Editing Wuppertal (section)

==History==
[[File:Einwohnerentwicklung von Wuppertal - ab 1871.svg|thumb|Population development]]
Wuppertal in its present borders was formed in 1929 by merging the industrial cities of [[Barmen]] and [[Elberfeld]] along with the communities of [[Vohwinkel, Wuppertal|Vohwinkel]], [[Ronsdorf]], [[Cronenberg, Wuppertal|Cronenberg]], [[Langerfeld]] and [[Beyenburg]]. The initial name '''Barmen-Elberfeld''' was changed in a 1930 referendum to Wuppertal ("Wupper Valley"). The new city was administered as part of [[Prussia]]'s [[Rhine Province]].

Uniquely for Germany, it is a "[[Linear settlement|linear city]]", owing to the steep hillsides along the river [[Wupper]]. Its highest hill is the [[Lichtscheid]], which is {{convert|351|m|ft|abbr=on}} [[Above mean sea level|above sea level]]. The dominant urban centres Elberfeld (historic commercial centre) and Barmen (more industrial) have formed a continuous urbanized area since 1850. During the succeeding decades, "Wupper-Town" became the dominant industrial agglomeration of northwestern Germany. During the 20th century, this conurbation had been surpassed by [[Cologne]], Düsseldorf and the [[Ruhr area]], all with a more favourable topography.

From 5 July 1933 to 19 January 1934 the [[Kemna concentration camp]] was established in Wuppertal. It was one of the early [[Nazi concentration camps]], created by the [[Nazi Party]] to [[incarcerate]] their political opponents upon [[Machtergreifung|gaining power in 1933]]. The camp was established in a former factory on the Wupper in the Kemna neighborhood of the Barmen part of Wuppertal. [[Protestantism|Protestant Christians]] opposed to the so called [[German Christians (movement)|German Christians]] adopted the [[Barmen Declaration]] in Wuppertal in 1934.

By order of 10 October 1938, the 1st Light Division of the German Army was formed in Wuppertal, which in September 1939 took part in the [[invasion of Poland]] which started [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Ruszkowski|first=Andrzej|year=2015|title=Atak niemieckiej I Dywizji Lekkiej na Konopnicę i Rychłocice w 1939 roku|magazine=Na Sieradzkich Szlakach|language=pl|location=Sieradz|volume=XXX|issue=2 (118)|page=6|issn=1232-2695}}</ref> During the war, Nazi Germany operated a Nazi prison, two [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]] subcamps of the prison in [[Remscheid]]-[[Lüttringhausen]] and an [[SS construction brigade]] in the city.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=100001329|title=Strafgefängnis und Untersuchungshaftanstalt in Wuppertal|website=Bundesarchiv.de|access-date=15 March 2025|language=de}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=1858|title=Außenkommando "Lager Homann-Werke" des Zuchthauses Remscheid-Lüttringhausen in Wuppertal bei den Homann-Werken|website=Bundesarchiv.de|access-date=15 March 2025|language=de}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=100000965|title=Außenkommando "Vorwerk & Co. Lager" des Zuchthauses Remscheid-Lüttringhausen in Wuppertal-Barmen|website=Bundesarchiv.de|access-date=15 March 2025|language=de}}</ref><ref name=ushm>{{cite book|last=Megargee|first=Geoffrey P.|year=2009|title=The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume I|publisher=Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum|page=1400|isbn=978-0-253-35328-3}}</ref> The prisoners of the SS construction brigade were Poles, Russians, French, Czechs, Romanians, Hungarians, and Greeks.<ref name=ushm/> About 40% of buildings in the city were destroyed by Allied bombing, as were many other German cities and industrial centres (see [[Bombing of Wuppertal in World War II]]). However, a large number of historic sites have been preserved, such as:

* Ölberg, literally "Oil mountain", Germany's largest original working class district, is protected as a [[historic monument]]. The name came about during the 1920s as the district continued using oil lamps while the surrounding bourgeois residential quarters were electrified. In traditional use, the name "Ölberg" refers to the [[Mount of Olives]] in [[Jerusalem]].
* [[Wuppertal-Brill|Brill]] is one of Germany's largest districts of [[Gründerzeit]] villas, i.e. middle class mansions built by industrial entrepreneurs during the second half of the 19th century.

The US [[78th Infantry Division (United States)|78th Infantry Division]] under Major General [[Edwin P. Parker Jr.]] captured Wuppertal against scant resistance on 16 April 1945.<ref>Stanton, Shelby, ''World War II Order of Battle: An Encyclopedic Reference to U.S. Army Ground Forces from Battalion through Division, 1939–1946'', Stackpole Books (Revised Edition 2006), p. 147</ref> Wuppertal became a part of the [[British Zone of Occupation]], and subsequently part of the new state of North Rhine-Westphalia in [[West Germany]].