Editing Neuruppin (section)

==Politics==
===City Council===
The city council of Neuruppin comprises 30 city councilors and the full-time mayor. The municipal election on May 26, 2019, with a voter turnout of 49.0%, resulted in the following:<ref>[https://www.wahlergebnisse.brandenburg.de/wahlen/KO2019/tabelleLandkreis.html#68320320 Ergebnis der Kommunalwahl 26 May 2019]</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Party / Voter group
! Share of votes
! Seats
|-
| align="left" | [[Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands|CDU]]
| 18,6 %
| 6
|-
| align="left" | [[Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands|SPD]]
| 18,1 %
| 6
|-
| align="left" | [[Die Linke]]
| 15,9 %
| 5
|-
| align="left" | [[Bündnis 90/Die Grünen]]
| 13,1 %
| 4
|-
| align="left" | Pro Ruppin
| 12,8 %
| 4
|-
| align="left" | [[Alternative für Deutschland|AfD]]
| 10,9 %
| 2 
|-
| align="left" | Freie Wähler
| {{0}}4,5 %
| 1
|-
| align="left" | Wählergruppe Kreisbauernverband
| {{0}}3,8 %
| 1
|-
| align="left" | [[Freie Demokratische Partei|FDP]]
| {{0}}2,3 %
| 1
|}

The [[Alternative for Germany|AfD]] accounted for four seats in line with its share of the vote, two of which remain unoccupied because the party nominated only two candidates. The CDU and FDP have joined forces to form a parliamentary group, as have Bündnis 90/Die Grünen and the voters' group Kreisbauernverband.

=== Mayors ===
==== Before the city reform ====
* around 1786: Goering<ref name="zadow" />

==== After the city reform in 1808 ====
{| class="toptextcells"
|-
|
* 1810–1816: Dr. Braun
* 1816–1822: Balthasar Friedrich Knoevenvogel
* 1822–1851: Ernst Adolph Bienengräber
* 1851–1888: Ch. L. G. von Schulz
* 1889–1899: Adolf Trenckmann
* 1899–1923: Max Warzecha
* 1923–1933: Ernst Blümel
* 1934–1945: Kurt Krüger 
* 1945: Reinhold Meyer<ref name="meier">Brigitte Meier: ''Fontanestadt Neuruppin – Eine Stadtgeschichte in Daten'', Karwe 2003.</ref>
* 1945: Karl Hochstädt
* 1945: Hermann Huch
* 1945–1946: Richard Schulz
|
* 1946–1948: Trude Marx<ref name="torjus">Petra Torjus (Hrsg.): ''Elf Frauen die Neuruppin bewegten'', Neuruppin 2011.</ref>
* 1948–1949: H. Schulz<ref name="meier" />
* 1949–1951: Joseph Robiné
* 1951–1953: Otto Herms
* 1954–?: Max Hartmann
* 1957–1965: Bruno Salvat
* 1965–1970: Günter Weigt
* 1970–1978: Gerd Hohlfeld
* 1978–1988: Harald Lemke
* 1988–1990: Rainer Frank
* 1990–1991: Silke Bringmann
* 1991–1994: Joachim Zindler
|}

==== After the annexations in 1993 ====
* 1994–2004: Otto Theel
* 2005-2020: Jens-Peter Golde
* since 2020: Nico Ruhle

Ruhle was elected to an eight-year term in the November 29,<ref>{{cite web|title=Wahlergebnisse der Bürgermeister*innenwahlen 2020|periodical=Neuruppin.de|publisher=Fontanestadt Neuruppin vertreten durch den Bürgermeister Jens-Peter Golde|url=https://www.neuruppin.de/verwaltung-politik/wahlen/buergermeister.html|access-date=2020-12-03|last=|date=2020-11-30|language=|pages=|quote=}}</ref> 2020 mayoral runoff election with 56.7% of the valid votes.<ref>{{cite web|title=Brandenburgisches Kommunalwahlgesetz|periodical=Brandenburg.de|publisher=|url=http://bravors.brandenburg.de/gesetze/bbgkwahlg#74|format=|access-date=2020-11-30|last=|date=2018-06-29|language=|pages=|quote=}}</ref>

=== Dealing with corruption ===
In 2004, Neuruppin made headlines for corruption and [[nepotism]]. In view of the growing scandals in local politics, the city acquired derogatory nicknames such as "Märkisches Palermo" or "Klein Palermo"<ref>{{cite web|title=Wie der XY-Fall die Stadt geprägt hat|periodical=Info Radio Berlin 9|publisher=|url=http://www.inforadio.de/dossier/25-Jahre-Mauerfall/beitraege-neuruppin/wie-der-xy-fall-die-stadt-gepraegt-hat.html|access-date=2015-09-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925081233/http://www.inforadio.de/dossier/25-Jahre-Mauerfall/beitraege-neuruppin/wie-der-xy-fall-die-stadt-gepraegt-hat.html|archive-date=2015-09-25|last=Diana Teschler|date=|year=|language=|pages=|quote=}}</ref> and "Korruppin" as it struggled with battling corruption.<ref name="Korruption">Alexander Fröhlich: [http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/Brandenburg-Neuruppin-Korruption;art128,2616007 Stadt unter Filz], [[Tagesspiegel]] published 17 September 2008, retrieved on 12 August 2022.<!-- Permalink: {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.webcitation.org/5b055lLXz?url=http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/Brandenburg-Neuruppin-Korruption;art128,2616007 |date=* }} --></ref><ref name="TS2010">Zuletzt Alexander Fröhlich: [http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/Brandenburg-Neuruppin-Selbstmord-Stadtwerke;art128,3023307?_FRAME=33&_FORMAT=PRINT Tagesspiegel] published 7 February 2010, retrieved on 12 August 2022.</ref>

