Siegen-Wittgenstein

Siegen-Wittgenstein is a Kreis (district) in the southeast of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Olpe, Hochsauerlandkreis, Waldeck-Frankenberg, Marburg-Biedenkopf, Lahn-Dill, Westerwaldkreis, Altenkirchen.

History

In 1816–1817, the two districts of Siegen and Wittgenstein were created as parts of the Prussian province of Westphalia. In 1974, the two districts were merged, and in 1984 the name Siegen-Wittgenstein was adopted.

Geography

Geographically, it covers the hills southeast of the Sauerland hills, the Siegerland and Wittgensteiner Land.

Coat of arms

The two upper sections show, to the right, the arms of the Dukes of Nassau, who founded Siegen, and to the left, those of the Counts of Sayn-Wittgenstein. At the bottom a miner's lamp and a coppicing hook are depicted, in reference to the mining and charcoal-burning history of the district.

Towns and municipalities

References

External links

Media related to Kreis Siegen-Wittgenstein at Wikimedia Commons

Siegen-Wittgenstein (electoral district)

Siegen-Wittgenstein is one of the 299 single member constituencies (German: Wahlkreis) used for the German parliament, the Bundestag. One of sixty four constituencies in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, it is coterminous with the Siegen-Wittgenstein district. The constituency elects one representative under the mixed member proportional representation (MMP) system. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 148.

The constituency has existed in various forms since the 1949 election, the first election in West Germany after World War II. Since its creation, it has been a marginal constituency, won by both the main political parties of Germany, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The current representative is Volkmar Klein of the CDU, who gained the constituency from the SPD at the 2009 election.

Boundaries

The constituency was created in 1949 as Siegen-Stadt und Land – Wittgenstein containing the city and district of Siegen and the district of Wittgenstein. For the 1980 election, the constituency lost the municipalities of Freudenberg, Hilchenbach and Kreuztal and was renamed Siegen-Wittgenstein I. It was restored to its previous boundaries and name for the 2002 election.