Lünen

Lünen (German pronunciation: [ˈlyːnən] ⓘ) is a town with around 86000 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. The plant produces up to 6.6 MW, supplying 26000 homes with heat and electricity.

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:

Candidate	Party	First round	Second round
Votes	%	Votes	%
	Rainer Schmeltzer	Social Democratic Party	10864	40.9	9,824	48.9
	Jürgen Kleine-Frauns	Independent	9,767	36.7	10282	51.1
	Christoph Tölle	Christian Democratic Union	4,341	16.3
	Sascha Gottwald	Free Voters Lünen	1624	6.1
Valid votes	26596	97.7	20,106	98.9
Invalid votes	641	2.3	215	1.1
Total	27237	100.0	20321	100.0
Electorate/voter turnout	66291	41.1	66,247	30.7
Source: City of Lünen (, )

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:

Party	Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	9066	33.9	7.0	19	3
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	5895	22.1	2.5	12	1
	Together for Lünen (GFL)	3835	14.4	1.1	8	1
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	3690	13.8	6.4	8	4
	Alternative for Germany (AfD)	1816	6.8	New	4	New
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	922	3.5	0.7	2	±0
	The Left (Die Linke)	846	3.2	0.9	2	±0
	Free Voters Lünen (FW Lünen)	501	1.9	New	1	New

	Independent Fohrmeister	85	0.3	New	0	New
	Independent Rosenkranz	85	0.2	New	0	New
	Independent God	19	0.1	New	0	New
Valid votes	26730	98.2
Invalid votes	480	1.8
Total	27210	100.0		56	2
Electorate/voter turnout	66291	41.1	3.4
Source:

Twin towns – sister cities

Lünen is twinned with:

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