The former CDU city councilor Olaf Kamrath was legally sentenced in 2006 as the head of the XY gang to many years in prison for, among other things, gang-related narcotics offences.<ref name="Korruption" /> In 2007, the verdict against former city councilor Reinhard Sommerfeld (Neuruppiner Initiative) was the only legally binding conviction of an elected official in Germany for bribery of members of parliament to date.<ref>Andreas Vogel: {{Webarchive |url=https://www.webcitation.org/5mPXUrrKW?url=http://www.maerkischeallgemeine.de/app/mazarchiv/mazarchiv.php?search=normal&search=normal&datum_eingabe=kreuz&tag_eins=17&monat_eins=10&jahr_eins=2007&tag_zwei=23&monat_zwei=10&jahr_zwei=2007&site=2&id=1425208 |title=Sommerfeld muss Mandat abgeben Bundesgerichtshof lehnt Revision ab / Urteil wegen Bestechlichkeit damit rechtskräftig }} In: ''[[Märkische Allgemeine]]'', Dosse Kurier, 20 October 2007<!-- Permalink: {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.webcitation.org/5mPXUrrKW?url=http://www.maerkischeallgemeine.de/app/mazarchiv/mazarchiv.php?search=normal&search=normal&datum_eingabe=kreuz&tag_eins=17&monat_eins=10&jahr_eins=2007&tag_zwei=23&monat_zwei=10&jahr_zwei=2007&site=2&id=1425208 |date=* }} -->.</ref> The former state parliament member Otto Sommerfeld was convicted of [[bribery]] of members of parliament.

On May 15, 2008, former state parliament member Otto Theel ([[Die Linke]]) was given a nine-month suspended prison sentence for taking advantage in office during his term as mayor of Neuruppin. He subsequently resigned his seat in the state parliament.<ref>[http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/Brandenburg;art128,2534774?_FRAME=33&_FORMAT=PRINT Links-Abgeordneter Otto Theel tritt nach Verurteilung zurück], Tagesspiegel 21 May 2008<!-- Permalink: {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.webcitation.org/5mPXiv25u?url=http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/Brandenburg;art128,2534774?_FRAME=33&_FORMAT=PRINT |date=* }} -->.</ref> In September 2008, Sparkasse Ostprignitz-Ruppin parted ways with its previous CEO Josef Marckhoff, who had his employer throw him a circa 55,000 euro celebration to mark his own 60th birthday. The date coincided with the company's 160th anniversary.<ref name="Korruption" />

The former managing director of the municipal public utility company Neuruppin Dietmar Lenz was sentenced to a suspended prison sentence of two years on March 19, 2009, on charges of a serious breach of trust and acceptance of benefits, having spent more than 500,000 euros bypassing the supervisory board to support the sports club [[MSV Neuruppin]]. At the end of 2009 he committed suicide.<ref>{{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527024744/http://www.maerkischeallgemeine.de/cms/beitrag/11693440/61299/Der-langjaehrige-Neuruppiner-Stadtwerke-Chef-nahm-sich-selbst.html?print=J |title=Der langjährige Neuruppiner Stadtwerke-Chef nahm sich selbst das Leben |date=2011-05-27}}, MAZ 30 December 2009.<!-- Alternativlink: {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.webcitation.org/5mPTNL0L9?url=http://www.maerkischeallgemeine.de/cms/beitrag/11693440/61299/Der-langjaehrige-Neuruppiner-Stadtwerke-Chef-nahm-sich-selbst.html?print=J |date=* }} --></ref> A citizens' initiative initiated with the help of the two relevantly previously convicted Otto Theel and Reinhard Sommerfeld a deselection petition against Mayor Jens-Peter Golde. Golde was accused by the citizens' petition "Kein weiter so!" of lacking leadership quality, failing to fulfill his election program and endangering jobs in Neuruppin. It failed by its own account in February 2010 with 5079 of the required 5300 signatures.<ref name="TS2010" /><ref name="KWS!">Bürgerbegehren "Kein weiter so!", Presseerklärung 8 February 2010.</ref>

As of January 1, 2016, Neuruppin became the sixth corporate municipal member of [[Transparency International]], along with Bonn, Hamm (Westphalia), Potsdam, Leipzig, and Halle (Saale).<ref>[http://www.neuruppin.de/fileadmin/dateien/Verwaltung_und_Politik/Korruptionspraevention/AKB_Bericht_2015.pdf Beitritt als kommunales Mitglied bei Transparency International zum 1 January 2016] (PDF; 93&nbsp;kB) Neuruppin.de</ref>

