen Brambauer

Theatre

• Heinz-Hilpert theater

Politics

The current mayor of Lünen is Martina Förster-Teutenberg of the Social Democratic Party since November 2025.

Previous mayoral election was held on 13 September 2020, with a runoff held on 27 September, and the results were as follows:

! rowspan=2 colspan=2| Candidate ! rowspan=2| Party ! colspan=2| First round ! colspan=2| Second round |- ! Votes ! % ! Votes ! % |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Rainer Schmeltzer | align=left| Social Democratic Party | 10 864 | 40.9 | 9,824 | 48.9 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Jürgen Kleine-Frauns | align=left| Independent | 9,767 | 36.7 | 10 282 | 51.1 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Christoph Tölle | align=left| Christian Democratic Union | 4,341 | 16.3 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Sascha Gottwald | align=left| Free Voters Lünen | 1624 | 6.1 |- ! colspan=3| Valid votes ! 26 596 ! 97.7 ! 20,106 ! 98.9 |- ! colspan=3| Invalid votes ! 641 ! 2.3 ! 215 ! 1.1 |- ! colspan=3| Total ! 27 237 ! 100.0 ! 20 321 ! 100.0 |- ! colspan=3| Electorate/voter turnout ! 66 291 ! 41.1 ! 66,247 ! 30.7 |- | colspan=7| Source: City of Lünen (1st round, 2nd round) |}

City council

The Lünen city council governs the city alongside the Mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows:

! colspan=2| Party ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Social Democratic Party (SPD) | 9066 | 33.9 | 7.0 | 19 | 3 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | 5895 | 22.1 | 2.5 | 12 | 1 |- | | align=left| Together for Lünen (GFL) | 3835 | 14.4 | 1.1 | 8 | 1 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne) | 3690 | 13.8 | 6.4 | 8 | 4 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Alternative for Germany (AfD) | 1816 | 6.8 | New | 4 | New |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Free Democratic Party (FDP) | 922 | 3.5 | 0.7 | 2 | ±0 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| The Left (Die Linke) | 846 | 3.2 | 0.9 | 2 | ±0 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Free Voters Lünen (FW Lünen) | 501 | 1.9 | New | 1 | New |- | colspan=7 bgcolor=lightgrey| |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Independent Fohrmeister | 85 | 0.3 | New | 0 | New |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Independent Rosenkranz | 85 | 0.2 | New | 0 | New |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Independent God | 19 | 0.1 | New | 0 | New |- ! colspan=2| Valid votes ! 26 730 ! 98.2 ! ! ! |- ! colspan=2| Invalid votes ! 480 ! 1.8 ! ! ! |- ! colspan=2| Total ! 27 210 ! 100.0 ! ! 56 ! 2 |- ! colspan=2| Electorate/voter turnout ! 66 291 ! 41.1 ! 3.4 ! ! |- | colspan=7| Source: City of Lünen |}

Twin towns – sister cities

Lünen is twinned with:^[4]

• Bartın, Turkey
• Demmin, Germany
• Kamień Pomorski, Poland
• Panevėžys, Lithuania
• Salford, England, United Kingdom
• Zwolle, Netherlands

Notable people

• Jens Beutel (1946–2019), SPD politician, mayor of Mainz 1997–2011
• Markus Brzenska (born 1984), footballer
• Karl-Heinz Granitza (born 1951), footballer
• Björn Höcke (born 1972), AfD politician, Member of Landtag in Thuringia
• Hubert Hüppe (born 1956), CDU politician
• Theodor Kleine (1924–2014), sprint canoer, Olympic medalist
• Friedhelm Konietzka (1938–2012), football player and coach
• Wilhelm Kuhne (born 1926), priest (Monsignore) and former rector of the Hardehausen Abbey
• Michael Mendl (born 1944), actor
• Max Raabe (born 1962), singer and conductor of the Palast Orchester in Berlin
• Berndt Röder (born 1948), CDU politician, former president of the Hamburgische Bürgerschaft
• Rollergirl (born 1975), singer
• Rüdiger Sagel (born 1955), politician Alliance 90/The Greens, later The Left, Member of Landtag North Rhine-Westphalia 1998–2012
• Max Simon (1899–1961), SS officer and war criminal
• Andreas Thiel (born 1960), handball player
• Eckhart Tolle (born 1948), spiritual teacher and author
• Clara Vogedes (1892–1983), artist
• Ernst Waldschmidt (1897–1985), orientalist and indologist
• Wolfgang Wendland (born 1962), singer, politician of the Pogo party
• Dieter Zorc (1939–2007), footballer
• Mathis Häseler (born 2002), German handball player

References

1. ^ Wahlergebnisse in NRW Kommunalwahlen 2020, Land Nordrhein-Westfalen, accessed 30 June 2021.
2. ^ Pidd, Helen (28 May 2009). "Poo power to the people". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
3. ^ "German city uses waste to generate green energy". Building. Building Sustainable Design. 28 May 2009. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
4. ^ "Städtepartnerschaften" (in German). luenen.de. Lünen. Retrieved 2021-02-19.