Editing Essen (section)

=== Honorary citizens ===
The city of Essen has been awarding honorary citizenships since 1879 but has (coincidentally) discontinued this tradition after the foundation of the [[Federal Republic of Germany]] in 1949. A notable exception was made in 2007, when Berthold Beitz, the president of the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation received honorary citizenship for his long lasting commitment to the city.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://krupp-guertel.essen.de/Projekte/Rede_OB_fuer_Ehrenbuerger_Beitz_09_05_07.pdf |title=Speech by Mayor Wolfgang Reiniger (German) |access-date=6 April 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327085507/http://krupp-guertel.essen.de/Projekte/Rede_OB_fuer_Ehrenbuerger_Beitz_09_05_07.pdf |archive-date=27 March 2009 }}</ref>
The following list contains all honorary citizens of the city of Essen:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.essen.de/deutsch/rathaus/aemter/ordner_41/stadtarchiv/ehrenbuerger/ehrenbuerger.asp|title=Honorary Citizens of Essen|website=Essen.de|access-date=6 April 2011|archive-date=12 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512132105/http://www.essen.de/deutsch/rathaus/aemter/ordner_41/stadtarchiv/ehrenbuerger/ehrenbuerger.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*1879 [[Otto von Bismarck]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Chancellor of Germany]]
*1888 {{Interlanguage link multi|Friedrich Hammacher|de}}{{spaced ndash}}[[politician]], lawyer and economist
*1895 {{Interlanguage link multi|Johann Heinrich Peter Beising|de}}{{spaced ndash}}[[Roman catholic]] [[Theology|theologian]]
*1896 [[Friedrich Alfred Krupp]]{{spaced ndash}}[[industrialist]] ''(spouse of Margarethe Krupp, see below)''
*1901 Heinrich Carl Sölling{{spaced ndash}}[[tradesman]] and [[benefactor (law)|benefactor]]
*1906 {{Interlanguage link multi|Erich Zweigert|de}}{{spaced ndash}}[[Lord Mayor]] (1886–1906)
*1912 [[Margarethe Krupp]]{{spaced ndash}}benefactress ''(spouse of Friedrich Alfred Krupp, see above)''
*1917 [[Paul von Hindenburg]]{{spaced ndash}}[[Field Marshal (Germany)|Generalfeldmarschall]] and army leader, later [[President of Germany (1919–1945)|President of Germany]]
*1949 Viktor Niemeyer{{spaced ndash}}[[councilman]] ''([[posthumous recognition]])''
*2007 [[Berthold Beitz]]{{spaced ndash}}president of the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation
Today, the highest award of the city is the ''Ring of Honour'', which Berthold Beitz, for example, had already received in 1983. Other bearers of the Ring of Honour include Essen's former Lord Mayor and later [[President of Germany]], [[Gustav Heinemann]], as well as [[Franz Hengsbach|Franz Cardinal Hengsbach]], the first [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Essen|Bishop of Essen]]. Berthold Beitz (1973) and his wife [[Else Beitz]] (2006) are recipients of the [[Righteous Among the Nations]] recognized by the [[Yad Vashem]] for having saved about 800 Jewish lives during [[World War II]].