Editing Bielefeld (section)

==History==
{{stack|
{{Quote box |width=20em |align=right   |bgcolor=#B0C4DE
|title=Historical Affiliations
|fontsize=90% |quote=[[Holy Roman Empire]] 1214–<br>
[[Hanseatic League]] 14th century–<br>
[[Berg (state)]] 1346–<br>
[[Margraviate of Brandenburg]] 1614–<br>
[[Minden-Ravensberg]] 1719–1807<br>
[[Kingdom of Westphalia]]<br>
[[Kingdom of Prussia]] ([[Province of Westphalia]]) 1815–
}}
[[File:Bielefeld Innenstadt.jpg|thumb|Old Town Hall in Bielefeld (1904)]]
[[File:Bielefeld Niederwall Wasserspiel über Stadtbahntunnel.jpg|thumb|Bielefeld City]]
}}
Founded in 1214 by Count Hermann IV of [[County of Ravensberg|Ravensberg]] to guard a pass crossing the [[Teutoburg Forest]], Bielefeld was the "city of [[linen]]" as a minor member of the [[Hanseatic League]], known for [[bleachfields]] into the 19th century.<ref>''Hamburgh Mail'', The Times 14 December 1816</ref> Bielefeld was part of the [[Kingdom of Westphalia]] when it was created in 1807.<ref>[[The Times]], 9 November 1809; ''Letters to the Editor''</ref> In 1815 it was incorporated into the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] following the defeat of France and the [[Congress of Vienna]].<ref>The Times, 26 August 1815; ''News''</ref>

After the Cologne-Minden railway [[Bad Oeynhausen#History|opened in 1849]], the Bozi brothers constructed the first large mechanised spinning mill in 1851. The Ravensberg Spinning Mill was built from 1854 to 1857, and metal works began to open in the 1860s.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Founded in 1867 as a Bielefeld sewing machine repair company, Dürkoppwerke AG employed 1,665 people in 1892; it used [[Waffenamt]] code "WaA547" from 1938 to 1939 as the Dürkopp-Werke, and merged with other Bielefeld companies to form [[Durkopp Adler|Dürkopp Adler AG]] in 1990.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Between 1904 and 1930, Bielefeld grew, opening a rebuilt railway station, a municipal theatre, and finally, the [[Rudolf-Oetker-Halle]] concert hall, renowned for its excellent acoustics.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bielefeld.de/en/history/ |title=Bielefeld – History |publisher=Bielefeld.de |access-date=5 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090427102530/http://www.bielefeld.de/en/history/ |archive-date=27 April 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[List of German cars|Dürkopp car was produced 1898–1927]]. After printing emergency money ({{langx|de|[[Notgeld]]}}) in 1923 during the [[inflation in the Weimar Republic]], Bielefeld was one of several towns that printed very attractive and highly collectable [[banknote]]s with designs on [[silk]], [[linen]] and [[velvet]]. These pieces were issued by the Bielefeld Stadtsparkasse (town's savings bank) and were sent all around the world in the early 1920s. These pieces are known as ''Stoffgeld''&nbsp;– that is, money made from fabric.<ref>Many examples can be found on the {{cite web |url=http://www.notgeld.com |title=Archived copy |access-date=15 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010231515/http://www.notgeld.com/ |archive-date=10 October 2016 }} website, where a new catalogue listing all the variants of different coloured borders and edges made on the 100m piece is being compiled.</ref>

The town's [[synagogue]] was burned in 1938 during the ''[[Kristallnacht]]'' pogrom carried out against Jewish population. In 1944, [[Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress]]es of the [[USAAF]] bombed the gas works at Bielefeld on 20 September<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ccsu.edu/cppsr/VHP/homepage/veterans/Taylor_John.htm |title=Veterans History Project |publisher=[[Central Connecticut State University]] |date=24 February 2005 |access-date=7 April 2011}}</ref> and the marshaling yard on 30 September;<ref name=McKillop>{{cite web |last=McKillop |first=Jack |url=http://www.usaaf.net/chron/index.htm |title=Combat Chronology of the USAAF |access-date=25 May 2007 |publisher=[[USAAF]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070610115615/http://www.usaaf.net/chron/index.htm |archive-date=10 June 2007 }}[https://web.archive.org/web/20071005171553/http://www.usaaf.net/chron/44/sep44.htm September 1944]</ref> Bielefeld was bombed again on 7 October<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20031031115303/http://usaaf.net/chron/44/oct44.htm McKillop, October 1944]</ref> and the [[RAF]] bombed the town on the night of 4/5 December.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/dec44.html |title=War Diary December 1944 |work= Bomber Command 60th Anniversary |publisher=Raf.mod.uk |access-date=7 April 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606110620/http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/dec44.html |archive-date=6 June 2011 }}</ref> On 17 January 1945, B-17s bombed the nearby [[Paderborn]] marshalling yard, and [[Schildesche viaduct|the railway viaduct]] in the suburb of Schildesche.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20040323103022/http://www.usaaf.net/chron/45/jan45.htm McKillop, January 1945]</ref> On 14 March the RAF bombed the viaduct again, wrecking it. This was the first use of the RAF's 10 tonne [[Grand Slam bomb]]. American troops entered the city in April 1945.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} 

Due to the presence of a number of barracks built during the 1930s and its location next to the main East-West Autobahn in northern Germany, after World War II Bielefeld became a headquarters town for the fighting command of the [[British Army of the Rhine]] – BAOR (the administrative and strategic headquarters were at [[Rheindahlen]] near the Dutch border). Until the 1980s there was a large British presence in the barracks housing the headquarters of the British [[I Corps (United Kingdom)|First Corps]] and support units, as well as schools, [[Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes|NAAFI]] shops, officers' and sergeants' messes and several estates of married quarters. The British presence was heavily scaled back after the [[reunification of Germany]] and most of the infrastructure has disappeared.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

In 1973 the first villages on the south side of the Teutoburg Forest were incorporated.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Starting in 1994, the city has been featured in the humorous [[Bielefeld conspiracy]], which satirises [[conspiracy theory|conspiracy theories]] by claiming that the city does not exist.