=== Neuruppin remains colorful ===
In the run-up to a planned demonstration of [[Far-right politics|radical right-wing]] groups in the core city of Neuruppin on September 1, 2007, the non-partisan action alliance ''Neuruppin bleibt bunt'' formed and organized a counter-event with about 1000 participants.<ref>[http://www.neuruppin-bleibt-bunt.de/ ''Neuruppin bleibt bunt'']</ref><ref>{{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100421144804/http://www.aktionsbuendnis-brandenburg.de/aktionsbuendnis-neuruppin-bleibt-bunt |title=Aktionsbündnis Neuruppin bleibt bunt |date=2010-04-21}}</ref> On September 5, 2009, in view of another planned demonstration of radical right-wing groups, the action alliance organized a series of actions for civil courage along the demonstration route.<ref>{{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100809015846/http://www.maerkischeallgemeine.de/cms/beitrag/11593297/61299/Das-Aktionsbuendnis-Neuruppin-bleibt-bunt-plant-fuer-den.html |title=''Kultur gegen Neonazis'', MAZ 28 August 2009 |date=2010-08-09}} Retrieved 23&nbsp;September&nbsp;2015.</ref> On March 27, 2010, Neuruppin bleibt bunt organized the democracy festival Demokratie im Quadrat with 2,000 participants in the face of a demonstration march by the radical right-wing Freie Kräfte Neuruppin with 350 participants.<ref>''Tausendfach Protest gegen Rechtsextreme'', Schweriner Volkszeitung 28 March 2010.</ref>

On June 6, 2011, the action alliance received the ''Band für Mut und Verständigung'' award for its work. In November 2011, a party convention of the [[National Democratic Party of Germany|NPD]] took place in Neuruppin under protest of ''Neuruppin bleibt bunt'' against the will of the city.<ref>{{cite web| title=Neuruppin demonstriert gegen NPD-Parteitag |publisher=sueddeutsche.de |date=2011-11-12| url=http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/npd-neuruppin-demonstriert-gegen-npd-parteitag-1.1187404 |accessdate=2011-11-27}}</ref> The action alliance was able, through broad civil society engagement, with cultural stage program on the school square and a blockade for the first time to stop the so-called "Day of the German Future". The far-right Freie Kräfte Neuruppin/Osthavelland had organized the demonstration for June 6, 2015.<ref>{{cite web| title=Kein Durchkommen für Neonazis – Tag der deutschen Zukunft dieses Jahr in Neuruppin erstmals blockiert |publisher=neues-deutschland.de |date=2016-06-08| url=http://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/973640.kein-durchkommen-fuer-neonazis.html}}</ref>

=== Coat of arms ===
In § 2 para 1 and 2 of the main statutes of the city of Neuruppin<ref name="Hauptsatzung">{{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927011440/http://www.neuruppin.de/neuruppin.de/data/media/_shared/satzungen/haupsatzung_inkl_aenderungen.pdf |title=''Hauptsatzung der Stadt Neuruppin''.  (PDF) }} Fontanestadt Neuruppin, 8 July 2005 in Gestalt der 3. Änderungssatzung 6 March 2007: retrieved 30 December 2009.</ref> states:

{{Blockquote
|text=The city has been granted the right to bear a coat of arms by a document of the Prussian State Ministry dated June 22, 1928.
}}

The coat of arms was confirmed on March 31, 2003.

[[Blazon]]: "In blue a silver castle with two pinned, two-storey towers with two superimposed black gates and gold-knobbed, red pointed roofs; the central building with three turrets and a black gate, which is covered by a red triangular shield, topped with a gold-armed and gold-tongued silver eagle.".<ref>[https://service.brandenburg.de/lis/detail.php?template=wappen_text_d&id=17082 ''Kommunen > Stadt Neuruppin > Wappen Stadt Neuruppin''] Ministerium des Innern des Landes Brandenburg (Dienstleistungsportal); retrieved 30 December 2009.</ref> The eagle is the heraldic animal of the [[Arnstein]] noble family.<ref>[https://www.neuruppin.de/verwaltung-politik/logo-wappen.html ''Logo und Wappen''] auf neuruppin.de; retrieved 3 September 2021.</ref>

===Twin towns – sister cities===
{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany}}
Neuruppin is [[Sister city|twinned]] with:<ref>{{cite web |title=Neuruppin und seine Partnerstädte|url=https://www.neuruppin.de/verwaltung-politik/partnerstaedte.html|website=neuruppin.de|publisher=Neuruppin|language=de|access-date=2021-03-01}}</ref>
*{{flagicon|POL}} [[Gmina Babimost|Babimost]], Poland
*{{flagicon|GER}} [[Bad Kreuznach]], Germany
*{{flagicon|ITA}} [[Certaldo]], Italy
*{{flagicon|JPN}} [[Niiza, Saitama|Niiza]], Japan
*{{flagicon|CZE}} [[Nymburk]], Czech Republic